If Joe Johnson exits the Hawks, would you be OK with that?
Would Joe Johnson follow the bouncing ball out of town? (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
I’m going to the Hawks game with Dallas tonight — and we’ll have our usual live chat, so please join in! – but I wanted to broach this topic. I keep hearing that, of all the big-name free agents who come on the market this summer, Joe Johnson is the most apt to change clubs. (Everyone seems to think JJ has interest in going to Chicago to become the new MJ.) And I’m wondering: How would you feel if he did?
There has been, I submit, something of a Joe Backlash this season. (I’ve contributed to it, I’ll admit.) The Hawks’ best player has been scrutinized in a way he hasn’t before, which is what happens when a bad team gets good: First you see the promise, and then you start picking nits. But he’s still their best player, and there’s really no way, at least as I see it, to fill his spot if he takes some other team’s money.
LeBron James isn’t coming here. Neither is Kobe Bryant. Neither is Dwyane Wade. Chris Bosh might, I suppose, but I don’t know where he’d play. (Bosh at power forward would mean Josh Smith moves to small forward, and do you want him on the perimeter with a greater license to hoist jump shots?) Losing Johnson wouldn’t be tantamount to starting over — the Hawks do have a talent base — but it would mean retrenching. And this team is too close to something big to take even a baby step backward.
That’s how I see it. You might well have a different opinion. That’s why we have that little white “comment” box below. Please avail yourself freely, and I’ll be back early this evening. And I thank you in advance.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
89 comments Add your comment
JM
February 26th, 2010
5:32 pm
Need to try and re sign JJ, but if they are unable to do so, gotta get another guard that can score besides Crawford. NBAdraft.net currently has the Hawks drafting Dominique Jones, 6′4 SG from USF. It’s going to be hard to find a guy with experience like JJ. He’s a guy that can win a game for you in the 4th. He wants the ball and will usually deliver.
Jon Contract
February 26th, 2010
5:36 pm
You said
1. A center, people come on Al is good but he is 6 ft 8
I say
He is definitely not 6ft 8″, He is 6′ 10″ and 250lbs which is plenty big enough
GT/Falcons fan
February 26th, 2010
5:49 pm
I think we should try to keep JJ, but not at the price we paid. he is a cornerstone of our rebuilding process, plus I dont c a lot of other out there who can fit the bill other than D Wade, who is said will not b coming here. On a side note, listened to u today on the radio defend ur article re CPH @ Tech. IMO, u have been MOPRE than fiar to CPH, and the radio personalities and all the listeners agreed. i think he should be fired and would be if not for thea silly contract. I want him gone. But….think about this. Next year we will have a guard heavy team with a couple of thin skiiny white boys in the paint to dish it out 2 the 3 guard, 1 forward offense we will probably run. Remind anyone of any team in so so recent memory? Does the name Big Bird, Muhammed or Elder or jack come to mind? I never thought Id say it but I think next years team will be BETTER @ Tech than this yrs. Just insert names Sheehan/Shenscher, Shumpert/Elder Udofia/Jack c where Im goin? Go hawks Go jackets!!!
Freshmaker
February 26th, 2010
5:57 pm
I’d really like for JJ to stay with the Hawks, and I believe he will. He’s finally got a good nucleus of talent around him, and we’ll be able to offer him the most money. If he does bolt, I wouldn’t necessarily rule out bringing Wade in. The Hawks are a lot more talented than the Heat, and are a lot closer to a championship (though obviously not knocking on the door). Sure Wade is likely to stay with the Heat (and obviously would if they could sign Bosh), but you never know.
GT Miguel
February 26th, 2010
5:59 pm
I keep hearing about how different it would be if we had drafted Paul instead of Williams the other year. But I ask, would we have been able to draft Horford if we had drafted Paul? Is it fair to say imagine this team with Paul instead of Williams? Would we have been in the lottery that year? We would have lost that pick if it had not been a lottery pick due to a previous trade. So the real question is what’s better? Paul OR Williams+Horford? What do you think Mark?
tp
February 26th, 2010
6:02 pm
I didn’t like that trade for JJ in the 1st place. I being saying for some time now that we need to trade JJ to Toronta for Christ Bosh. Chris Bosh is a better scorer, rebounders and he will create havoc against Orlando, Cleveland, LA, SA and Boston in the low post. The Atlanta hawks have never been to the nba finals because they never had a player who could create havoc against the opposition BIGs.
