Dennis Johnson was born in San Pedro, Ca. on September 18, 1954. He is much loved and will always be remembered by all his friends and family. Click on contribute and leave a special thought or story, picture, video or music.
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DJ was born Dennis Wayne Johnson on September 18, 1954 in San Pedro, California. He was the 7th of 16 children born to Charles and Margret Johnson.
Dennis began his extraordinary basketball career at Dominguez High School. After graduation, he enrolled at Harbor Jr. College and led Harbor to a state junior college title. Dennis continued his collegiate career at Pepperdine, Malibu, California where he helped the waves make the NCAA Tournament.
After college he married his college sweetheart and was married to Donna for 30 years.
Selected in the second round of the NBA draft by Seattle Supersonics, Dennis was intrumental in leading the team to it's only NBA championship in 1979 and was named the MVP of the NBA Finals.
After being traded to the Phoenix Suns in 1980, he led the Suns to the Pacific Division title and averaged a career high in points during the 1981-82 season. Dennis was traded to the Boston Celtics in 1983, where his steadiness helped bind together a team of stars that won two NBA titles in three years.
Over the course of his career, Dennis was a three-time NBA champion, a five-time NBA All-Star, and named to nine consecutive NBA All-Defensive Teams.
Dennis retired at the age of 35 after the 1989-90 season as the 11th player in NBA history to amass more than 15,000 points and 5,000 assists. Dennis stayed on as a scout for the Celtics and became an assistant coach in 1993. Later he did scouting for the Portland Trailblazers. He became an assistant with the Los Angeles Clippers in 2000 and on March 3, 2003, Dennis was named interim Head Coach and compiled an 8-16 record through the end of the regular season. Dennis began his NBA Development League career with the Lacrosse Bobcats then the Florida Flames.
In 2005, Dennis was hired as the head coach of the Austin Toro's. Dennis immediately began making an impact in the Austin community. He participated in many community building projects, coached youth clinics, basketball camps, special apperances and was know for never turning down people who wanted a minute of his time.
Dennis is survived by his wife of 30 years, Donna and there three children, Dwayne, Denise, and Daniel. His departure gone to soon, loved and fond memories are his sisters and brothers, Charles Jr.(wife Gwen), Tony, Jimmy, Kenny, Marion, Gary (wife Jo Ellen), Davis, Karl Renee (husband Dennis), Janett, Lyle (wife Jackie),Dean, Craig (wife Carolyn), & Joey; and a host of nieces,nephews,cousins,relatives & friends.
By William Wilkerson
As I sat in the back row of the David Chapel Baptist Church Sunday, the feeling that I had just lost a good friend seeped through my pinstriped suit.
I was soon moving my feet from the aisle so Doc Rivers, Bill Walton, Cedric "Cornbread" Maxwell and Robert Reed could find their seats near the front, where they settled to honor the passing of friend and NBA legend Dennis Johnson at his memorial service.
Johnson, who was part of three NBA championship teams with Boston and Seattle, died Thursday after collapsing following practice with the Austin Toros, the NBA Development League team he coached. He was 52.
I didn't have the unlucky pleasure of drawing D.J. and his junk-yard dog style of defense in my NBA heyday like Reed - Johnson was a nine-time All-NBA defensive performer, six-times a first-team defensive team selection.
I didn't get to witness firsthand when Johnson took a pass off a steal from Larry Bird in game five of the 1987 Eastern Conference finals against Detroit and drove in for the winning layup like he did. YouTube that play if you've never seen it before; it's unbelievable.
Yet, during the five months I got to know D.J. - from Austin's D-League record 0-12 start to a 32-point win over Fort Worth in the last game he ever coached on Feb. 16 - a small part of me can't help but call Johnson a friend.
That's just how capable Johnson was. It didn't matter if you used to rub elbows with him on the hardwood or were a 21-year-old college reporter who best remembers his freckled face by way of ESPN Classic - D.J. was always willing to go out of his way to make your day that much better.
