Johnson Is Shining Bright for Suns

Kevin Johnson is making Phoenix forget that the Suns traded Larry Nance to Cleveland.

Never mind that Kevin Johnson isn’t even the best point guard named Johnson in the NBA.

Never mind that Nance is a two-time All-Star, including this season for the Cavaliers, who have the best record in the league.

Never mind that Nance, who turned 30 last month, lends the hand of experience to a team that barely made the playoffs last season.

What should be remembered is that Kevin Johnson, who just turned 23 a week ago, already is among the best point guards in the NBA and may be the quickest.

Last year’s trade that brought Johnson to the Suns and sent Nance to Cleveland is being hailed as the best of all possible deals--one that improved both teams.

“The Cavaliers have been outstanding; they have moved up to another level,” Suns Coach Cotton Fitzsimmons said. “The Suns have done that, too. We’re 16 games over .500 after missing the playoffs three straight seasons.

“This deal benefitted both teams.”

“It was one of the greatest trades of all time,” Johnson says. “They have the best record in the East and we have the second-best record in the West, and both teams are happy.”

Johnson came to New York last week with the city’s newspapers full of praise for the quickness of rookie Rod Strickland, who had 20 points and 14 assists against Chicago in his first start in relief of injured All-Star Mark Jackson.

Although Phoenix lost to the Knicks, Johnson had 31 points and 11 assists and ran circles around Strickland.

Here was Knicks coach Rick Pitino after Strickland finished with six assists and as many fouls as points against the Suns:

“Rod Strickland is quick, but Kevin Johnson is lightning.”

Johnson is averaging 19.4 points and is third in the league in assists with 12.1 per game, trailing only John Stockton and Magic Johnson.

And those numbers have been going up. In February, when he was the NBA’s Player of the Month, he averaged 24.5 points and 13 assists.

Unquestionably, Nance has been valuable to the Cavaliers, but Johnson filled a historical gap at point guard for the Suns.

He set the Suns’ single-game record with 21 assists on Feb. 26 and broke Jay Humphries’ single-season assist mark after just 53 games. While Johnson is averaging more than 12 assists, no previous Suns player has ever averaged as many as eight.

Johnson’s outstanding performance in February was no accident.

Although he didn’t make a scene about it, he admitted he was disappointed at not making the All-Star team, especially after Magic Johnson was injured.

“Anytime things don’t go your way, you have to make it work for you,” Johnson said.

In the three games just preceding the All-Star break, Johnson had 35 points and 13 assists, 19 points and 12 assists and 34 points and 18 assists.

But Johnson went into the season with far fewer expectations than Fitzsimmons.

“I expected a lot of Kevin,” the coach said. “Going into the season, I wasn’t concerned about him being too young. No one has more speed or quickness than he does. No one has a bigger heart.”

“He told me that a lot, and I started to believe him,” Johnson said. “I thought it would come more gradually for me. But he gave me confidence in myself.”

Some NBA point guards with the talent to score are reined in by their coaches for the good of the team. Chuck Daly at Detroit believes the Pistons can’t win with Isiah Thomas scoring more than he does, for example.

Not so Fitzsimmons.

“Coach wants his point guards to score a lot,” Johnson said. “I try to keep the ball distributed well, but we play such a fast-tempo game that I can keep everyone involved and still score myself.”

Phoenix is the only team in the NBA with four players who have scored 40 points in a game this season -- Johnson, Armon Gilliam, Tom Chambers and Eddie Johnson. A fifth Suns player, Jeff Hornacek, has a season high of 32.

“He knows how to get people fired up,” Suns assistant Paul Westphal said. “For a second-year player, it’s unbelievable that he’s come in and done so well. He’s our offense.”

At age 23, Kevin Johnson is also the Suns’ future.