<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Atlanta will test Phoenix's resolve with plans to sign guard Joe Johnson (right), a restricted free agent, to an offer sheet July 22. Phoenix would have a week to decide between letting Johnson sign with Atlanta or matching the offer's terms. Either way, Johnson, 24, would get a five-year deal worth close to $70 million, according to an NBA source and an industry source.</div> Source
wow thats a lot of money. why do i feel he is gettin overpaid if he signs with atlanta. joe johnson 70 million , i think thats too much
Nearly 14 million dollars for a player who put up 17.1 ppg and was his team's fourth offensive option last season? Shouldn't these contracts be reserved for NBA All-Star and franchise players? I've got a lot of respect for Billy Knight after he built up the Grizzlies, but I don't see where he's going with this team. Johnson is just another Shooting Guard/Small Forward. This lineup doesn't make much sense. PG - ? SG - Joe Johnson/Josh Childress/Boris Diaw/Salim Stoudamire SF - Al Harrington/Marvin Williams/Josh Smith PF - ? C - ? (BTW - When I say "?", I don't mean that I don't know who they have but rather that they don't really have anyone of significance.) I hope that this was just a move to call the Suns' bluff and try to put them in a difficult position cap wise, because it would make absolutely no sense for the Hawks to make this deal otherwise. The Hawks need a Center, and the best available Centers are Eddy Curry and Samuel Dalembert. The only reason why teams haven't really been persuing them is because their teams have said that they'd match the offers they got, much like the Suns said about Joe Johnson. So if you're going to take the risk of calling a bluff like that, then why not call the bluff on a player that could actually help your team?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Voodoo Child:</div><div class="quote_post"> PG - ? SG - Joe Johnson/Josh Childress/Boris Diaw/Salim Stoudamire SF - Al Harrington/Marvin Williams/Josh Smith PF - ? C - ? </div> Salim and joe johson can both play the point though not sure how well johson can but he can, and they will proabably move smith or harrington(if they dont trade him) to pf pg-Stoudamire sg-Johnson sf-Williams pf-Smith c-?? ^this is if they trade harrington which they said they wanted to do already
Josh Smith a PF...? He's like 6'8 and 230.. Plus he's not a physical inside player. If they are going to rely on him to be their PF for next year, you know why they've been a losing team for so many years. Smith is a SG or SF at best, and the thing is I don't see Williams being effective at PF either. IMO they are both 3's too small to play the 4 so it'll be interesting to see what they do with that log jam at 2 and 3.
Trade Harrington for a C. PG - Joe Johnson SG - Josh Childress SF - Josh Smith PF - Marvin Williams C - trade/free agent(Maybe Swift or Brown)
jj is very effective at the point, and that's what he's gonna play for us. i would love to trade al for a guy like flip murray or dan dickau. both are good backups. even if johnson does sign with us, we'll still have PLENTY of cap space, maybe even enough to get stro...
Great. Why can't NBA teams be patient and add pieces (players) over several years? No doubt it's because they can't afford to due to free agency and insane offers like this one. This will be a bust as big as the Larry Johnson deal the Hornets made that began their long slide into the Louisiana bayous. Atlanta needed a great point guard with a personality to win back its fan base. Joe Johnson is not needed in Atlanta. He's a good player with a very nice jump shot if left open, but he doesn't rebound or play good enough D to earn superstar wages. The Suns will have to keep him having lost Q. Rich. Johnson should be thankful that Phoenix brought in Nash, and there will be no Steve Nash in Atlanta. Johnson's shooting percentage and points will drop and he will be the lightning rod for criticism when the team loses. Joe, stay in Phoenix and respect what that team has done by buying Nash and making you an NBA force and putting you in a darn good position to win a championship. It all begins at the point. (Maybe Shaq is an exception, but there aren't many.)
Id say this puts a pretty big dent in the Suns roster.Big enough to take them out of championship contender status if it goes through,even though I didnt think they were good enough defensively to be a contender in the first place.I actually think his numbers will go up in Atlanta as he'll have a bigger role offensively.He wont be the 3rd/4th option on that team.If I had to overpay any of the players that have been overpayed so far this offseason it would be Joe Johnson.Sure ATL is stacked at the wing positions but they can easily trade some of those away for something they need.