This off season we need to sign Chris Bosh and draft Jimmer Fredette-pg. Yes, I said it right, we need to draft Fredette out of BYU. This kid is special. He is the purest shooters in this year’s draft. He’s a very good decision maker with very good vision and passing ability. He shoot 47% from the field, 49% from the 3 point line, 88% from the charity line and average over 5 assists a game.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6COcL1KaIUA 2011 lineup:
pg-Jimmer Fredette Fredette(rookie)
sg-Jamal Crawford
sf-Josh Smith
pf-Chris Bosh
c-Al Horford
Mark Bradley
February 26th, 2010
6:16 pm
Believe it or not, GT Miguel, one of the team’s many owners has made that same case: “If we’d drafted Paul, we wouldn’t have gotten Horford.”
I’d have taken my chances with Paul, though. And I think Horford is terrific.
Mark Bradley
February 26th, 2010
6:17 pm
Al seems a legitimate 6-10 to me, Jon Contract. Not many guys in the league make him look small.
Some Sense
February 26th, 2010
6:19 pm
With Joe J. as your “best” player, the Hawks are a test case for “What you see is what you get.” Something is missing from the Hawks. Let him go and see if what you get in return doesn’t serve better to complete the puzzle there.
Football Fan
February 26th, 2010
6:32 pm
Too bad Hawks didn’t get Ty Lawson in the last draft. He seems to be the great player that slipped to later picks.
RICHIE RICH
February 26th, 2010
6:40 pm
Even if we would have drafted Chris paul, Woody probably wouldn’t have played him alot, he always limits his rookies minutes, especially if they make a mistake then they don’t see the floor in forever!
As for JJ, he is as good as gone. There really is no reason for him to test free agency, no other team can pay him what the Hawks can pay him, so why go and see what the Knicks or the Bulls have to offer? He is just dodging the question in the Atlanta media when asked if he is going to resign or not……Me personally, I think he’s waiting to see what happens with coach Woody, if he comes back then Joe resigns.
drmaryb
February 26th, 2010
6:40 pm
Hello There,
We have to re-sign Joe! We need him more than he needs us. JJ is the most under-rated ALL-STAR in this league. Joe is not your average Bloate! This man does things that doesn’t show up in the stat-sheets. He is a terrific perimeter defender and play-maker. He leads this team in assists. He can rebound if needed and of course he can stroke the nets! This MAN is a 5-Tool player and so is J-Smoove now!
Not only this, but he loves the guys he plays with and they love him! Joe is a quiet guy – a silent assasin! He never complains and fouled on almost every posession, very mature young man.
So, yes, the HAWKS must resign this Guy! If not, we are definitely become a rebuilding team – overnight! Remember when Nique was traded for Danny-Fanny Manning? Nuff-Said!
Volman
February 26th, 2010
6:41 pm
Mr. Bradley…even if Joe left, we couldn’t sign anyone. We’re so close to going over the CAP…
Cmon now…no Bosh, Wade, or LeBron talk…
It’s Joe, or it’s nobody.
KevinA
February 26th, 2010
6:42 pm
First of all JJ is not our best player. Josh Smith is. We need to resign JJ. The money saved will not replace him with same talent level. We need to think young. Bibby is already toast and JJ may be good for another 3 years but probably not good for 5 or 6. We need JJ now but this just a short term fix. Anybody that follows Hawks ball knows we could use upgrades at multiple positions. Losing JJ solves none of them.
A trade next year or the following couple years works in a package for upgrades. Chills is in the same position. We need to sign him even if it just to trade. We have to get talent for talent.
Hawks Fan
February 26th, 2010
6:45 pm
I still don’t know how the hell the Hawks drafted Marvin Williams when they could have had Chris Paul
TheAntiMe
February 26th, 2010
6:46 pm
Bottom line: For the Hawks to have any shot in the near future at getting championship rings they need to be adding talent; not subtracting.
The one exception to this premise possibly should be the subtraction of a coach who has already had his eyebrows subtracted. That would make 2 subtractions, no, actually 3 subtractions (one for each eyebrow). All of this subtracting is making me tired.
Robert Nephew
February 26th, 2010
6:47 pm
Would I be OK with it? Well, the economy sucks, I’ve about depleted all my savings trying to hang on to my house, my wife can’t find a job, they’re planning to cut 5 days a year from my kids’ school calendar, my joke health insurance won’t pay for anything, and my car is about to break down, so I would have to say that, if Joe Johnson earns millions of dollars a year somewhere else instead of Atlanta, that would the 1,000,000,000th thing on my list of worries.
