In Defense of Joe Johnson
In the wake of Joe Johnson's reported agreement to a 6 year $119 million extension with the Hawks, some writers and bloggers have gone so far as to claim it as the worst contract in the history of the NBA. While Johnson may not quite deserve max money, people calling it the worst ever, or even the worst currently in the NBA are way off base, in fact, I would say it isn't even the worst contract agreed to today, as that distinction likely goes to Darko Milicic's new deal.
Johnson may not have superstar ability like LeBron James or Kobe Bryant, but by all means he should be considered among the NBA's second crop of stars. Last season, Johnson put up 21.3 PPG, 4.9 APG, and 4.6 RPG, not incredibly eye popping, but combined with his remarkable consistency (he's averaged at least 20 PPG each of the last 5 seasons, and has missed only 9 games in the last three seasons) his name warrants mention as one of the NBA's elite. Contrary to what some people might say, Johnson is by no means a volume shooter, he put up a respectable 45.8% showing from the field last season, even more impressive when you factor in that he often wasn't on the court with Jamal Crawford, making him the perimeter focus of opposing defenses. He shot the highest percentage of Hawks guards, so it makes sense he would take a plurality of their shots. He did only manage to get to the free throw line 3.5 times a game last season, but that seems like an anomaly, as in the last three years he has gotten to the line 4.6, 4.6, and 5.5 times a game, and even at 3.5 he compares to other solid NBA guards such as O.J. Mayo, Ray Allen, and John Salmons. Not bad when you consider that it's his worst attribute.
Some writers have pointed to Johnson's inability to lift the Hawks into the Eastern Conference finals this past season as a personal deficiency, when it was really more a product of his team. It is also ridiculous to use such small sample sizes (4 in the case of the Orlando series) to make any meaningful judgement on a player. Basketball is a team sport, you can't judge an individual player off of how many games a team wins, Johnson's hawks lacked a decent PG, had a below average SF, and besides Jamal Crawford had a remarkably weak bench, losing to Orlando wasn't Joe Johnson's fault, it was a function of being the inferior team, top to bottom.
Johnson's contract will not look great by the time his six years are up, there's no doubting that, but to call it the worst of all time, or even the worst in the NBA right now is a drastic overstatement. Atlanta knows that they are a 50-55 win team for the next couple years with Joe Johnson on the roster, and once they're in the playoffs anything can happen, as any playoff team is capable of winning a big series over the course of just seven games. While Johnson's contract may not look attractive in a couple years, there is little to no chance it ends up as bad as Allan Houston or some other high profile blunders, and Johnson is getting far too bad a rap in the mainstream media for how good a player he actually is.
