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SoCal High School & Prep Report

San Diego Report: Ron Johnson--Helix High's
Senior Point Guard--(February 20, 1998)

Our newest "link" to the San Diego area is the Helix High Boys' Basketball team site, provided by Helix' assistant boys' basketball Coach, Paul E. Smith. We were talking with Paul the other day about doing an interview with Helix' three-year starting point guard, Ron Johnson (6'-0" Sr. PG), and with 17 year head coach John Singer, as Helix, which just recently capped the season by winning the Grossmont South League Championship, gets ready for the playoffs. With the seedings and pairings for Division I San Diego playoffs coming up this Sunday, we thought it was time to introduce the rest of SoCal to Johnson and a provide some information about what he's accomplished the last three years as Helix' starting point guard.

Helix was 22-4 overall this season, and 7-1 in league, and is currently ranked 6th in the County by the Sportswriters' Association, and 9th by the Union Tribune. In the past three years, the team has won 61 games with Ron as the starting point guard. Ron has definitely turned into the team leader according to other players on the team. According to his backcourt mate, senior guard Blake Patterson, "Ronnie is the one who sets the tempo for all of us. Whether it's by his great defense, his scoring or just the force of his intensity, Ronnie sets the tone for the game."

At 6'-0" and 180 lbs, Johnson has decent size, and a very quick first step. He can shoot, drive and go to the hole, and he is a smart passing point. This season he's averaging 16.9 points per game, shooting 48.7% overall, and is averaging 7.2 assists per game as well, helping his teammates create opportunities. And for a guy who's "only" 6'-0", he's rebounding very well, averaging 4.8 rebounds per game, another by-product of his ability to penetrate offensively and defensively. And just to prove that some players can do everything well, Ron is also averaging 3.2 steals per game which is the product of his excellent harrasing defensive skills and his extremely quick lateral moves and ability to get up and down the floor with tremendous speed.

The result of all these great stats is that Ron was named the San Diego Union Tribune's Prep Athlete of the Month for January 1998. And he's pretty deserving if his performances this season are the benchmark. Most games this season, he's been well over double figures, and some games just stand out more than others: In a game against Kearny, he had 25 points, shootingt 11 for 12 (91.6%) from the field, and also had 8 assists, missing the triple double by only two assists. Against Grossmont High, he had 18 points, 9 assists, and 5 steals, in what turned out to be the best battle of the season between two of the best teams in East San Diego County. In a game against Valhalla, at Valhalla, Ron scored 20 points, 11 assists and grabbed 8 steals, again two steals short of a triple double. And in the League Championship game against Granite Hills at Granite, Ron scored 27 points, pulled down 11 rebounds and passed out 6 assists.

Ron is not only a "passing" type of guard, he's a good penetrating guard, with the ability to beat a defender with a good cross-over, a strong finish to the basket, and the vision and ball-handling skills to know when to pull up for the J and when to drive. And his ability on the court in games has carried over to the practice sessions as well, and is, well, almost infectious, especially with some of the younger players on the team. According to sophomore forward William Waggoner, "Ron's got a great work ethic. He’s always trying to get me to work harder in practice."

And as we noted above, we managed to track down Head Coach John Singer to get some more insight on Ron, and he had quite a lot to tell us. We asked him how Ron campares to other guards playing in San Diego County this year, and he told us "I think athletically, there is no one better than Ron. He’s only played basketball for four years, and had not played at all before starting high school. He's just improving and getting better all the time."

Singer believes that Ron's pure athleticism, strength, speed and desire to become a better player are his greatest strengths. "He has great willingness to work to be the best," said Singer. "He has great practice habits and his off- season work ethic was terrific. He just practiced constantly during the off-season." He was also proud of Johnson's off-court behavior and demeanor, telling us "He sets a great example for all of his teammates and for the kids coming up through our program. Ron gets to the gym every morning at 6 am, and works a couple of hours before going to class. He sets a terrific example."

Singer thinks that Johnson just may be the most "coachable" of any of the players that he's coached at Helix. " He relates very well to his teammates, to the coaches, and to our fans, and has a great understanding of the game, fine ball-handling skills, good speed, all the things you look for in a point guard. And better yet, he doesn’t really try to glorify himself. For him it's all about the team winning, and not an individual player becoming the star."

Singer is not surprised at the attention that several schools have been showing in Johnson, but wonders why more D-I and D-II schools haven't expressed more interest. "I think it's just that most of the college coaches are unaware of the level of basketball played here in San Diego, because we don't get much media coverage. I think Ron can and will definitely play at the next level," said Singer. "He always goes to class, works hard, and has good grades. He's always willing to be helped and he's the kind of player any coach can work with."

Singer also spoke about Johnson's openness to learn or to try new things. "I think that's one of the things that will make him a great college player," he said. "He can learn a new offense quickly and assimilate that knowledge and pass it on to the others on the floor without much difficulty. He's a real asset to our program."

Finally Singer told us that of all the players he's coached over the last 17 years, he'll probably miss Ron the most. "Ron has been the one guy in the last two years who always comes into my office and talks to me," said Singer. "He talks about what he needs to get better at; about classes; about life-type stuff; and he comes to listen too."

The lessons he gets are not always pleasant, but more often than not he comes away with generally constructive criticism. Singer told us that "Johnson handles that real well and always wants to know what else he can do to make himself and the team better."

"I'll really miss him next year," Singer said. "He's going to make some college coach very happy for another four years."