Case in point: his last coached game. For nearly 25 minutes, I waited outside the locker room to talk to Toros guard B.J. Elder, who scored 27 of his 29 points in the first half. Around the 10th minute, Johnson came up to me to see if I wanted to talk. Picture that, a coach seeking out a reporter to talk. That was always the case with D.J. If I went to practice to talk with a player, Johnson would always find me to chat.
Our interview had ended. Fifteen minutes had passed and Johnson was making his way out of the locker room, heading home, when he stopped to see if I still needed Elder.
"Yes sir, but I don't mind wai ...," I said. Johnson had already set his bag down to go back into the locker room to remind Elder that I was outside.
I said it then, and I will say it again: Thank you, sir.
Every time I talked with a Toros player about what it is like to play for one of the greatest defensive guards in the history of the game, they would shake their head as if to say, "Wow, where do I begin?"
They would relay stories about a man who you'd never thought was just the 11th player in NBA history to total 15,000 points and 5,000 assists.
Austin center Loren Woods said you'd have to beg Johnson to tell stories about his days in the league. Why? Because D.J. was never about himself. Give him the opponent's top offensive threat, he didn't care. He welcomed and often dominated the challenge.
"Coach Johnson is coach Johnson," Austin center Anthony Fuqua said Thursday. "It is hard to explain, but he has given me so many opportunities. Wherever I may be in life is going to be because of him."
D.J., your time on this earth was cut too short. Your place in the Basketball Hall of Fame is way overdue.
As I look back at myself in the last row of the David Chapel Baptist Church, I realize that my feelings have been confirmed. I did lose a friend.
By Ken Shouler
ESPN 02/23/07
I can see him yet.
Dennis Johnson walked the ball up. Fast breaking had long been the Boston trademark, from Bob Cousy to Sam Jones to Jo Jo White. Not with Johnson.
He took it slow, rea-l-l-l slow, as if determined to squeeze out each of the 10 seconds allotted to cross midcourt. He surveyed the court with a serene "I've got this under control" stroll. With that leisurely gait, he played like the anti-Cousy.
Johnson passed away on Thursday, at the early age of 52. He was coaching the NBA Development League Austin Toros, working his way back toward the NBA.
When people die, we have a tendency to make them better by half with praise. Dennis Johnson doesn't need it.
If career distinctions are to your taste, Johnson left you a smorgasbord to feast on. He played on three NBA champions, won a Finals MVP award and snatched six first team all-defense honors. In his autobiography "Drive," Larry Bird, a man not exactly given to blowing smoke, called Johnson "the smartest [player] I ever played with."
So I'll leave it to expert voters to explain just how a player of Johnson's accomplishments has been eligible for the Hall of Fame for 11 years without getting in. As I wrote last year, of all the players not enshrined in Springfield, he's one of the first five guys to whom I would give a Hall pass.
Before he directed traffic for the Celtics to secure titles No. 15 and 16, he was crucial to building the Seattle SuperSonics, in the league just eight years when Johnson came on board in 1976, into a world champion. If being underestimated was a leitmotif in Johnson's life, it showed early when he was drafted in the second round, 29th overall, in the 1976 NBA draft. He was signed to a four-year deal that started at $45,000 and reached $90,000 by the fourth season.
With Bill Russell as coach, Seattle won 40 games in his rookie campaign. The Sonics started 5-17 the following season before Lenny Wilkens took over the coaching reins from Bob Hopkins.
Said Wilkens on Thursday, "I had watched Dennis play, and I thought starting him and Gus [Williams] would make a difference. ... I thought [Dennis] was an outstanding player."
With the new tandem, Seattle won 42 and lost 18 down the stretch and built a 3-2 lead in the 1978 Finals. But they lost to Washington in seven games, with Johnson shooting 0-for-14 in Game 7.
