He says Jeramai Grant is shooting for two hours every day in hopes of becoming a better shops he can play the three spot with Simmons at the four. Makes sense to me.
Okafor/Noel
Simmons/Saric
Grant
Covington/ Stuaskas
Bayless
Johnson: We want him to play the 3, because they just drafted Ben Simmons to play at the four. And so, the 3/4 number system, it's really just telling you where they're going to be on the floor for spacing. Numbers really don't matter. But J-Grant, he's gotta be able to make corner threes consistently. Especially if he's going to be on the floor with Ben Simmons.
SI: Right, if he can get a jumper that changes everything.
Johnson: So that's what we work on. And playing off the dribble versus playing as a dunker. We want him playing facing the basket. That enhances his stock as a player, and it helps him as a teammate. If J-Grant is knocking down the three at 35, 36% they'll be really good. And if he can beat you on one dribble, he's going to jump over everybody. But you can't get to that point if you don't have technique on your shot, because nobody's gonna close out on you.
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SI: And you also have a guy like Jaylen Brown, who’s never played a game. What do you end up working on with him?
Johnson: For a kid like Jaylen, it's footwork. Balance. His ability to play off the catch. His ability to get into an attack position and score efficiently off of one and two dribbles. You don't get a bunch of dribbles in the NBA. I also feel like Jaylen has an opportunity to be able to have a deadly mid-post game. Like other big guards—right now Jimmy is really deadly on his mid-post game.
SI: But the footwork is step one.
Johnson: Exactly. We're not trying to get good at everything. We're focused on a couple things, and footwork is the basic that I'm really focused on. That applies in the post, the mid-post, pick-and-roll, the shooting. Once you've got footwork and balance, and ball-handling, you can get anywhere on the floor.
SI: But what about his role on the Celtics? How do you guys plan for something that hasn't happened yet?
Johnson: We break it down. Boston, I don't want to put it all out there, but you know they they drive in the slots. They're a hard slot-driving team. We need him comfortable in the pick-and-roll, whether it's side pick-and-roll, angle pick-and-roll, or slot pick-and-roll. We need him making corner threes. We take the concepts of what Boston already has in place, and I build that into Jaylen's sessions. So by the time he gets to training camp, he's very familiar with not only the positions that they're going to put him in, but he's got moves and counters that will make him more comfortable as an offensive player.
SI: How much are you talking to the Celtics through this process?
Johnson: They came out and spent a whole week with Jaylen and I. And we worked together on his development. [Teams] all come out. Now, that doesn't happen for a guy who's just trying to make a roster. That happens for the elite guys. They'll give you whatever you need to make sure that player is ready.
SI: Were you in touch with Brad Stevens?
Johnson: I've spoken to everybody around Brad, but I haven't seen Brad yet. But me and Jaylen discuss what Brad's told him. And the other coaches came out, so we saw them.
SI: With Jaylen and some of the other rookies like Taurean Prince and Pat McCaw, it seems like their best-case scenario would be the two-way wing that Jimmy has become. How often will you point to Jimmy as you work with guys like that?
Johnson: Every day! Every day. You'd be a fool to say no. People want to know, "What'd he do to get there?" So, you tell 'em. But you say, you can't jump from here to there. You have to go through the whole development process. And when you're honest like that, you can really find out who's focused. When that grind that starts going, twice a day, five days a week, six days a week, and it's going on weekends, week after week after week, and that kid is showing up 15, 20 minutes early every day? He's bought in.
Courtesy of Instagram
In the summers, Johnson has at times shared a Los Angeles gym with another elite skills trainer, Drew Hanlen. Players from every corner of the NBA come and go. Some, like Corey Brewer, will come to L.A. beginning in August and stay right until training camp. Others have families, so they'll schedule week-long visits throughout the summer. "There's a lot of coordinating schedules," Johnson said. It's a busy ecosystem, and many players work with more than one skills specialist. But a superstar like Jimmy Butler is a different story.
