Did Johnson makes the right call?
Did Joe Johnson make the right call on not signing a contract extension with the Hawks? Time will tell. But you can bet the topic will be debated daily until the end of this Hawks season, when he becomes an unrestricted free agent.
HAWKSVILLE – Much has been and will be made about Joe Johnson’s decision to bypass signing an extension with the Hawks and become a free agent at the end of this NBA season.
And rightfully so.
In the minds of us common folk, the idea of staring down $60-plus million more dollars seems laughable in these harsh economic times. But Johnson is not one of us (common folk), and there are at least $70 million reasons for that. He also has something professional athletes have maybe once or twice, if they are lucky, in their entire careers — LEVERAGE.
By playing out the final year of his deal he’ll become a free agent in the summer of 2010, joining guys like LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in a deep free agent class that has as many as a dozen different (financially capable) teams around the league salivating. So in that regard, he’d have been crazy to sign an extension for just four years if he stands to get not only another year but millions more by becoming a free agent next summer.
My email was flooded Tuesday afternoon by people wondering what JJ was thinking. Fans of the Hawks, writers from around the league and concerned citizens all wanted to know why he’d so such a thing. My response to everyone was the same, why wouldn’t he maximize his leverage at this time? Teams do so all the time when their players are free agents. In recent years the Hawks have had Josh Smith, Josh Childress, Marvin Williams, Mike Bibby and Zaza Pachulia play out the final years of their deals without an extension. In almost every case things have worked out well for both sides.
It’s simply a part of the business of basketball that Johnson explained to me the other day. He could have saved his words. I get it. I don’t assume that his loyalty is somehow in question because he turned down the offer, the same way I don’t (always) question a team’s loyalty when they allow a player to finish out his deal before deciding just how much they want to invest in said player for the future. Again, it’s called leverage.
The reality in all these instances is pretty clear, you have a player for the life of his contract unless a decision is made to change that dynamic. And it’s always for better (JJ) or worse (Flip Murray’s deal was just one year), through sickness (or injury in Speedy Claxton’s case) and in health (Smith has been as durable as any player I can remember through the first five seasons of his career).
I dare anyone to suggest that the Hawks haven’t squeezed every ounce of benefit they could out of having JJ on the roster – he’s got the mileage on his body to prove it if anyone wants to inspect the tread on his tires. He’s been to three straight All-Star games and for at least the better part of his first two years he carried this team on his shoulders as the youngsters grew up and learned the nuances of the NBA game. That’s why it’s so hard for me to digest some of the venom pointed in his direction now.
As I suggested in a comment on the previous post, the idea of a highly motivated All-Star in the prime of his career itching to take his game to another level (for any reason) is an ideal situation for your team. As good as JJ has been in the past, you have to think he’ll be even better this year with the seasoned and talented roster the Hawks have in place, not to mention the quality additions to the roster like Jamal Crawford and Jeff Teague in the backcourt and Joe Smith and Jason Collins in the frontcourt.
It’s the same argument made here by many when Smith, Childress, Williams and the like were put in a similar position as pending free agents in the final year of their respective deals.
Whether or not JJ made the right call for JJ remains to be seen. And we likely won’t have a solid answer until next summer’s free agent frenzy plays itself out. But there’s no way the Hawks can lose in the meantime. No way.
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366 comments Add your comment
Big Ray
October 3rd, 2009
10:07 pm
KevinA ,
Glad to know I have, in some finite way, enriched your blogging experience. And rum is great stuff
. Written many a blog or post under it’s effects, lol!
richbrave
October 3rd, 2009
11:25 pm
doc:
Remember my asking you about J-CRIT injuring himself in ATLANTA’s summer league? Here’s the upshot.
Crittenton Out At Least Two Weeks
Javaris Crittenton didn’t know what to expect when he had an MRI on Friday, but he knew that the pain in his left foot had become so unbearable that he couldn’t push through any longer. After arguably his best practice this week, Crittenton was shut down for the final minutes of practice. And, after the MRI revealed what he already knew — that he had a double bone bruise and a strained tendon — Crittenton had to accept that he would be out of action for at least two weeks.
“It’s frustrating,” said Crittenton, who originally hurt himself playing in the Atlanta Pro Am league in late July. “I wanted to come out because it’s training camp and we got a lot of guards. We got to compete. But it’s one of those injuries, you’ve got to give it time and let it heal, because if you keep playing on it, it could be a potential surgery or it keeps nagging you throughout the season, then I can’t play. I decided to sit it out and let it heal.”
Crittenton, wearing a protective boot, is still smarting over how the injury occurred. He said that his team was nursing a 12-point in the final minute and he was milking the shot clock when his defender came charging at him to pressure the ball. Crittenton said he dribbled around him, but the defender stepped on his heal, pushed down then fell on top of him.
“I should’ve gotten out the game,” Crittenton said, shaking his head. “I thought it was a tweak at first. I tried to get up and walk and I fell back down. I had to be carried off the court. I knew it was serious. But I didn’t know it was going to keep me out this long.”
