With his quiet personality and propensity to stay out of basically all non-basketball matters (even in a city of distractions like New York City), Nets swingman Joe Johnson tends to fly under the radar. The veteran has been a solid, consistent piece of this Brooklyn team for the last two years since coming over in an offseason trade from the Hawks.
Those same qualities of his unassuming character–even for a 6-8 player–have followed Joe around for his whole career, and have probably been a big reason as to why he has been relatively underrated for awhile. He made the East All-Star team last year via a 15.8 point per game average with a nice .454/.401/.815 slash line to boot.
Add that to his treasure trove of buzzer beating shots, and you get a player who has been exactly what the Nets have expected him to be. Admittedly, he has gone through some prolonged shooting/scoring slumps, but he’s been durable and has been great in the playoffs–averaged 21.2 points on 53 percent shooting this past postseason.
So what is his role on the new-look Nets going to be like? Without Paul Pierce or Shaun Livingston, much more scoring onus will fall to Deron Williams, Brook Lopez, and of course, Joe Johnson. The days of him taking 18 or more shots a game with the Atlanta Hawks (and scoring 20 points plus) may be back simply cause he’s a player that can put the ball in the hoop.
Joe just turned 33 recently, so he is aging for sure, but he definitely has a lot left in the tank, so rumors of his possible demise are greatly exaggerated. His style of play also isn’t highly physical–it contains a lot of finesse–which is why he has played 72 (save for the shortened lockout season) or more games in 10 of the last 11 full regular seasons. He doesn’t miss time due to injury.
All of these signs point to him having another season in which he can serve as the Nets’ go-to guy when they need a key basket late in the game. With his size, he’s a matchup problem for almost any opposing team. Some teams may even have to double-team him on defense, which leaves another Net open to give the ball to for a score.
That’s why his impact on the floor should be viewed in a broader sense than just his stats on Basketball-Reference. His presence affects just about every aspect of Brooklyn’s offensive and defensive gameplan in a good way, regardless of whether a possession results in him getting a shot or blocking one of an opponent.
Many writers may think that this year’s Nets team isn’t going to be very good, based off of it just losing a past-his-prime Paul Pierce, injury-prone Shaun Livingston (who had a career year in the 2013-14 season), and erratic Andray Blatche. They do still have Joe, Deron, Brook, Kevin Garnett, Mirza, Jarrett Jack, and the list goes on. Brooklyn will be just fine.
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