If Jordan Needs a Lift, It Can Bank on Him

Seeing a high school basketball player use the glass backboard to make an outside shot is about as rare as spotting a head coach wearing a tie.

Two-handed dunks, between-the-legs dribbling, chest bumps, headbands, baggy shorts: those are the trends in gymnasiums these days.

So it was the strangest sight a week ago at Los Angeles Jordan when 5-foot-10 senior guard Chris Johnson made two bank shots from the wing position.

Even more baffling is that Johnson never played organized basketball until he arrived at Jordan as a freshman, so there was no way he practiced bank shots growing up at the Jordan Downs housing project adjacent to the school.

“I wouldn’t consider shooting a bank shot,” Johnson said. “It’s not cool unless you call it.”

So how come he’s shooting bank shots at Jordan?

Finally, the secret was exposed.

His coach, Van Myers, attended a John Wooden basketball camp as a youngster. Wooden stressed the importance of the bank shot, and Myers passed it on to Johnson.

“It’s an easier shot going off the glass,” Johnson said.

Johnson has helped Jordan win its first 14 games and emerge as the only unbeaten team in the City Section. He is averaging 24.4 points and has scored 20 or more points in every game but one. The Bulldogs are 7-0 in the Eastern League heading into today’s game at L.A. Roosevelt.

Myers is proud of Johnson, who gets good grades, stays out of trouble and aspires to play college basketball.

“He has overcome tremendous odds,” Myers said. “He’s a positive story that needs to be told.”

Johnson deserves special praise for keeping his focus on long-term objectives despite constant obstacles standing in his way.

He lives with his aunt at Jordan Downs, which has 700 units reserved for low-income residents.

There’s something ominous about the sound of gunfire being dismissed as part of your every day life.

That’s how Johnson views his daily existence, where teenagers are exposed to shootings and drug dealings.

“You hear gunshots all the time,” he said. “It’s so often you get used to it.”

LAPD Captain Sergio Diaz, commanding officer of the Southeast Division, said, “Most people who live there are good people, but they are besieged by a criminal element. It is not an exaggeration to say the level of violence and gun play is above the norm. It is especially challenging for a kid to grow up in an environment with a lot of gang activity.”

Johnson is using basketball and education as his escape route. He said people don’t bother him because they know “what I’m about.”

“I’m about going to school and trying to do well for myself,” he said. “I just want to get out. I want to better my life. There’s not much stuff you can do with just a high school diploma.”

Johnson has no contact with his father, but Myers tries to guide him. Myers taught him basketball fundamentals and honed his game.

“I always had a jump shot, but I had to work on my creativity with the ball,” Johnson said. “I was determined to get better. I saw all these people playing. I had to work hard and practice hard.”

Myers would take Johnson to Victoria Park, where some of the best pickup games in Los Angeles are played. He’d watch Bryan Harvey of Compton Dominguez and get a feel for what skills were needed.

He helped Jordan reach the final of the City Section Invitational tournament last season.

The most impressive part of Johnson’s makeup is his hunger to succeed.

Asked what keeps him out of trouble, Johnson said, “It’s not hard because I have basketball and school.”

He’s an 18-year-old who listens to his elders, as demonstrated by his willingness to shoot the bank shot.

Eric Sondheimer can be reached at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.