The Trail Blazers have added former NBA great Dennis Johnson and minor league veteran Jim Sleeper as the team's advance scouts.

Johnson spent the past four seasons with the L.A. Clippers. He spent three-plus years with the Clippers as an assistant coach before being named head coach towards the end of the 2002-2003 campaign. He coached the team over the final 24 games, finishing with an 8-16 record, and led the team to a season-ending, three-game winning streak that saw the Clippers average 110.0 points and shoot .543 (25-46) from the three-point line.

Johnson initially joined the Clippers' coaching staff midway through the 1999-00 season. Prior to joining the Clippers, Johnson began his professional head coaching career with the La Crosse Bobcats of the CBA in 1999-00, earning CBA Coach of the Month honors for January 2000. The Bobcats hired Johnson after he served as an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics for four seasons (1993-97).

Over his standout 14-year NBA career, Johnson averaged 14.1 points, 5.0 assists and 3.9 rebounds en-route to winning three NBA Championships (Seattle in 1979 and Boston in 1984 and 1986). Johnson was named the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player in 1979. Considered one of the best defensive players in NBA history, Johnson was named to the NBA's All-Defensive First Team on six occasions and All-Defensive Second Team three times. He was also a member of the All-NBA First Team in 1981 and a member of the All-NBA Second Team in 1980.

Born in San Pedro, Calif., Johnson attended Pepperdine University during the 1975-76 season before being selected by the Seattle Supersonics in the second round (29th overall) of the 1976 NBA Draft.

Sleeper brings over 20 years of experience scouting, evaluating, developing and coaching professional basketball players and teams to the Trail Blazers. He has been a head coach with Grand Rapids and Sioux Falls of the Continental Basketball Association, Huntsville of the Global Basketball Association and Empire State of the United States Basketball League. Sleeper has served as an assistant coach for seven CBA teams including a three-year stint as Dan Panaggio's assistant at Quad City where the Thunder won the 1998 league title. He also won a USBL championship with Springfield in 1985.