The following year Seattle won a franchise-best 52 and zoomed past Washington in five games in the Finals. Johnson averaged 23 points and seven assists, adding 14 blocks -- including seven in the third game -- to take the Finals MVP award. Between backcourt mate Gus Williams and Johnson, the Seattle guards posted 51 points per game, more than half the team's Finals output.
"Talentwise, Gus and DJ are perhaps the best backcourt that ever played together in the NBA," Sonics forward Paul Silas said after the series. "I was sitting around the other day trying to think if there was a better backcourt, and I all I could come up with was the Knicks' Earl Monroe and Walt Frazier."
After winning 56 games the following year, Seattle lost in five to Los Angeles in the Western Conference finals. Following the playoffs, Johnson was traded to Phoenix for Paul Westphal. He played in two All-Star Games with Phoenix, made his only appearance on the All-NBA first team, but reached the second round of the playoffs just once.
Andrew D. Bernstein/Getty IMages
DJ received high praise from Larry Bird for his smarts.
His liberation came with a trade to Boston in 1983 for Rick Robey. It was one of Celtics patriarch Red Auerbach's greatest deals. Robey, a frontline player and pal of Larry Bird's, never averaged more than 5.6 points over three seasons with Phoenix, while Johnson became another name on the long list of great Celtics heists.
He helped deliver two titles in the next three seasons. With Johnson directing traffic, the 1983-84 Celtics won 62 games and, in five games in the East finals, avenged Milwaukee's sweep the previous year in the East semis. In the NBA Finals against Los Angeles, Johnson posted 23 points and 14 assists in a Game 4 overtime win, when the series turned. Early in the second half, Kevin McHale clotheslined a driving Kurt Rambis. The play upset the Lakers' fast break and incited the Celtics to more physical play. Johnson scored 22 points in a Game 5 victory. The Celtics got the series back to Boston Garden for Game 7, and their front line of Bird, Parish and McHale gathered 36 rebounds, three more than the entire Lakers team. Johnson scored 22 and the Celtics claimed their 15th NBA title. His defense on Magic Johnson over the last four games was essential: he held him to 17 points per game, as Boston won three of the four contests.
One of Johnson's greatest moments came in Game 4 of the 1985 Finals. The score was tied at 105 with 19 seconds left. The Celtics worked the ball to Bird, but he was double-teamed by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson 17 feet from the basket. Bird found Johnson, who nailed a 19-footer as the buzzer sounded. However, the Lakers won in six games, their first playoff victory in eight tries against Boston.
In 1986 Boston won 67 games before taking Houston in six in the Finals. As was the case throughout his career, Johnson's playoff numbers bested his regular-season averages.
After scoring his famous layup off a Larry Bird steal against Detroit in the Eastern Conference finals, Johnson had one of his best individual Finals in 1987, when he contributed 19 points, nine rebounds and four assists per game. But the Lakers, taking their first of consecutive titles, won in six games. Boston crept back to a conference final in 1988. That was as far as the Celtics would get, and their loss to Detroit signaled the end of the Bird-McHale-Parish-Johnson era.
It's hard to think of Johnson without thinking of the teams he played on, and likewise Auerbach focused on his contribution to the whole.
In his 1985 autobiography, "Red Auerbach: On and Off the Court," Red wrote, "Being a Celtic player is a hard thing to define. It's an attitude really. Sometimes I think it shows up most in players who started their careers somewhere else and wound up in Boston. Willie Naulls, Paul Silas, Wayne Embry, Charlie Scott, Dennis Johnson. The list goes on. Ask any of them, and they'll tell you what impressed them most upon joining the Celtics was that they were now part of a unit, part of a family whose only purpose was to win as a team."
Red was surely right. But I will remember the walk and style, too. Johnson took it easy, never looking stressed. He orchestrated the greatest front line ever -- Bird, McHale and Robert Parish -- and never looked too bothered doing it. Dennis Johnson was a thinking man's player, then and forever.
Kenneth Shouler is the editor of and a writer for Total Basketball: The Ultimate Basketball Encyclopedia.
