Joe Johnson (basketball)

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Joe Johnson
Bobcats vs Nets 4 (cropped).jpg
Johnson with the Brooklyn Nets
No. 7 – Brooklyn Nets
Shooting guard / Small forward
Personal information
Born (1981-06-29) June 29, 1981 (age 31)
Little Rock, Arkansas
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Listed weight 240 lb (109 kg)
Career information
High school Little Rock Central
(Little Rock, Arkansas)
College Arkansas (1999–2001)
NBA Draft 2001 / Round: 1 / Pick: 10th overall
Selected by the Boston Celtics
Pro career 2001–present
League NBA
Career history
2001–2002 Boston Celtics
20022005 Phoenix Suns
20052012 Atlanta Hawks
2012–present Brooklyn Nets
Career highlights and awards
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Joe Marcus Johnson (born June 29, 1981) is an American professional basketball player, currently a member of the Brooklyn Nets of the NBA. Johnson stands at 6'7" (2.01 m) and 240 lbs (109 kg).

He played high school basketball for Little Rock Central High School. He later attended the University of Arkansas where he played under Nolan Richardson for two years. After two years in Arkansas he declared for the 2001 NBA Draft, where he was drafted 10th overall by the Boston Celtics. He has also played for the Phoenix Suns and Atlanta Hawks. Johnson is also a former member of the U.S. national team.

Contents

Early years [edit]

Johnson was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. Johnson was an only child; he considered his mother to be the most influential person in his life.[citation needed] As a youngster, he went to the William E. Thrasher Boys & Girls Club in Little Rock.[1] He attended Little Rock Central High School, a school that had produced other athletes including baseball hall of famers Brooks Robinson and Bill Dickey, as well as football player Fred Williams and collegiate football coach Houston Nutt. At Little Rock Central he was a standout basketball player.

College career [edit]

Johnson was offered scholarships from Duke, Connecticut, and other schools with excellent basketball reputations, but chose the Arkansas Razorbacks because it was his dream to play for them. There he joined future NBA player and Hawks teammate Jannero Pargo. While playing for the Razorbacks, Johnson led the team in scoring, averaging 16.0 points per game, and rebounding, averaging 5.7 rebounds per game, becoming the first freshman in the school's history to lead the team in both.[citation needed]

Professional career [edit]

Boston Celtics (2001–2002) [edit]

After playing two seasons at the University of Arkansas, Johnson was selected 10th overall by the Boston Celtics in the 2001 NBA Draft.

Johnson started 33 of Boston's first 38 games as a rookie, but his playing time dwindled[clarification needed] as the Celtics made a push for the playoffs for the first time since 1995. Midway through his rookie season, Johnson was traded to the Phoenix Suns along with guards Randy Brown, Milt Palacio and a first-round pick for veteran forward Rodney Rogers and guard Tony Delk on February 20, 2002.

Phoenix Suns (2002–2005) [edit]

Johnson became a force with Phoenix as he averaged 15.2 points per game in his three and a half seasons with the Suns. He also developed into one of the best[citation needed] three-point shooters in the NBA. He was known for his great ball-handling ability considering his size, and for his jump shot.

In the 2005 NBA Playoffs, Joe Johnson required surgery due to a left orbital bone fracture after dunking a basketball. Because of the injury, Johnson wore a face mask for the rest of the playoffs. The Suns lost to the eventual champion San Antonio Spurs, 4 games to 1.

Atlanta Hawks (2005–2012) [edit]

Johnson (#2) pulls up for a jumper

In the summer of 2005, Johnson became a highly touted restricted free agent and expressed a desire to leave the Suns to assume a larger role on the Atlanta Hawks. Johnson grew upset with Phoenix's initial offers to re-sign him feeling they were well below his market value. This rift eventually led to Johnson requesting the Suns not match Atlanta's $70 million offer. On August 19, 2005, a deal was finalized and Johnson was involved in a sign-and-trade deal with the Hawks for Boris Diaw and two future first-round draft picks.[2]

In his first season as a Hawk, Johnson led the Atlanta Hawks in several categories: points (20.2 per game), assists (6.5), and steals (1.26), three-point field goals made (128), and minutes (40.7). He was one of only five players in the league to average at least 20 points and six assists in the 2005–06 season. Johnson was the only Hawk to play in all 82 games and extended his current league-leading consecutive games played streak to 346 as of November 25, 2006.

On March 5, 2006, he was one of 23 NBA players named to the 2006–08 U.S. men's senior national team.

Johnson scored a career-high 42 points on March 7, 2006 against the Golden State Warriors[3] and recorded a career-high 17 assists on March 13, 2006 Hawks loss against the Milwaukee Bucks.[4] He recorded his first career triple-double on February 1, 2006 with 15 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists against the Charlotte Bobcats.[5]

He played for the U.S. national team in the 2006 FIBA World Championship, winning a bronze medal.[6]

Johnson continued his development in the 2006–07 season, when he averaged 25.0 points, 4.4 assists, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.05 steals per game. His scoring average ranked ninth in the league. Johnson also shot a career-best 47.1% from the field. Johnson was named by league commissioner David Stern to the 2007 Eastern Conference All-Star team, replacing the injured Jason Kidd (back).

Johnson's scoring average had increased in each season of his 6-year NBA career through 2006–07.