"Chef" Tim Dix
February 26th, 2010
7:34 pm
The problem is Joe’s slash agent/coach can’t get him the ball without him bringing it up. that’s the definition of Iso-Joe.
JawjuhBoy
February 26th, 2010
8:18 pm
If we had Moses Malone NOW, we’d win the championship.
NChawksFAN
February 26th, 2010
8:25 pm
Please tune in tomorrow for the next segment from Mark “GLOOM AND DOOM” Bradley!
Harry the Hat
February 26th, 2010
8:38 pm
“Mark Bradley If Joe Johnson exits the Hawks, would you be OK with that?” Yes.
Hawkman
February 26th, 2010
8:53 pm
Well all I can say is this. First of all, Joe isn’t the next coming of ‘Nique – as was suggested earlier on here. Dominique had more ability to dominate a game. Second…if he is the best we can do then we are going to be in the same boat as those ’80s Hawks were – second or third best team in the East while Cleveland and Orlando steal the show for the next five years.
Things being what they are, I hope that Josh Smith will take it to the next level on offense and Al will too! That is the only chance the Hawks have of winning it all – along with rookie Jeff Teague becoming something one day. I love Joe, but he has reached his potential, and it just isn’t good enough to outclass Lebron or Dwight for the East title.
That said, there is hope of Sund getting creative and somehow, SOMEHOW, finding us a true superstar. But then again, we have had our chances with Paul and so forth…oh well…
Hawkman
February 26th, 2010
8:58 pm
GT Miguel…Chris Paul is a Superstar the likes the Hawks have not seen. You have to take that over Marv and Al any day. The bigs are a dime a dozen for what we are getting out of Al and Marv. Don’t you think?
hoho
February 26th, 2010
9:38 pm
the last possesion the mav’s had in regulation had 5 seconds on the shot clock when nowitzki was fouled. mavs took a time out and then had the full 13 seconds left of regulation- what up with that? what’d i miss?
hoho
February 26th, 2010
9:42 pm
looks like the in-game bloggin’ is slow MB. game vibe seems strong, so enjoy phillips. but tell me wth with the shot clock on the last possesion in regulation (see above post)
hoho
February 26th, 2010
9:50 pm
who cares i guess. it shouldn’t come down to one point, but it often does. woody screwed up with the whole kidd thing. i guess the whole accepted thing of coaches actually being on the floor even though they’re not supposed to really bit him in the ass. That’s the second ATL coach who had an altercation (almost) with an opposing player- sweeeet (Mike Smith). I though woody was gonna drop the gloves. woulda been fine if we won, but….OOOPS- Bungling
keno
February 27th, 2010
12:39 am
I would be perfectly okay with Joe leaving. He deserves a city that will appreciate him and a team that can put players and a coach around him that suits his talents. And then when everyone gets to see Jamal as a starter, they’ll understand why teams are so willing to give him away.
Alan
February 27th, 2010
1:33 am
I’d be happy to see him go. That being said, he’s a great ball player. But if you want to know his negative impact on a team, do two things: 1) count how long he has the ball in his hands when he looks for his shot (HINT: It’s a long, long time) and 2) see how often he throws the ball ahead from the backcourt, or gives it to a player moving quickly down the court………..almost NEVER. He and Bibby both are good ball players, but both are dependent and accustomed to a slow down system. Even the superstars like Lebron and D. Wade look for push first. We need to have more of that mentality to take our young team to the next level.
rusty
February 27th, 2010
8:46 pm
alan
i agree with you 100 %. a pg could never run our offense jj wouldnt let him. we will never be a consistant fast break team with him or ever show a team which has good ball movement. he is not a
good defensive player,often snipes at the ball as quicker players leave him in the dust,doesnt hustle after loose balls & never wii give a hard foul on anyone on a fast break,often just runs away .
he is not a leader in any way. a lot of his assists come out of his ball hogging throwing the ball out to the perimiter with time running down.jc will often dish the ball to some one under the basket while he is quickly driving to the basket .let jj go & try to pick up bosh. the biggest move we have to make next year is to get a new coach
Duh?!
February 28th, 2010
1:09 pm
HOW DO YOU SPELL REBUILD?
Duh?!