Bird pays DJ tribute
Carr spearheads center
WARM2Kids Learning Center.
By Peter May, Globe Staff October 24, 2007
His No. 3 is retired, engraved on a banner hanging in the Garden. Dennis Johnson helped the Celtics win their last two championships and was working his way back to the NBA when he died of a heart attack in February at the age of 52. He played for Seattle and won an NBA Finals MVP. He played for Phoenix and was a first-team All-NBA selection.
But it was his seven years in Boston that defined his NBA career to many, particularly the former Celtic who called him "the best teammate I ever had" - Larry Bird. And it is Bird, now running the Indiana Pacers basketball operation, who will help memorialize the player universally known as "DJ" by funding a learning center in Johnson's memory. The center is scheduled to open Friday at the YMCA on Huntington Avenue.
"Who better than DJ? He was a big part of my life," Bird said.
The learning center will feature 10 state-of-the-art Dell desktop computers, flat-panel monitors, work stations, and portable, vinyl chairs. The center, like many similar ones around the country, is the brainchild of another ex-Celtic who played with Bird and Johnson, the indefatigable M.L. Carr. He started WARM2Kids in 2000 (the name is an acronym for We're All Role Models) and is looking for celebrities and athletes to share their stories and their money to help those who Carr says "suffer in silence."
The company website (warm2kids.com) has links featuring famous people talking about important emotional topics, from Mia Hamm on adoption to Jason Biggs on self-esteem to Bird on single parenting and suicide (which claimed his father). The learning centers soon followed; the one honoring Johnson will be the 11th. There are two in Dorchester, one at the Daniel Marr Boys and Girls Club named in honor of Red Auerbach and another at the Walter Denny Boys and Girls Club in honor of Francis X. Bellotti, the former Massachusetts lieutenant governor and attorney general. Both were funded by Raymond Tye, a longtime friend of Auerbach's. There are three learning centers in Florida, one in Flint, Mich., and another in San Antonio.
Next year, at least two more are scheduled to open, one in suburban Chicago funded by Celtics coach Doc Rivers in honor of his parents, Grady and Bettye Rivers, and another in Fort Worth that will honor the legendary Robert Hughes, the winningest boys' high school basketball coach (1,333 victories) in the country. The centers are located in Boys and Girls Clubs, YMCAs, and Jewish Community Centers and are designed for kids with no access to computers or the Internet. There they can access the company website for all sorts of educational and development content, link to the many celebrities for role model interviews, or simply surf the web to help them with their homework. The centers all have support staff to ensure the kids aren't spending all their time on Instant Messager.
"We look at these as a safe haven for kids," Carr said. "A lot of kids spend a lot of time at Boys and Girls Clubs and at the Y, and what was missing was the equipment. And on the other side, when the kids are in school, there are classes for senior citizens teaching them to use the computers."
Carr approached Bird months ago for help. Each learning center costs $50,000, and it was a price Bird was more than happy to pay. As Carr put it, "you're helping to close the digital divide and you memorialize DJ in the process. It's a win-win."
Said Bird, "It's helping kids and it's in DJ's name and it gives them somewhere to go after school. I saw where Red had one named for him, and it's something I think we need. It's a great idea."
And, Bird added, the fact that the new center will be in Boston is also fitting.
"I would have done it anywhere, but that's where we played together and that's where we won together," Bird said. "So it makes sense."
The opening will feature a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Johnson's widow, Donna, is scheduled to attend along with her mother and her three children, Dwayne, Daniel, and Denise. Bird will not be in attendance, but he is scheduled to provide a video tribute. Former teammates of Johnson also are scheduled to attend, including Robert Parish, Cedric Maxwell, and Danny Ainge, all members of the 1984 title team, the first of two championships Johnson won in Boston. The Celtics then will publicize the event at Friday night's exhibition game against the Cavaliers at TD Banknorth Garden.
Carr's long-term vision is to get anyone and everyone to fund a learning center.
