Practice time is pared back a lot this time of year, so giving him some extended PT to get his wind back makes sense, especially with EG out.
He's old, but he's still Joe Johnson. Joe's joining a team that's 11 deep. Dude is clutch, good shooter/scorer, and provides vet presence. I'd like to keep him next year barring a great dropoff.
We better not play him 30 mpg going into the playoffs. Again, we have over 20 games for him to play. It's not like the playoffs are next week.
So why is anyone complaining about how many minutes he is playing right now? Even more ridiculous, why do we have fans upset that we are giving him more minutes than Green right now?
Joe Johnson needs to get acclimated in my opinion as he is really crucial to the Golden State matchup in spurts. When we shift lineups he can be our best post up option on Steph Curry/ Klay Thompson. Would love to have them in the post if the game slows defending Joe. Playoffs are about matchups and he can really do some damage in the post on smaller guards and is a clutch 3 ball shooter and veteran. I like Gerald Green, but i'm not sure how he will react in the post-season.
Several people I could quote, so not singling you out specifically, mfastx; just yours was the latest one since I've had a chance to post. I get the concerns. I love the story behind Green, and his productions is icing on the cake. That said, JJ needs time (as does Wright, and I was so glad to see him get some time early last night; I started to worry MD was going to hold him out for a while). Here's my reasoning on why higher minutes nows are important: It takes some time to acclimate to guys around him. Trying to do this in few minutes per game is difficult. Trying to do this in garbage time (you didn't say it, mfastx, but someone else did), is nearly worthless, if they want him playing in the playoffs with rotation folks. The other guys need time to adjust to JJ as well. We can't discount the benefit we're seeing right now of having most of our team playing together for the first 2/3 of the season. Understanding how guys think and where they end up on the court in certain situations is crucial to operating like a well-oiled machine. That's at least a small part of the reason CP3 and Harden can make no-look passes to folks--they don't just see where they are early in a developing play, but they also know where guys end up in certain sets, developments, etc. Finally, and probably most important, by the time we get to our last 5 games, D'Antoni needs to have his rotations largely worked out, and he needs be exercising those to some degree before the playoffs start. Sure, the particular combos of folks depends on the matchups with opponents, but we can't afford for JJ to be "figuring out where he fits in" in the last few games. That needs to be worked out ASAP, so long as it doesn't cost us wins. Just my $0.02.
Because the regular season is a marathon and I'd rather not play him a bunch of minutes in a random regular season game so he can be well rested for the playoffs. I'm not saying he shouldn't be playing over Green at all. My only criticism was how many minutes he played against Denver when he wasn't being effective in the 4th and we'd be better served to have Tucker/Moute out there.
he had an impact on the game in the 4th. there were plays were he posted and denver sent other guys towards him and he kicked it out to the shooters which is the correct play. just bc the ball didnt go in doesnt mean he wasn't effective. he just adds another dynamic that nobody else on the bench can as he is a more well rounded player and w/ experience at that
It wasn't but he wasn't contributing much. I'd have rather had Moute out there, he was a team high +12.
moute is a good piece on the rockets but im not going to lose sleep over moute not playing. he wasn't exactly playing that well either.
We are playing him a lot of minutes early on before the playoffs to get him up to speed ASAP. He has plenty of time to rest after his crash course is over.
his production is not any better than green, dantoni plays him instead of green because they have history and he's... well, joe Johnson. But I don't see any significant, if any, upgrade from green to Johnson.
Let's start with defense first. JJ's D has fallen off a bit this year due to age, injury, and conditioning, but he is still a much better defender than GG, especially in the post. Next offense... while GG is a better long range shooter, JJ is by far the better offensive player, outside of this season that was derailed by a wrist injury. Last, JJ is far, far more clutch during crunch time. In the last 10 seasons, JJ has hit 8 GAME WINNING buzzer beaters. I understand fans are enamored by GG's spark plug ability on our team, but they also have to understand that GG was unemployed for a reason this season. His meandering D and low BBIQ (leads to poor shot selection) are huge reasons why he is a fringe rotation player on a good team rather than a solid role player.
Joe Johnson looks good out there and makes smart plays. I also expect him to have some breakout games which makes him sort of a wild card He’s also very clutch and does have a good shot when needed
Rockets have just a slew of forwards to throw at you. You won't work them down on that front, fresh legs every 5 minutes.