I Miss this Guy

[goldseraph]

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I love Diaw and all, but still sad I never got to see this lineup at full strength:

PG - Nash
SG - JJ
SF - Marion
PF - Amare
C - KT

 

[JS22]

Bell + Diaw > JJ

 

[Nash]

That picture is funny/stunning in a way. He's still got quite a height to travel before he reaches the basket but he already has the ball in a downward facing grip - it doesn't even look like he's holding the ball - it seems like he has the ball ready to drop into the hoop. I guess that just shows the speed at which these guys fly to the hoop....he's milliseconds from dunking it.
Unbelievable!

 

[Folster]

We never got to see this line-up.

Nash
Bell
Marion
Amare
Diaw/KT

 

[HooverDam]

I don't get this at all. I'd take Diaw over JJ straight up. Factor in the picks, the good attitude and the money saved, its not even close. Athletic big men who can play 5 positions don't come along that often. Ill tempered shooting guards are a dime a dozen though.

 

[Nasser22]

I loved JJ but as everyone said, Diaw is going to be better and Raja has done a great job in his place. I like the current team much better than what it would be with JJ.

 

[scoutmasterdave]

That picture is funny/stunning in a way. He's still got quite a height to travel before he reaches the basket but he already has the ball in a downward facing grip - it doesn't even look like he's holding the ball - it seems like he has the ball ready to drop into the hoop. I guess that just shows the speed at which these guys fly to the hoop....he's milliseconds from dunking it.
Unbelievable!

I think the perspective is screwing with you a bit - in that picture, I think the basket is closer to the photographer than JJ is (he's coming at an angle), and since he's not right on top of the rim, it looks like he's below the rim.

Next season, watch 24 and check out all the camera tricks they use to make Kiefer Sutherland look like he's not 5'6".

 

[boisesuns]

Bell + Diaw > JJ

 

[Nash]

I think the perspective is screwing with you a bit - in that picture, I think the basket is closer to the photographer than JJ is (he's coming at an angle), and since he's not right on top of the rim, it looks like he's below the rim.

Next season, watch 24 and check out all the camera tricks they use to make Kiefer Sutherland look like he's not 5'6".

uh..'the photographer is closer to the hoop' makes sense..maybe thats why it looks like there is quite some clearance between JJ and the basket. It looks like he's farther away than he actually is...but the elevation? Since the photographer is lower than JJ, it should actually look like JJ's closer (height wise) to the hoop..No?

anyway, did you say Kiefer is just 5'6"? thats hard to believe! i've always thought he's close to 5'10" or so. Is he tiny like Tom 'crazy' Cruise? thats noos to me..

 

[NastyOne]

I don't get this at all. I'd take Diaw over JJ straight up. Factor in the picks, the good attitude and the money saved, its not even close. Athletic big men who can play 5 positions don't come along that often. Ill tempered shooting guards are a dime a dozen though.

Factor in the picks and Bell, and yes i would also take Diaw.

But Diaw is not a better player than JJ.Their one year apart in age, so if anyone brings up potential with Diaw, you also have to figure in Johnson also geting better.

And you also forget that JJ can also play 4 position when needed.

And Diaw cannot play 5 positions cause he cant play SG.

Another thing you're forgetting is that JJ is heavier than Diaw, while Diaw has a inch or two on Joe.So this thing about Diaw being a bigman is wrong.

Hes a 6'9 215 Forward that was forced to play center cause of all the injuries to our bigmen, and the lack of good centers in the NBA to matchup against him.

But Diaw's true position is at Smallforward, but he can handle the point much like Grant Hill did with the pistons.

But so can Joe Johnson, hes 6'7 230 and his true position is at guardforward, and he plays way more like Grant Hill than Diaw.

Maybe its the hate for JJ or whatever, but if you watched Joe this past season with Atlanta hes way better now than he was with us.