"Our goal is to one day have an Antoine Walker Learning Center and a LeBron James Learning Center. We have statistics that show that more than 14 million kids have nothing to do after school. That's when bad things happen," Carr said. "What a small cost to have such a big impact."
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
Dennis Johnson was born on September 18, 1954 in San Pedro, Ca..
By Ken Shouler
ESPN 02/23/07
I can see him yet.
Dennis Johnson walked the ball up. Fast breaking had long been the Boston trademark, from Bob Cousy to Sam Jones to Jo Jo White. Not with Johnson.
He took it slow, rea-l-l-l slow, as if determined to squeeze out each of the 10 seconds allotted to cross midcourt. He surveyed the court with a serene "I've got this under control" stroll. With that leisurely gait, he played like the anti-Cousy.
Johnson passed away on Thursday, at the early age of 52. He was coaching the NBA Development League Austin Toros, working his way back toward the NBA.
When people die, we have a tendency to make them better by half with praise. Dennis Johnson doesn't need it.
If career distinctions are to your taste, Johnson left you a smorgasbord to feast on. He played on three NBA champions, won a Finals MVP award and snatched six first team all-defense honors. In his autobiography "Drive," Larry Bird, a man not exactly given to blowing smoke, called Johnson "the smartest [player] I ever played with."
So I'll leave it to expert voters to explain just how a player of Johnson's accomplishments has been eligible for the Hall of Fame for 11 years without getting in. As I wrote last year, of all the players not enshrined in Springfield, he's one of the first five guys to whom I would give a Hall pass.
Before he directed traffic for the Celtics to secure titles No. 15 and 16, he was crucial to building the Seattle SuperSonics, in the league just eight years when Johnson came on board in 1976, into a world champion. If being underestimated was a leitmotif in Johnson's life, it showed early when he was drafted in the second round, 29th overall, in the 1976 NBA draft. He was signed to a four-year deal that started at $45,000 and reached $90,000 by the fourth season.
With Bill Russell as coach, Seattle won 40 games in his rookie campaign. The Sonics started 5-17 the following season before Lenny Wilkens took over the coaching reins from Bob Hopkins.
Said Wilkens on Thursday, "I had watched Dennis play, and I thought starting him and Gus [Williams] would make a difference. ... I thought [Dennis] was an outstanding player."
With the new tandem, Seattle won 42 and lost 18 down the stretch and built a 3-2 lead in the 1978 Finals. But they lost to Washington in seven games, with Johnson shooting 0-for-14 in Game 7.
The following year Seattle won a franchise-best 52 and zoomed past Washington in five games in the Finals. Johnson averaged 23 points and seven assists, adding 14 blocks -- including seven in the third game -- to take the Finals MVP award. Between backcourt mate Gus Williams and Johnson, the Seattle guards posted 51 points per game, more than half the team's Finals output.
"Talentwise, Gus and DJ are perhaps the best backcourt that ever played together in the NBA," Sonics forward Paul Silas said after the series. "I was sitting around the other day trying to think if there was a better backcourt, and I all I could come up with was the Knicks' Earl Monroe and Walt Frazier."
After winning 56 games the following year, Seattle lost in five to Los Angeles in the Western Conference finals. Following the playoffs, Johnson was traded to Phoenix for Paul Westphal. He played in two All-Star Games with Phoenix, made his only appearance on the All-NBA first team, but reached the second round of the playoffs just once.
Andrew D. Bernstein/Getty IMages
DJ received high praise from Larry Bird for his smarts.
His liberation came with a trade to Boston in 1983 for Rick Robey. It was one of Celtics patriarch Red Auerbach's greatest deals. Robey, a frontline player and pal of Larry Bird's, never averaged more than 5.6 points over three seasons with Phoenix, while Johnson became another name on the long list of great Celtics heists.
