JJ's game can be so weak at times

[Gray Mule]

Pathetic.

No one escapes this description. Not any player, coach or ref.

Teague did manage to hit our only 3's. Zaza did get some good

play inside.

Still, their best was PATHETIC! And, this is the good stuff.

:cant believe:

[NJHAWK]

Yeah. It's not like he bitched at refs instead of getting back on D, ignored rebounding, took several stupid jumpers, missed a couple easy layups, and was half-assed closing out on D.

Oh wait...yeah, it is.

Anyone else want to try and give someone significant credit without a significant share of the blame? Because the only player on the roster who didn't do more harm than good tonight was RandMo.

I actually thought Jason Collins was doing well for never playing. He got screwed on both early foul calls against him especially the one that should have been a charge on Howard.

[BossTweed]

The 5 turnovers by JJ is unacceptable.

He needs to understand that he may have to be less of a facilitator in this series, and more of a scorer. He only had 6 shot attempts in the 1st half. That's not going to be enough in this series. He's going to have to be waaaay more aggressive than what he played tonight.

Get your shots up JJ and be more aggressive. Less dribbling, and trust your jumper . . because with D-Howard lurking in the lane, the floater may not be the way to go.

Those turnovers by Joe were pathetic. Lazy passes and lazy ballhandling. Dude just put the ball out there for the Magic and said "if you play any kind of defense, you can have this".

[benhillboy]

Pro-Joes bashing Joe!!?? Say It Ain't So!

Nice read on Joe from NBA.com. Peep his mannerisms, speech, head-scratching, and cliched responses. This guy turned down $60 mil. for four years? I don't know what I'm more dumbfounded by: The Hawks offering or him refusing. Amazing.

And for all the Joe Apologists who quickly ask " What better option is there?," I don't have a better option or know how much money we can give to whom in a sign-and-trade and what draft picks we can trade and who's restricted and rookie contracts (I'd take Evans or Curry in a heartbeat) and so-and-so's contract movability and money match-ups and all that jazz, nor do I care at this point. That's what Sund gets paid for. All I know is that I want this dude gone, and hopefully Sunds feels the same. The only way I'd welcome him back is if we land a Young All-Star Caliber True Center (Brook Lopez/ Marc Gasol) and a Young Gunning, Near-All-Star Caliber Small Guard (too many to name.) I also have dreams about eating pizza and playing horse with Michael Jordan.

Link

Edited May 5, 2010 by benhillboy

[Antmillennium]

Pro-Joes bashing Joe!!?? Say It Ain't So!

Nice read on Joe from NBA.com. Peep his mannerisms, speech, head-scratching, and cliched responses. This guy turned down $60 mil. for four years? I don't know what I'm more dumbfounded by: The Hawks offering or him refusing. Amazing.

And no, I don't have a better option or know how much money we can give to whom in a sign-and-trade and what draft picks we can trade and so-and-so's contract movability and money match-ups and all that jazz. That's what Sund gets paid for. All I know is that I want this guy gone, and hopefully he feels the same.

Link

Joe is definitely not good enough to be a lead man. He hasn't earned max contract dollars and he shouldn't get them. I'm actually leaning towards saying that he deserves a pay cut as opposed to a raise. If somebody else is willing to pay Joe max dollars, then let that team be the sucker. Why should the Hawks be the sucker that gives Joe Johnson a max contract and then regrets it a couple of years later?

[HawkWeisErrr]

Joke Johnson.

[Dexmethylphenidate]

JJ has been a disappointment in these last several games. His offensive game is mostly now that awkward leaning runner/shot in the lane which is a lot tougher than just beat out your man and shoot the midrange shot like he used to do in the regular season. He also doesn't get a lot of respect from refs (result from not barking at them?) when driving which result in a tough shot or straight out turnover.

Maybe someone who openly vouch for Woodson back as a coach is not that bright after all?

Edited May 6, 2010 by Playa

[LouFan]

I am confused on JJ and JC's games last night. It was like they didn't even exist. They need to step up if we are going to have any chance in the series... they are the key pieces. I do not like how Al was taken out, keep him in to battle Dwight. I dont know if you guys see, but every time Al screws up he hits his hands together and tries harder. Hard to keep improving when you keep getting benched. Let the All Star play!

[niremetal]

JJ has been a disappointment in these last several games. His offensive game is mostly now that awkward leaning runner/shot in the lane which is a lot tougher than just beat out your man and shoot the midrange shot like he used to do in the regular season. He also doesn't get a lot of respect from refs (result from not barking at them?) when driving which result in a tough shot or straight out turnover.

Maybe someone who openly vouch for Woodson back as a coach is not that bright after all?

JJ's bread and butter is his ability to hit those little 5-8 foot floaters and runners in the lane. That simply isn't a shot that's available against the Magic because of Dwight Howard. Remember earlier in the year when JJ tried that shot on consecutive possessions, suffered two Howard blocks, and faded to the perimeter for the remainder of the game?

JJ does draw a decent amount of contact, but 1) he is big and strong enough that it takes a LOT of contact for him to get thrown off course; 2) he doesn't flop or dive like LeBron or Wade; and 3) he doesn't, as you said, bark at the refs. As a result, he doesn't get many foul calls.

The result of those two things is that JJ struggles to score against the Magic, at least in our ISO system. Actually, "struggles" is too weak a word. He's terrible against the Magic. Unless he is having one of his once-every-few-weeks where he is hitting 30-footers like they are free throws, he just doesn't have the scoring toolkit to be effective as a scorer.

Now, with a different coach, perhaps there would be an adjustment where more of JJ's touches came off screens and pick-and-rolls, like D'Antoni did with him in Phoenix. But something tells me not to hold my breath on that...