DJ hopes Green rubs off on Clips

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

DJ hopes Green rubs off on Clips

by Steve Bulpett
Friday, March 7, 2003








When Dennis Johnson walked into the Celtics practice facility with his
Clippers yesterday, he got right down to business. Banner business.



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The original flags from Boston Garden hang at the HealthPoint site, with new
and larger replicas having taken up residence at the FleetCenter. DJ, the
Clippers' head coach since taking over for Alvin Gentry Monday, laughed as he
played tour guide. Key points of interest included the two Celtic championship
banners he helped raise - 1984 and 1986 - and his retired No. 3.

``Oh, I pointed that stuff out right away,'' said a smiling Johnson, who
averaged 13.2 points per game in '83-84 and 15.6 in '85-86 and was second on
the team to Larry Bird in assists both years.

And while Johnson was having a little fun, there was also the not-so-subtle
message for his young troops that the new coach knows a little bit about
winning.

Other than that, the journey back to Boston for the seven-year veteran of the
Celts has held further flashbacks.

``I feel like I did the first day I was traded here,'' DJ said. ``I was a
nervous wreck wondering what was going to happen and how I was going to play.
I was able to handle all that because it was me out there, but now I'm nervous
wondering how we're going to play and I'm going to be over on the sideline. I
can't play.

``It's nervousness. It's wanting to show your best hand. I'm not sure what
we're going to show out there, because our guys work hard but without Elton
(Brand) and Michael (Olowokandi) and maybe Lamar (Odom - the injured starting
frontcourt), I think our best hand is not going to be there. We don't have
everybody on board, but I shouldn't even say that because I'm not using
excuses. We're going to play the best we possibly can. That's all I'm
concerned with.''

There are the peripheral issues of doing well in the move over from assistant
coach and earning the right to remove the interim tag from his title. And
doing it with a Clippers squad that, as usual, has free agents-to-be looking
toward the door won't make it easy.

The most common refrain from basketball people is that they're happy DJ has
gotten a shot at being a head coach, but they're not so sure they're happy
it's with the Clips with just 22 games left in an essentially lost season.

``It's been said to me even,'' Johnson said. ``And, hey, I'm human like
everybody else. Would I want to be in a situation where I could start off at
the beginning of a season? Sure I would. But I just keep going back to the
fact that there are only 29 teams in this league and only 29 head coaching
jobs.

``If this job was vacant tomorrow, they wouldn't have a hard time finding
candidates to fill it. No matter if this is the Los Angeles Clippers or
anybody else, people want this job. I feel like I'm one of the luckiest guys
around.''

DJ didn't necessarily feel that way near the end of his stint as assistant
coach for the Celtics. He has stated in the past that he believed he had been
promised the top position on the Celts by M.L. Carr, but Carr chose to coach a
second season. After that, the C's made a bigger change.

``I did think I was going to be the guy here, and I don't think there's
anything wrong with saying that,'' Johnson said yesterday. ``I was here with
M.L., but we went through a bad string and they got Rick Pitino. And right
from Rick they went to Jimmy (O'Brien), and Jimmy kind of straightened out
things.

``I've always been interested in what they do because I was here and I was one
of the coaches when Antoine (Walker) got here. I'm still very much interested
in what they do. I'm not so much interested in what they do (tonight); I'm
more interested in what we do. But everything thereafter I really am.

``This is a franchise that has made me every bit of what I am today. I truly,
truly enjoyed it here.''

And he'll be truly, truly proud when he walks onto the floor tonight.

``The minute this happened and I got through the first day, I went into my
office and the schedule was on my desk,'' he said of Gentry's firing and his
ascension. ``I looked up at the six-game road trip and it was Washington,
Boston . . . whoa. Right off the bat I get to come back.

``The first thing that came to my mind was the way they played us last time,
but then I started thinking about heading to the Garden. I know it's the
FleetCenter, but I always have a slip of the tongue and call it the Garden.

``This is just such an important place for me. I know I'm from L.A. and I like
the fact that I'm getting to be a head coach in my home area. But Boston will
always be special to me. People still remember me as a Celtic, and that feels
very good to me.''

Thanks,

Steve
sb@maine.rr.com

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