He helped deliver two titles in the next three seasons. With Johnson directing traffic, the 1983-84 Celtics won 62 games and, in five games in the East finals, avenged Milwaukee's sweep the previous year in the East semis. In the NBA Finals against Los Angeles, Johnson posted 23 points and 14 assists in a Game 4 overtime win, when the series turned. Early in the second half, Kevin McHale clotheslined a driving Kurt Rambis. The play upset the Lakers' fast break and incited the Celtics to more physical play. Johnson scored 22 points in a Game 5 victory. The Celtics got the series back to Boston Garden for Game 7, and their front line of Bird, Parish and McHale gathered 36 rebounds, three more than the entire Lakers team. Johnson scored 22 and the Celtics claimed their 15th NBA title. His defense on Magic Johnson over the last four games was essential: he held him to 17 points per game, as Boston won three of the four contests.
One of Johnson's greatest moments came in Game 4 of the 1985 Finals. The score was tied at 105 with 19 seconds left. The Celtics worked the ball to Bird, but he was double-teamed by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson 17 feet from the basket. Bird found Johnson, who nailed a 19-footer as the buzzer sounded. However, the Lakers won in six games, their first playoff victory in eight tries against Boston.
In 1986 Boston won 67 games before taking Houston in six in the Finals. As was the case throughout his career, Johnson's playoff numbers bested his regular-season averages.
After scoring his famous layup off a Larry Bird steal against Detroit in the Eastern Conference finals, Johnson had one of his best individual Finals in 1987, when he contributed 19 points, nine rebounds and four assists per game. But the Lakers, taking their first of consecutive titles, won in six games. Boston crept back to a conference final in 1988. That was as far as the Celtics would get, and their loss to Detroit signaled the end of the Bird-McHale-Parish-Johnson era.
It's hard to think of Johnson without thinking of the teams he played on, and likewise Auerbach focused on his contribution to the whole.
In his 1985 autobiography, "Red Auerbach: On and Off the Court," Red wrote, "Being a Celtic player is a hard thing to define. It's an attitude really. Sometimes I think it shows up most in players who started their careers somewhere else and wound up in Boston. Willie Naulls, Paul Silas, Wayne Embry, Charlie Scott, Dennis Johnson. The list goes on. Ask any of them, and they'll tell you what impressed them most upon joining the Celtics was that they were now part of a unit, part of a family whose only purpose was to win as a team."
Red was surely right. But I will remember the walk and style, too. Johnson took it easy, never looking stressed. He orchestrated the greatest front line ever -- Bird, McHale and Robert Parish -- and never looked too bothered doing it. Dennis Johnson was a thinking man's player, then and forever.
Kenneth Shouler is the editor of and a writer for Total Basketball: The Ultimate Basketball Encyclopedia.
By William Wilkerson
As I sat in the back row of the David Chapel Baptist Church Sunday, the feeling that I had just lost a good friend seeped through my pinstriped suit.
I was soon moving my feet from the aisle so Doc Rivers, Bill Walton, Cedric "Cornbread" Maxwell and Robert Reed could find their seats near the front, where they settled to honor the passing of friend and NBA legend Dennis Johnson at his memorial service.
Johnson, who was part of three NBA championship teams with Boston and Seattle, died Thursday after collapsing following practice with the Austin Toros, the NBA Development League team he coached. He was 52.
I didn't have the unlucky pleasure of drawing D.J. and his junk-yard dog style of defense in my NBA heyday like Reed - Johnson was a nine-time All-NBA defensive performer, six-times a first-team defensive team selection.
I didn't get to witness firsthand when Johnson took a pass off a steal from Larry Bird in game five of the 1987 Eastern Conference finals against Detroit and drove in for the winning layup like he did. YouTube that play if you've never seen it before; it's unbelievable.
Yet, during the five months I got to know D.J. - from Austin's D-League record 0-12 start to a 32-point win over Fort Worth in the last game he ever coached on Feb. 16 - a small part of me can't help but call Johnson a friend.
