After a disastrous playoff exit, it was questionable whether or not Joe Johnson (number 6 on the Big Board) would be back with the Atlanta Hawks. Well, it's not so questionable anymore. After some flirting with a few other teams (including the Mavericks), Johnson signed a 6 year, $119 million deal to stay with the team he's led (?) for the last few years. After the way Johnson (and the rest of the team) crumbled in the playoffs, I personally wondered if he hadn't cost himself some money. Obviously not. Johnson is not a player worthy of a max-contract but some team (possibly including the Mavs) would have given it to him and so Atlanta was kind of stuck. The truth is, Joe Johnson doesn't really want to be in Atlanta and Atlanta isn't really dying to have Joe Johnson on the team (at least not at that price). For a guy like Johnson, who doesn't have the off-court notoriety of some of the other big name free agents nor the endorsement money that comes with it, the extra year on his contract is a big deal. At the same time, Atlanta is not ready to rebuild and not in a position to attract a big name capable of leading their team. So the result is an unhappy marriage that will almost certainly end in Atlanta trading Johnson for cap relief as this will be considered one of the worst contracts in the sport.
I kind of feel bad for Johnson. He's always seemed like a nice guy and a good player. The problem is he's just talented enough to be considered a franchise guy you can build around but not talented enough nor possessing of the correct disposition to actually be that franchise guy and lead a team. He's an All-Star type of guy that you end up paying superstar money. Allan Houston was a prime example of this for New York. Great Second Banana, terrible Alpha Dog. He'd be much better off as the Robin to someone else's Batman. There's no way he can possibly live up to the expectations that come with this deal and it will eventually be the end of this relationship.
Grade: C
No comments:
Post a Comment