Acker: Catching Up With Former Blazers F/C Chris Johnson

Mike Acker of Rip City Project caught up with former Portland Trail Blazers forward/center Chris Johnson when the Minnesota Timberwolves were in town. In this piece for Willamette Week, Acker draws a nice contrast between the attention paid to Brandon Roy's return and Johnson's relative anonymity.

"I still see it as like a 10-day. That's just my mindset," Johnson says of his future as a professional basketball player. "You never know. Anything can happen anytime. You have to look at it that way. Like, control what you can, come in every day, bring all the positive attitude and bring a lot of energy."

Johnson might not be making the kind of money that allows a guy to smile about a medically-induced retirement at age 28, like Brandon Roy, but he's a testament to the fact that, in a professional sport populated by the prematurely rich, there are athletes in the NBA just trying to figure out how to make a living playing basketball.

"I'm actually happy with my path. It's different. It just shows the hard work and everything that is put into it." Johnson says. "[If] you have success, you can look back and say the path that you made it on is that much sweeter."

Johnson, 27, played with the Blazers during the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons.

-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter