It's over but, you know, NOW he's talking about things
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/1108joejohnson1108.html
loved Suns but says Sarver slighted him
Paul Coro
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 8, 2005 12:00 AM
Joe Johnson is reliving his tumultuous summer while VH-1 is on his Beverly Hills hotel room television. It was not The Surreal Life, but that would have been appropriate for how the star guard went from a Suns team he adored to an Atlanta team that gets floored.
Johnson spoke candidly about his lack of faith in Suns Managing Partner Robert Sarver, about disrespect, his conflicting emotions about leaving Phoenix and the truth about his perceived gentleman's persona.
Johnson still roots for Phoenix, so much that he attended the Suns-Lakers game last week at Staples Center. He knew how difficult basketball success would be in Atlanta, but his discontent with the Suns, a desire to return to the South and a five-year, $69.8 million contract moved Johnson.
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He is winless in three Hawks games and is wrestling with running a bad team. Among his consolation prizes: a $20 million payment from his Hawks deal and a 15,000-square-foot home.
But why did he leave? Here are his words:
Question: How did it come to this?
JJ: “Going into the season when we didn't get the contract done, I knew this was a possibility so it didn't surprise me at all. It may surprise a lot of other people, but it didn't surprise me one bit because this was the chance everybody was taking. It was nothing I meant to happen from Day 1. People have been talking about me wanting to be the man and all that. That was never the case.”
Do you realize how a lot of people in Phoenix saw you as the bad guy this summer for wanting to leave?
“I'm a grown man so me being put on blast or people saying what they want to say, I could care less. You can talk about me all you want to, just don't put your hands on me.”
Many people still don't understand why you left. Was it any one thing?
“It's a mixture of things. When I said I didn't want to come back, everybody looked at it like I was being selfish or I was jealous of some things, but that was never the case. Anybody who knows me knows I'm a quiet, laid-back person who doesn't say much. All I love to do is play basketball. Me getting fame and glory, I could care less about all of that stuff.”
Going back to the 2004 summer, how much did it bother you that the extension didn't get done when the Suns were within $5 million of your six-year, $50 million request?
“It didn't bother me. It motivated me more than anything. I was hoping that we could get things situated. I still feel like to this day that they brought Q (Quentin Richardson) in and I don't really know what they were doing. I don't think they meant for everything to work like it did. I don't think they meant to play me, Shawn (Marion) and Q at the same time, but it just so happened that it worked, so that's what we went with.
“It was tough, man, but I'm a workaholic and I put my best foot forward and got good results. If it wasn't for Steve Nash and Amaré (Stoudemire) and Shawn, none of this would be possible. I appreciate everything those guys did. “You look at it like $5million was nothing. But in the business, it's really not a lot. At first, they went, ‘We're not going to make an offer and just let you play it out.' It went from that to making an offer, then they were going to a Q deal and then I wouldn't accept it. They wouldn't go up five ($5million) more. All this was just a build-up in me. I never caused any problems the whole time I was there. I never raised any hell the whole season. Bryan and Jerry (Colangelo) and Robert Sarver never got any problems out of me. I was a professional and I handled it well.”
Did your personality work against you?
“I think they were taking my kindness as a weakness. I'm a quiet, subtle type that really doesn't say anything. It was like, ‘We'll throw this at Joe. I'm quite sure he'll accept it. Don't worry about it. He's not going anywhere.' If you push me to the limit, eventually I'm going to explode.”
What did you expect July 1 (the start of free agency)?
“I really didn't know. When they traded Q, I was like, ‘Well, it's definite then. I'm going to go back.' But after a while, I really didn't know. I knew there were a few teams who were showing a lot of interest. I just felt like Phoenix wasn't one of them.”
Did you expect an immediate Suns maximum offer?
“It wasn't really about the max. But I was assuming that the first day, bam, we can stamp it out there and it was over. But it didn't happen that way. We let other teams get involved and it happened.”
What did the Suns tell you initially?
“They basically told me and my agent: ‘Go get the best offer and bring it back.' And that's what we did. I just didn't feel like that was the right thing to do. If you're really showing interest in a person and you're telling them to go get the best offer and bring it back, what is that really telling you? Instead of telling you this is how much we'll give you and we'll go from there.”
Did it bother you that there was an impression out there that Phoenix would match any offer and that could affect your market value?
“They ran a few teams off by saying, ‘We're going to match anything,' everywhere. I felt like they were doing that to scare teams away. That way, they could get me for a bargain and it didn't happen that way. I ain't going to lie. I really didn't like that.”
How come you didn't want to meet them in early July?
“Not only was I out of town, but I just felt like we had all season to sit down and talk about what was coming up. Sarver wanted to talk and see how I felt. You know, whatever. We had eight, nine months for all that, so I didn't feel like there was a need.”
Was it like being another team's free agent?
“That's what I'm saying. When they got Steve, they all went out with Amaré to Dallas and talked to Steve to convince him. With me, I was already there. You don't have to try to lure me in to tell me about the city or about my team. I know what everything is like, so why try that? All you've got to do is tell me what I'm worth and they still wouldn't do it.”
