Being selfish, having foresight, and throwing people under the bus by attempting to not do so

by hawksdawgs on Sep 30, 2009 4:31 PM EDT

During the past two years, Joe Johnson has limped into the all-star break in either a slump and/or because of fatigue. He has had below average performances in the playoffs because of nagging injuries and/or fatigue.

Moral of the story, Joe Johnson wears down. It may be the happenstance of injury or a rough shooting stretch, but the consistency of the break down occurring at the end of long stretches of games makes it pretty clear that Joe plays all out for too many minutes, over too long a time period.

In Sekou Smith's latest coloumn, Joe more or less admits it.

"When I'm out there, I don't want to come out," Johnson said. "I just pay the price later. In the heat of the battle, I don't ever want to come out."

"I can't put a lot of that on coach," he said. "You have to put it on me, because even when he asks me if I want a break or if I'm tired, I always say no. Even if I'm tired and I can't breathe, I still tell him no. That's not me being selfish. I'm just a competitor to the point that I feel like I can really do something to help my team win.""

So to recap.

1. Joe does not come out because he can help the team win.

2. That is until he "pays the price" and subsequently cannot help the team win anymore.

3. To pull of this deception, Joe lies to Mike Woodson.

4. Despite the fact that the answer is always the same and Joe has said in the past the answer will continue to be the same, Woodson dictates his decision to play or rest Joe based on a lie that everyone knows is a lie.

My head hurts.

I am not sure where Joe goes from competitor to selfish or Mike Woodson goes from not at fault to totally at fault, but those lines are there somewhere.

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Sigh.

by Co Co on Sep 30, 2009 4:49 PM EDT reply actions

There's something going on here

Just not sure what it is.

1) Joe Johnson says “I’m overused, and it’s my fault.”

2) Mike Woodson says “I know he’s overused, but it’s my fault because I want him in the All Star Game.”

3) Both guys know a guy is being overused, both can do something about it, but neither do.

Hence the confusion.

by Bronn on Sep 30, 2009 9:35 PM EDT reply actions

pretty simple imo

Woodson, at least in the heat of the moment, is willing to sacrifice the long-term for the short. Not really surprising considering he always seems like he’s in danger of getting fired.

And Joe is just one of those guys that always wants to push himself farther. That’s great in most cases, and probably the reason Joe is such a good player (when you think about it, there are many lesser players that are more talented including a few on our team). He’s like a baseball pitcher that refuses to admit that his arm is sore.

Hopefully rational thoughts will prevail and they will work it out this season with 2 or 3 guys on the bench (give or take a Teague) that can spell him without causing a space-time distortion of suckinness like they are dividing by zero, but honestly I’ll believe it when I see it.

by thirdfALCON on Oct 1, 2009 2:01 AM EDT up reply actions

that is why i have foresight in the title too though

if a worn down Joe is an inevitability. you are either hurting yourself now or later and since later is the playoffs it seems like a dumb move if you are a coach that had to get out of the second round.

it worked in the end, but barely and outside of game 7 not really because of Joe.

i wonder how many games we lose if joe plays 3 minutes less a game. of course we don’t know because woodson/joe have never trusted the rest of the team to try that.

by hawksdawgs on Oct 1, 2009 8:53 AM EDT up reply actions

which would be the answer, and none of the above for Bronn...

Woodson is too weak to understand who is the coach and who is the player, and to inform his star that playing 40 minutes in April and May is a lot better than playing 40 minutes in November and December.

by Mr. Sanchez on Oct 1, 2009 9:28 AM EDT up reply actions

If

Phil can find rest for Kobe and Mike Brown can find rest for LeBron then Woody can surely find rest for Joe. They have these predetermined breaks for these players until the playoffs start. (at least Phil did) Whether they’re up by 2 or down by 20, Woody needs to figure it out.

by Co Co on Oct 1, 2009 11:00 AM EDT reply actions