USA calls Hawks' Johnson SACA's Howard, Tech's Bosh invited to national team tryouts By SEKOU SMITH The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 03/06/06 Atlanta will be well represented on the USA Olympic basketball team with a former high school player, a former college player and a resident pro selected Sunday for the 23-player roster. Hawks guard and co-captain Joe Johnson, Toronto Raptors and former Georgia Tech player Chris Bosh and Orlando Magic forward and former Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy player Dwight Howard were asked to try out by USA Basketball. A roster of 15 players will compete in the world championships this summer in Japan with the ultimate goal of putting U.S. basketball back on top in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. While the official announcement didn't come until Sunday, Johnson has known for weeks that he'd be a part of the group. For most people, it would have been impossible to keep a secret that big. But not for Johnson, the NBA's least talkative budding star. Containing his excitement about potentially being a part of an Olympic team, however, is another story. "I told them all they had to do was let me know where I needed to be and when to be there," Johnson said. "There was no need for a sit-down or any convincing. To be honest with you, I was looking forward to it. I knew that's where I wanted to be." An NBA player willing to surrender his summer to try out for a basketball team qualifies as news in this day and age. It's an even bigger deal for Johnson, who was traded 48 games into his rookie season and considered by some a disappointment after being taken 10th overall by Boston in the 2001 draft. "I think everything happens in due time," said Johnson, who will join Bosh, Howard and the rest of the players for a training camp/tryout in Las Vegas in July. "I'm not bitter about anything that's happened in the past, because I think it's all played a part in me getting to where I am right now." Johnson's career is definitely on the upswing. He leads the Hawks in scoring (19.8) and assists (6.5) and is quickly developing a reputation as one of the league's most versatile and dangerous late-game performers. He also has shown that he can carry a team, a task he has performed with fellow Hawks co-captain Al Harrington. The Hawks are 19-39, with six more wins than all of last season. "Joe has been our all-star this year," Harrington said. "He has been big when we needed it most, and I think that's the biggest compliment anybody can pay to a player." And there's likely more to come. "This is just Joe's fifth season," Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. "I don't care who you are in this league, if you're a young guy, there is going to be a major learning curve. Being moved the way he was early in his career, that's a part of the business as well. But Joe has grown up. His last three years [in Phoenix] were great. And on winning teams. "I'm sure Boston, when they drafted him, were hoping to get the kind of player we have now. And I still think he's going to get better. I think if we add a few more pieces around him, the sky is the limit." Woodson and Hawks general manager Billy Knight decided Johnson was worthy of running the floor game for the Hawks. And Woodson thinks the same things that make Johnson a perfect fit for the Hawks are what make him so attractive to the folks at USA Basketball, who need players capable of excelling in the international game. "The fact that Joe can do a little bit of everything is what struck us," said Woodson, who will present Johnson with a Team USA jersey in a brief ceremony before Tuesday night's home game against Golden State. 資料來源 http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/hawks/stories/0306ushoops.html --

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