Daniel Johnson (basketball)

Daniel Johnson
Position	Centre
Nickname	DJ
Height	212 cm (6 ft 11 in)
Weight	108 kg (238 lb)
Team	Adelaide 36ers
Nationality	Australia
Born	3 April 1988 (1988-04-03) (age 23) Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Junior Association	Basketball Western Australia
College/University	Pepperdine University
Debut	2009
Previous Clubs	Melbourne Tigers (2008-2010) Adelaide 36ers (2010-present)
Career Highlights	Member of the Australian U19 team finishing 5th at the 2007 World Championship Attended the Australian Institute of Sport

Daniel Johnson (born 3 April 1988 in Perth, Western Australia) is an Australian professional basketball player currently playing for the Adelaide 36ers in the National Basketball League.^[1] Standing 6'11½" (212 cm) tall and weighing 108 kg (238 lb), DJ's position is centre although he is equally effective at playing power forward.

Junior career

Daniel Johnson represented Australia at the 2007 FIBA Under-19 World Championship in Serbia helping The Emus to 5th place overall with an 8-1 tournament record averaging 3.9 points and 2.6 rebounds per game.^[2]

College

In 2007-08, Johnson had a short USA College stint with Pepperdine University where he usually the teams starting centre. He played 21 games and averaged 9.4 points, 3.8 rebounds and 0.6 blocks per game for the Waves.^[3]

Professional Career

Johnson returned to Australia in 2008 and signed with NBL club the Melbourne Tigers as their 'Young Australian Player' for the 2008-09 NBL season. Making his debut for the club in 2009, he played 48 games over two seasons for the Tigers as backup centre behind team captain and Australian Boomers star Chris Anstey. He averaged 7.3 points, 3.1 rebounds and 0.4 blocks per game in limited court time with the Tigers and missed out on an NBL championship in 2008-09 when the Tigers went down three games to two in the grand finals series against cross-town rivals the South Dragons.

Following the 2009-10 season which saw the Tigers fall to 6th place on the ladder and miss the playoffs, the out of contract Johnson was recruited to the Adelaide 36ers by their new coach Marty Clarke to be the teams backup centre. Johnson played all 28 games for the 36ers in the 2010–11 NBL season and averaged 9.9 points, 4.3 rebounds and 0.7 blocked shots per game in 19.3 minutes played per game (NBL games are scheduled for 4x10 minute periods + overtime if needed), an increase on his career totals to date. In Adelaide's last home game of the 2010-11 season on March 18, an ankle injury to team captain and starting centre Adam Ballinger forced Johnson to play over 37 minutes of the game, more than double his average court time, against his former club Melbourne where he put up a career best 31 points, 13 rebounds and 3 steals in what was his first real dominant performance in the NBL.^[4]

In the first 25 games of the 36ers 2010-11 season Johnson had no starts and averaged 8.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 0.7 blocks in 17.1 minutes per game. Due to Ballinger's injury in the third to last game Johnson started in two of the last three games of the season and averaged 23.3 points, 12 rebounds and 0.3 blocks per game in 37.4 minutes court time over the last three games.

Daniel Johnson has played 76 NBL games averaging 8.2 points, 3.6 rebounds and 0.5 blocked shots per game.

Johnson, along with fellow 36er Mitch Creek signed to play with the South Adelaide Panthers in the Central Australian Basketball League during the NBL off-season.

In NBL pre-season games played in Tasmania in September 2011, the 36ers played the Illawarra Hawks in two games. Despite Adelaide losing both games (84-100 and 81-83) Johnson impressed starting at centre scoring 37 points in game 1 and 24 in game 2. He is widely tipped to be the 36ers starting centre in the 2011–12 NBL season.

After a slow start to the 2011-12 season with three straight losses, both DJ and Adelaide came good in Round 4 with a 100-92 win over the Perth Wildcats. Johnson top scored with 22 pts at 75% shooting, grabbed 6 rebounds and had 1 block and 1 steal in 31 minutes. For his effort in leading the previously winless 36ers to victory over the previously unbeated Wildcats, DJ was named the NBL Player of the week, the first 36er to win the award since Adam Ballinger in December 2009.^[5]

After starting the first 6 games of the 2011-12 season for Adelaide, Johnson is currently averaging 15.3 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.5 blocks in 27.3 minutes per game, almost double his career NBL stats to date showing his improvement as a player and currently has him among the early favourites for the NBL's Most Improved Player.

References

1. ^ "Daniel Johnson profile". australiabasket.com. http://www.australiabasket.com/player.asp?Cntry=AUS&PlayerID=104946. 
2. ^ 2007 FIBA U/19 World Championship
3. ^ Daniel Johnson Pepperdine stats
4. ^ DJ Stars as Tigers run down 36ers
5. ^ Daniel Johnson wins NBL Player of the Week

External list

• NBL profile

Persondata
Name	Johnson, Daniel
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	3 April 1988
Place of birth	Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Date of death
Place of death