Joe Johnson All-Star Selection Explained

Six-time All Star Joe Johnson.

Think he made the right call coming to Atlanta all those years ago?

He's been the second best shooting guard in the East this season, a claim he has not always held throughout this run of recognition. His numbers this season have bounced back from an injury filled Age 29 season to get back to his 2008-2010 productivity levels.

He's not the kind of flashy guy that makes All-Star exhibition worth watching, heck he wasn't even the winner of the ill-fated H-O-R-S-E game a few years back, but his rank of second best behind Dwyane Wade at the shooting guard position shouldn't go unrewarded.

His per game averages, much like Ray Allen of Boston, is suppressed by the annually slow paced Hawks offense, but advanced metrics as the ones linked above validate this claim.

They coaches could have taken another point guard, such as Kyrie Irving, and nobody would have said anything, especially in light of the small forward invasion on the roster and Irving's production and excitement, but going with another two guard, especially one as versatile as Johnson, was warranted by his production this season at his position.

Another item working in Johnson favor is the Hawks record, which ironically was derided by Johnson after the Phoenix game due to a lack of quality wins among the then-16 wins the Hawks had at that point accumulated. Still, the coaches see a 17-9 team and a fifth place standing in the East, remember how Joe broke their backs with a late game three and, viola!, the selection is made. A quiet, hard working reputation doesn't hurt , either.

Not saying it's right that the coaches select on that criteria, but history has shown that they do and, in Joe's case, have done it six times now.

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