That's just how capable Johnson was. It didn't matter if you used to rub elbows with him on the hardwood or were a 21-year-old college reporter who best remembers his freckled face by way of ESPN Classic - D.J. was always willing to go out of his way to make your day that much better.
Case in point: his last coached game. For nearly 25 minutes, I waited outside the locker room to talk to Toros guard B.J. Elder, who scored 27 of his 29 points in the first half. Around the 10th minute, Johnson came up to me to see if I wanted to talk. Picture that, a coach seeking out a reporter to talk. That was always the case with D.J. If I went to practice to talk with a player, Johnson would always find me to chat.
Our interview had ended. Fifteen minutes had passed and Johnson was making his way out of the locker room, heading home, when he stopped to see if I still needed Elder.
"Yes sir, but I don't mind wai ...," I said. Johnson had already set his bag down to go back into the locker room to remind Elder that I was outside.
I said it then, and I will say it again: Thank you, sir.
Every time I talked with a Toros player about what it is like to play for one of the greatest defensive guards in the history of the game, they would shake their head as if to say, "Wow, where do I begin?"
They would relay stories about a man who you'd never thought was just the 11th player in NBA history to total 15,000 points and 5,000 assists.
Austin center Loren Woods said you'd have to beg Johnson to tell stories about his days in the league. Why? Because D.J. was never about himself. Give him the opponent's top offensive threat, he didn't care. He welcomed and often dominated the challenge.
"Coach Johnson is coach Johnson," Austin center Anthony Fuqua said Thursday. "It is hard to explain, but he has given me so many opportunities. Wherever I may be in life is going to be because of him."
D.J., your time on this earth was cut too short. Your place in the Basketball Hall of Fame is way overdue.
As I look back at myself in the last row of the David Chapel Baptist Church, I realize that my feelings have been confirmed. I did lose a friend.
NEW YORK, Feb. 22, 2007 -- Dennis Johnson, a three-time NBA champion as a member of the Seattle Supersonics and Boston Celtics and the head coach of the D-League's Austin Toros, passed away today from a heart attack. He was 52 years old.
During his 13-year playing career with Seattle, Phoenix and Boston, Johnson established himself as one of the best defensive guards in the league. "D.J." combined his bulk with rocket-launcher legs to frequently win battles against players nearly a foot taller.
His quick hands and feet made him a constant threat to strip the ball from opponents. He always seemed to be in the middle of the action. He could post up, crash the boards for rebounds and tip-ins, hit from the outside and lead the fast break. And he could pass with the best of the league's playmakers.
Johnson was named to five All-Star teams and nine straight All-Defensive Teams. He was a member of three NBA championship squads, and his postseason heroics earned him a reputation as a money player. He was imbued with a contagious competitiveness. "I'm a winner," he once said. "I put my heart into the game. I hate to lose. I accept it when it comes, but I still hate it. That's the way I am."
In 1978, Seattle squandered a three-games-to-two lead against the Washington Bullets, losing in seven games. The following year, they would not be denied.
Johnson improved his scoring to 15.9 points per game and made his first appearances on both the All-Star and All-Defensive teams. In a rematch against the Bullets in the 1979 NBA Finals, Seattle dropped the first contest but won the next four to claim the team's first championship. Johnson, who scored 32 points in a Game 4 overtime victory, was named Finals MVP.
Johnson would play one more season in Seattle before being sent to Phoenix for All-Star guard Paul Westphal. D.J. would make two consecutive All-Star appearances of his own for the Suns. In his first year in Phoenix, Johnson guided the Suns to a Pacific Division title over the Lakers.
Johnson was traded following the 1982-83 season to Boston, where he would win two more championships, including one as a member of the 1986 Celtics team many consider to be one of the best teams in NBA history.
Johnson's postseason heroics -- his shutting down of Magic Johnson in the 1984 Finals; his buzzer-beating jumper to win Game 4 in the 1985 Finals against the Lakers; and his game-winning basket off Larry Bird's steal in Game 5 of the 1987 conference finals against Detroit -- placed him among the best-loved Celtics.
