The Ignite offer the talented teenagers an introduction to the N.B.A.’s circadian rhythm without everything on the line, as could be the case when Johnson joined the league.
“This G League team is actually helping getting these guys ready to go play pro first, which we didn’t have,” Johnson said. “We just got thrown into the fire, and they get to learn and then go, which is dope. They can have that N.B.A. schedule where you got to wake up, and travel, and go to shootaround.”
When Johnson joined the N.B.A., players could find themselves at the mercy of a franchise’s commitment to development, or its lack thereof.
The Chicago Bulls, for example, acquired the big men Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry out of high school in 2001, hoping they would lead the franchise out of its post-Michael Jordan hangover. The Bulls offered playing time, but little development or direction in acquiring life skills.
In Detroit, Johnson found the opposite. He joined a championship-level team of 30-year-olds with families and of established post players like Rasheed Wallace, Ben Wallace and Antonio McDyess.
The Pistons, Johnson said, helped him learn life skills by helping him in apartment hunting, teaching him how to manage a bank account and helping him get his driver’s license.
He received few minutes on the court but was willing and ready to listen and work, the individual effort folding into the momentum of an entire team. It was a quality that Johnson had cultivated as a youth when he participated in track and field, his original sports love.