40, 32, 33, 40, 34 . . .
DeMar DeRozan enters Jordan territory with fifth 30-point game to open season in 96-87 win over Heat — credit former Raptor James Johnson with an assist,
There’s little glory in being a lifelong role player in pro sports, and James Johnson knows that. Now coming off the bench for the Miami Heat, Johnson, 29, is enjoying the ride that his fifth pro team is giving him. There’s a need for big, athletic, tough defenders in the NBA and it’s one that Johnson happily fills. But Johnson also played a role in building a superstar.
As DeMar DeRozan has risen to a two-time all-star, a gold medal-winner with the U.S. men’s Olympic team and started this season leading the league in scoring at 36.3 points per game after Thursday’s games, he credited Johnson, his friend and former teammate, for helping him get there.
“I give a lot of credit to James. I never talk about it but in practices, training camp, he always guarded me and you’ve got to be real creative and real crafty to be able to get shots off against him,” DeRozan said Friday morning, hours ahead of his Raptors facing Johnson and the Heat.
Through Johnson’s two stops with the Raptors — he played here for 87 games in the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons, then returned for the past two years — DeRozan fine-tuned much of his shot-fake trickery against the six-foot-nine, 250-pound Johnson, who has guarded his share of skilled forwards in the NBA through an eight-year career.
“I wouldn’t say (I) mastered it against him, but I thought I did all right against him,” DeRozan said. “It’s hard to find guys that big, that athletic to do the things he’s able to do and it helped me a lot.”
“(Going) one-on-one in practice against a guy with his body, his size, his strength was a huge plus for us,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said of Johnson. “He did that. They played one-on-one in the summertime and after practice. He was a good teammate, guys loved him. They knew that he had their back in tough situations.”
Standing on the Air Canada Centre’s practice court for the first time since signing a one-year, $4-million (U.S.) deal with the Heat, Johnson didn’t hop on board with the idea that he played a part in creating the basketball monster that DeRozan has become.
“DeMar’s got 190 moves and I don’t think I have no credit to take for those moves,” he said, laughing. “He finds a way to score and that’s what great players do.
“(I’m) very proud of him, always been.”
The two go back to the buildup to the 2009 draft, when the Raptors picked DeRozan ninth overall and Chicago took Johnson seven picks later.
DeRozan took a couple of opportunities to make fun of Johnson’s dyedred-hair period in 2015, but called Johnson a shirt-off-his-back type friend and said that he was misunderstood while in Toronto.
“I think if people really knew him and really understood the type of person (he is): loyal, loving . . . Everything about J.J. is great. He jokes all day. It’s just people think because he’s a black belt (in karate) he’s crazy.”
DeRozan said that Johnson’s vicious one-handed dunk over Detroit centre Andre Drummond two seasons ago was a favourite of his.
“Easily top three for sure,” he said. “The face he made afterward, everything about it was great.”