Does Joe Johnson have that "Fire" to be a leader?

[Blunt91]

A Co-worker and I were talking about the hawks yesterday and he stated that he just doesn't see Joe Johnson as being a player with that "Fire" to lead his team to win. He said Antoine Walker had leadership abilites and is willing to put the team on his "back" to win a game(I agreed with him) he said even Stephen Jackson showed the fire and desire to be a leader and take the big shot when needed. He says Joe just comes across as being to laidback & quiet. I agreed with him that Stephen Jackson and Antoine Walker are very competitive and want to win and show it in their emotions in the game but can the same be said about JJ? I am not saying Joe Johnson won't help us but will he be the type of player to take over a game and help lead his team to victory/

[HAWKSFAN]

People said Tim Duncan didn't have that fire. 3 Championships, 3 Finals MVPs, and 2 regular season MVPs later and everyone is calling him the best power foward ever.

We'll see with Johnson. As a player, he hasn't been put into that leadership situation yet. We'll see how he responds.

[Weez]

I haven't seen enough of JJ to comment, I don't think many (or any) of us have. You've got to appreciate that he's never really been in this position (since college anyway), therefore such notions are purely speculatory at this point.

[swolehawk2]

I think it was the win against the bobcats where he came in at the end of the game took almost every shot and we won. You don't have to run around and yell at the sky to have fire or be a leader....He doesn't mind taking and can make big shots...that ultimately will prove his worth as a leader on this team.

[Iman]

I see us closing out games in the future often with three solid guards on the floor at the same time, JJ, Chillz, and Salim. Salim will have the most fire but JJ and Chillz will still be gritty team leaders which is more what I want anyways. A superstar who wants to take over is not the same as Walker or Stephen Jackson trying to take over and often blowing the game. JJ isnt very emotional but he'll still be one of our leaders And we need to quit expecting JJ to be much more than just a very solid player, maybe an All-star. We overpaid for him to turn our team around but hopefully he wont be our best player in a yr or two, not because he's not very good but because one of our rookies from the last two years will better.

[vdunkndunk]

There's no one formula for winning. Duncan has already been mentioned as a winner who doesn't necessarily have that "fire." Also, Shaq is a winner and has a lot of solid leadership qualities -- but he's not the guy you want with the ball in his hands at the end of games b/c of his foul shooting, so Kobe filled that role.

To me, it could be the case that someone like Al Harrington becomes our firey leader, and Salim takes the last second shots, while JJ is still considered our best overall player and leader -- or it could be Joe Johnson doing both of those things. Who knows how it will actually go, but I think you look to the entire team to get all the components you need, not just to one guy.