So did any of that recruiting stuff, like the slick book showing photos of a glorious future in Phoenix, appeal to you?
“Don't get me wrong. It's a great (expletive) book. I love the book. I still look at it every day. It's a great (expletive) book. But that wasn't going to do it.”
When you last left Phoenix, you said you wanted to come back but that the NBA is a business. Did you definitely want to come back?
“Did I want to come back? I wouldn't have minded to come back. Now, I ain't going to say I wanted to come back. But if they would've brought me back, I would've been a professional about it.”
Were you still ticked about the previous summer?
“There were a few reasons. Like when I got hurt (an orbital fracture from a playoff fall)people were trying to get me back the last game of the Dallas series. It was tough. It was a hard decision. I thought I did everything in my power to help the organization. “For things to be handled the way they were this summer, I just felt like it wasn't right.”
Did it put pressure on you when it came out that you were cleared for basketball activity?
“Somebody said that, but I was not cleared. There was no way. I could see, but I couldn't see out of my peripheral vision. It was crazy. It made it seem like I didn't want to get back out there, but that was never the case.”
What did you think of the Suns' first offer? Was it $50million over six years?
“Yeah, it was. I was like, ‘We tried to get that last year.' I thought that was a bargain last year. Now, my value has gone up and you throw 50 out there? Man, please.”
After that offer, how did things progress? Is it true you didn't return any calls?
“I didn't talk to them. There was the time Robert and I talked when I told him I didn't want to come back. Before that, it was me, Robert, Bryan and Jerry on the phone with my agent. That's when we were trying to work things out. It never got done. They were always beating around that they didn't want to get into it right now and they hung up in our face. That was when they were like, ‘Go get your best offer,' and hung up. The conversation got heated. My agent was like, ‘Can you just give us an offer?' And they never would.”
What did you think of how Atlanta approached you?
“They were ready and very serious about it. I took it. There wasn't a hesitation.”
Were you ready to leave by then?
“Yeah, I was fed up and decided it was time for a change.”
Was it hard to tell Sarver that you didn't want him to match Atlanta's offer?
“It wasn't difficult when you're pushed to the limit. It was time. Maybe that was an easy way out. They were probably never going to match it in the first place. I don't think, to be honest, that they could've matched. By me saying that, it benefited them and made me look like I was a bad guy. It's a chance you take.”
Sarver said publicly that he was willing to match.
“That was after I said I didn't want to come back.”
If they had matched, how would it have been for you?
“It would've been sort of like last year. We lost Q, but I would've come with a great attitude. I wouldn't have been mad at Sarver or Bryan. I'm a professional, man. This is what I do. I do this for a living, so why would I come back with a crummy-ass attitude? That ain't me. I'm not even that type of guy and they know that. That's why it's crazy.”
If you had come back, did you realize someone like Marion was going to have to be moved within a year?
“When the season was over, me and Q talked for a long time and I was like, ‘Somebody's going to have to go because this is too much money.' When Q got traded, it was a shock to him and me.”
Did that upset you because you were close to Q?
“It was tough. Once Q was gone, I didn't know what to expect. I enjoyed myself there. I ain't going to lie to you. The fans were loyal. I got some great, great memories. Unfortunately, I had to leave.”
When Nash and Marion talked to you at Nash's charity game in Toronto, did that make any difference?“Oh, yeah. Those were two good friends of mine. It did make me think about it, but it was already done. I had already talked to Sarver.”
You don't think they would've matched any offer?
“I think they would've matched an offer but not a max offer. That was too much.”
Did you have a problem with being a third scoring option?
“We all knew the offense ran through Amaré. As far as being a third option, I didn't really look at it as that. Coach (Mike) D'Antoni did the best job he could with the type of team we had because everybody wanted the ball. He put me at backup point and I got a chance to make a lot more plays. I would've loved to get more involved. Everybody watching the Suns thought everything was peaches and cream.
“It was a lot of fun, but you can't keep everybody happy. We all accepted roles and nobody griped about it. At the same time, it wasn't like everybody was happy. We were winning, so how could you gripe? I knew I could do more than be a spot-up shooter.”
Were you upset with Stoudemire for calling you out at halftime of the Miami game?
“Amaré never went off on me about nothing in Miami. That never happened. (Johnson later said Stoudemire did criticize him.) I was (ticked) off because I really didn't touch the ball that game. I was mad about that (expletive).
How do you feel about Phoenix now?
“I still got love. I'm just not there. How things were handled is a different story.”
But at the end, Sarver said he asked if the money were equal, would you rather be in Atlanta and lose or here and win and you picked Atlanta?
“(Laughs). Man, please. I think if anybody in their right mind takes a look, they know that he didn't want to match.”
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/1108joejohnson1108.html
). Plus the picks, and not having to pay 14 million a year to a guy who's not worth it, pretty damn good.
