Joe Johnson's impending Free Agency

[Jamaaliver]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/chris_mannix/11/12/johnson/index.html?eref=sihp

Sounds like JJ is PLAN B for alot of teams. Should be interesting. And with all the talk of JJ in NY if Lebron goes elsewhere, I forgot D'Antoni was JJ's coach back in PHX.

I really think he'll be back; and that he just wants to experience unrestricted free agency one last time. If I was in my prime and had a chance to be courted by half theteams in the league.....I'd definitely want to experience it.

This is probably his last max contract, too.

[azuresou1]

He doesn't deserve a max, and I wouldn't give him a max if I were Rick Sund... especially if he keeps whining about self play, and then plays more selfish than anyone else on the team.

[LL Cool Scott]

It will be interesting to see if he gets a max deal. On the one hand, there's not many 2 guards out there that do more on both ends of the floor. On the other hand, he's not good enough to be the #1 option on a true championship contender and a lot of teams are losing money.

My guess is we wait him out and sign him at a good value like we did with Josh Smith.

[JustAwesome]

Kind of funny how all of the writers are talking about Johnson being a second option for a half dozen teams in free agency. However, they never really talk about him signing another deal with the Hawks. It's almost as if they believe that he's as good as gone.

[raleigh]

Articles about second-tier players signing in second-tier markets don't sell...

[dms269]

He doesn't deserve a max, and I wouldn't give him a max if I were Rick Sund... especially if he keeps whining about self play, and then plays more selfish than anyone else on the team.

Of course he is going to play selfish, he was to up his stock and get a max deal.

JJ's situation is worrisome. I know some people feel fine with having Crawford as a replacement, but I think we need more. If we lose him, then we could be up a creek without a paddle.

[azuresou1]

That's terrible though, because he'd up his stock a lot more if he didn't ballhog and nearly shoot us out of games, and instead actually became a leader and conducted an offense. TBH I wouldn't sign him for 4/60, or even 4/55.

This isn't Joe's team anymore. It's Josh and Al's team.

[evildallas]

I still don't see how anything has changed since summer. Back then the math supported that Joe wouldn't sign early unless given full max because the odds were too great that he could cash in next summer. Come next summer the options will probably be these:

Accept a deal to stay in Atlanta.
Accept a outright deal to become a sidekick with a team like Miami or Chicago (maybe Dallas uncertain on their cap).
Accept a outright deal to become the #1 for a rebuilding team like NY or NJ (New Jersey has much better pieces).
Or a Sign and Trade deal with us getting something back.

Barring injury, the likelihood is that he'll be getting a max deal. Whether that is a smart decision I'm not sure. He's picking up a lot of mileage and while he can look like he did in the 4th against Portland he can equally look impotent by not being able to create space to get his shot off or get to the basket (last year's Cleveland series).

I'm interested in seeing if the pressure of playing for a contract affects him as the season goes on.
If Atlanta continues to flourish, how are we any

[johnny878]

i dont think its the end of the world when joe leaves. as much as he helps the offense sometimes, he also kills it with all his ballhogging. it seems like nearly all of his assist come from dump off passes when there is only like 2 seconds left on the shotclock, forcing someone else to jack up a desperation shot.