Re: Ken Johnson

[Hironaka <j.hironaka@unesco.org>]

    Thanks for posting this article, Mark.  It gives more insight into
basketball than what the Boston papers offer. I can't even fathom the NBA-level
of conditioning. That part of it can't be fun... plus there are so many mundane
skills that require constant maintenance and practice. I was reading how Karl
Malone never leaves practice until he has hit 30 freethrows in a row, despite
being a fairly pedestrian FT shooter who has never once hit 30 straight
freethrows in actual games. Granted training for basketball might be more fun
than training for a marathon or something, but it is by no means an enjoyable or
enviable thing IMO. I experienced timed conditioning drills like the ones
described below recently in preparation for an annual UN club tournament in
Spain this past weekend (finished third) and I'd vomit or dry heave during every
single practice but we felt relatively fine playing in 6 tournament games over
three days. It is hell to practice basketball...I actually fear for my life as
I'm throwing up. I can nearly relate to how Moiso and Toine feel in trying to
avoid Obie and the "voluntary" summer Shaw league. As for Ken Johnson, I'm not
sure the PJ Brown or Ratliff analogies are warranted because he is relatively
deficient at rebounding as a result of trying to block every shot, and there are
tons of college big men with better offensive skills who can't score to save
their lives in the NBA. As for a "need pick", he most definitely doesn't fit the
bill on our chicken run roster. But he'll be guarding (mediocre) fours for the
first time in his career at the Phoenix camp, and if he does spectacularly well
at man defense than that's entirely another story. He's had a good college
career and played in some high pressure, Final Four type games. Obviously, he's
also getting very good coaching and mentoring at OSU.

Joe

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"Berry, Mark S" wrote:

> Here's a feature from the local paper, the Columbus Dispatch. Johnson
> shouldn't be a factor at 10 or 11, but maybe at 22... Mark
>
> (.....)The 20 "suicides'' Johnson is running during hourlong workouts several
> days
> a week were designed to help him show teams what he can give them in the
> meantime. The drill came at the suggestion of longtime NBA assistant coach
> Dick Harter, now a consultant for Octagon, the McLean, Va.-based athlete
> representation firm with which Johnson recently signed. Harter, having
> scouted countless camps through the years, knows as well as anyone what
> potential employers will be looking for from Johnson.
> Can he run the floor?
> "His biggest thing was to try to get Kenny improved from a conditioning
> standpoint,'' Spiller said. "They're going to want to see if he can rebound
> some and run the floor and beat guys down the floor.
> "Everybody's going to be there trying to make money and improve their stock,
> so you don't know how many touches he's going to get on offense. He's at the
> guards' mercy in this thing. That's why he has to show conditioning, stamina
> and athleticism.''
> He also will need to show toughness. It came and went in Johnson's four
> years at Ohio State but was more evident this season when teams attacked him
> at both ends of the court.
> "Teams were playing him more physical and really coming at him,'' Spiller
> said. "He has to go into Phoenix with the same type of posture he had then,
> just totally focused on what he has to do, not distracted. He can't have
> lapses where he loses his focus. There's only a small margin of error now.''
> Many of the drills Spiller has put Johnson through the last four weeks have
> Johnson setting perimeter screens, rolling off them, catching the pass and
> facing up to the basket for shots 15 feet and in. Spiller also put together
> a 15-minute videotape of NBA offenses so Johnson can familiarize himself
> with the so-called "two-man game'' that pervades the league.
> "Coach Spills has always known I can shoot those shots,'' Johnson said. "I
> just didn't have the opportunity during games.''
> More than halfway through one of his nonstop workouts last week, Johnson ran
> the pick-and-roll 25 times and made 21 jumpers along and inside an imaginary
> arc from the foul line to the left baseline. Doing the same drill from the
> right side, he made 18 of 25.
> "Teams have to see he's capable of making those shots on a consistent
> basis,'' Spiller said. "When he goes and does individual workouts (with
> teams after the Phoenix camp), they're going to put him through a lot of
> these drills and chart all of his shots. You have to show a good percentage
> on the charts. What we want to do is make sure he can make at least 70
> percent.
> "He's been good with that. His whole mind-set is to make shots. He has the
> concentration and the focus to do that, and that's going to help him.''