He had 11 games scoring over 30 points, and 4 games scoring over 40 points.13 games with 10+ assist, and 2 games with 15+ assist.

Joe Johnson is becoming a household name, and if he played on a winning team doing what he did last season, everyone would already consider him a allstar on the brink of superstar status.

I love Diaw and think the skys the limit, but Joe's ceiling is just higher and hes just more of a complete player that can score in many ways.

Johnson=Pierce
Diaw=Gasol Lite

 

[Goldfield]

JJ wanted to leave. I dont understand compairing the two cause they are COMPLETELY different.

But I think Bell brings a toughness this team needs if they want to win it all. Adding that along with a guy like Diaw who is a very good passer/slasher who reminds me alittle of a Danny Manning type talent. Is gunna be awsome to watch his pick & roll with Amare...

 

[BOLDIN]

your going to make me cry

 

[Mirth]

I agree with most of the posts here. What is most interesting to me and I never heard this discussed during the whoel fiasco was that this guy was doing literally nothing in Boston. When we got him he had a serious confidence problem, Boston saw the inherent skill but could not coach him into playing well. He comes here and through coaching and effort on his part becomes this great player!

I always felt that he "owed" the Suns something for saving him by recognizing and utilizing his talents to thier potential.

He is developing into truly a great player, but I think that Diaw will be just as good.

 

[goldseraph]

I'm not arguing that I'd necessarily rather have JJ than how it worked out, or that we'd even certainly be better. More just a general admiration for his potential. I remember I was inordinately distressed when he signed with ATL, I just loved the idea of a 6'7" PG/SG who is thick and muscular. Then he won me over with the 'masked man' performances in the playoffs.

 

[NastyOne]

I'm not arguing that I'd necessarily rather have JJ than how it worked out, or that we'd even certainly be better. More just a general admiration for his potential. I remember I was inordinately distressed when he signed with ATL, I just loved the idea of a 6'7" PG/SG who is thick and muscular. Then he won me over with the 'masked man' performances in the playoffs.

Yeah i hear you, Joe Johnson is still one of my favorite players even though he dogged us(Not all his fault though)

If JJ and Diaw made the same amount of money and we could choose which one we wanted, i would take Joey with Amare coming back.

His ability to stretch the defense and still take it to the hole or setup a teammate, was truly a huge plus for this team.

 

[just do it]

Factor in the picks and Bell, and yes i would also take Diaw.

But Diaw is not a better player than JJ.Their one year apart in age, so if anyone brings up potential with Diaw, you also have to figure in Johnson also geting better.

And you also forget that JJ can also play 4 position when needed.

And Diaw cannot play 5 positions cause he cant play SG.

Another thing you're forgetting is that JJ is heavier than Diaw, while Diaw has a inch or two on Joe.So this thing about Diaw being a bigman is wrong.

Hes a 6'9 215 Forward that was forced to play center cause of all the injuries to our bigmen, and the lack of good centers in the NBA to matchup against him.

But Diaw's true position is at Smallforward, but he can handle the point much like Grant Hill did with the pistons.

But so can Joe Johnson, hes 6'7 230 and his true position is at guardforward, and he plays way more like Grant Hill than Diaw.

Maybe its the hate for JJ or whatever, but if you watched Joe this past season with Atlanta hes way better now than he was with us.

He had 11 games scoring over 30 points, and 4 games scoring over 40 points.13 games with 10+ assist, and 2 games with 15+ assist.

Joe Johnson is becoming a household name, and if he played on a winning team doing what he did last season, everyone would already consider him a allstar on the brink of superstar status.

I love Diaw and think the skys the limit, but Joe's ceiling is just higher and hes just more of a complete player that can score in many ways.

Johnson=Pierce
Diaw=Gasol Lite

Sorry but Diaw's BB IQ is much higher than JJ's. I also believe that Diaw is a much better SG than JJ as a PG. On your last note JJ is only a household name cuz of the abortion of the Hawks front office to get him let alone the awful contract they gave him.