Butler has an exclusive relationship with Johnson, and they remain tethered to each other past the summer, when they'll relocate to Chicago and tackle the regular season.
SI: So, let's talk about Jimmy. How did you guys meet? How does that relationship get going?
Johnson: I met Jimmy through Mike James, my first-ever NBA client. At the time I was training Mike James, D.J. Augustin, and Cartier Martin. They were all teammates of Jimmy's. And Mike James would go and tell Jimmy every day, "You can be really good, man. You're not just a good defensive player. You can be really good. You need to go see my trainer."
SI: Who took the next step from there?
Johnson: Jimmy called me that summer. And I told him, "I need several things from you. I need your mind, your body, your commitment." And Jimmy... He didn't even have a television. He gave me his 100 percent attention.
SI: How quickly did you realize, "OK, this dude is different?"
Johnson: The first day he walked in the gym. I'm looking at his size, and I said, "Jimmy, I'm going to make you an All-Star." He said, "What?!" He'd only averaged a few points a game, he was known as a defensive guy. But I said, "Jimmy, as a teacher, through one workout, you are the best student I've ever had." I'd had a picture in my head of what I wanted him to be, but after the first workout, I realized that I wanted him in a different category. I wanted to put him in the mid-post. I said, "Jimmy, you're a good three-point shooter, but you don't have an in-between game. And you're 6'8", 240 playing the two-guard." That doesn't make sense.
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SI: And then he just went all in?
Johnson: He looked at me like I was crazy, but that dude showed up every day. We lived in the gym. Three times a day, four times a day. Whatever it took. He wouldn't even get sick. A lot of guys will call the trainer, "Hey man, I don't feel good. I feel like I've got the flu, I've got a head cold. Can we work out tomorrow instead?" Jimmy never missed a day.
SI: You look around the NBA, and there's LeBron leaving midseason to see his guy from Miami. D-Wade visited Tim Grover in the middle of a playoff series. You and Jimmy are in Chicago all season. You’re going to Cabo together this weekend. Trainers are in the inner circle unlike almost anyone else around the league. How do you go about building that trust?
Johnson: The trust happens naturally. When you're hired to come in and develop, I'm concerned about everything that's going on in my client's life. To maintain that, you don't live a life. I’m loading film every day. I’m studying offenses. Trust is when you know what you’re talking about. So I'm like, "Jimmy I need you up at 5 in the morning every day because I want you to be an All-Star." And Jimmy's looking at me like, "Huh?!" But I say, "You're going to be the most improved player in the NBA if you trust me. Everywhere you go, I will be there." Whether it's 15 minutes or 40 minutes, we'll put in the time and the details. This is how the trust is built.
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SI: How much work will you guys do during the season? How much access do you have?
Johnson: Let's say it's Sunday. Let's start the week off. On Monday night, you got X team, on Wednesday, we play such-and-such, on Thursday we got a back-to-back. On that Sunday I'll say, "Jimmy, I need 15 minutes of your time off the floor. I want to watch film with you." I want to show you how Miami's playing the pick-and-roll, and this is what should be happening. That builds confidence. Now the player's thinking, "I don't have to be worried about what fans are saying, I do this every day." It's a mindset.
SI: Will you travel on the Bulls team plane with them? How close does the relationship get with the teams?
Johnson: No. If one person does it, then everybody gotta do it. But the teams have been very good. There's no rifts. I go to lunch and dinner with the coaches, we talk about the players. It's an ongoing relationship.
SI: You mention studying film. How often are you helping him prepare for specific match-ups?
Johnson: I only do what's happening in a game situation. I don't do drills. Whether it's a late-clock, or it's 10 seconds on the clock, and how do you get this shot off? We may only hit the gym for a total of 30 minutes. It's like shadow boxing. It's teaching the counters.
SI: You're the sparring partner.
