Johnson needs help in lead role

[DrReality]

Bradley keeps it real. Wonder if he reads HS?

Johnson needs help in lead role

By Mark Bradley

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Much has to happen. The Hawks need to re-sign Mike Bibby, work a sign-and-trade with Marvin Williams and draft a guard, preferably Eric Maynor of VCU, in Round 1. But for this team to climb from pretty good to really good, something more must be done.

The Hawks must wean themselves from their reliance on Joe Johnson.

Almost every bit of the Hawks’ offense since 2005 has run through Johnson, and it’s past time for an adjustment. It’s not that he isn’t a fine player; it’s that this team has two younger players who require room to grow.

Come 2011, Josh Smith and Al Horford should be the Hawks’ best players. (And this assumes Johnson re-ups next summer.) Together, Smith and Horford took 1,443 shots this regular season. By himself, Johnson took 1,420. Save the occasional lob, the team doesn’t run many plays for Smith. It runs almost none for Horford.

Johnson isn’t a ball hog —- he led the team in assists, ahead of Bibby —- but he’s the focal point. You can be a focal point if you’re LeBron or Kobe or D-Wade, but Johnson isn’t quite. The Hawks would be better served if he played fewer minutes —- he led the NBA in those —- and took fewer shots.

Would Johnson be amenable? “I would,” he said Tuesday. “But I don’t know if that’s going to be the case. I have a passion and love for the game. Sometimes the coach tries to take me out, and I tell him to leave me in. It’s not that I’m selfish —- it’s just my passion for the game.”

Is the goal to stoke Johnson’s fire or to win more games? He was demonstrably fatigued in the postseason and admitted as much. Save for the final three quarters of Game 7 against Miami, he was never the Johnson whom co-owner Michael Gearon Jr. calls “the greatest Hawk since Dominique.”

Johnson has filled an essential role. More than anyone else, he lifted the Hawks from squalor. For this team to go further, he needs to work as well with Smith and Horford as he does with Bibby. He needs to become a leader, not just a scorer.

Horford won two NCAA titles with a team famous for sharing the ball. He’s not one to make requests. But here was his reaction when asked if he’d like more shots: “Yeah, every player would. Count me in for that.”

Do the Hawks run much for him? “They don’t,” said Horford, who took fewer shots than Flip Murray. “But I understand. I know what it takes: I have to work on my game and make them give me the ball a little more.”

Would coach Mike Woodson be willing to work Johnson less? “Without a doubt,” the coach said. “Did I wear him down? Sure. But I needed to ride him to get us where we needed to go.”

For this team to reach the next level, Smith and Horford must pull more of the load. They’re 23. (Johnson is 27.) They’re the future.

Williams is not. So long as he’s here, he’ll always be the guy who isn’t Chris Paul, and there should be teams willing to work a sign-and-trade. Bibby should stay because the Hawks went too long without a point guard. And another guard should be the focus of this draft because there won’t be a big man around when the Hawks pick.

But the big transition has to be internal. Johnson cannot be the lone star any longer. For the good of all, he must become one of the gang.

[Diesel]

Joe needs an equally effective scorer here. Preferably in the post. We have absolutely no way of keeping teams honest when they face us.

I saw Joe on an interview with ESPN... There were still two defenders doubling him.

It's like that because of scheme and personnel. Flip and Bibby are the only two who can score with Joe. that means at the least, there are two more positions that have offensive uselessness attached to them. Many times, Josh Smith is one. Not that Josh Smith can't score, Josh takes bad shots. When Josh takes good shots we do well. But when the defense clogs up Josh's lanes, he becomes fearful and starts to settle on the dumb shot.

But Mo? Mo mostly missed shots.

Horf? No consistency.

Marv? We watched his early year shooting deteriorated back to 10%. (Before the injuries).

Schemewise, we have no offense.

If Sund doesn't bring in an offensive coach... he needs to be fired. We're wasting talent and time.

[macdaddy]

Joe needs an equally effective scorer here. Preferably in the post. We have absolutely no way of keeping teams honest when they face us.

I saw Joe on an interview with ESPN... There were still two defenders doubling him.

It's like that because of scheme and personnel. Flip and Bibby are the only two who can score with Joe. that means at the least, there are two more positions that have offensive uselessness attached to them. Many times, Josh Smith is one. Not that Josh Smith can't score, Josh takes bad shots. When Josh takes good shots we do well. But when the defense clogs up Josh's lanes, he becomes fearful and starts to settle on the dumb shot.

