Best Potential Trade Packages, Destinations and Landing Spots for Joe Johnson
The Brooklyn Nets are in a bad place, and that could put veteran swingman Joe Johnson in a new one soon.
They need significant changes now that their optimistic championship bubble has officially burst. But almost every potential avenue to external improvement leads to a dead end.
The draft is short on hope, since Brooklyn had to swap first-round selections with the Atlanta Hawks and fell from 15th to 29th in the process. The Nets are woefully short on free-agent spending money, and they may need to scramble through Mikhail Prokhorov's couch cushions to find enough to keep Brook Lopez and Thaddeus Young happy.
There have been rumblings that the Nets might consider waiving Deron Williams by using the "stretch" provision, but that isn't happening, according to NBA.com's David Aldridge. However, Brooklyn might look to change things on the perimeter in a different way.
"The intriguing question is whether the Nets can deal Joe Johnson and his expiring contract, at $24.8 million next season," Aldridge wrote. "For one year, even at that price, Johnson would have suitors."
Johnson hasn't produced like a $20 million player for a while (14.4 points per game this season), but he might still have some interest from teams that are either looking for perimeter scoring or hoping to shed their own bad salaries.
The Trade: Joe Johnson for Lance Stephenson, Gerald Henderson and Marvin Williams
If this swap sounds familiar at all, it should. The Nets and Charlotte Hornets discussed doing this deal near the trade deadline, per Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski.
Why might those talks reconvene now? Because the itches that each side had then still haven't been scratched.
The Nets are as desperate as ever for young talent, and the combustible 24-year-old Lance Stephenson still qualifies as such. He had a nightmare debut for Charlotte this season, but he's only one year removed from giving the Indiana Pacers 13.8 points on 49.1 percent shooting, 7.2 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game.
It would take a gamble on Brooklyn's side to get this done, but the Nets aren't exactly risking the world here. Their core has produced a single playoff series win in its three seasons together. Even if Stephenson sends the ceiling crashing down, it doesn't have that much room to fall.
Brooklyn might be at the point where any move is better than no move. Johnson said himself that it feels like change is coming.
"I don't see us coming back as the same team," he said after Brooklyn's first-round elimination, per Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. "This is my third year here. I could see if we were getting better each year, but it's kind of been the opposite."
The Nets need a spark, and Stephenson (a Brooklyn native) needs a new home. This doesn't look like a match made in heaven, but it holds more long-term promise than a random hookup.
Brooklyn has to find some off-the-bounce creators for its offense, especially as the cavern grows between present D-Will and his All-Star past. Stephenson is capable of that, and he's willing to share the basketball with his teammates.
Charlotte is in desperate need of outside shooting. Johnson took a step back in that area this season, but he shot above 37 percent from deep in three of the last four. Not to mention, his 121 three-point makes would have easily paced the Hornets, and his 35.9 percentage put him ahead of every Charlotte shooter with at least 40 long-range attempts.
There's only so much offense a team can squeeze out of Al Jefferson's low-post game, and there shouldn't be a race to give more touches to Kemba Walker and his career 39.5 field-goal percentage. Johnson could give the Hornets better floor balance and a more reliable late-game option than they currently have.
The Nets would take on the money owed to Marvin Williams ($7 million) and Gerald Henderson ($6 million player option), but both of those contracts come off the books in 2016. And Stephenson's deal could expire then too, depending on how Brooklyn handles his $9.4 million team option for 2016-17.
Indiana Pacers
The Trade: Joe Johnson for Roy Hibbert and C.J. Miles
Roy Hibbert is a 7'2" center who averaged 7.1 rebounds and shot 44.6 percent from the field this season. He has a $15.5 million player option for 2015-16.
Unsurprisingly, the Indiana Pacers aren't exactly thrilled about the prospect of paying Hibbert. And they sound even less enthused about actually playing him.
Indiana is ready to run after finishing the last two seasons ranked in the bottom third of offensive efficiency, per Hollinger Stats. And this team knows the plodding Hibbert isn't someone you should run with.