 

[Errntknght]

"Is gunna be awsome to watch his pick & roll with Amare..."

I wouldn't expect them to run a true pick and roll very often for two reasons - one is that the passes that Nash uses to make that play work are extremely difficult and we haven't seen Boris making many passes like that. The second, and more important reason, is that the defense can and will simply switch defenders and there won't be near the mismatches that happen when Nash and Amare's defenders switch. Heck, Amare will draw the better big man defender so Boris will have the ball with a better defender on him than he had before the play. He'd have been better off just facing up on his original defender with dribble in hand.

We might see them running the fake pick and roll that Diaw and Shawn ran last year - the play where Shawn peels out for the hoop just before the pick takes place and Diaw passes over the top to him. Unfortunately this play works best when it catches the defense by surprise because its not that hard to prevent Boris from making the pass. If you recall this play was not run much as the season wound down because opponents were onto it.

 

[sunsfn]

When the suns traded for Joe Johnson he was a rookie in Boston, so he had not even played a year when he came here. He did not have a serious confidence problem. After he got here he was sharing time with Penny, that is when the confidence problem started. He was in and out of the line up sometimes because of Penny being injured, and the coaches wanting to win and Penny gave them a better chance at that time. Once Penny was gone Joe Johnsons started to improve almost every game. There were people here that were saying the he would be terrible and convert back to a sullen player, but the fact is he was growing into an NBA player and all of them do that at times.
Joe Johnson did not really want to leave as many of you are saying until after he and his agent went round and round with Sarver on the, we will not give you 50 mil (after just signing Q for 48 mil) but have a good year and you will be a rich man. That is actually when it all started as far as the down slide with Joe and this franchise.

After the season, when he got that crazy offer from Atlanta for 70 mil, and that was not going to happen here it really got ugly.

Joe Johnson is 6' 8" and D'Antoni said the last year that he was here he thought Joe had grown to 6' 9" tall. For what he can do at that size is really something when you think about it.

Boris Diaw is going to be an excellent player in another year as he develops his outside shot and overall game.
The draft pick the suns get next year could turn out to be a good pick.

I have gotten over the JJ fiasco, but still think he is going to be one of the best players in the NBA very soon, and maybe he already is.

 

[NastyOne]

Sorry but Diaw's BB IQ is much higher than JJ's. I also believe that Diaw is a much better SG than JJ as a PG.

When Diaw learns how to shoot from deep with consistency, then you can say he can play SG.

And Joe Johnson second best position is PG, watch a game from last year with him(I know its hard cause Hawks are horrible to watch), but the guy has great court vision.

On your last note JJ is only a household name cuz of the abortion of the Hawks front office to get him let alone the awful contract they gave him.

Yeah it had nothing to do with the allstar numbers he put up during the entire season.And the Superstar like performances that he had on many nights.

 

[NastyOne]

I have gotten over the JJ fiasco, but still think he is going to be one of the best players in the NBA very soon, and maybe he already is.

Very true, Our little JJ is growing into one of the most dominating guards in the NBA.

His numbers with the Hawks after he settled in are that of a franchise player.

And this was with him being the #1 option and defenses focusing on him.

 

[Joe Mama]

Factor in the picks and Bell, and yes i would also take Diaw.

But Diaw is not a better player than JJ.Their one year apart in age, so if anyone brings up potential with Diaw, you also have to figure in Johnson also geting better.

Ummm, no. It's not even that simple. Boris Diaw has more potential because last year was the first one where he saw significant minutes. JJ's also been in the league two years longer than Boris. Really though you just have to look at their games. It's kind of hard to compare them because they play different positions, but I would say JJ is pretty close to reaching his max potential. If Boris Diaw works hard he can get significantly better.

And you also forget that JJ can also play 4 position when needed.

And Diaw cannot play 5 positions cause he cant play SG.

