JOHNNY ROGERS - 101 Greats of European Basketball

Johnny
Rogers
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A champ by any
measure
When in the summer of 1988 he
decided to move to Europe to
have more playing time, Johnny
Rogers probably never imagined
that he would only be back to his
native California occasionally to
visit his family and friends. He would live in Europe for
a quarter of a century after that between Spain, Italy
and Greece. He played in all three countries, got married
in Spain, and represented the Spanish national
team at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
Since 2004, the year he retired, Rogers has remained
involved with basketball in other ways. He
worked as an NBA scout while also becoming a color
commentator on EuroLeague.TV. He hosted a shooting
camp in Valencia for young players. Most recently, he
has been the Director of Pro Player Personnel for the
NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers.
After a good run at Stanford University and University
of California-Irvine (21.7 and 20.7 points plus 7.4
and 8.6 rebounds, respectively, in his last two years),
Rogers was selected in the second round of the 1986
NBA draft by the Sacramento Kings. In his rookie season
with Sacramento, he averaged 10.5 minutes and
4.2 points. His second year, after being traded to Cleveland,
he played in 24 games for 7 minutes on average
and scored 2.4 points. With a strong will to play, Rogers
crossed the Atlantic Ocean and decided to try Europe.
An offer from Real Madrid was good enough for him to
start his European adventure.
The year with Drazen
His first season in Spain started early because of
national cup games. Curiously enough, the final of the
cup tournament for 1989 was played in 1988. Eight
teams played the tourney in several towns in the Galicia
region, with Real Madrid eliminating Magia Huesca in
the quarterfinals, 88-64, and Joventut Badalona in the
semis, 99-74. That led to the dream final, Real Madrid
vs. FC Barcelona, being held in La Coruña. It was a clash
of titans, a game that half of Spain stopped to watch.
Rogers still remembered many details decades later:
“We got to the arena one and a half hours before
the game and the stands were already full,” he recalled
to me. “There was an unbelievable atmosphere. Barcelona
had the lead for a long time, but in the end, we
prevailed 85-81. It was my first trophy.”
The media of that time highlighted Rogers as the
man of the final. Drazen Petrovic, who had recently arrived
from Cibona, scored 27 points. But Rogers had 23
points on 7 of 11 two-pointers, 1 of 1 threes and 6 of 6
free throws, plus 6 rebounds. He was decisive in his 40
minutes on the court.
That same season, on March 14, 1989, Rogers won
his second trophy – and first at an international level –
with Madrid in Athens. In an unforgettable title game
of the Saporta Cup, Real Madrid beat Juventus Caserta
117-113 in overtime. The epic game had been 60-57 for
Madrid at halftime and was tied 102-102 at the end of
regulation. The game was marked by an unbelievable
performance by Petrovic, who scored 62 points. For
Caserta, there was the “Holy Hand” of Oscar Schmidt,
who scored 44. Rogers contributed 14 points in 21 min-
101 greats of european basketball
Johnny Rogers
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Vladimir Stankovic
utes. It was the European final with the most points,
230. With its 117 points, Madrid matched the record of
Partizan against Bosna in the 1978 Korac Cup final, but
that was broken later when Maccabi Tel Aviv scored 118
points in the 2004 EuroLeague championship game.
“It was an impressive game, an offensive feast, a
true show,” Rogers recalled. “Fernando Martin played
slightly injured and Drazen had to pull the wagon and
he did it in unforgettable fashion. Some criticized him
for being egocentric, but he did what he had to do. Drazen
was a great player, a natural-born winner. We beat
a great opponent that had a great team, not only Oscar.
Nando Gentile also hit 34 points that night.”
Despite his good year with Los Blancos, Johnny
Rogers didn’t stay in Madrid. His next stop would be
Pamesa Valencia. After a good season there (20.5
points) he played little in the following campaign due to
an injury. At the end of the season he signed for Philips
Milan and there, with Mike D’Antoni as head coach, Rogers
changed positions. Until then, he had played small
forward, making use of his excellent outside shot to
hurt rivals. But D’Antoni’s idea was to get Rogers closer
to the rim. Rogers was a modern player, versatile, capable
of running, jumping and scoring, almost the ideal
player for any coach. He also had a fighting character
and never played bad games. You could always expect
something from Rogers: points, rebounds, big shots,
fastbreaks and, many times, a good combination of all
of the above.
In the 1991-92 season, Philips had a good team –
Antonello Riva, Darryl Dawkins, Riccardo Pittis, Davide
Pessina and Rogers – and reached the EuroLeague Final
Four in Istanbul. But in the semifinals, it lost to Partizan
for the third time that season, although that was not
the biggest disappointment in Rogers’ career. After two
more years in Italy with Varese and Forli, and three more
in Spain with Murcia, Caceres and, again, Valencia, in
the summer of 1997 and with the title of “best Spanish
player of the season”, he joined the European champs.