"We'll have to see how it all plays out and what the roster ultimately looks like, but there's a possibility that Roy's role will be diminished, if we're trying to play faster and trying to play smaller," Pacers coach Frank Vogel said, per Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star.
If Indiana doesn't want Hibbert, why would Brooklyn? Because the Nets might need a place-holding post player if they let Lopez walk in free agency.
They are publicly pleading for the 7-footer's return. And that interest may well be sincere given how strongly he finished the regular season: 19.7 points, 9.2 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game after the All-Star break.
But Brooklyn is entering—or trying to enter, at least—a rebuilding phase. And it may want a sturdier building block than a big man with a history of foot problems. If the Nets don't want to meet Lopez's price, they could give the starting spot to Mason Plumlee and let Hibbert play out the final year of his contract off the bench.
C.J. Miles is mainly included to the make the salaries match, and the Pacers could be glad to dump the possibly three years left on his contract ($4.7 million player option in 2017-18). In Brooklyn, he'd immediately become one of the team's top perimeter threats.
The Pacers' main motivation for this deal is money, but they could get an on-court lift from Johnson. Their most reliable scoring threat is Paul George, who only made six appearances after losing most of the year to a broken leg. Behind him it's George Hill, who has only averaged more than 12.5 points twice in his seven-year career.
They need more scorers to keep defenses honest, especially if they're running and creating more possessions. Johnson can still carry an offense on his good nights (19 games with 20-plus points), and his coolness in the clutch could alleviate some of the pressure on George's shoulders.
The Trade: Joe Johnson for Nene, Martell Webster and Kris Humphries
The Washington Wizards are using this playoff run as a period of evolution. A group that seemed to laugh in the face of analytics as it fired up a barrage of long twos during the regular season has suddenly tied its postseason fate to the three ball.
"When it comes to the Wizards' three-point shooting, no need for more prayer," wrote CSN Washington's Ben Standig. "Clearly, Randy Wittman has found the religion."
More importantly, Wittman has found the formula to deploy a lethal long-distance attack.
Namely, he's relying less on brute-force bigs and more on the stretchy version. Paul Pierce, Otto Porter and Drew Gooden are all seeing more minutes; Nene has mostly held steady near the 25-minute mark; and Kris Humphries and Kevin Seraphin are struggling to find any playing time.
The Wizards offense is quickly becoming a force, and that's with All-Star point guard John Wall battling multiple fractures in his left hand and wrist. Washington is learning the value of the long ball, and this trade would only enhance it.
This isn't about acquiring Johnson, though he'd be a welcome addition to a second team that relied on Rasual Butler for a lot of its regular-season production. Rather, this is about blowing the lid off this offense by deploying Pierce and Porter as undersized floor-stretching forwards.
Think how much congestion that could clear up on the interior. Now, imagine Wall and Bradley Beal slicing through those openings or Marcin Gortat exploding out of a screen into an unclogged paint. There are major offensive rewards to reap, all for the price of an aging, oft-injured big man and two players who couldn't crack the playoff rotation.
And Johnson's contract expires in 2016, so he wouldn't affect Washington's probable plan to bull-rush Kevin Durant in free agency that offseason.
Why would Brooklyn bite on this deal? Again, it's not the trade itself, but the ripple effects that would follow.
Moving Johnson frees up minutes the team can invest in the development of Bojan Bogdanovic, Markel Brown and Sergey Karasev. Nene and Humphries both shoot the mid-range jumper well enough to share the floor with Lopez, meaning the Nets could then flip Plumlee to catch a bigger fish.
None of the three incoming players have fully guaranteed contracts after next season, so the Nets could use any of their salaries to make separate transactions work. Both Nene and Humphries can contribute right away, and Webster could provide a lift if he discovers his three-point stroke.
But the biggest thing this deal does is set the wheels in motion for Brooklyn's reinvention. The Nets need to pull themselves off the pricey treadmill of mediocrity. Dealing Johnson might be the only way to start that necessary process.
Unless otherwise noted, statistics used courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com. Salary information obtained courtesy of Basketball Insiders.
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