John Howard Getty "J. J." Johnson (October 18, 1947 – January 7, 2016) was an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. He played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the Iowa Hawkeyes.

High school and college career

Johnson played high school basketball at Messmer High School in

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

. As a senior, he helped lead Messmer to the Wisconsin state title in 1966. Johnson, a 6’7"

small forward The small forward (SF), also known as the three, is one of the five Basketball position, positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than Power forward (basketball), power forwards and Cent ...

, then played for Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming and for the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

. He set an Iowa record for points in a season during his senior year, when he averaged 27.9 points per game. Johnson also holds Iowa's top two scoring performances with 49 and 46 points. Johnson played two seasons for Iowa, leading the team in scoring and rebounding both seasons. Johnson, accompanied by later Seattle SuperSonics teammate Fred Brown, guided Iowa to a 14–0 Big Ten record and NCAA tournament berth in 1970.

Professional career

Johnson was selected by the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers, often referred to as the Cavs, are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Divis ...

with the 7th pick of the

1970 NBA draft The 1970 NBA draft was the 24th annual NBA draft, draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on March 23, 1970, before the 1970–71 NBA season, 1970–71 season. In this draft, 17 NBA teams took turns selecting amate ...

. Johnson was also selected in the 1970 ABA Draft by the

Dallas Chaparrals The Dallas Chaparrals were a charter member of the American Basketball Association (ABA). The team moved to San Antonio, Texas, for the 1973–74 season and were renamed the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs joined the National Basketball Association ...

before the team briefly became the Texas Chaparrals for the following season.1970 ABA Draft at BasketballReference.com
He was the first Cavaliers player to play in an NBA All Star Game. As a member of the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA) ...

, he would be the last to wear #34 years before the arrival of

Hakeem Olajuwon Hakeem Abdul Olajuwon ( ; ; born January 21, 1963), nicknamed "the Dream", is a Nigerian and American former professional basketball player. From 1984 to 2002, he played Center (basketball), center in the National Basketball Association (NB ...

. In 1977, Johnson was traded to the Seattle SuperSonics and was reunited with former Iowa Hawkeye teammate Fred Brown. Johnson was a key contributor for Seattle, who went to the NBA Finals in 1977–78 and won an

NBA championship The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern and Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven series to determine the league ...

in 1978–79 while possibly becoming the first point forward in league history as he was the player who more often set the plays for the Sonics rather than their star guards

Dennis Johnson Dennis Wayne Johnson (September 18, 1954 – February 22, 2007), nicknamed "DJ", was an American professional basketball player for the National Basketball Association's (NBA) Seattle SuperSonics, Phoenix Suns, and Boston Celtics. He was a c ...

and Gus Williams. Overall, Johnson had a productive 12-year

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

career with four teams, making two

NBA All-Star Game The National Basketball Association All-Star Game is the annual all-star game hosted each February by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and showcases 24 of the league's All-star, star players. Since 2022, it was held on the third Sunday of ...

appearances and scoring 11,200 career points. He ended his NBA career in Seattle in the early 1980s.

Later years

Johnson moved from Seattle to San Jose when his son Mitch was recruited to play for Stanford. His son played on the

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

basketball team from 2005 to 2008. On January 7, 2016, at age 68, Johnson died in his San Jose residence of undetermined cause.

Career statistics

NBA

Source

Regular season

, - , style="text-align:left;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

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, 82 , , 37.1 , .433 , , .785 , 7.7 , 5.1 , , , 17.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, style="background:#CFECEC;", 82* , , 34.3 , .430 , , .734 , 6.7 , 3.8 , , , 14.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Portland , 69 , , 33.1 , .464 , , .812 , 7.5 , 4.1 , 1.0 , .4 , 16.4 , - , style="text-align:left;" , , style="text-align:left;" , Portland , 80 , , 31.8 , .487 , , .784 , 6.3 , 3.0 , .9 , .5 , 16.1 , - , style="text-align:left;" , , style="text-align:left;" , Portland , 9 , , 23.6 , .466 , , .852 , 4.4 , 2.2 , .8 , .9 , 11.7 , - , style="text-align:left;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, 67 , , 22.2 , .452 , , .758 , 4.4 , 2.9 , .7 , .4 , 9.7 , - , style="text-align:left;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 79 , , 22.0 , .458 , , .712 , 3.4 , 2.3 , .6 , .3 , 9.3 , - , style="text-align:left;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 1 , , 11.0 , .250 , , .667 , 3.0 , 1.0 , .0 , .0 , 4.0 , - , style="text-align:left;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, 76 , , 23.8 , .416 , , .753 , 4.0 , 2.8 , .6 , .3 , 10.7 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;" , † , style="text-align:left;" ,

, style="background:#CFECEC;", 82* , 82 , 29.1 , .434 , , .760 , 5.0 , 4.4 , .7 , .3 , 11.0 , - , style="text-align:left;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 81 , , 31.3 , .488 , – , .801 , 5.3 , 5.2 , .9 , .4 , 11.3 , - , style="text-align:left;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 80 , , 29.1 , .431 , .000 , .808 , 4.5 , 3.9 , .7 , .3 , 11.5 , - , style="text-align:left;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 14 , 1 , 13.4 , .489 , – , .750 , 1.3 , 2.1 , .3 , .2 , 4.2 , - , colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" , Career , 869 , 83 , 29.6 , .446 , .000 , .779 , 5.5 , 3.8 , .8 , .4 , 12.9 , - , colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" , All-Star , 2 , 0 , 2.5 , .000 , , – , .5 , .5 , , , .0

Playoffs

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, John 1947 births 2016 deaths 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from Mississippi Basketball players from Milwaukee Cleveland Cavaliers draft picks Cleveland Cavaliers players Dallas Chaparrals draft picks Houston Rockets players Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball players Junior college men's basketball players in the United States NBA All-Stars People from Carthage, Mississippi Portland Trail Blazers players Seattle SuperSonics players Small forwards Texas Chaparrals draft picks