Eddie Johnson on the prowl

[F-Dog]

EJ writes for Hoopshype and has his own website, so he seems pretty internet-savvy. Here, he goes postal on the statheads at APBRmetrics, who took him to task for claiming he could score 28 ppg with the new rules (even though he only averaged 28 mpg through the heart of his career):

First of all who is this Nikos guy? and how old are you? did you actually see me play in my prime? How dare you say i was mediocre player ---are you kidding me?

You seem to be good with mathmatics--well go run some numbers on the opposite position on how many points he scored when i played and then bring me a plus --minus. Because i think statements like " he didnt play defense and he did not rebound comes from something you read in a magazine or paper.

My plus -minus against most players i played against was in my favor---so i guess their defense was terrible too. or do you cop out and say they were not a better offensive player than i was. Or they didn't take the same amount of shots---will that be your reasoning.

I love the fact you guys are using me as a guinea pig, but know this i shot 47% for a career against hand checking defenses and no flagrant fouls with fines and suspensions.

So yea i will say that most players like myself, Wilkins, Bird, English, Vandeweghe, Dale Ellis, Dell Curry would score with ease.

Why, because we all had two fundamental skills that a majority of the players do not have today.

1. We moved without the ball

2. we could catch and shoot.

you can't apply math to that can you? thats why numbers are overated.

You can't equate the heart of the player? thats why you see some players wither away in the fourth quarter although they were lights out in the first three.--you can't equate that either can you?

Put some math on how many game winning shots i made in my career and how many key rebounds i grabbed when the game was on the line---you see math can't equate that.


And because of those two fundamental skills we would score a ton in todays game because we did not need the ball to be effective and didn't wastse energy.

There are no mathmatical nubers to equate that and that is the part guys like you can't understand.

For the guy that said i did not play much---wrong i played on every team i played for and at the end of my career of course numbers go down.

Also those 21 points a game i scored for the suns in 89-----you didn't mention i scored them in 28 mins a game while shooting 49%.

Stop equating Defense with Offense-----you guys act like it's easier to play offense-------shooting is the hardest fundamental skill---if it was not-why do we see top scorers shooting in the low 40 's ------take the top 10 scorers in the 80's and compare them to the top 10 scorers in the last few years.

They can not shoot and thats why we see an influx of foreign players---so don't use them in your equation because we had few foreigners back then.


Finally go do your research and you will see that i played in the fourth quarter in the first 10 to 11 years of my career.

So i guess my defense was not all that bad.-------Nikos how many games did you see me play in? and where did your info come from that i did not play d? the Newspaper or are you a scout?

Stick to the Math and rely on that.

Finally Nikos and everyone else-----If my skills were so bad ---why in the hell did i play 17 years and could have played more.

EJ was a great shooter, but 28 ppg? No chance. Ray Allen is every bit the shooter and scorer Eddie was, played 40 mpg on a fast-paced team with a terrible defense, and still only scored 25 ppg last year.

That said, scoring 21.5 ppg with the Suns back in 1988--in only 29.2 mpg--was pretty impressive. On the other hand, he had KJ and Hornacek setting him up...how tough could it really be?


Anyway, it's nice to see the old commentator getting out and about.

 

[George O'Brien]

Eddie was a terrific shooter. I can't say much about the rest of his game, but he could turn games around in an instant.

 

[azn822]

daym....EJ aired him out..lol

 

[Mainstreet]

Eddie was a great shooter, however, it's funny that I remember he was a streak shooter. When he was on fire he was on fire. I think if a fan listens to the comments he makes during the game, he will continually remark get the ball to the hot shooter. I think Eddie being a streak shooter knows the importance of this. As I remember, the thing that distinguished Eddie from many other streak shooters is that Eddie knew when to quit shooting when he was off.

However, when Eddie was on... feed him the ball.

 

[Gaddabout]

Eddie could do some other things besides shoot. Unlike most swingmen today, he was capable of a decent entry pass into the low post ... although if you passed it to him, you might as well get under the basket in position for a rebound, because he was much more likely to hoist one up. He was outstanding getting the line when his shot wasn't falling, and he did work hard at team defense. He excelled at steering his man into the middle, where Mark West would promptly foul him exactly 4 times in the first quarter.

At least they were hard fouls.

I love EJ. I think he knows much more about basketball than his game revealed. He probably should be a coach -- a college coach -- where his confidence and ability to communicate could really make an impact.

 

[Mainstreet]

Gaddabout, I think you nailed it precisely. I think Eddie was more than just a great shooter. He has a great knowledge of the game and I really enjoy listening to him when he comments about the game. I sometimes wish his comments could be linked to the coaching staff... sort of another assistant coach.

I think Eddie would make a great coach on any level because of his communication skills, personality and basketball knowledge. Actually I'm perplexed as to why he is not coaching unless he he is waiting for the right opportunity.

I will say this, irregardless of not having a recruiting background, I think he would make an outstanding college coach. I wish ASU would have given him a stronger look to carrying on the run and gun tradition that was the Ned Wulk era.

 

[nowagimp]

Eddie Johnson had one of the best shooting strokes I ever saw. If he wants to go postal on those guys, he's earned it in my book.

 

[Bada0Bing]

I really like listening to Eddie. He knows a lot about the game and he has ability to pass it along to the viewers better than most announcers. However, I think he’s been boosting his ego a little too much down at the YMCA. I’ve played against him a few times recently and he still has a really good shot. But 28 ppg? I don’t think so.