Player predictions: Joe Johnson

[macdaddy]

As a break from trade speculation I thought we could speculate on player performance for the upcoming season. One thread per player please.

Since Joe is the Man for the Hawks he seems the logical place to start.

-will probably face as many double teams (at least early) as anyone in the league

-definitely all-star potential

-should have the ball in his hands at the end of every close game

My big concerns are minutes. He was worn down last year. Could he have even been effective in the playoffs? How is he going to get rest this year. I see we have 4 guards Speedy, Lue, Salim, JJ. How often can 2 of Speedy, Lue, Salim be on the floor together. Chill at 2?

[Final_quest]

We have two other guards Chill and Ivey.

[Packfill]

I think their are only two ways JJ gets himself into the all-star game:

1. Huge stats ala Gilbert Arenas; or

2. Similar stats to last year but Hawks have a winning record.

To me, big stats on a lossing team are hollow because in the end it is all about winning games.

[Lascar78]

sadly enough, his performance at the worlds will also help determine if he becomes an allstar. We definitely need a decent record for him to have a shot. With speedy being here, I look for his scoring to go up a little, and his assists to go down a little.

[macdaddy]

I'm thinking Ivey's minutes disappear with Speedy here. We can play Lue/Speedy with Chill in the backcourt but we could have done that last year with Lue and Chill and didn't very much.

Last year I was disappointed in some games where JJ didn't touch the ball in key possessions. I look for that to change this year.

[Plastic Man]

i think jj's fta's will go up, thus the higher ppg. i don't think his assists will drop much cuz he's smart enough to "get his" and still be unselfish.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

24/5/5 would be nice. I think he'll be more like 22/4/6 . . with a higher shooting percentage across the board.

We can play a small backcourt during times in which the starters from the other team are out of the game. We did that last year with Lue and Salim in the game together at times. Of course, they couldn't defend anybody, but teams had problems controlling them on the offensive end as well.

JJ last year deferred a lot to Harrington down the stretch. That shouldn't happen this year. But I don't want him to feel like he has to take every shot down the stretch and force some bad shots either. He made a lot of good plays at the end of games, in which he penetrated into the lane, and kicked it out to a wide open guy.

The one good thing about this team, is that we have a lot of guys who feel comfortable with taking a big shot. JJ, Chill, Smoove, Salim, and Lue have no problem taking a big shot. You'll probably see Marvin develop that mentality as well.