Johnson Calls Out Hawks

As I warned in the previous post, the Bobcats took advantage of a road weary Hawks squad last Friday and emerged 20-point victors. Afterwards, Hawks captain Joe Johnson spoke up.

“I don’t know when we all of a sudden just really became a selfish team,” JJ said. “Now everybody wants to go one-on-one. It’s me, me, me. It’s crazy, man.” He went on to say that he didn’t think certain players on the team knew their roles.

After a 4-2 start, this comment took me and other Hawks followers by surprise. Yes, the Hawks were dreadful in Charlotte and had a season-low 10 assists. Part of that was that point guard Mike Bibby only played 20 minutes. Jamal Crawford and Josh Smith took 14 and 13 shots, respectively, without recording one assist. Johnson was 5-for-12 from the field, but he posted a season-low one assist. Now, through seven games, Johnson is averaging 4.1 assists on the year. That’s his lowest mark since becoming a Hawk back in 2005. In his previous four season, JJ has averaged 5.7 assists per game.

The very next night, the Hawks took advantage of another team in the midst of a long road trip, the Denver Nuggets. Johnson, Crawford, and Smith each scored over 20 points and the Hawks tied their season high with 30 assists. Of course, the Nuggets were without Kenyon Martin (bruised shin) and J.R. Smith (suspended), but the Hawks came out with a sense of urgency that they lacked the previous night.

A more punctual blogger than myself broke down Johnson’s game against the Nuggets over at peachtreehoops.com. It’s an insightful read and I wish to borrow a few points.

Aside from Jeff Teague, Johnson was the only Hawk to shoot below 50 percent in this game. JJ went outside of the team’s offense to go one-on-one on eight occasions, more than twice as often as any of his teammates.

Essentially, Johnson’s play did not back up his message. The rest of the Hawks seemed to have gotten their captain’s point. They moved the ball and played mostly unselfish ball in front of their home crowd.

The Hawks are 5-2, tied with Orlando for the third best record in the Eastern Conference and the fifth best record in the NBA. There’s certainly no need to panic. But Johnson needs to back up his play and be certain not to isolate himself from his teammates. Everything is in place for these Hawks to outperform last season’s version, but Johnson’s team-first mentality must remain consistently strong all season in order for them to follow through on their promise.

Team Ranks

Free throw percentage – 82.0. 2^nd

Turnovers – 12.6. 3^rd

Points per game – 106.9. 4^th

Field goal percentage – 47.4. 9^th

Assists – 21.0. 13^th

Rebounding differential – 0.1. 13^th

Opponents FG% – 46.0 19^th

Points allowed – 102.1. 20^th

Three-point percentage – 33.0. 20^th

Forced turnovers – 14.1. 20^th

Tags: Hawks team ranks, Joe Johnson calls out teammates, Joe Johnson upset