Squeaky Johnson: A player on the rise.

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When you look at the roster of the Austin Toros, you don’t see household names like San Antonio Spurs’ players Tim Duncan or Manu Ginobili. What you will see is a roster of guys who are ready and willing to do what it takes to get a win. Carldell “Squeaky” Johnson is no exception.

Johnson has played with the Toros since the 2007-2008 season. His career numbers are 6.4 points, 3.9 assist, 2.3 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game.

Sure he doesn’t put up stand out numbers nor is he the “superstar” player you call a last-second shot for but what he lacks, he makes up in heart, leadership and dedication to the game.

In an interview with Project Spurs’ co-founder Jeff Garcia at the 2010 NBA Summer League, Johnson had this to say about his game:

“I gotta be more consistent on my outside shooting and knock down my open shots.”

Johnson doesn’t just say these things, he practices what he preaches and it shows up in his stats he is putting in work in the gym. Last season he proved to be a reliable ball handler, averaging less than one turnover per game and a reliable three-point shooter averaging 46% from behind the arc. Both of these stats were way better than the previous year at 1.98 turnovers and 37% shooting from three-point land.

When asked what he thought about being undefeated in summer league play he gave all the credit to the coaches.

“Great coaching man, they worry about the little things such as defense and help defense and let (the) offense take care of itself.”

Just another example of a player with great leadership and knowledge of the game.

In my opinion Johnson has earned himself the title “coaches player” as he is willing to start or come off the bench to help his team win and not complain one bit. These are the types of players the Spurs like to keep around which is explains why he is getting ready to enter his fourth consecutive year playing for the Toros.

He has a promising future and I for one look forward to him developing into a key contributor for the Toros this season. Given a few more years of developing, who knows, one day he just might get that call all D-Leaguers dream of getting.

4 COMMENTS

  1. I think that he will be a major contributor to the Toros this season. With players leaving and others possibly making the Spurs roster, someone will need to step up. I fell like when given the minutes, Johnson can and will make them count more this year than any other year in the past. He sees how it is paying off for others that he has played with and wants that same chance and he deserves it!

  2. When I interviewed him in Las Vegas, I can tell he is hungry to make it to the NBA. He is undersized but has lots of heart. He may not make it to the Spurs but he will find a team in the NBA.

    Jeff – Project Spurs

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