Frank Johnson (basketball)

For other people of the same name, see Frank Johnson (disambiguation).

Frank Johnson

No. 15, 3
Point guard
Personal information
Born	November 23, 1958 (1958-11-23) Weirsdale, Florida
Nationality	American
High school	Lake Weir (Summerfield, Florida)
Listed height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Listed weight	185 lb (84 kg)
Career information
College	Wake Forest (1976–1981)
NBA Draft	1981 / Round: 1 / Pick: 11th overall
Selected by the Washington Bullets
Pro career	1981–1994
Career history
As player:
1981–1988	Washington Bullets
1988–1989	Houston Rockets
1989–1991	A. Ranger Varese (Italy)
1991	Marr Rimini (Italy)
1991–1992	Olympique Antibes (France)
1992–1994	Phoenix Suns
As coach:
2002–2003	Phoenix Suns
Career NBA statistics
Points	4,937 (8.3 ppg)
Rebounds	1,025 (1.7 rpg)
Assists	2,476 (4.2 apg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Franklin Lenard Johnson (born November 23, 1958 in Weirsdale, Florida) is a retired American professional basketball player and coach.

Playing career

After playing collegiately for Wake Forest University, Johnson was selected in the first round of the 1981 NBA Draft with the 11th pick by the Washington Bullets. He played point guard in the NBA for the Bullets (1981–1988), the Houston Rockets (1988–89) (he signed as a free agent with the New Jersey Nets, but they traded him to the Rockets before he played in any games for them). He also played for the Phoenix Suns (1992–94) where his principal role was to relieve star Kevin Johnson. He was selected from the Rockets by the Orlando Magic in the 1989 expansion draft, but was waived before the 1989-90 season started. He played 650 games in the NBA (regular season and playoffs), with regular season career averages of 8.3 PPG and 4.2 APG in 21.6 minutes.

He played professionally in Italy for Ranger Varese (1989–91, played in the finals of the Italian Championship in 1990) and Marr Rimini (Serie A2, 1991).

Coaching career

Johnson coached the Phoenix Suns for almost two seasons beginning February 17, 2002, before he was fired on December 10, 2003 and replaced by assistant Mike D'Antoni. The official reason for the firing was routine—the team had performed poorly in 2003-04--but at least one local news source reported that some of Johnson's personal behavior caused a minor scandal for the Suns ownership^{[citation needed]}. He had worked as an assistant coach with the Suns beginning late in the 1996-97 season under Danny Ainge and Scott Skiles before being promoted.

Personal life

Family

Johnson's brother Eddie also played in the NBA. He spent more than eight seasons with the Atlanta Hawks, and closed out his career with a stints in Cleveland and Seattle. Eddie was a three-time (1980–82) All-Star while with the Hawks, and is often confused with another Eddie Johnson (played for Kansas City, Phoenix, Seattle, Indiana, Charlotte and Houston from 1981–1998) from that time.

References

Preceded by Scott Skiles

Phoenix Suns head coach 2002–2003

Succeeded by Mike D'Antoni