Bulls' new draft pick more friendly than intimidating

The first thing that stands out when meeting Bulls first-round draft pick James Johnson in person is that he's not a scary guy.

By all rights, he should be intimidating and at least a little mean. Johnson is a black belt in karate who measures 6-feet-8 and 257 pounds.

One reporter Monday even referenced the fact that Johnson could beat up most NBA players if they met in the ring.

Johnson responded by promising to keep the two sports separate, and if an opponent wants to get rough, he'll gladly accept the free throws.

There was no sign of scowling or false bravado. If anything, Johnson displayed an outgoing, friendly personality when introduced at the United Center. In fact, the son of an ex-marine, answered one line of questioning with a series of, "Yes, sirs."

"You come into (martial arts) thinking, 'Yeah, I'm going to be the next Bruce Lee. Nobody's going to mess with me,' " said Johnson's oldest brother, Joseph, who made the trip to Chicago. "But you definitely learn discipline. James and my brothers are all very respectful. I attribute a lot of that to the martial arts."

The Johnsons sound like one of those crazy, unconventional families that get picked for the reality TV show, "Wife Swap."

Johnson's father Willie, the ex-marine, is a seven-time world kickboxing champion who runs a martial-arts facility in Cheyenne, Wyo. Inside the house, Joseph said his mother, Vi, ran a tight ship.

There are eight brothers in the family, all black belts, while the youngest child is the only sister. She's a blue belt, but, at age 10, she has plenty of time to move up.

"You got mad at a brother, you just went to the ring and fought," James said. "That's how you got it out. I grew up getting toughed up, roughed up and hating to lose. That's how we all were."

Joseph counted six bedrooms at the family house, so there was plenty of room kick and throw. Asked if there was a family room with holes in the walls, James responded, "The whole house had holes in the wall."

The Johnson kids were at the gym five or six days a week, with no off-season. In that environment, they learned to kickbox well or get left behind.

"There were times we'd go to karate tournaments and from my littlest brother to my dad, we would have first place in every black-belt division," Joseph said. "If you took second place, that was the joke of the family. 'Oh man, you got second place - you can't sit with us.' So it was very competitive."

Besides earning his black belt and rolling up a 21-0 record in martial arts competitions, James Johnson was an accomplished wide receiver on his high school football team. But he got a late start in basketball.

According to Johnson, he didn't join a basketball team until eighth grade, but then made the varsity squad as a high school freshman.

A Wyoming connection put Wake Forest on his trail early in the recruiting process, and in his second year of college Johnson averaged 15.0 points and 8.5 rebounds per game.

His highlights are impressive. Johnson's outside shot needs to improve - he went 29.6 percent from 3-point range at Wake - but he handles the ball well, can create his own shots and is an excellent athlete.

"I remember him saying (several years ago), 'I'm going to the NBA.' I knew he could do it," older brother Joseph said. "When we got our black belt, it was an eight-hour test of exercise. Once you accomplish that, you know you can accomplish anything."

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