But Mo? Mo mostly missed shots.

Horf? No consistency.

Marv? We watched his early year shooting deteriorated back to 10%. (Before the injuries).

Schemewise, we have no offense.

If Sund doesn't bring in an offensive coach... he needs to be fired. We're wasting talent and time.

Yes. Yes. Yes. That's why blowing all our money on a defensive big won't help. We need a scorer. Bibby helped in that dept. but he's not a scorer he's a shooter. Marvin is really supposed to be the scorer but he's not. He's played a lot of minutes in the nba but his offensive game is very raw.

[mrhonline]

Williams is not. So long as he's here, he'll always be the guy who isn't Chris Paul, and there should be teams willing to work a sign-and-trade.

Ha ha. There were "teams willing to work a sign-and-trade" with Childress, too. It's nowhere near that simple.

[Diesel]

Yes. Yes. Yes. That's why blowing all our money on a defensive big won't help. We need a scorer. Bibby helped in that dept. but he's not a scorer he's a shooter. Marvin is really supposed to be the scorer but he's not. He's played a lot of minutes in the nba but his offensive game is very raw.

Having a defensive big has it own perks and changes our team also.

If you think about our team with a defensive big. For argument sake, let's say somehow we got a hold of Thabeet. And he becomes Deke part 2.

How do we compare with the old Hawks with Deke.

Bibby vs. Mookie.

Joe vs. Smitty.

Smoove vs. Corbin.

Horf vs. Henderson.

Thabeet = Deke.

How do we compare?

We know that the previous Hawks team was a consistent 50 game winner and challenged for atleast the 2nd round. Their issue was depth and scoring... but not so much scoring because we outscored teams (because of our defense).

[coachx]

Ha ha. There were "teams willing to work a sign-and-trade" with Childress, too. It's nowhere near that simple.

Ya, teams will be happy to give us their trash for Marvin.

Marvin, when healthy, seems to really be putting together a complete inside / outside game on both offense and defense. He is the FA I hope we bring back the most.

He will never be a star but I see him as a more athletic Derrick McKey type of player. The kind of versatile "glue guy" you want on your team. He can pick up the defensive or offensive slack on a given night when needed.

Please no more Josh Smith at SF post. When you post that we really have to question the intelligence of the poster. Horford , Thabeet, and Smith cannot all be in the paint at the same time. It would be a train wreck.

Edited May 13, 2009 by coachx

[mrhonline]

Yeah, I'm not opposed to a Marvin S&T, but only if it fills one of the two major holes in the starting lineup - PG or CR. There's no reason to trade him for anything less.

You could always trade him later on, but you have to preserve his value as an asset.

[JackB1]

Joe doesn't strike me as having a high basketball IQ. He get's double teamed all the time, but he continually waits too long to pass out of it. It's like he doesn't want to give the ball up because he's afraid he won't get it back. He also does too much one on one and turns it over a lot. He is GREAT when driving the lane and his floater is almost unstopable, but there are many times he just settles for jumpers, instead of driving more.

Also, in interviews he always says the same thing....."We just need to be more aggressive, etc etc". If only it were that simple.

Anyway I love Joe's ability, but I hate his lack of fire and willingness to accept losing. I wish I could make one player with Horford's brain, Smoove's desire and Joe's skill :)

[exodus]

Come 2011, Josh Smith and Al Horford should be the Hawks’ best players. (And this assumes Johnson re-ups next summer.)

Get real. If JJ was left open the way Smith and Horford are he would probably average 30 easily. And if Smith/Horford were doubled like JJ is they probably wouldn't average close to double figures.

Williams is not. So long as he’s here, he’ll always be the guy who isn’t Chris Paul,

WTF does that have to do with anything? The draft is over.

[macdaddy]

Having a defensive big has it own perks and changes our team also.

If you think about our team with a defensive big. For argument sake, let's say somehow we got a hold of Thabeet. And he becomes Deke part 2.

How do we compare with the old Hawks with Deke.

Bibby vs. Mookie.

Joe vs. Smitty.

Smoove vs. Corbin.

Horf vs. Henderson.

Thabeet = Deke.

How do we compare?

