AJC > Sports > Hawks > Blog > Archives > 2007 > December > 05
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Where’s Joe?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Astro Joe brought out a great point on the last blog, one that requires some legwork today at practice (that’s why I’m here at Philips Arena today specifically, to get some answers), in regards to Joe Johnson and his shooting struggles.
On the surface, his shooting woes in the Hawks’ past three games could be just an untimely shooting slump, it happens to the very best. But I exchanged emails late last night with my Lang Whitaker and he wonders, as many of us do, if there isn’t something more going on? Lang said he popped in tape of Joe from last season and he was a totally different player, a guy moving faster and more decisive than he has this season.
Joe’s wearing a sleeve on the calf he injured last year but I don’t think that’s been a major issue this season, at least I don’t think it has. What’s been off the past three games, and really since the Hawks lost that double overtime thriller to Seattle, has been his swagger.
He hasn’t been himself, to speak. Everyone has noticed it, too. I’ve had at least four conversations with scouts from other teams and they’ve all wondered what the deal is with him. They’ve acknowledged that he hasn’t been horrible but that he simply hasn’t been himself.
The real surprise is that the Hawks are actually treading water the past eight games (4-4) with Joe struggling the way he has. That’s probably the most tangible sign of growth for this team that we’ve seen.
So much fuss has been made about the comments Joe made on several occasions regarding what he thinks this team needs in order to upgrade itself to a true playoff contender - and the furor created by those comments surprised me, mostly because he’s saying the same things guys like Michael Redd, Paul Pierce and Jermaine O’Neal have and been praised as leaders for stepping up and saying what needed to be said.
Not everyone took digested Johnson’s words the same. I know some of his teammates felt they were the targets of his ire (and nothing could be further from the truth) while others saw it as a left hook to the gut of the franchise. Others, felt he spoke from the heart and expressed some things that were sincere and even if a bit harsh, were coming from the right place.
Whatever your stance, it’s easy to see that all of this has taken a toll on this team and perhaps on it’s All-Star, captain and best player. So that’s why I’m prowling the locker room today for Joe and some answers to these burning questions we all have (we were on the same page, Astro Joe, but I was on the shelf Tuesday night, so I had to wait a day to get to this story we all saw coming).
