Joe Johnson officially in Atlanta

[air gordon]

your response seems somewhat vague- what results??

are you saying if he matches his stats from last year, then he has met the expectations made out for him?

and you haven't mentioned anything about team record.

should be a weird situation.. he'll be expected to be the leading scorer but also will be the starting pg

[Andrew]

Well I thought I was being fairly clear when I said he'd have to equal or better his numbers. Those are the results I'm talking about, whether placing him in a situation to be a superstar will result in him playing like a superstar or proving his All-Star teammates went a long way in making him look good.

The reason I didn't mention Atlanta's record is because they still aren't in a great position to shoot up into the top eight or even into mediocrity, but one would expect them to be slightly better and one would certainly Joe Johnson will have ample opportunity to flourish in his new role.

are you saying if he matches his stats from last year, then he has met the expectations made out for him?

I think he just barely meets expectations if he matches last year's output. Given the hype (and the dollars) of being a star on the rise I think he needs to exceed last year's marks, helping Atlanta improve their record would help his case but I think the more realistic scenario is good stats on a bad team. So yes, I would think the expectations are that he at least matches but hopefully exceeds his 2004/2005 performance.

[kinokong]

what happens if joe johnson stats actually decreases but atlanta wins at least 13 more games... wouldn't that be a success? you have shareef abdul-rahim who has average 20/9/4 for his career but on a losing team. stat-wise he lived up to his 10+mil/yr contract but team-wise he hasn't lived up to that contract. if johnson averaged 30/9/5 next year but team wins actually decreased because he was hogging the ball and not giving his teammates a chance would that be a good result. a good result is partly based on his numbers but on how succesful a team is. if just by adding him atlantas players get a morale boost and he leads the team to 10-15 more wins, i would consider that a success story. how many teams in the history of the nba with the exceptions of surefire superstars have increased their win total by 10-15 by adding a borderline all-star?

[Andrew]

He would receive credit, of course, but he'd be grossly overpaid having played a similar role to the one he did last year with Phoenix, at least in terms of the pecking order. Besides, with the further development of their young players and the addition of Marvin Williams as well as Johnson, it wouldn't be unthinkable that the Hawks jump up to around 20, maybe 25 wins...but that would still be the NBA basement. If they really overachieved, that might be a different story. If his stats decrease after all the talk and all the millions that are coming his way, the Hawks better be this year's Phoenix Suns.

[air gordon]

andrew, thanks for clearing that up

it may be a stretch for some.. the 06 hawks could be the 04 suns
johnson playing the same role

josh smith= shawn marion
now of course their skill is not equal but josh smith has similar skill sets of marion minus the 3pt shot

al harrrington= stoudemire
amare is a beast but baby al fills the role as the low post scorer

childress = penny before the trade/barbosa

and so forth...