Quote:
Originally Posted by jthig32
This perception that Joe Johnson shoots a ton of 20ft jumpers in patently false. It's true that Iggy is a better slasher, but Joe Johnson is hardly simply a jump shooter. Joe Johnson is a big dude for a pretty mobile shooting guard, and you know what that translates into? POSTUPS. The thing people around here are always crying for. Iggy is an all or nothing guy. He's either making a dunk or shooting long 2's and 3's.
Johnson is a much more rounded offensive player who gets his shots from a variety of positions on the floor. I've been poking around Hoopdata looking at where both players get their shot attempts, and it's just further driven home my opinion that Johson is the superior player and better fit for this team. Slashers are nice, but they are almost always more reliant on their teammates for buckets. And yes Joe Johnson takes his fair share of jump shots, but he's hardly a player in the mold of, say, Jason Terry. He's much more well rounded than that.
Also, while he's certainly not in Iguadala's class, I would consider Johnson to be a capable defender.
I also don't understand why people have this notion that Joe Johnson isn't going anywhere. I personally think he's pretty unlikely to go back to Atlanta.
I will end this post with two pictures that I think tell an important story
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Johnson doesn't shoot a lot of 20 footers? Five 16-23 footers and 4.5 threes per game. Butler shoots six 16-23 footers.
Let's not think I'm entirely against Joe Johnson, and that I'm going to take every chance I can get to bash him. He's a better player than Butler and Iggy because he scores more. Why does he score more? He has a good jump shot, better than Butler's and way better than Iggy's.
However, the stats show he shoots more jumpers than both Iggy and Butler. We've complained about Caron not driving enough...Johnson shoots less. I understand he'll make more than Caron. But it would sure be nice to get someone who could drive more.
I'm not debating that Johnson can't drive. He has some abilities. And yes, he does shoot more jumpers closer to the basket than the other people we mentioned, indicating a drive and pull, or a post up. But at the end of the day, about 80% of his shots are jumpers and about 70% of Butler's and Iggy's shots are jumpers. Over 82 games that's a significant difference.
There is the Iguodala issue. I'm not advocating we go get him. I've said he might fit, not that I necessarily want him. He can't shoot threes well...that's a problem when you have Marion and (possibly) Butler also at the 3. Not only threes he shoots poorly...overall he's not the greatest shooter. He doesn't drive as much as I thought (I was hoping he'd be about 35% drive, he's at 29%). But I think we could make him fit with Dirk and Butler if that's the best trade we can make (a trade for Iggy), because I know Johnson and Wade aren't going to be easy to come by.