He flew to Greece and signed with Olympiacos. He was
34 years old, but the best was yet to come.
Two titles with Panathinaikos
At Olympiacos, Rogers met Dusan Ivkovic and his
assistant, Milan Minic, the most important coaches,
together with Zeljko Obradovic, that Rogers would have
by the end of his career:
“I learned something from each coach I had, but
these three, together with my father Clifford, who
played college ball and was a coach after that, were the
ones that helped me the most,” says Rogers.
It was during his time at Olympiacos, from 1997 to
1999, that Rogers has the memory of his most painful
loss, which came in the fifth game of the final playoffs
series of the Greek League against archrival Panathinaikos.
Olympiacos was playing at home in front of its
fans, who were preparing a big celebration, but it was
not to be.
At 36 years old, when most players think about putting
an end to their careers, Rogers received an offer
from ... Panathinaikos! Obradovic, who had recently
arrived from Benetton Treviso, had started to build a
team to win the EuroLeague and reached the conclusion
that he needed an experienced player at power
forward. He wanted someone who could contribute
without needing a lot of minutes, a role that Johnny
Rogers fit perfectly.
“In Panathinaikos, I met many players whom I had
played against throughout my career: with Gentile I had
fought in that final in Athens; against Zeljko Rebraca
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with Partizan in 1992; with Dejan Bodiroga in our duels
in Italy; with Oded Kattash and Michael Koch in several
European duels,” Rogers said. “It was a great group of
people, people who spoke several languages but understood
each other perfectly. Friendships were born
in that team that last to this day. Also, we fulfilled the
dream of the Greens as we won the crown in Thessaloniki
against Maccabi 73-67.”
It was April 20, 2000, the last chance to win a continental
crown in the 20th century – and Rogers took it at
36 years old. He played 27 minutes, scored 4 points and
grabbed 2 boards. Just what Obradovic expected from
him. The following year, in the season of the two Euro-
Leagues, due to the conflict between FIBA and ULEB.
The only three powerful teams who chose FIBA over
ULEB were Panathinaikos, Maccabi and CSKA Moscow,
even though the Russian champ was not as powerful
in those days as it has been since. The three of them,
together with Efes Pilsen, reached the SuproLeague
Final Four in Paris, where Maccabi, led by Nate Huffman
and his 21 points, got revenge over Panathinaikos for
the previous year’s loss despite 27 points by Bodiroga.
Maccabi won 81-67.
For the 2001-02 season, all the best teams in Europe
got together again to play a single competition, the
EuroLeague. The Final Four that year – the first for the
new EuroLeague after a playoff series that Kinder Bologna
won over Tau Ceramica 3-2 decided the previous
year’s title – would be played in Bologna. Panathinaikos
reached the Final Four, but it wasn’t the favorite for the
title. Not even close. Things changed after its unexpected
83-75 win over Maccabi in the semifinal. However,
Kinder was waiting in the title game. The home team
was coached by Ettore Messina and had several stars.
It is true that many of its best players were still very
young – like Manu Ginobili, Marko Jaric and Matjaz Smodis
– but one could see a bright future for all of them.
The game started badly for Panathinaikos and at
halftime, Kinder was winning 48-40. But in the second
half, several Panathinaikos players took their turns
starring for the team. Young center Lazaros Papadopoulos
had 12 points, veteran Rogers added 7, and the
full orchestra was conducted by Ibrahim Kutluay with
22 points and Bodiroga, with 21. In the end, the Greens
won by the score of 89-83. Rogers, at 38 years old, was
European champ for the second time. The Greens also
won the Greek League, his first national league title.
It was a perfect time to retire, but Rogers still relished
more battles. He signed for Lleida, where he did
more than well in the Spanish League and the ULEB Cup
for two years. When he retired in 2004, he left behind
267 Spanish league games, averaging 16.6 points, 5.8
rebounds and an index rating of 15.6. His accuracy from
the arc was impressive, at 42%. He also made 56% of his
two-pointers and 85% of his free throws – no bad for a
2.08-meter big man. In the Italian League he played 113
games with averages of 20.2 points and 7.5 rebounds.
At Olympiacos, with whom he had reached another
Final Four in 1999, his averages were 15.5 points and
8.6 boards. At Panathinaikos, in his late 30s, he was
still able to score 10.0 points and pull down almost 4
rebounds per game
Johnny Rogers was a great player, but all of those
who know him would tell you he is an even better person,
a great teammate and a true friend in every situation,
a champion in every sense of the word.
101 greats of european basketball
Johnny Rogers
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