Johnson: I'm the sparring partner. And I start studying the individual defenders. Like, "Jimmy, this defender isn't fast enough laterally, so what he does is he gets into your body. This is what you should be looking at when he gets into your body." Like Jae Crowder, he's very aggressive. Or Jimmy may come to me and say, "I need to get back on the floor. 15 minutes. I want to work on finishes because I feel like I'm gonna get fouled a lot." It's not a one-way street. We have different routines that apply.
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SI: With Jimmy, everyone is constantly talking about how he didn't get recruited in high school. Is that a real thing? Is that something he still cares about?
Johnson: Nah, it not like that still motivates him. What motivates him, in my opinion, is the desire to go places he's never been. He got the money, he got the fame, he got the contracts... But he's still focused like we were broke.
SI: So this trip to Cabo: Are you guys going to work out, or is this to get away from basketball?
Johnson: It's a little bit of both. Jimmy hasn’t had an opportunity to celebrate his gold medal with the guys around him. He just wants to get his guys together. He's training, he's working, and this is just a brief step away and then it's back to the grind. We're so focused that you need a mental break, even just to change the location of the workouts.
SI: Has he gotten you into country music?
Johnson: I'm from Texas! Jimmy has nothing to do with it. I'm 38 years old, nobody is going to convince me to get into something. But I'm from Texas, and I do listen to country music.
SI: OK last Jimmy question. In Rio he made some headlines talking about this… Do you think he can play in the NFL?
Johnson: [laughs] Don't start that, man. Jimmy is already all over Demaryius Thomas. Like, these are guys that we know. He's having a great time with that.
SI: Everybody's been having fun with it.
Johnson: But his size, to be honest with you, and with a lot of the NBA guys, it does translate. A skill position in football, it's about footwork, speed, acceleration, agility to change direction, and the ability to jump. So, you're telling me when you throw the ball up to LeBron and he's at the top of the backboard, adjusting his entire body at 50 miles per hour, and he's still putting the ball in hole... You're telling me you can't throw it up to LeBron on a go-route? Or a fade? Or a quick slant, just let him post up?
Nathaniel S. Butler/Getty Images
Football hypotheticals aside, basketball never really stops for Johnson. During the year, that means meeting with Jimmy, texting clients and fielding calls at 2 and 3 a.m., and watching games during the day. Even on the flight to Cabo, he said he'd watch a few hours of film. “I never get a break,” he told me midway through our conversation. “The only difference between being in the NBA and being an independent coach is that I never get a break.” It's borne out on Johnson’s Instagram; more than half the photos are from a gym somewhere.
What’s interesting is that player accounts aren’t that much different. Look at a veteran like LeBron. Or a rookie like Ben Simmons. Or look at Jimmy Butler and Jaylen Brown relaxing in Cabo. NBA workout photos came at least as frequently as vacation photos this summer. And if you want to understand why the league is producing more talent than ever, this seems like a good place to start. Or in our case, finish.
SI: You were in Vegas with Jimmy. How many other USA guys had trainers out there?
Johnson: Every player had somebody out there working with him. Or they stuck around after their practices and got extra work in with the other players, or the coaches. Like, say it's KD and Melo. They're like, "Well, your trainer's not here, but my trainer's here, come work with us." Guys will call you and be like, "Hey, you mind getting on the floor with me? My skill guy's not here, but I want to get on the floor for like 45 minutes to keep my regimen going."
SI: They’re all in the same mode out there.
Johnson: Yeah, those guys are putting in work. They stayed after practice, they get there before practice. Me and Jimmy would get up every morning and get our regimen in. And I brought players over from L.A. Doug McDermott, Taj Gibson, Jerami Grant was there for the select team. Victor Oladipo was there. They'd come at night. It just depends on the guys' schedules, and how bad they want to be in the gym. It's so competitive that if you let off the gas for one step, somebody else is right on your heels.
SI: Who else has impressed you around the league, beyond guys that you work with?
