The board was on fire before the season at the thought of adding Melo to the team in order to play small ball 4. This despite the fact that he was not successful in this system before and had a negative history with Mike D. There was much talk of "Olympic Melo". Obviously things never worked out, but Iso Joe is here now. He has a positive history with Mike D, was successful in his system, and by all accounts is a good teammate. Probably not quite the scorer that Melo is, but he can handle the ball better in the open floor, create scoring opportunities for others and has good basketball IQ. I think he brings something at the 3 and 4 position that we don’t presently have. A guy that can grab the rebound, ignite the break by pushing the ball up the court with his dribble and getting others early looks ala Draymond Green. What do you guys think? Does less scoring, but better playmaking fit this team better?
Joe Johnson is going to be playing significantly less than Carmelo Anthony would have played and Joe Johnson athletically isn't as good as Carmelo Anthony. Joe Johnson is also not a good rebounder either per Utah Jazz sources, and due to his lack of athleticism given his age, his defensive numbers have been extremely poor this year. Lastly, Joe Johnson has no business handling the ball. None at all. I assume it'll take sometime for this board to realize Joe Johnson of 12 years ago handled the ball, but Joe Johnson of today is almost exclusively a small ball 4. I assume Joe will get some playing time, but people need to temper their expectations. He can shoot the 3 ball well and can give the Rockets some scoring help when the other guys are stretched thin. Hes going to be important in keeping this roster healthy down the stretch, but come playoffs I question how much he'll play, just like Green, he may play very very very rarely in the playoffs.
Listen to what the Jazz play by play guy had to say, I think it will temper your expectations... https://www.lockedonrockets.com/rockets/utahs-david-locke-on-what-joe-johnson-can-bring-to-houston/
I think maybe in the closing minutes of a game, it's at least a wash. Johnson doesn't seem to be able to handle the consistent minutes that Melo is still logging at this point. I don't think he will shrink or be rattled by big moments, though, and he is still capable of making big shots when called upon for stretches. Ball handling is something of a strength on this team, so he probably won't need to lead the break or dribble around at all. He won't be able to pick up the slack if Harden or Paul goes down, but if that happens, the Rockets can't really contend anyway. He had options, and he chose Houston. Whatever he's got left, D'Antoni will know how to use him, so it's easy to be positive about the signing.
You could also argue that he will turn out to be a better teammate, and veteran presence in the locker room
Can JJ be a better PF in a lot of situations than Ryno or Tucker? You better believe it! First, the Rockets need to see what he has left in the tank. There is reason for optimism.
I'm sure ppl would've called Gerald Green washed up & not nba caliber before he got here in MDA's system too. Joe will be highly effective in spurts when Ryan Anderson disappears
Sure, but Gerald Green wouldn't be seeing the floor much at all if Ariza were healthy. Gerald can also physically keep up on defense even if he makes bad plays on that side of the court.
Joe Johnson is a guard, I get that Utah used him as a SF/PF, but they lost a lot of games. He isn’t a PF, and most likely will not see any play time. Just a great locker room guy, use in an injury pinch type of guy.
JJ is the same size and weight as PJ. He's a small ball 4 or physical 3. Think PJ without the D because of age and injury and a lot more offensive capability.
He was only clutch for Utah because he had the ball in his hand in crunch time. Hayward isn't clutch so they had to rely on ISO Joe the whole time. On the Rockets, Harden would have the ball 100% of the time in the same situation and let's just hope he doesn't pull a game 5 like last year.
It's really hard to say what he'll bring to this team but if the Rockets are interested I imagine D'Antoni knows what role he plays.
Well we’ve seen this year that Melo isn’t quite what he once was. Neither is Joe Johnson. That said, Melo historically is a ball stopper whereas Joe Johnson is a ball mover. I think he is a very good passer and he doesn’t force shots. His basketball IQ is very high. This in addition to his ability to create his own shot at times adds a dimension from the forward position that we don’t currently have. I don’t know. I think being in this system with Chris Paul and James Harden may be a perfect fit for him at this stage of his career.
