Clippers think Brice Johnson might fit into rotation

The NBA draft began to turn topsy-turvy after the top two picks Thursday, leaving the Clippers in good position to find a quality player who might just be able to step in and play right away.

That turned out to be the case when Brice Johnson remained available late into the first round, allowing the Clippers to take the power forward from North Carolina with the 25th pick.

Johnson, who turns 22 on Monday, is a four-year player with a mature game that may allow him to find time on the court with the Clippers as a backup to Blake Griffin.

“We’re happy he was there,” Clippers Coach Doc Rivers said. “I don’t know if we were surprised or not. That was a guy we liked from the very beginning.

“We like the fact that we believe he has a chance to help right away. But we all feel like he has a high ceiling and he can get a lot better.”

Then after taking Cheick Diallo with the 33rd pick, the Clippers traded his rights to the New Orleans Pelicans for the 39th and 40th picks.

They took point guard David Michineau from France at 39 and center Diamond Stone from Maryland at 40.

“We really liked both guys,” Rivers said, “and the way the draft worked out, we took a gamble.”

Johnson is an explosive leaper who helped the Tar Heels reach the championship game of the NCAA tournament.

He improved all four seasons he played at North Carolina, topping out at 17 points and 10.4 rebounds a game as a senior.

Johnson did not work out for the Clippers during the pre-draft process. If fact, he told reporters in a conference call, he didn’t know that the Clippers were interested.

“Those guys say they have been high on me the whole time,” Johnson said. “But I didn’t know anything about it until now.”

Rivers said the Clippers had ranked all the players in the draft.

They liked that Johnson has shooting range up to 18 feet and is a strong rebounder.

“We had a lot of guys on the board,” Rivers said. “But [who] we thought at 25 would be there, the main guy that we wanted to be there was Brice and one other guy and the other guy went a little bit in front of us.”

Johnson, 6 feet 10 and 210 pounds, had heard that he could be a late first-round pick.

Still, he wasn’t sure until his name was called by the Clippers.

“I just knew it would be probably somewhere in the first round,” he said. “I didn’t know exactly where it would be. It was all over the place at one point. ... So it happens I end up with the Clippers and I’m really excited.”

Paul, Griffin better

Rivers said that guard Chris Paul (broken right hand) and forward Blake Griffin (partially torn left quadriceps tendon) are improving after suffering injuries in Game 5 of a first-round playoff series against the Portland Trail Blazers. …

Rivers said the time frame for Paul Pierce, 38, to make a decision if he’ll return next season for $3.5 million or retire has been discussed and is “something we’re good with” whenever the veteran forward decides. …

The team will start training camp in late September, probably in Irvine.

broderick.turner@latimes.com

Twitter: @BA_Turner