We know that the previous Hawks team was a consistent 50 game winner and challenged for atleast the 2nd round. Their issue was depth and scoring... but not so much scoring because we outscored teams (because of our defense).

I think our current issues are depth and scoring. We lose to good teams because we can't score. Our interior defense could definitely be better but adding that without addressing our offensive problems i don't think will get us out of the second round.

Maybe I'm old but looking at the comparison i like the old guys. they were consistent and rarely made stupid mistakes. I'd go with Smoove and Horford though. Smitty would keep them in line.

[coachx]

Maybe I'm old but looking at the comparison i like the old guys. they were consistent and rarely made stupid mistakes. I'd go with Smoove and Horford though. Smitty would keep them in line.

Mookie and Deke were both top 3 defensive players at their positions for a decade. Mookie was 5X better then Bibby. Mookie could actually play defense and create off the dribble. Bibby is a one trick pony. Smith and JJ are pratically a wash. Corbin was a good floor spacer to run the half court offense with.

Those were some solid, well coached, veteran teams under Lenny Wilkens that maximized every ounce of potential they had in them.

I wish Lenny was 10 years younger and could teach / coach this Hawks team.

The biggest disparity in those 2 Hawks teams is coaching. Lenny is now the #2 winningest coach in NBA history. Woody is Woody (trying to be nice).

Edited May 13, 2009 by coachx

[Diesel]

Maybe I'm old but looking at the comparison i like the old guys. they were consistent and rarely made stupid mistakes. I'd go with Smoove and Horford though. Smitty would keep them in line.

If you guy our present guys Lenny Wilkens coaching. He would install a motion offense with a pick-n-roll for Bibby and we'd win more than 50. He'd also take advantage of matchups game by game. This team may actually be too much talent for him to work with.

[NJHAWK]

Anyway I love Joe's ability, but I hate his lack of fire and willingness to accept losing. I wish I could make one player with Horford's brain, Smoove's desire and Joe's skill :)

The thing that upset me about Joe was for the few minutes after the minor push and shove with Delonte West Joe got mad and nailed a few shots and played with a little fire, you could see in his face he was ticked off. Why cant he have that edge all the time or get pizzed when he sees a clown like Lebron making faces and dancing on Joe's home court. That should fire him up, wanting to win should fire him up.

[Diesel]

Mookie and Deke were both top 3 defensive players at their positions for a decade. Mookie was 5X better then Bibby. Mookie could actually play defense and create off the dribble. Bibby is a one trick pony. Smith and JJ are pratically a wash. Corbin was a good floor spacer to run the half court offense with.

Smitty and JJ a wash, defensively??? Lenny did a really good job of hiding Smith's bad knees until we played Spreewell and NY. JJ is about 3 times better than Smitty was. JJ's defense is underrated. After watching him on Lebron and Wade, I have to say, he deserves more respect.

I never understood Corbin's role until recently. Corbin didn't shoot it enough to really be a floor spacer. He only took about 3 outside shots per game. Corbin was a defensive stopper. When you consider he matched up against McKey, Aguire, Bird, Pearsons, Ceballos, Fox and many of the better Sfs in the league and usually we didn't hear about a Sf going off on us, you realize the value that Corbin had. Plus he was smart. He could predict where his opponent was trying to go. He will make a good coach somewhere.

I think Lenny doesn't get respect for his preparation and in game adjustments. Lenny's motion offense was great. We didn't have guys who could blow your doors off offensively, but we didn't have problems scoring. It's one thing I wish that we could do here... Have an offense that is not dependent on one player. That focuses on ball and player movement. Being a fan of Lenny's offense has made me hate watching everybody standing around watching one guy. And that's all we do. Nobody has drilled movement into these guys. It's like we practice by having a series of pickup games and in the middle of a pickup game, Woody is coaching defense.

[Diesel]

The thing that upset me about Joe was for the few minutes after the minor push and shove with Delonte West Joe got mad and nailed a few shots and played with a little fire, you could see in his face he was ticked off. Why cant he have that edge all the time or get pizzed when he sees a clown like Lebron making faces and dancing on Joe's home court. That should fire him up, wanting to win should fire him up.

Lebron hasn't taken off his dancing shoes.

He will keep doing it because:

1. He knows he has a good team.

2. He knows that he has the refs in his back pocket.

3. He knows that if anybody really do what they want to do, they will be suspended for weeks.

Lebron will continue his classlessness and try to "act" mature as long as he is allowed to do it. And the media asskissers will continue licking his boots and saying how great he is.