Another thing you're forgetting is that JJ is heavier than Diaw, while Diaw has a inch or two on Joe.So this thing about Diaw being a bigman is wrong.

Hes a 6'9 215 Forward that was forced to play center cause of all the injuries to our bigmen, and the lack of good centers in the NBA to matchup against him.

But Diaw's true position is at Smallforward, but he can handle the point much like Grant Hill did with the pistons.

But so can Joe Johnson, hes 6'7 230 and his true position is at guardforward, and he plays way more like Grant Hill than Diaw.

Where do I begin? First of all I wish the NBA would measure and weigh each of these guys at the beginning of each season. My guess is that Joe Johnson is about 6-7.5, 235 pounds, and Boris Diaw is 6-9, 225 pounds. I think Boris has longer arms and is slightly more athletic as well although JJ did sometimes surprise me with a burst of athleticism.

I disagree that Diaw's true position is the 3. I'm sure he can play the 3 as well as just about any other position on the floor, but his true position is 4/5 despite being undersized. It's where he excelled for the Phoenix Suns and the French national team.

Boris Diaw just needs to improve his outside shot. Once he gets more consistent and more confident on his medium to long jump shot I'll be able to say confidently that I would rather have him than JJ.

Maybe its the hate for JJ or whatever, but if you watched Joe this past season with Atlanta hes way better now than he was with us.

He had 11 games scoring over 30 points, and 4 games scoring over 40 points.13 games with 10+ assist, and 2 games with 15+ assist.

Joe Johnson is becoming a household name, and if he played on a winning team doing what he did last season, everyone would already consider him a allstar on the brink of superstar status.

I love Diaw and think the skys the limit, but Joe's ceiling is just higher and hes just more of a complete player that can score in many ways.

Johnson=Pierce
Diaw=Gasol Lite

I'll say this. Last season the Phoenix Suns were lucky to have Boris Diaw instead of Joe Johnson. It's not that Boris had a better season than JJ. The Phoenix Suns needed Boris Diaw's help in the frontcourt, and there's no way JJ could play the 5 or even the 4 more than a couple minutes a game.

I think Boris Diaw has to do two things to be an elite player in the NBA. As I said before he needs to improve his medium range to long-range shooting. He also needs to play more aggressively and get to the free-throw line instead of passing out so often.

JJ needs better players around him, but I hardly feel sorry for him there.

Joe

 

[Joe Mama]

When Diaw learns how to shoot from deep with consistency, then you can say he can play SG.

And Joe Johnson second best position is PG, watch a game from last year with him(I know its hard cause Hawks are horrible to watch), but the guy has great court vision.



Yeah it had nothing to do with the allstar numbers he put up during the entire season.And the Superstar like performances that he had on many nights.

JJ was more of a household name when he played here for the Phoenix Suns. He might have had some great games for Atlanta, but that hardly means he's a household name. He might be one of the best forgotten players in the NBA because of where he chose to play. There are probably as many casual fans who know Boris Diaw as JJ.

Furthermore, I believe the Phoenix Suns were willing to match Atlanta's offer for Joe Johnson. At least Sarver had the majority of the plan's ownership group convinced he would. Also, it probably did not help that Srver declined to give JJ the $50 million in the summer of 2004, but I believe the deciding factor was JJ (and his agent) wanting to be the main man. It's not that he was going to be even the second star on this team. He would have been talked about behind Amare Stoudemire, Steve Nash, and probably Shawn Marion. It's the same reason Shawn Marion complains.

Joe

 

[NastyOne]

Ummm, no. It's not even that simple. Boris Diaw has more potential because last year was the first one where he saw significant minutes. JJ's also been in the league two years longer than Boris. Really though you just have to look at their games. It's kind of hard to compare them because they play different positions, but I would say JJ is pretty close to reaching his max potential. If Boris Diaw works hard he can get significantly better.



