Transferring power
OLSH standout Donovan Johnson takes his talents to Moon
Back in his playing days at Pitt, Gilbert Johnson was anchored in the low post. This made sense because he stood 6 feet 8 and, well, that’s what 6-foot-8 players did in the late ‘80s.
The thought of Johnson dribbling the ball was a non-starter.
“If you were tall, you were playing in the paint,” he said.
That was back when players wore short shorts and listened to music on their Walkman’s. Today’s player — and the game itself, for that matter — has evolved well beyond that old-school thinking.
Johnson’s son, Donovan, is Exhibit A. He is a 6-7 junior guard for the Moon Area High School basketball team. And if his doctors are correct, he’ll grow another two to three inches
And he’ll likely continue to play guard.
“Basketball is now going position-less,” said Gilbert Johnson, a longtime AAU coach who has coached all four of his sons. “Guys who are 5’s can step out and shoot 3-pointers. It’s a different game than when I played.”
Donovan “Puff” Johnson is an all-in-one package. The spindly left-hander with a 7-foot-1 wingspan can be seen running the point, then sliding over to shooting guard, then shifting to the low post. He is a matchup nightmare for opposing defenses.
He is also a highly regarded Division I basketball prospect as the nation’s 117th-ranked player in the class of 2020, per Rivals.
Duquesne, George Washington, Akron and South Carolina Upstate have offered scholarships. Others such as Pitt, Penn State, Rutgers, Maryland, Ohio State, Georgetown, Purdue, Notre Dame, TCU, Illinois and Temple have shown interest.
At this point, the young Johnson is weighing his options.
“Going through the process,” he said.
If Johnson’s name sounds familiar, it’s because basketball is second nature to his family. Dad and mom played college ball (Amy Schuler Johnson was a 1,000-point scorer at Kent State and played in the first professional women’s basketball league). Oldest brother Aaron set the scoring record at Moon and later played at Princeton and Clarion. Next-oldest brother Cameron transferred from Pitt to North Carolina two years ago and averages 15 points and 5.5 rebounds for the 14th-ranked Tar Heels. Younger brother Braylon is showing great promise on the grade-school circuit.
As one might imagine, there have been epic games played at the family home in Moon Township.
“Before Cameron went to North Carolina, we would have 3on-3 tournaments every July,” said Donovan Johnson, who has been to a number of UNC games to see his brother play, none more riveting than a trip to Duke, he said. “It got intense. We’d talk smack to each other and we never set what the final score would be. We would just play all day. If one team was up 20, the other team wanted a chance to come back. We basically played until it got dark outside.” And afterward?
“We ate dinner,” he said. “It was over.”
Friday night against Vincentian, Johnson makes his debut at Moon. He played the previous two seasons at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, where he helped the program to consecutive WPIAL championship-game appearances and a spot in the 2018 PIAA final, before transferring this summer.
A skilled shooter, Johnson averaged 19 points a game last season despite being unable to practice due to tendinitis in his knees. A growth spurt of nearly five inches in a short span caused the discomfort, which the second-team AllState selection says has subsided. “Good to go,” he said. Moon is viewed as one of the top teams in Class 5A with three senior starters returning. Johnson, whose brother Cam played at Moon for two years before finishing his career at OLSH, could take the Tigers over the top.
“The ultimate goal is winning a WPIAL and state championship,” he said. “We’ll do our best to try to make that happen.”
While basketball is a focal point of the Johnson family, academics are just as crucial. Aaron Johnson was the valedictorian at Moon (he is currently preparing for med school) and Cameron was the salutatorian at OLSH. Donovan is an A student.
“I asked Aaron to help me get ready for a test the other day and he was dissecting rat brains,” Donovan Johnson said, laughing. “He wants to be a neurosurgeon. He’s always studying. So, I know how important school is, too. You have to be able to do it all.”