February 28th, 2010
1:10 pm
Hawks Fan
February 26th, 2010
6:45 pm
HE IS NO LONGER WITH US1
Naim aka ATL FAN
March 1st, 2010
5:20 pm
HELL NO I WOULDNT BE OK joe johnson is da TIGHTEST NBA PLAYER OUT DERE AND MY FAVORITE!!! hes so humble and i cant see the hawks without him… HE DEFINSE THE HAWKS!!!
VickSwitchHitter
March 2nd, 2010
12:17 pm
This is one of the best, if not the BEST articles written by Mark Bradley and I think it is very relevant for Hawk fans to be thinking about it. Do you really know what a treasure Joe Johnson really is? Sure there are nights when he looks like hes not trying very hard, but many of you dont know what a grind an NBA season is like and just how grueling it is on the body. You are travelling in many cities each month and you have to continue to pick up and fly to many times on consecutive days. Its not easy for someone to adjust to that schedule and still be brilliant each and every night. I’m not making excuses for Joe, but I do think that he is one of the greatest nba players to ever play in the association. If the Hawks lost Joe, it would be analagous to the old Hawks losing Dominique Wilkins (currently a hall of famer). You simply cannot compensate for that loss. Also think about this. If Joe was traded away and the player we received for Joe was not as good as Joe, would the Hawks have a chance to acquire Carmello Anthony, LaBron James, Kobe Bryant or Dwayne Wade to compensate for the loss of Joe Johnson. Those are the only four players in the league who are better than Joe so keep in mind that if you lose Joe, HE IS LITERALLY IRREPLACABLE and the team will surely be worse if you let Joe go.
wesleywhatwhat
March 2nd, 2010
2:41 pm
i like joe johnson and i want to the hwaks to bring him back a t areasonable price if at all possible, but i agree with the comment from “Rich Mckay” – johnson does turn th eball over or miss badly when pressured to create a shot at the end of games.
crawford is a better end of game option to drive the ball, with johnson staying on the wing to hit an open 3.
LeslieNeilson
March 2nd, 2010
3:25 pm
The Hawks should be thrilled that there are other players other than all-star joe johnson who are getting publicity for playing great. Whats good this year is that the Hawks now have at least four go-to guys instead of one. JJ, Smoove, Horford and Crawford are legitimate go-to guys that you can go-to when the chips are down and the game is on the line. The Hawks used to have just one guy in Joe Johnson that they relied on when things got tough, but now these other 3 players have stepped forward and emerged as stars in the league. In addition, Josh Smith has had a monster second half, despite the fact that he was snubbed from the all-star game. Josh Smoove has been bringing it each and every night and has almost singlehandedly kept the hawks in almost all of the games. Without smooves contributions, the hawks would stink this year. Its nice that the Hawks can go to any of these guys when the game is hanging in the balance. This is also why the Hawks should win at least 50 games this season; a heck of an accomplishment for any team and also represents a championship threat.
JacobTurner
March 2nd, 2010
5:24 pm
I dont know why bloggers keep bringing up Chris Paul and how we should have drafted him instead of marvin williams or al horford. Of course, hinesight is always 20-20, but Paul is now someone elses property and of course he is great and he will likely be a HOF’er, but we blew our chance to get him and its time to move on from that. OK, we have mike bibby at point guard and although he is old and washed up, he still has games where he gets hot and helps us making 3s. Thats fine. We’ll take whatever we can get from Mike Bibby. We should, though, be letting the rookie Teague start right now, from the next game to the end of the year including the playoffs. The reason why is that we’re getting ABSOLUTELY NOTHING from Bibby so putting the rookie in WILL BE AN UPGRADE over Bibby. Let Teague play now and when the playoffs come, Teague may have enough experience by then to be the maybe difference in us winning the championship.
joab ab
March 3rd, 2010
4:37 pm
Granted it will suck tremendously if Joe does leave. But if you have someone like chris bosh come in. Move him to center let Al be at power foward and set josh at small foward.(saying he wont shoot but drive the ball) have crawford take joes spot( with big shoes to fill on the defensive end. and let marvin williams become a very effective sixth man because marvin has tremendous talent but hasnt broken out yet.
joab ab
March 3rd, 2010
4:40 pm
ok and this is to jacob Turner. ya bibby is old but hes been to the western finals multiple times and he is suppose to be the floor general run the point and the game not to score and not to be explosive just to run it.
Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA4) Healthcare Townhall Meeting – 08/10/2009 | World online health review
March 21st, 2010
3:30 am
[...] Say Joe Johnson leaves the Hawks. You OK with that? | Mark Bradley [...]