Interview

BJ Johnson’s big interview to Championat.com

American forward joined Lokomotiv in the summer, but became a star of the VTB United League much more before.

In Russian, you may read the whole text HERE. And were do publish the original.

Do you remember how you decided to become a basketball player?
I started playing when I was four. I got a basketball hoop for Christmas. That's pretty much it. My mom played basketball, my dad played basketball, so it's pretty much a family thing.
Is it true that you have attended the same school as Kobe Bryant?
Yeah. My first year there, which was 2010, he donated a bunch of money so we could have a new gym. The gym is named after him, Kobe Bryant Gymnasium, so it's pretty cool.
Wikipedia says that you have withdrawn from your first NBA draft. Is it true that you decided not to take part and stay one more year in college. Why?
They changed the rule that when you're in college, maybe my junior year, that you could go work out for teams, and then depending on what they say, you could go back to school and still be able to play in college. But going into that year, I had an injury I was dealing with in my wrist, so I just took my name out just so I could take care of that.
Then, in your first game in the NBA, you scored 11 points.
Yeah. I actually tied a record for most shots without a miss. For the first game, I made my first four shots, so it's pretty cool.
Do you still think of coming back to the NBA?
I just live in the present. I don't really put too much thought into it. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, it is what it is.
You have also played for the USA national team. How was it?
I mean, it's just a dope opportunity to play with some of the best guys in America to represent the country. It's always a blessing and I'm thankful for the opportunity.
Did you score a lot in this game?
I think I averaged 13-14 points. [Actually, it was 16 and 15.]
How did you decide to move to Russia?
I mean, just go where basketball takes you, I guess. Parma presented me with an opportunity, and at that time I didn't really like any of my other offers, so I'll stick to it.
What was your first impression when you arrived here?
When I first got here, it was pretty new for me. I've been to other countries before, so it was just another journey for me. But once I got to Parma and got to get around the city, it was just another city.
Did Parma have a chance this last season to beat Loko in the playoffs?
I think every game we went into, we thought we could win. But last year, we just got the best of it.
Was it hard for you to decide to move to Loko from Parma?
Not really. I think through basketball I get to provide for my family. I had a good season last year in Parma. This year I got the opportunity to take care of my family again, and it just happened to be in Loko.
What were your impressions of Krasnodar?
I like Krasnodar. Where I live is downtown, so there's a lot of things there for my family to do, a lot of good restaurants, a lot of shopping centers and things like that, so it's pretty cool.
Is your family in Krasnodar now?
Yeah.
How do they like it here?
It's fine. Again, where I chose to live was they played a factor in that. Just having a lot of things for my daughter to do, my wife to do, and just them being comfortable.
What do you do when you have some spare time?
I'm probably just spending time with my family. Maybe playing some video games.
What kind of?
I play Call of Duty, Madden college football, things like that. I play everything for real. And then watch shows.
Do you watch sports?
Well it's football season back in America, so I try to watch as many football games as I can. NBA games when that time comes.
Do you have a favorite football team?
Eagles from Philadelphia.
It was the Olympics a month ago. Did you watch it?
I watched most of the basketball games. My daughter is into gymnastics, so she made me watch a little bit of gymnastics. A lot of track events.
Soon after you joined Loko, the new head coach Andrey Vedishchev was introduced. What do you think about this?
I'm just here to play basketball. It's not the first time I've been somewhere where we had to change the coaching staff. I think they signed me for a reason, just because they know what I can do as a basketball player. They just want me to play my game and help the team in as many ways as I can.
Did Loko' staff set any goals for the season?
I mean, we finished fourth last year. I think we want to be better than that.
What do you personally expect from the upcoming season?
I'm just going to be the best that I can be and try to help my team win as many games as possible.
Do you have some rivalry in the league? Maybe it's personal or the team you want to beat?
I don't really think so. Not yet.
What can you say about the Krasnodar crowd?
I feel like it was a decent crowd when I was here just because it was in the playoffs. But I think at the end of the day we're going to play basketball, regardless of if there's a thousand fans or no fans.
There's a lot of very young players in the team now. Are you okay with this?
I mean, last year in Parma there were six or seven young guys. We have a lot of talent here in Loko. Old guys and young guys and for us to win, we all got to be together.
Loko played 7 preseason games and have won only 3 of them. Does it somehow affect the atmosphere inside the team?
I don't think anybody here expects it to be easy. The games we lost, we lost to good teams, but we also showed that we could play with the best teams here. We're still trying to figure it out, still trying to get adjusted to playing basketball with each other. Once we figure that out, we should be fine.
One of the results was a draw with Turk Telekom. Have you ever had a draw in a basketball game before?
No, that was a little different, a little crazy to me. Again, both teams were playing to get better and figure out their teams. They'd be in a friendly match every day.
What is the main thing you work on in the training sessions now?
I think we, as a team, are just trying to get comfortable with each other. There's six or seven guys from last year that are still here, and then there's six or seven new guys. I think we're all just trying to figure out how to gel with each other.
Do you see the progress in this?
Every preseason game, I feel like we corrected something. Even when we lost, we got better at something.
The next question is about the game against CSKA. Loko looked pretty cool most of the game. What happened at the very end?
CSKA is a good team. They got the same team from last year. For 40 minutes, they just played one way, and it kind of wears you down, wears you down, wears you down. I think us just being fresh with each other and not having the experience that they have, being together, I think down the stretch we just made a couple of mistakes and they didn't.
Quite the opposite thing happened against Besiktas. Loco had a great run in the fourth quarter. How did it look from the inside?
I feel like we could beat anybody. Most of the games we lost this preseason was because we made mistakes. I don't think it was so much more of the other team making us do things. I think we just got a little sloppy at times. Against Besiktas, down the stretch, we weren't as sloppy and forced them to make a couple of mistakes.
Were you excited when you were invited to the All-Star game the previous season?
I mean, I don't really care that much about it. I'm really not a fan of the All-Star game, but it's always an honor just to be recognized by some of those guys.
You also were recognized as the MVP of the month. What does it mean to you?
Again, I really don't care too much about it. I think if we didn't win games, if we didn't go six and all that month, I wouldn't have got MVP. Me winning MVP has just as much to do as our team being successful.
Can you name someone your best friend in Loko?
My best friend? I don't know. I feel like Americans are really close. For the things that I know, we're away from home. So being real close to them just makes it easy and makes it feel like we're back home.
You seem to be a very calm guy. Am I really calm or maybe you hide some fire inside you?
I feel like off the court I'm calm, but on the court I feel like it's just a switch, like a different guy, like an alter ego. For the most part, I just stay to myself. I'm not busy.
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