Whenever the subject turns to the embarrassment of riches that will hit the market in July, names like LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Amar’e Stoudemire are tossed around frequently. Rarely is Johnson’s name included on those lists.
It should be. Johnson’s accomplishments are impressive. He has averaged at least 20 points per game in each of the last four seasons and is averaging 21 points through eight games this year. He led a young Hawks team to its first playoff appearance in nine years in 2007-08 and helped Atlanta advance to the conference semifinals last season.
“He’s a very, very good basketball player,” said Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni, who coached Johnson for 1½ seasons in Phoenix.
via Hawks’ Joe Johnson an NBA free-agent prize few are mentioning – Chris Mannix – SI.com.
As blank-canvas as all the free agents are in the interest of not risking tampering, lowering their value, or causing trouble, even among that group, I feel like Johnson’s harder to read than others. For instance, if the Knicks can’t put together a squad to entice LeBron, he’s not going, because he wants to win AND be a global-icon (or perhaps the former is the only gateway he sees for the latter). With Wade, you can tell that winning is the most important element to him. He had too much of the sweet nectar early on and now is fiending for it. But Johnson, you can’t really tell. He wanted to stay in Phoenix, but he wanted to be the man, but he’s not really outspoken, but he seems to constantly be unhappy with the win totals…
I look at Johnson and see the possibility of a younger Ray Allen type scenario. Could you not see Johnson shocking everyone and taking less money to go somewhere and be a part of something amazing? Then on the other hand, he’s really close to his Arkansas roots and doesn’t seem to want to go far from the South. Seriously, more than anyone, Johnson’s the X-Factor in 2010.
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