I just hope KG comes back and kicks his *ss when he does it in Boston.

[frosgrim]

I think Lenny doesn't get respect for his preparation and in game adjustments. Lenny's motion offense was great. We didn't have guys who could blow your doors off offensively, but we didn't have problems scoring. It's one thing I wish that we could do here... Have an offense that is not dependent on one player. That focuses on ball and player movement. Being a fan of Lenny's offense has made me hate watching everybody standing around watching one guy. And that's all we do. Nobody has drilled movement into these guys. It's like we practice by having a series of pickup games and in the middle of a pickup game, Woody is coaching defense.

To add to the Lenny love, he actually helped Deke develop a post game. If he could get Deke to score, as mechanical and awkward Deke was, then he could work wonders with both Smith and Horford.

Speaking of that Era, you forgot to put in Leattner. Dude was great in his first two season with the club. Then he got pouty and wouldn't stop complaining to the refs. Josh Smith is starting to go down that road...Hopefully someone will get in Smith's ear and convince him to stop bitching and just to play throuhg it. Honestly, why do players think they will change the way the refs see a game when the complain?

[NJHAWK]

Lebron hasn't taken off his dancing shoes.

He will keep doing it because:

1. He knows he has a good team.

2. He knows that he has the refs in his back pocket.

3. He knows that if anybody really do what they want to do, they will be suspended for weeks.

Lebron will continue his classlessness and try to "act" mature as long as he is allowed to do it. And the media asskissers will continue licking his boots and saying how great he is.

I just hope KG comes back and kicks his *ss when he does it in Boston.

I 2nd that and I hate Boston. I hope the west wins the title this year even if it means Kobe. I cant believe that the media is talking about how Lebron has matured and doesnt argue with the refs anymore. What FN games are they watching. If he gets called for a foul ( even if its once every 2 or 3 games that they actually call a foul on him ) he gets pizzed and starts yelling at the refs with is goofy mean face. If he doesnt get a call going to the hoop he does the same thing. Mature? Dancing around, yelling at fans, making faces and throwing powder in the air is mature? lol I hope this clown gets put in his place.

Edited May 13, 2009 by NJHAWK

[T21]

Mookie and Deke were both top 3 defensive players at their positions for a decade. Mookie was 5X better then Bibby. Mookie could actually play defense and create off the dribble. Bibby is a one trick pony. Smith and JJ are pratically a wash. Corbin was a good floor spacer to run the half court offense with.

Those were some solid, well coached, veteran teams under Lenny Wilkens that maximized every ounce of potential they had in them.

I agree... There's a huge difference between those teams... uncomparable...

Most obvious weakness was our inconsistant offense and it was surely exposed during the playoffs...

How do you deal with that?

Well... for one, better coaching!

Hawks ran their offense through very simple sets. Once the sets brake-down, offense is basically one-on-one... it worked for most of the season because we have talented, athletic guys... but surely no in the Playoffs!

More depth... or simply create sets that would bring the best out of our players and trust those players to execute!

Or simply, acquire a player who could step in and complement our current roster!

P.S. No drastic makeovers, please! This is still a very young team with huge potential! Just smart fine-tunning! Be patient...

[buckeye242424]

I agree... There's a huge difference between those teams... uncomparable...

Most obvious weakness was our inconsistant offense and it was surely exposed during the playoffs...

How do you deal with that?

Well... for one, better coaching!

Hawks ran their offense through very simple sets. Once the sets brake-down, offense is basically one-on-one... it worked for most of the season because we have talented, athletic guys... but surely no in the Playoffs!

More depth... or simply create sets that would bring the best out of our players and trust those players to execute!

Or simply, acquire a player who could step in and complement our current roster!

P.S. No drastic makeovers, please! This is still a very young team with huge potential! Just smart fine-tunning! Be patient...

I am, and have been, with the players. They're young, and it's been well documented. The coaching on the other hand, my patience is gone.

[macdaddy]

Lenny was awesome but everyone complained at the time about his lack of using young players. Of course none of the young guys he had at the time amounted to much.

Corbin was really one of my favorite Hawks. He worked hard and i'm sure that flop sweat helped his defense a little. I'm guessing he's a good coach too. You could tell he was well respected by the other players.