Johnson’s Altered Approach Nets Playing Time

January 24, 2007

The 6-foot-8, 205-pound Linton Johnson is perhaps the Hornets’ most versatile defender, with the ability to block a shot in the paint or guard a quick backcourt player on the perimeter one-on-one.

Following the trade-deadline deal that brought Linton Johnson, along with Marc Jackson, to the Hornets from the Nets in February, Johnson spent the final two months of last season thinking about what his offseason would include in order to have success in 2006-07.

He realized that it would be important to get into top physical condition, in order to keep pace in Byron Scott’s up-tempo offense. The forward decided that he would report to training camp ready to hustle, and that he would perfect his outside shot.

“This past summer, I worked really hard on my three-point shot, which I thought I could bring to this club for this year,” Johnson says.

Initially, his summer-long training regimen paid off. In early October, when the team headed to New Orleans for training camp, Johnson, a Tulane alumnus, was in optimum shape and ready to contribute. He impressed Scott, who called the 6-foot-8, 205-pounder the most well-conditioned Hornets player in camp.

When the season began, Scott looked to Johnson to be a hustle guy off the bench. Scott needed the fourth-year NBA veteran to rebound and provide defensive stops; to generally be a spark for his teammates.

And while Johnson may have done that, one of the things he was also doing was throwing up ill-advised shots, including wild three-pointers. He was getting away from the things that had earned the undrafted player a spot on an NBA roster: hustle, providing energy, playing defense.

“I’m a guy who wasn’t drafted in the league and sometimes it’s hard for guys who haven’t been drafted to kind of stick. And the way I got in the league was by hustling, coming in with energy, defending and rebounding,” Johnson explains. “The more years you are in the league, the more parts of the game you start to develop, which is always a good thing. But sometimes those things you develop in the summertime, like my three-point shot, don’t necessarily transfer over to what is good for the overall perspective of the team.”

So yes, his shot, his game and his physique all improved over the summer, but so did the Hornets as a team. Remember the acquisitions of three-point assassin Peja Stojakovic and sharpshooter Jannero Pargo? Plus, the Hornets still had their top three-point shooter from 2005-06, Rasual Butler, in the rotation.

There was no place for a player like Johnson beyond the arc. There was no denying that he was not fitting into the system as he had hoped. And Scott took notice. Johnson continued to take the wild shots, to no avail. That is when Scott pulled the floor from under the 26-year-old.

What had been an occasional night on the bench for Johnson became a seven-game hiatus in which players including rookie forward Marcus Vinicius – who only appeared in eight of the Hornets’ first 40 games this season – saw more action than Johnson.

Despite sitting on the bench at games, Johnson continued to practice hard, so that Scott would see that he was serious about finding his place in the system.

“A lot of people think that since you don’t play, you can goof off in practice,” the Chicago native said. “But when I don’t play, I go even harder in practice. So I never shied away from things I had been doing, like working and running hard, playing defense, developing my shot. Just because I’m not playing does not mean that I’m not going to go hard in practice. It means I am going to go harder.”

Early in the New Year, Scott decided to give Johnson another “shot” at it. And since Jan. 6, he’s played at least 14 minutes in each of his team’s eight games.

Johnson has learned his lesson and his role. Since the benching, he has been the spark he needs to be, by coming up with a crucial block or a big board. His scoring average has gradually increased as he learns where his points should come – not from 25 feet, but from electrifying dunks that make the fans, and Scott, go crazy (in a good way).

“I think he finally realizes what I want,” Scott told The Oklahoman. “He attacks the glass. He’s taking shots that are given to him. It’s not a surprise because he stayed ready, and I can’t ask anything else from him.

With Johnson’s help off the bench, in mid-January the Hornets put together their first multi-game win streak since November. As a team, New Orleans/Oklahoma City is displaying increased hustle on defense, more energy and competitiveness.

Johnson credits each man, himself included, with knowing his role on the court and sticking to that no matter how tempting someone else’s role might be.

“One of the things that I have come to understand is my role,” Johnson summarized. “And the role that they pay me to play is to be an energy guy, to play defense, rebound. And that, as a whole, fits the puzzle better for this team. We have to have good chemistry and everybody can’t be looking for his shots or someone else’s rebounds. The more you understand your role, the better the team plays. And that shows in the way we have been playing over the last few weeks.”