Johnson retired at age 35 after the 1989-90 season as the 11th player in NBA history to amass more than 15,000 points and 5,000 assists. In Sports Illustrated, teammate Bird, who was not known for lightly tossing around compliments, called Johnson "the best I've ever played with."
Johnson stayed on as a scout for the Celtics and became an assistant coach in 1993 and became an assistant with the Los Angeles Clippers in February 2000. He also coached in the D-League and was coaching the Austin Toros, the Celtics' D-League affiliate, at the time of his death.
What the NBA Commissioner Says
Statement from NBA Commissioner David Stern
NBA Commissioner David Stern released the following statement this evening regarding the passing of Dennis Johnson:
"Whether he was leading his teams to NBA championships or teaching young men the meaning of professionalism, Dennis Johnson’s contributions to the game went far beyond the basketball court. Dennis was a man of extraordinary character with a tremendous passion for the game and his loss will be felt throughout the basketball community. On behalf of the entire NBA family, I extend my deepest sympathy to his wife Donna, his children Dwayne, Denise and Daniel, and their entire family."
What the Basketball World Says
Statement from Kevin McHale
"I'm shocked and saddened after hearing the news about D.J. He was truly one of the good guys to play in the NBA, and he was a great teammate who was fun to be around. My sympathies go out to his wife and kids. He was way too young to pass away."
Statement from Danny Ainge
"I was deeply saddened to learn about the sudden passing of Dennis Johnson. I had the great privilege of playing alongside DJ in the backcourt for six seasons and two championships. He was one of the most underrated players in the history of the game, in my opinion, and one of the greatest Celtic acquisitions of all time. DJ was a free spirit and a fun personality who loved to laugh and play the game. He was a good teammate and a good friend."
"We had spoken at length just the other night about basketball and his excitement about coaching the Austin Toros. DJ was in good spirits, so his passing comes as a shock."
"He will be sorely missed by the Celtics Family."
Statement from Lenny Wilkens
“Dennis was a great player for the Sonics. He helped us win a championship and was the MVP of the Finals. But more importantly, he was a tremendous person. He seemed to be enjoying coaching in Austin, and was in great spirits. He’s left us way too soon. Sometimes, recognition comes slowly, but Dennis will go down as one of the true leaders in Sonics history, and he was recently honored as a member of the Sonics’ 40th Anniversary Team. All of us at the Sonics and Storm family send our sympathies to his wife and children.”
Statement from Elgin Baylor
“Speaking for our entire organization, I want to say how saddened we are to hear this shocking news. Dennis was a joy to be around and a terrific person. He will truly be missed by the many people whose lives he touched. Our deepest sympathies go out to his family.”
Statement from Toros owner David Kahn
Southwest Basketball and Austin Toros owner David Kahn issued the following statement on the passing of Toros coach and NBA great Dennis Johnson:
“On behalf of Southwest Basketball and the Austin Toros family, we are deeply saddened by the passing of our head coach, Dennis Johnson. Dennis was a remarkable man and an excellent role model for our young players and front-office staff. He instantly commanded respect based on his past accomplishments in the NBA, but earned far more from us with his unpretentious demeanor, his dedication to the job, and his community service in Austin. He was a delight to be around, with a one-of-a-kind laugh that, like him, deserves a spot in the Hall of Fame. We share our sympathy with Donna and his children, and want them to know they will always be a part of the Toros family.
I started to build my Tribute to Dennis Johnson today.
The days are long, and the nights even longer. I missed our talks and the fun we had talking about our favorite T.V. shows, and life in general.
I find myself still looking for you to come home out the window or getting ready to call your name when I see something funny. I drive down the street and think about the places we've been and places we no longer will share together.
The funny things we used to laugh at. I now understand in my heart & soul how much you miss someone after they are gone. You will always be in my heart living there forever, my best friend, my lover, my soulmate, my husband. I love you and miss you DJ.