Raptors' Casey: Johnson ‘great person, great competitor'

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BOSTON - Whether it's talking to Raptors players, coaches, or fans, it's very clear that Amir Johnson was (and in some ways still is) a big part of Toronto and the Raptors family.

Often times a player and a team will part ways and that will be the last you hear of him around those parts. Sometimes, it's an ugly departure (think: Ray Allen in Boston).

But when the Raptors and Johnson went in different directions over the offseason, there were no hard feelings. In fact, it was - and still is - nothing but love between the two sides.

Business is business, and ultimately that's what led Johnson to Boston. But it wasn't before he made a huge mark on and off the court with the Raptors over this six seasons with the team.

Raptors head coach Dwane Casey saw Johnson earlier on Thursday, and admitted it was an emotional moment.

"You go through so many wars with the guy that you get to know him real well - the good and the bad," Casey said. "But there's a lot of good about Amir that we miss. He's such a great person as well as a hell of a competitor that you always have a fond soft spot in your heart for a guy like that."

I told him the only time I'm going to have a hard spot on my heart is at 7:30 to 9:30 or whenever that is, then we'll be friends after the game. We miss Amir but we wish him well."

Former teammates of Johnson's still in Toronto know how important he was to the team. DeMar DeRozan went as far as to say, "He brought everything together, man."

And just as the players miss him, so do the fans. Johnson may have been an NBA player and therefore looked upon in a different light, but he was sure to treat the people of Toronto as equals - and that's why it was so hard for them to see him leave.

"Because he went out and mingled with everybody," former teammate James Johnson said. "He treated everybody the same regardless of who he was and I think that's big. We overlook a lot of stuff like that. The stuff that sometimes we tend to overlook, he didn't."

There are some out there that feel the loss of Johnson could impact the Raptors' deep playoff hopes. If that's the case, their loss is the Celtics' gain.

"They're getting a great, great person," Casey said. "Great competitor, hard worker, great teammate, every adjective you want to give as far as Amir is concerned. Came into this league as a young high school kid, learned from some of the best in Rasheed Wallace and Ben Wallace and those guys in Detroit. Came and gave some of that knowledge to our young guys over the last four or five years. Again, it's a business. From both sides - his side and our side it's a business situation and I know the Celtics have a heck of a player in Amir Johnson."

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