Crittenton said he wore a protective boot while in Atlanta and upon his return to Washington but his foot never healed properly. He hadn’t done any conditioning until the day before training camp. The grueling schedule, with two-a-day practices, eventually took its toll. “I felt a little bit of soreness in pain over the days, but I’ve been able to make it through every practice,” Crittenton said. On Friday, “I had to sit down, I couldn’t really do it anymore.”
Our man has no luck. With FOYE and MILLER in the house, he’s headed out the door. DAMMED shame. I saw lots of good things in his play for the WIZ last year. Some team ought to tap him for PG behind a starter, and a solid back-up. If he could stay in a system for awhile, he just might learn something, and become a standout. I think he has the ability.
Samuel
October 4th, 2009
5:39 am
Say No to “Bootleg” tournaments. These guys are stupid as Hell. Why risk millions at these pickup games back home. Work out yes but save the competition until when it counts.
Stupid As_.
bigdave
October 4th, 2009
6:33 pm
…?
bigdave
October 4th, 2009
6:34 pm
meanwhile… back at the ranch…
richbrave
October 4th, 2009
6:34 pm
SAMUEL:
I’m sure CRITTER agrees with you — NOW!!!!
richbrave
October 4th, 2009
6:39 pm
BIG RAY:
Say hey RAY. ‘ZUP in the ATLANTA mean streets? BRAVES done, I’m back for awhile. Where’s doc and ANDO?
richbrave
October 4th, 2009
6:44 pm
BIG RAY:
FLASH’s point about BROWN knowing how to utilize his talent and SAUNDERS being clueless in that regard makes me break out in a sweat over the ‘ZARDS. Not that last season didn’t leave a clammy chill on my bones. I see the anointed one is out already, but with a broken finger rather than his knee. That hasn’t really been tested yet. I wonder if anyone really believes GILBO will pick up where he left off two years ago, and be a super-star after THREE knee jobs. No way IMO.
niremetal
October 4th, 2009
7:06 pm
Richbrave,
I think Arenas thinks he can pick up right where he left off, and that he’ll shoot accordingly. That, combined with the atrocious frontcourt that Washington has, could make for a very long season. And I’m still waiting for someone to tell me who exactly will play on-ball defense for the Wiz besides Oberto…
Big Ray
October 4th, 2009
10:54 pm
Richbrave ,
What’s up, man? I really feel bad for Crittenton. I think he’s a good kid and a good talent. He’s gotta get a break somewhere, sometime. I hope, anyway. Doc is around, he’s saving his verve for the regular season. Ando is around (I think), and we’re doing the fan blog again. It’s called Hawks Fan Nest now.
I wouldn’t sweat it too much with Flip Saunders. He’s a decent/good coach. He couldn’t optimize what he had in Detroit, but then I’m not sure anybody outside of Larry Brown really could. Popovich or Sloan, maybe. Or Rudy Tomjanovich. Maybe even Pat Riley. Flip wasn’t in the best spot, but he did have those guys winning. They just couldn’t stay at the very top of the Eastern conference. Not that Joe Dumars was a big help…
Nire ,
I wouldn’t wait on that…
Ariose
October 4th, 2009
11:02 pm
Shaq can go eat corn chips o_0
We’ll run his arse ragged!!!!
kc15aa
October 5th, 2009
5:06 am
He does not show up in playoffs and always plays well when we are up. Take a look at the facts ATL.
Daniel
October 5th, 2009
9:01 am
What’s up crew? Hope everyone had a good weekend.
Ray- sorry about that, I guess I was in a stirring things up mood. I know you were just teasing with me, but I actually do feel bad about going after truth-serum. If I think he is being inappropriate for insulting other people, how am I any better by insulting him?
So that being said, I would like to apologize.
Daniel
October 5th, 2009
9:07 am
In terms of the VC vs. Tuk debate: Obviously, we will not really know how it will work until the season starts. VC is very talented, probably has more skill than Turk in some ways. I am one that tends to believe that the move will hurt the Magic. Turk is a better facilitator and his size really created problems for other teams when playing with Lewis. I also think that the Magic WAY over paid for Gortat. But, the addition of Bass can really change that teams ability to score in the post with either him or Howard cleaning the boards off the back side. I think the addition of Bass more than makes up for any possible drop with the VC move. I think Orlando or Clevland is the team to beat in the East. Boston is most likely (didn’t say it would happen) to drop out of the top three.
hock
October 7th, 2009
1:28 am
Why did he need to comment on this situation now and thereby create a season-long distraction? Oh well, this team isn’t going to win the East anyway.
LAKERFAN007
October 7th, 2009
9:48 am
Joe has lost his mind. No other team will pay him that kind of money. He is just a good player. Not a franchise player or anything like that. He was lucky with this past contract of 70 Million over five years. Let him go and use that cap money to get WADE or somebody better than him.