| 21 February 2011
Andre Miller may be leaving. Devin Harris may be coming. But one thing is for certain - rookie point guard Armon Johnson is on his way back to Portland.
Johnson, who has flourished with the Idaho Stampede of the Developmental League, was re-called by the Portland Trail Blazers and should be available to play on his 22nd birthday, Wednesday night against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Prior to being assigned to the Stampede on January 27th, the 6’3” guard out of the University of Nevada played sparingly, having lost his backup spot to Patty Mills. He logged just five minutes with the Blazers in January, so to get Johnson some meaningful playing time the team wisely sent him to Idaho. And Johnson made the most of his time down in the D-League.
“It's fun to get some minutes,” Johnson said in the midst of his D-League stint, as reported by The Oregonian. “It's fun to be playing in games, competitive games. There are good teams down here in the D-League.”
While there, Johnson flourished, scoring 13 points or more all but once. In eight games, excluding his final appearance against the Utah Flash tonight, he averaged 17 points, four rebounds, and three assists in 27 minutes. Johnson came off the bench for all but one game, providing an extraordinarily efficient spark.
"Armon's been good. He came in and he's worked hard," Stampede head coach Randy Livingston said on February 8, before Johnson had done the most of his damage.
In helping Idaho to a 5-3 record he shot a blistering 61 percent from the field, averaging 12 field-goal attempts per game. Johnson scored 20 points or more four times, including three of his last four games. This stretch culminated with a 27-point performance in a win over the Bakersfield Jam, a game in which he turned the ball over only once in 33 minutes. Johnson shot 12-20 from the field, looking to drive to the basket and fine-tune his mid-range game, and scored five straight points during a game-deciding 12-0 run.
Getting consistent playing time has been important to Johnson, who, despite starring for the Stampede, acknowledged how tough it is being away from the Blazers. "I'm doing my best to embrace it and just be positive about it,” he said. “It's really hard for me just to ... be away from my team, you know?"
He will be back in the Blazers locker-room soon enough, back in the NBA atmosphere, but minutes will be hard to come by. Portland already has plenty of guards. Two point guards are ahead of him on the depth chart, shooting guards Rudy Fernandez and Wesley Matthews are hitting their stride on the wings, and Brandon Roy is returning soon. Given their depth, Johnson may be designated to the cheerleader he was prior to being sent to Idaho.
Coming off a stint worthy of a call-up, that would be a shame. After generating some noise during the preseason, Johnson lived up the hype before being leapfrogged by Mills. He scored in double-figures three times in early November, a spurt that began with a 10-point performance against Chicago. He ran the point superbly, turning over the ball just three times in those three games.
Whether Johnson plays or not for Portland is up in the air, but the rookie proved he belongs in the NBA and is now deserving of a long look - even if a trade takes place in the Blazers' backcourt before Thursday - from head coach Nate McMillan.
photo: daylife
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