Back to the Denver Nuggets Newsfeed

Nuggets newcomer Cam Johnson’s path to NBA stardom paved by hard work, smarts: ‘He’s savvy’

Mike Rodriguez needed to find 10 hoopers, and fast.

It was Easter Sunday, 2014. Rodriguez was the boys basketball coach at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart High School outside of Pittsburgh, and one of his pupils had an unexpected new suitor reaching out: University of Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon.

“He just happened to be flying out of town, and we’re close to the airport,” Rodriguez remembers. “And he says, ‘Hey, I want to swing by to see Cam on my way. Is he working out today?'”

Of course, he could swing by, Rodriguez responded.