It doesn't take long to know if the new guy isn't going to fit in. He's just a shell of his former self.
So far from Joe Johnson these are my gripes. 1. Defensive is terrible. This is actually my biggest gripe at the moment. He is slow to rotate, rarely where he needs to be, and he is having trouble staying in front of his man 1 on 1. He is completely complacent at sucking too. How he can be on the court and try so little with a straight face while his team-mates are busting their butts is beyond me. This is an effort issue, not an out of shape issue.. It's either that.. OR Joe Johnson lacks swet glands, because he isn't even breaking a swet out there on the court. My money is on him having swet glands. His D against bigs is definitely no Tucker. Gerald Green at least brought quick rotations, good shot contestment, slashing rebound ability, and flexibility. Joe never even puts himself in position to rebound. I don't even think I've seen him box anyone out has he? WTF, Ryno as awful as he is is ten times the rebounder Joe is. 2. Atrocious offensively. His passes have been ok, definitely no Josh Smith when we picked him up off a buyout. Maybe my expectations were too high? His few decent passes are beginning to be telegraphed, teams are taking note as I'm sure scouting reports are beginning to show, because even when open he rarely takes the shot. He stands, and stands. I never see movement. Joe Johnson isn't even spreading the court and getting space for others. He stands, and in the rare instance he moves it's a cut to the key, just clogging up space for a post-up he's likely going to miss. I could maybe get over the standing if he did 1 of the following 3. 1. Crash the board after someone else shoots for a rebound 2. Run back quickly for transition D 3. Shoots each time he gets the pass and is open But he doesn't crash the boards, which is fine if he would use that energy and stamina from standing to burst down the court to play good transition D after a shot incase it missed, but he also doesn't. The dude stands around and then is a middle of the pack guy back up on the other end. I'm done, this dude is going to cost us games. He has had more than enough time to get into an 'ok' game shape. He's should have been a professional and kept himself in shape. He has had about as much time as players get for pre-season. These minutes should be for Gerald Green, someone who has shown he impacts the game in a more positive way. I lied. #1 wasn't my biggest gripe. To quote the great Rudy T " Don't ever underestimate the heart of a champion" Maybe Joe Johnson has more 'potential' intangibles from such a 'successful career'. Maybe he doesn't anymore. One thing no one on the board can argue, and that is Gerald Green has more heart then the Joe Johnson we are seeing who is playing with zero passion. Gerald Green needs to be given the nod for heart alone. That's the most important intangible for a role player on a team with championship aspirations.
I thought people were begging and pleading mda to play a deeper rotation...presumably to get deeper into the playoffs. Green looks like he's ready. Everyone knows what he brings and doesn't bring. Doesn't it make sense to develop the newer pickups? Even Chris Paul spent some time in the off season to develop that "seamless chemistry". Fans panic about the most contradictory things. Rotation too thin, play more people. Play more people, but not when they play like garbage after two weeks. Ok fine fine. Just play people I like or don't suck in a regular season game so I won't be triggered in close situations.
Greens been mentioned almost as much in this thread. We could play Wright more, assuming he's ready, but Green is a security blanket because he looks ready.
https://www.chron.com/sports/rocket...-Brad-Stevens-discusses-value-of-12725936.php Though Rockets guard/forward Gerald Green has often been the odd man out of the Rockets' rotation in the past few weeks, he had that role in Boston last season, when Boston coach Brad Stevens said he showed the value of having some players that can pick up where they left off. Green played in 47 games with the Celtics, averaging 5.6 points. But in the postseason, he went from not playing in some games to exceling in Games 4 and 6 in Chicago, scoring 18 and 16 points in Celtics wins. "One of the things about guys as they get older in this league is they figure out how they can really impact winning," Stevens said. "Gerald did it for us last year. He wasn't always going to be on the court. He wasn't going to get consistent 25 minutes every game. But when he was called upon we knew he could go on a run quickly. "In the Chicago series, he played 20 to 25 minutes and helped us win that series. When you talk about a team that is as deep as Houston is – and Houston is as deep as they come – having another guy on the bench that can get 15 points in a short span of time is a huge thing."
Game being replayed on NBAtv... Oh, and there it was. Joe Johnson in the post vs Rozier. 1:04 left in the first quarter. Rozier panicked as soon as Joe got the ball. Celtics had Greg Monroe come across the paint to take Joe Johnson. Celtics were prepared for it. Rockets will be ready to counter if we meet in the finals.
Stevens nailed it QUOTE="tehG l i d e, post: 11616674, member: 36626"]https://www.chron.com/sports/rocket...-Brad-Stevens-discusses-value-of-12725936.php Though Rockets guard/forward Gerald Green has often been the odd man out of the Rockets' rotation in the past few weeks, he had that role in Boston last season, when Boston coach Brad Stevens said he showed the value of having some players that can pick up where they left off. Green played in 47 games with the Celtics, averaging 5.6 points. But in the postseason, he went from not playing in some games to exceling in Games 4 and 6 in Chicago, scoring 18 and 16 points in Celtics wins. "One of the things about guys as they get older in this league is they figure out how they can really impact winning," Stevens said. "Gerald did it for us last year. He wasn't always going to be on the court. He wasn't going to get consistent 25 minutes every game. But when he was called upon we knew he could go on a run quickly. "In the Chicago series, he played 20 to 25 minutes and helped us win that series. When you talk about a team that is as deep as Houston is – and Houston is as deep as they come – having another guy on the bench that can get 15 points in a short span of time is a huge thing."[/QUOTE] This quote
Luc's minutes are equally as big an outrage as him playing at all. But again...I've gone over this. People are finally coming around on reality here. I don't have anything to say that I haven't said other than...I really hope someone stops D'Antoni come playoff time. Maybe D'Antoni himself.
I was hoping he could be the new Jason Terry Troy williams might find a job elsewhere. I think D'antoni is just doing an old friend a favor. One last chance to win a ring.
He already has. He has been good enough to get second 10 day contract from the knicks after impressing them.
Knee jerk reactions, as long as we keep winning and go far gonna just tune out all the whining. I'm just glad we been relatively healthy. Jj, is solid veteran presence while gg is a great spark plug having both in the rotation is a blessing
Between PJ and JJ, Al Horford was a complete non factor in the Celtics game. We talking about Al Horford, same guy that many on CF were wailing in dismay because Morey failed to acquire another superstar.
I am hopong this means green gets alot of burn because whether or not we hate/love joe johnson, he was a warm body to put in there so our guys can stay fresh. I really hope our strength and conditioning coach is working on Joe Johnson as we speak because the man looks like he hasn't played since last years playoffs against the Clippers.