Where do I begin? First of all I wish the NBA would measure and weigh each of these guys at the beginning of each season. My guess is that Joe Johnson is about 6-7.5, 235 pounds, and Boris Diaw is 6-9, 225 pounds. I think Boris has longer arms and is slightly more athletic as well although JJ did sometimes surprise me with a burst of athleticism.

I disagree that Diaw's true position is the 3. I'm sure he can play the 3 as well as just about any other position on the floor, but his true position is 4/5 despite being undersized. It's where he excelled for the Phoenix Suns and the French national team.

Boris Diaw just needs to improve his outside shot. Once he gets more consistent and more confident on his medium to long jump shot I'll be able to say confidently that I would rather have him than JJ.



I'll say this. Last season the Phoenix Suns were lucky to have Boris Diaw instead of Joe Johnson. It's not that Boris had a better season than JJ. The Phoenix Suns needed Boris Diaw's help in the frontcourt, and there's no way JJ could play the 5 or even the 4 more than a couple minutes a game.

I think Boris Diaw has to do two things to be an elite player in the NBA. As I said before he needs to improve his medium range to long-range shooting. He also needs to play more aggressively and get to the free-throw line instead of passing out so often.

JJ needs better players around him, but I hardly feel sorry for him there.

Joe

I just can't agree with you on any of those things.

Joe Johnson played on a weak team with very little talent, And Diaw played on a team where teams couldnt focus on only him without paying for it.(Even though JJ in Diaw's position when he was here, still put up better numbers than Diaw)

And JJ has just as much potential as Diaw.

He got better when he got out of Boston.

He got better when Marbury and Hardaway got traded and he became a starter.

He got better the next season with him getting to concentrate on scoring with Nash coming here.

He got better going to Atlanta being the #1 option, when everyone thought he would fail without Amare,Marion and Nash taking the pressure off him.

Every year he keeps getting better, but all of a sudden its supposed to stop at 25/26 years old? Hes now entering his prime years.

Diaw has the potential to be a 20/6/6 guy, Johnson already is a 20/6/4 guy and hes only a year older, and had to do it as the #1 option.

I can easily see Johnson becoming a 23p/7a/5r player as Atlanta's younger players get better and take some of the weight off his shoulders.

Diaw has to learn to shoot the 3 before he gets on JJ's level.

 

[sunsfn]

By SEKOU SMITH
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 07/14/06 Salt Lake City — When USA Basketball czar Jerry Colangelo and coach Mike Krzyzewski were evaluating talent for the national team roster that will convene Wednesday in Las Vegas, they had a simple vision.
They wanted the prototypical player that could excel in international competition.
So they went in search of the versatile players, guys who could play multiple positions, possessed a wealth of fundamental skills, were unselfish and would be willing to compete at the highest level for one of the coveted 12 spots on the team charged with helping restore American basketball to its rightful place on the world stage.
They were looking for guys like Hawks captain Joe Johnson, one of the 24 players who'll be in Sin City over the course of the next two weeks sweating through boot camp in preparation for next month's World Championships that will be played in Japan.
"Joe can play anything from the so-called one [point guard] to the four [power forward] in the international game," Krzyzewski said last week when asked for a description of the prototype and how close Johnson came to meeting that criteria. "[Team USA assistant and Phoenix Suns coach] Mike D'Antoni coached him, and he knows that Joe could sometimes be a big point [guard], he can shoot, play defense and handle the ball.
"He does everything. Other than that, he didn't have any qualifications."
Colangelo was equally effusive in his praise of Johnson.
"Everything we were looking for came in one package in Joe Johnson," he said. "And that's a compliment to his abilities."

http://www.ajc.com/hawks/content/sports/hawks/stories/0716nbainsider.html

 

[F-Dog]

Without getting into the decision-making process last year, Joe Johnson would be a perfect addition to the current Suns team.

Put him on the roster in place of James Jones, and the Suns barely even need a ninth man. Their eight-man rotation would be best in the league by far.