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| Joe Johnson |
It appears that Atlanta Hawks fans may indeed have gotten their wish. According to multiple reports, the Hawks have traded Joe Johnson to the New Jersey...oops, sorry Brooklyn Nets.
Why is this significant?
Because Johnson while a very good player, is being paid more money than anyone in the NBA. The Hawks owed him $90 million for the next 4 years and now apparently don't have to pay it.
They'll get Jordan Farmar, Anthony Morrow, Johan Petro, Jordan Williams, a lottery protected 1st round pick next year and possibly a sign and trade receipt of DeShawn Stevenson.
Read more from AJC.com RIGHT HERE
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports has more details RIGHT HERE
This trade would make brand spanking new Hawks G.M Danny Ferry the frontrunner for NBA Executive of the Year.
Why? Simple. And we know this from covering the Hawks and being based in the ATL.
Johnson is a good dude. And a better than average basketball player. The Hawks are a decent team that has plateaued. They needed a change.
While Joe is good enough as a "Lead" guy to get them in the playoffs, he's not good enough to get them over the top. And his salary is SO big that it would have kept the Hawks from finding the true "Leader" that they need.
The trade frees up his salary and gives them a bunch of bargaining chips to find another great player. Josh Smith and Al Horford are good building blocks. But they need help. Help Johnson couldn't consistently give.
He tried. Really...despite what many Atlanta fans thought, the guy gave all he had. It's just not his personality to take over things. He's a laid-back passive kind of guy and it came out in the way he sometime played. If he tried to force things and get out of character, he just made things worse.
So the Nets get a semi-marquee player they hope will team with Deron Williams and possibly Dwight Howard to open their new arena. There is a thought they won't pursue Howard because of the money needed for Johnson and Williams. Don't believe that for a second. Mikhail Prokhorov wants butts in his new seats and he's smart enough to know he needs a winning product...this year. And our bet is he will do whatever is necessary to make that happen.
PM UPDATE: And if that wasn't enough, Ferry has apparently sent Marvin Williams packing to Utah for Devin Harris- pending league approval.
And, with that, goes Williams and his $15.8-million over the next two seasons. Harris has one year left on his contract at $8.5-million. That means that Ferry has dumped over $105-million in salary while bringing in only $23-million.
Conjecture from Stein and Windhorst over at the four-letter is that Dwight Howard could now be interested in moving to Atlanta since New Jersey would be in no financial shape to bring in Deron Williams, Joe Johnson, and Howard.
Early returns have Danny Ferry being very serious in a very short period of time...
Here's Magic GM Rob Hennigan confirming what we all know...
((HT: MyFoxOrlando))
FOX 35 News Orlando
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