Toronto still has place in Johnson’s heart
Former Raptor looks back fondly on time in city as he helps shape young players
The Zombie Walk? Of course he remembers the Zombie Walk, because how cool was it to be all dressed up like something from beyond the grave and wander the streets with a bunch of random strangers?
And yeah, he recalls the Young Gunz, because it was an honour to be one along with pals DeMar DeRozan and Sonny Weems, representing the group that would lead the Raptors out of the wilderness.
Then there was the time he shaved the franchise logo into the hair on the back of his head — complete with red dye on the appropriate parts, because he was nothing if not authentic.
And if that doesn’t tell you how he felt about the team and his adopted city, how about all those nights when he’d gathered a couple of hundred locals, get them tickets to the game, then take them out for dinner and some hang-out time late into the night — as a way to say thank you, and maybe make new friends.
Without a doubt, Amir Johnson was an original during his time here, more a Man Of The People than any Raptor before or since.
“Loved it all, man,” Johnson said with a chuckle in a recent chat. “It was definitely a great experience. I wanted to take it upon myself to just experience the real Toronto life.”
Johnson’s ability and willingness to grow and adapt, to explore and discover, to live a life beyond the cloistered existence of a professional athlete during his six seasons in Toronto is serving him well in the second act of his sporting career.
The 33-year-old — and it’s hard to imagine a guy who spent 14 seasons in the NBA is just 33 — is toiling away with the NBA Ignite team in the G League’s Orlando bubble, still playing hard on the court and trying to teach life lessons off it.
He loves it — Johnson seems to love anything he’s doing — and it seems an
appropriate job for a true pro.
“I tell them the basketball part is usually the easiest part. (It’s) just the off-the-court stuff, learning how to live on your own and be a professional and handle things off the court (that’s the biggest adjustment),” Johnson said in a Zoom conversation this past week. “The league is really 90 per cent mental because there’s a lot of stuff that goes with it.”
Johnson and 37-year-old Jarrett Jack, another one-time Raptor, are the grizzled veterans on a teenager-laden Ignite team. The NBA started the minor-league program to ease the transition from high school to the pros for elite prospects who didn’t want to spend even a season in the American college ranks. But they need some old heads, to teach and set an example. Johnson and Jack fit the bill.
“These veterans are constantly reinforcing a lot of things the coaching staff is showing them,” Ignite coach Brian Shaw told reporters this past week.
“Johnson came into the league straight out of high school, so he can tell them what it was like when he was their age. That resonates with them, which is why they pay attention when he talks.”
Johnson’s personal experience does make him a perfect fit for the G League team. He was the last high school player drafted — by Detroit, 58th in 2005 — before the NBA changed the eligibility rules, and he carved out an excellent career. He also learned from a veteran team (the Pistons had the likes of Chauncey Billups and Rasheed Wallace as leaders when he joined them) what it took to be real pro, wisdom he’s now imparting to a group of teens.
“This is a great opportunity for me as far as getting a chance to go out there and play basketball, and actually get a little bit of the coaching side working with B. Shaw, and working with the young guys that are out of high school,” he said. “That was basically me … I found an opportunity to get a little bit of the coaching part and actually get a chance to play again. It was a win-win situation for me.”
But if Johnson became a pro as a player in his first four years with that veteran Detroit team, he blossomed further as a person with the Raptors.
He was inquisitive and involved, and became someone who appreciated the experiences he could have rather than shying away from them. Too many athletes are single-minded. To say Johnson embraced life away from the game in Toronto is an understatement, and he’s preaching the need for a balanced existence to the minor leaguers he’s now with every day.
“When I left Detroit … I was in my 20s, I was going to a new city, a new country,” he said. “I needed to figure it out, so I just took it upon myself to get to know the city, get to know the town, get to know the front office and the players, and I just embraced it.
“I just loved it. I was just a young kid, didn’t know too much about Canada, and I wanted to know everything about where I was living, where I was playing at.”
Johnson would love it if his G League stint landed him another NBA contract — “I hope GMs and coaches out there see I can still go out there and play,” he said. But if it doesn’t, he’s quite happy playing in the minors, teaching kids and using basketball to allow him to live a fascinating life of travel and adventure.
He makes it a point to get to two world destinations each summer — “seeing all the wonders of the world. I haven’t seen all of them, but I’ve seen quite a few” — because he feels “blessed.”
“What can I say. It’s a true privilege to play a sport that has you go travel all these places. If you think about it, what job do you get to work out for, like, two hours a day and get paid millions of dollars and then do something you love? It’s really a blessing just to do that … to be able to travel the world.
But the world is in many ways centred on the Toronto area to this day. His daughter, Amelia, was born in Mississauga. He still gets back to the city for extended periods of the summer.
No matter what the rest of his career holds, Toronto will be a special team. And no matter who comes and goes from the Raptors, fans are always going to have a soft spot for a player who truly was one of the people.
He was appreciated here — still is — and it runs both ways.
“I guess (I’d want them) to know that I was just genuine and truly a good guy and I really love the city of Toronto,” he said of his legacy here. “That’s just my personality. That’s just me. I appreciate everybody out there.”