If you’ve had the pleasure of watching Dallas native floor general Keddy Johnson going to work for the Bristol Flyers this season, then it’s hard to imagine this explosive 25-year-old hooper ever being overlooked.
When he was a youngster growing up in Texas however, the American insists that was the case and that it took him a long time to realise the life of a professional player would be possible for him.
After an emphatic 32-point performance in his return from injury against the Surrey 89ers over the weekend, we caught up with Johnson to discuss his hoops journey thus far.
“When I was younger I thought I was a good player, but when things like the rankings came out in high school I was always overlooked,” The 6’3” guard said.
“It took me going to junior college and really having that opportunity to showcase what I can do for me to really understand my potential.
“I think if you were serious about basketball growing up in American then you paid attention to the rankings. They didn’t really mean anything, but every kid wants to see their name on those rankings and be considered one of the best in the state or the country, and I was no different.
“I wasn’t ranked as highly as I thought I should be in high school. I had no ranking at all nationally and in the state of Texas I was something like 74th amongst all players. I remember seeing who was ahead of me thinking I was better than the majority, so that motivated me.
“I’ve always been pretty confident as a player, but once I reached the JUCO level with the numbers I was putting up my confidence just continued to grow and I dialed in to the reality that this game was what I was going to be doing for the rest of my life.”
A seamless transition
In his second year at the elite level of professional basketball in the UK, Johnson followed in the footsteps of the likes of Great Britain international Tarik Phillip (former London Lion) and Jaysean Paige (former Newcastle Eagle) in graduating from the West Virginia University and making a splash in the British game.
The Mountaineers have nurtured several incredible hoopers in their time, including all-time NBA great Jerry West, and Johnson discussed how his grounding in the NCAA with the team helped make his jump to the professional level as straightforward as possible
“The standard in the conference that I played in the year before turning professional was at the elite level.
“Pretty much every guy in my conference that year is now overseas, in the NBA or the G-League, so that gave me a great grounding in what it took to compete and meant when I came to Bristol the adjustment was small.
“We had guys like Cade Cunningham (Detroit Pistons) there, who was the number one pick in the NBA Draft that year. Miles McBride is enjoying a great year with the New York Knicks and I competed against him a lot in college. Marcus Sasser (Detroit Pistons) is from the same city as me, and we’ve spent several summers playing and competing together.
“All of that gave me a lot of confidence that I could make a smooth transition to the professional game and I’ve enjoyed the experience here in Bristol a lot so far.”
Learning to lead
An impressive first year in the professional ranks saw the 25-year-old Johnson establish himself as one of the best floor generals in topflight British basketball.
Despite having to endure a significant period of time on the sidelines after suffering a mid-season injury, the point guard bounced back towards the end of his rookie campaign to lead the Flyers into the playoffs with momentum.
“I matured a lot throughout the year. Our coaches would tell me a lot early in the year that it’d take me a few games to adjust to the pace and understand the league, and they were right as after five or six games I really felt like I was finding my rhythm.
“Some bad luck with injuries meant I was out for around three months in the middle of the season, but it helped me a lot to have that time off the court to prepare myself mentally for tougher times and learning how to react when adversity hits, and when I came back to the court I felt like I brought a new energy and more confidence with me.
“This year I’ve tried to be more of a vocal leader. When Coach Kapoulas told me this year I was going to have the responsibility of being the lead guard every game I worked hard on building my leadership style, learning how to motivate guys, deliver messages the right way and be constructive, and I’ve enjoyed that experience so far.”
Taking on the Trophy
Returning from injury last weekend in style with a 32-point performance in a hard-fought win for the Flyers over Surrey, Bristol followed that up with a 2OT victory over Brno in midweek in European competition.
Momentum is starting to build for Coach Kapoulas’ side ahead of a crucial weekend in the SLB Trophy semifinals, where Johnson and his teammates will take on the Cheshire Phoenix. The American guard discussed his team’s progress in recent weeks and the mindset ahead of their Cheshire showdown.
“We’ve got a lot of room to grow but I’m excited about that. With a lot of teams in the league they’ve kept most of their roster from last season, but we’ve got a lot of new faces so that takes time to come together. We’re seeing signs of everything starting to click right now and with that we’re just going to get better and better.
“We have a big two games this weekend with the Trophy semifinal against Cheshire and we know they’re going to be a big challenge, but we’re ready for it. It’d mean a lot to me, my teammates and everybody here to get to a Final for our fans, and we go into the weekend wanting to be successful for them.
“As a team we’re just out for blood every night and we want to win more than anything. We’ve taken some tough losses so far but you have to go through those experiences to learn how to win and we’re just starting to find our rhythm more and more so we’re going to keep growing and hopefully the wins will keep coming with that.”
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