I am watching the 95 playoffs vs the Suns, and KJ is killing us. I mean, every facet of his game seems sound. Did he kill everyone like this, or was it just us. Too bad the Suns never won a title (in the years they didn't play us) because he was really stepping up his game in the playoffs....
KJ is one of the most fearless players to ever play the game. He was always a Rocket-killer and I hated him when we use to play him, but he use to be the man back in the day. He could shoot, he could pass, and he could drive in w/ the best of them. KJ's dunk on Ewing is one of the best dunks I have ever seen.
Yeah, KJ is one of those guys that just annoys the f**k out of you when he's playing us, but I don't think I appreciated the talent I was watching until much later.
I think he's really one of the more underappreciated, forgotten GREATS. Kinda like Drexler, lol. I mean, the guy was like Steve Francis abilities with Jason Kidd court sense. He remains my favorite point guard of all time.
Kevin Johnson was sick. He's one of the few rocket killers that I really liked. He was a well rounded point guard and very underrated as far as the kind of career he had.
KJ was great, except for the fact that he did not have range beyond the 3pt arc. He was the wrong PG to pair with a dominant low post scorer like Bark. In many ways, he is like Steve Francis + court vision.
Beat me to it. While I think KG is one of the most underappreciated PGs of all time, his lack of range prevents him from being one of the all time greats. Also, I don't remember him being particularly great on D other than using his speed for steals in the passing lanes. The Steve Francis comparison is a decent one in terms of athletic ability and reckless abandon in driving to the hoops, but I'd hate for people who hadn't seen KJ to think that the comparison means he had a low basketball IQ. Far from it. KJ could get into the lane at will, but he did distribute the ball well and often deferred to the many scorers on those Suns teams. I don't think I've ever seen such a small PG (KJ was not only short, but he was thin) repeatedly challenge big men. KJ just had amazing guts. Never pulled up in the lane for the short jumper -- always took it to the rack. And produced some of the most memorabls dunks I've ever seen -- like the one on Hakeem. His blazing speed and tremendous hops made him unstoppable at times. Just a great, great player and always fun to watch. Plus we went to the same school and had the same major.
One of the funniest things about KJ was that for perhaps 1/2 of his career he couldn't dunk! Early on he had a couple of really sick dunks so everybody just assumed, even later when he couldn't. For at least the first half of his career he couldn't just not shoot 3's, he couldn't shoot from outside 16 or 17 feet. He was also smart as hell. One of the smartest players in the NBA when he played. Basketballreference.com Kevin Johnson Page
Even though it was for a gimmick team with no chance, I haven't seen many guards play better than the Kevin Johnson I saw play for the Suns from January to May in 1997. He was brilliant, an absolute joy to watch -- much more than the early 90s KJ.
KJ was not underrated while he played, but he was forgotten the minuted he retired, except in Phoenix. Very late in his last season, I remember him in Seattle repeatedly blowing by the Sonics PG at will, but he just couldn't convert the layups. To the last minute, he couldn't be denied the rim. I have very fond memories of KJ because his Suns teams would regularly beat the Sonics.
KJ was one my favorite players and is simply an awesome all around player that kids should try to emulate. He also does a lot of charity work. Great guy.
He had nasty scoring ability, and could get into the paint no matter who was defending it. That let him be a outstanding playmaker, always at the near-top of assists. For me though, I never looked at him as a championship-caliber winner. He was devastating on offense for sure, but he seemed like the kind of guy where you could let him go off for 50 and they'd lose. Can't put my finger on it. I do remember towards the end of his career, he expressed interest in joining the Rockets. Barkley vouched for him, but Dream very adamently said no - he didn't want to fight off another guy for the ball. Evan
Where's the statue of Hakeem's block of a KJ layup, after running the length of the floor like a madman to get there? KJ was right under the basket, calmly making his shot, when -WHAM!- Dream comes out of nowhere to swat that puppy into the stands. One of my favorite Dream memories.
