Johnson Still Filling Basket Rockets Know How To Use Veteran
Eddie Johnson might figure it’s time to give this NBA thing up when the coaches outnumber the seasons.
But so far, he’s standing at 14 coaches in 15 seasons, so the 38-year-old former SuperSonic vows to plow on.
“A couple more years,” said Johnson, a reserve guard for the Houston Rockets, who take on the Sonics in Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals at 7:30 tonight in KeyArena. “I definitely plan on playing next year. After that, I’ll take it year-to-year.”
That it’s not already a year-to-year proposition for Johnson might seem surprising to Sonics fans, who thought of Johnson as a grizzled old veteran during his tenure here from 1990-93 before he was traded to Charlotte, along with Dana Barros, for Kendall Gill.
“We decided to move on and go younger,” says Sonics coach George Karl. After the next year, the Sonics also traded Ricky Pierce, a similarly streaky veteran.
“It was probably a mistake,” Karl said. “We probably should have kept one of them. But what’s happened is old used to be 30-32 in the NBA. Now it’s 35-36. … And with that 3-point line, shooters will be playing until they are 50.
“Eddie’s still old, though.”
That’s Karl getting in a friendly jab at Johnson, a pairing both sides describe as a friendship, even though there was a perception when Johnson left Seattle that the two were at odds.
“I always enjoyed Eddie because he’s vocal and opinionated, probably to a fault,” Karl said. “But so am I.”
Said Johnson when asked if he had any bitterness toward the Sonics: “No, no, no. I love Seattle. I have great friends on that team and total respect for George and (former Sonics general manager Bob) Whitsitt, and I still do. It’s a business and I understood. I wasn’t happy about it, but I understood.”
Having now played for six different franchises in seven different cities (Kansas City/Sacramento, Phoenix, Seattle, Indiana, Charlotte and Houston as well as in Greece), Johnson said his goal is to someday work for an NBA team “so I could cut and trade guys. I would love that.”
Some figure he has already learned how. He encouraged Indiana to trade him at midseason, then after he was traded to Denver, he talked the Nuggets into cutting him so he could latch on with a contending team.
Denver did just that, and Johnson was signed by Houston on March 4 without ever playing a game for the Nuggets.
Johnson had a decent year with Indiana in 1996 after playing a year in Greece following his one season in Charlotte. But he had knee surgery last summer, then got off to a slow start and ended up in the doghouse of Pacers coach Larry Brown.
Johnson was ecstatic to end up in Houston with a chance to win a title, and playing for Rudy Tomjanovich, who he lumps with Karl and former Phoenix and Kansas City coach Cotton Fitzsimmons, as the only coaches who understood how to play him.
“They put me in situations where I could succeed,” Johnson said. “Because I’m not a great ballhandler. I’m not going to create a lot of shots for myself. I have to rely on other players to get me the ball, and those guys have realized that and put me in a position to do that.”
Johnson had averaged only 5.3 points in 28 games with Indiana, but he scored 11.5 in 24 games with the Rockets, including 27 in a game against Cleveland.
He hasn’t shot as well in the playoffs, averaging 7.4 points and shooting 32.5 percent overall and making only 2 of 16 3-point attempts. But the Rockets figure it will take only one good game to make their limited investment in Johnson pay off. He was signed only for the rest of the season.
For Johnson, it was all about a chance to win a title.
The closest he has come is trips to the Western Conference Finals in 1989 and 1990 with the Suns, and 1993 with the Sonics, when Seattle lost in seven games to Phoenix.