Johnson: One guy I had a great conversation with in Vegas was James Harden. He was working out with his skill guy. And I loved the fact that James was always in the gym. You didn't have to force him. It was 11 p.m. at night, and he was in the gym putting in work.
Andrew D. Bernstein/Getty Images
SI: That’s actually pretty surprising. I had no idea Harden was even in Vegas. Anyone else?
Johnson: Another guy, he's already on the bubble of being extremely special, but he still has some room to develop. Damian Lillard. He works his butt off. I watch him from a distance like, "Whaaaaaaat?" He's unbelievable. And a big guy that I really really like—well, I don't know if he's a big guy… He plays power forward but they run him a little at point power forward. Antedipo?
SI: Giannis.
Johnson: Giannis. I don't know him at all, I've never shaken his hand, I don't even need to meet him, but there's greatness in him. If he can pay attention to the details, he'll be an All-Star in the East. He'll make his team a playoff team every year. He's that good. When you look at making a cake, you gotta have the ingredients. You can’t make chicken salad without chicken. He's got length, speed, he can finish. If he gets the right attention, and I know the Bucks are doing it, but... Oh my god. You better watch out.
SI: I’m so glad we’re on the same page with Giannis. But bigger picture now, to go back a little bit… I grew up watching Rod Strickland in Washington. Shawn Kemp in Seattle. Even Allen Iverson in Philadelphia. These guys could dominate with pure talent. But now you look around the league, and it's hard to find a true superstar who's not working all year-round. Why do you think that changed?
Johnson: In my opinion, what's changed the game in player development is social media and technology. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Synergy... Not only in the United States, but globally. When you look at YouTube and you can see your peers working, you see if you're not spending time on your craft, you'll get left behind.
SI: Yeah, it seems like it’s part of the whole basketball culture now.
Johnson: Even my son, he's 9 years old, and he's watching Stephen Curry workouts. I'm like, "What are you doing? You're 9 years old." But he's in the gym with all the folks, he's meeting all these NBA guys. And then he's in there watching Steph workout. He says, "Well, when I work out, I want to know what's going on." That taught me a lot.
SI: The other trend that's dominant right now is rest. Even as guys work all year, teams and coaches have started realize how important it is to manage minutes and take care of their bodies. How does that translate to what you do?
Johnson: Let's say when the season's over. Most guys are done in April, some guys are lucky and they get to play a little bit longer in the month of May. I encourage all my guys to take the month of May off, and we'll begin training July 1st. So Jimmy, he's playing heavy minutes. I'll say, "Jimmy, you trust me, don't worry for the next 10 weeks. When I see you in July, I will be ready. But go and relax." He doesn't ever touch the basketball court.
SI: Do you ever have to tell guys to dial it back during the summer?
Johnson: Yeah, like Jimmy, we literally would get in a fight if I found out he was on the basketball court. And he knows it. He'll sneak and shoot jumpers. I caught him and Jaylen Brown playing one-on-one this summer, and I was like, "Jimmy! You supposed to be resting." And he's like, "Aw, I'm gonna just go sit down over here."
SI: Then when guys can finally play, when July 1st comes, what does the schedule look like? How do you guys ramp up for the reason?
Johnson: In July, the workouts aren't as intense. The level may be 75-80% intensity. It's more technique, it's more mechanics. It's less running, it's playing in certain spots. But once guys get to the middle of August, you start to work really work on that on-court conditioning level, so as you prepare for training camp, now they're starting to get their legs under them with conditioning. And as you push into September and training camp, everything should be clicking. You're getting ready, your timing is down, you're already in top f---in' shape. Your coach’s job is not to get you in shape.
SI: The work is already done at that point.
Johnson: Right. You're already in rhythm. So when other guys have been relaxing, on vacation, you're going to come back and kick their ass 99 percent of the time. And once you see it, It's hard to turn it off. If guys can put in the work and go kick your ass once, they're going to do it all the time.
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