Joe Johnson Not A Max Player

Joe Johnson is not a max-deal player, there I said it.

Joe Johnson's that guy in the middle if you care.

With all of the discussions about the class of 2010 and the meetings between players and the recruiting trips teams are going on to get them we have sort of lost a sense of what these players have actually done and what their true worth really is.

We know that Dwyane Wade is the only champion of the bunch. We know that LeBron James is the only two-time MVP in the group and with Dirk Nowitzki they are the only players other than Wade to be in a final.

We also know that Paul Pierce is 32 going on 40 as we saw in the playoffs, we know that David Lee and Amar’e Stoudemire could guard a bottle of Knob Creek bourbon if their lives depended on it and we also know that Joe Johnson is the most overrated member of the group.

Did any of you watch the playoffs this past year? Joe Johnson played worse than any guard looking for a max-deal that I have ever seen. He shot 39% for the playoffs including a horrid series against the Magic which saw him go for 13 points and four assists a game while shooting 29.8% from the field.

Johnson has watched his scoring average dip from 25 points per game to 21.3 points per game in the last three seasons. His assists have decreased as has his free throw attempts per game.

Another big red flag to consider, he’s a 29 year-old shooting guard. Shooting guard are like running backs, once they hit a certain age their productivity decreases and their effectiveness dwindles. Keep this in mind Hawks fans, when Joe Johnson hits the fourth year of his deal when it increases to over 20 million a years he will be 32 years old, look at the production of Paul Pierce, Ray Allen after the age of 32. Look at the decreasing production of Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter since age 30, do you want to pay a player who is better off as a role player 20 million dollars a season until he’s 35? I would hope not.

Yet here are the Hawks offering a huge chunk of salary that they could use to pay Al Horford or Josh Smith or even the actual face of their team Jamaal Crawford to Joe Johnson. Johnson would be a fool not to rob the Hawks blind of 12o million dollars over 6 years. However that’s only because the Hawks are the even bigger fools of giving it to him.

Numbers Dont Lie… The Hawks Are Terrible

Yeah Joe, it's that bad.

I would put up stats to show how bad the Atlanta Hawks have played. I could describe how Mike Bibby has faded into oblivion or how the bench is trapped in some black hole or vortex, I could tell you that Joe Johnson is potentially playing himself out of millions this offseason with his terrible play… but let’s be real; you can see that in the scores of the series:

114-71, 112-98, 105-75 all Orlando all the time. Sometimes simple numbers explain the story more so than in depth analysis and for this series you can tell just from the box scores how pitiful the Hawks are playing. The bench scoring besides Jamal Crawford? 6 points. The starting backcourt? 6-22, 15 points, 4 assists. Outrebounded 51-34, 35% from the field, 27% from three, IN OTHER WORDS THE ATLANTA HAWKS HAVE NO BUSINESS PLAYING ON THE SAME FLOOR WITH THE FLORIDA GATORS LET ALONE THE ORLANDO MAGIC!!! THIS ISNT A SERIES, IT’S A SLAUGHTERFEST!!

“A tough, ugly loss,” Hawks guard Joe Johnson said. “Embarrassing.” Which loss? The 40 point beat down, the fourth quarter fade away or this horrific performance?

“It’s just not there,” Al Horford said. “The guys know what we have to do. It’s just frustrating when the effort isn’t there.” That might be the biggest understatement of the year. The Hawks left it all in the Milwaukee series where honestly the Bucks would’ve been a better opponent for the Magic. How does a team that wins 53 games in the regular season, 34 at home, and had a realistic shot at the Southeastern title look like a JV team compared to the magic.

It has to start with Mike Woodson. If Johnson is playing himself out of money then Woodson is coaching himself out of a job. This is the second consecutive postseason that Woodson’s Hawks were taken to the brink in a first round series against an inferior opponent and were blasted in the second round by a far superior opponent. If you want to consider yourself a player in the league and a contender every year, performances like these are more than unacceptable, they’re irreprehensible.

“I thought in Game 2 we really came out ready to play and competed, and lost it at the nine-minute mark of the fourth quarter,” Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. “But tonight was just unacceptable, and I have to take responsibility for that as coach. I’m not happy with our play, it wasn’t called for, and I don’t think anybody saw it coming.” We should have. The Hawks have always been inconsistent and lackadaisical on the floor, but most time their talent gets them out of trouble. Um, not this time. The Hawks have dug themselves such a hole they might as well face plant themselves in the dirt and take a five month nap.

As for the above mentioned Joe Johnson? “It’s basically on me. I just tanked on being aggressive and was just taking the shot when it was there,” Johnson said. “Them getting off to great starts and sustaining it for 48 minutes, somehow, someway we’ve got to come out with a burst and try to sustain that the whole game.” It has to start with Johnson. Not to compare anyone to Lebron James, but Johnson should’ve taken a look at James game three performance as a blueprint on how to rebound your team from back to back lackluster games in the series.

James came out like a house of fire looking for his shot and facilitating the action for his teammates. The Celtics didn’t have a chance with a fully motivated James at the helm. Johnson was the exact opposite. He shied away from contact and settled for shots as he stated. For a guy that is supposed to be a max level player come free agency time, he has certainly played like a second banana, a poor man’s Lamar Odom if you will.

You can blame Johnson, Woodson, the backcourt, and lack of rebounding or whatever. Blame it all on everyone involved. The Hawks are about to get bounced from the playoffs again, in embarrassing fashion again. If you want any more proof of how bad things are for the Hawks are right now, look no further than this analysis from Michael Cunningham of the Atlanta Journal Constitution, “Watching the Magic run their offense and then watching the Hawks try to do the same is like seeing two teams who play in different leagues.” You see. You don’t need stats to tell you how bad they are, heck two lines might have been too long as well.