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 has played point guard in the NBA for the Bullets (1981-1988), the Houston Rockets (1988-89) (he has 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) and the Phoenix Suns (1992-94) (his principal role with the Suns was to relieve starting point guard Kevin Johnson when the star fatigued). He was selected from the Rockets by the Orlando Magic in the 1989 Expansion draft, but he was waived before the 1989-90 season started. He has 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 has 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--but at least one local news source reported that some of Johnson's personal behavior caused a minor scandal for the Suns ownership. He has 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 (basketball) (played for Kansas City, Phoenix, Seattle, Indiana, Charlotte and Houston from 1981-1998) from that time.