In 2008, Johnson made the 2008 All-Star Game as a reserve. He also was named Eastern Conference Player of the Month twice during the season.[7] Johnson averaged 21.7 points per game on the season, leading the Hawks to their first playoff appearance in 9 years. In Game 4 of the Hawks' first-round matchup against the Boston Celtics, Johnson scored 35 points, including 20 in the 4th quarter, leading the Hawks to a 97–92 victory.[8] The Hawks went on to lose the series four games to three.[9]

Joe Johnson with the hawks

He registered his second career triple-double on December 23, 2008 in a Hawks win against the Oklahoma City Thunder, with 20 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists.[10] He eclipsed the 10,000-point plateau for his career with his first basket during a 110–107 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on January 31, 2009, a bank shot assisted by Marvin Williams.[11] On March 19, 2010, Johnson hit a game-winning buzzer beater in overtime against the Charlotte Bobcats.[12]

On March 20, 2012, Johnson hit the game-tying buzzer beater to force overtime against the Cleveland Cavaliers. He also hit the game-winner in overtime.

Brooklyn Nets (2012–present) [edit]

On July 11, 2012, Johnson was traded to the Brooklyn Nets for Jordan Farmar, Anthony Morrow, Jordan Williams, Johan Petro, DeShawn Stevenson and a 2013 first round draft pick.[13] After a slow start, Johnson began to pick up his play in December, with a 32 point game against the Golden State Warriors on December 7th and a game winning buzzer beater in double overtime against the Detroit Pistons on December 14th. After scoring 33 points in a road win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on January 2nd, he hit another game winner in double overtime two days later to beat the Wizards. In a 113-111 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on February 19, 2013, Johnson made the game-tying 3-pointer with just under three seconds to go in regulation and went on to hit the game-winning pullup jump shot in overtime. With this win, the Nets snapped a thirteen game losing streak against the Bucks.[14] The next game the Nets played Johnson injured his left heel and was forced to miss three games. He made his return on March 1, 2013 when the Nets were playing the Dallas Mavericks.[15]

Career transactions [edit]

NBA career statistics [edit]

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Regular season [edit]

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2001–02 Boston 48 33 20.9 .439 .273 .769 2.9 1.5 .7 .2 6.3
2001–02 Phoenix 29 27 31.5 .420 .333 .778 4.1 3.6 .9 .4 9.6
2002–03 Phoenix 82 34 27.5 .397 .366 .774 3.2 2.6 .8 .2 9.8
2003–04 Phoenix 82 77 40.6 .430 .305 .750 4.7 4.4 1.1 .3 16.7
2004–05 Phoenix 82 82 39.5 .461 .478 .750 5.1 3.5 1.0 .3 17.1
2005–06 Atlanta 82 82 40.7 .453 .356 .791 4.1 6.5 1.3 .4 20.2
2006–07 Atlanta 57 57 41.4 .471 .381 .748 4.2 4.4 1.0 .2 25.0
2007–08 Atlanta 82 82 40.8 .432 .381 .834 4.5 5.8 1.0 .2 21.7
2008–09 Atlanta 79 79 39.5 .437 .360 .826 4.4 5.8 1.1 .2 21.4
2009–10 Atlanta 76 76 38.0 .458 .369 .818 4.6 4.9 1.1 .1 21.3
2010–11 Atlanta 72 72 35.5 .443 .297 .802 4.0 4.7 .6 .1 18.2
2011–12 Atlanta 60 60 35.5 .454 .388 .849 3.7 3.9 .8 .2 18.8
2012–13 Brooklyn 72 72 36.7 .423 .375 .820 3.0 3.5 .7 .2 16.3
Career 903 833 36.7 .442 .369 .798 4.1 4.4 .9 .2 17.6
All-Star 5 1 18.2 .412 .348 .000 .8 1.4 1.4 .0 7.2

Playoffs [edit]

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2003 Phoenix 6 0 27.3 .275 .154 .400 4.3 1.3 .7 .3 5.3
2005 Phoenix 9 9 39.4 .504 .556 .697 4.3 3.3 1.1 .4 18.8
2008 Atlanta 7 7 39.3 .409 .444 .909 3.9 4.0 .3 .0 20.0
2009 Atlanta 11 11 39.0 .417 .353 .622 4.5 3.5 1.3 .0 16.4
2010 Atlanta 11 11 40.0 .387 .220 .810 5.1 5.0 .9 .3 17.9
2011 Atlanta 12 12 41.4 .439 .429 .810 4.6 3.3 1.1 .1 18.8
2012 Atlanta 6 6 40.5 .373 .250 .750 3.5 3.5 1.3 .2 17.2
2013 Brooklyn 7 7 38.7 .417 .256 .889 3.1 2.7 1.1 .0 14.9
Career 69 63 38.8 .414 .345 .760 4.3 3.5 1.0 .2 16.7

Salaries [edit]

Season Team Salary
2001-02 Boston Celtics $1,608,840
2002-03 Phoenix Suns $1,729,560
2003-04 Phoenix Suns $1,850,160
2004-05 Phoenix Suns $2,358,954
2005-06 Atlanta Hawks $12,000,000
2006–07 Atlanta Hawks $12,744,189
2007–08 Atlanta Hawks $13,488,377
2008–09 Atlanta Hawks $14,232,567
2009–10 Atlanta Hawks $14,976,754
2010–11 Atlanta Hawks $16,324,500
2011–12 Atlanta Hawks $18,038,573
2012–13 Brooklyn Nets $19,752,645

References [edit]

External links [edit]