Joe Johnson filled his role with the Utah Jazz nearly flawlessly last season and it wouldn’t be all that surprising to see him do it yet again.
Far and above the biggest surprise of the Utah Jazz offseason last summer was the free agent acquisition of Joe Johnson. The Jazz have long been reputed as an organization that struggles to lure in big-name talent and although Johnson undoubtedly is nearing the twilight of his career, there’s no denying that the seven-time All-Star is a highly recognizable player that few would have suspected would choose to come to Utah.
Nevertheless, that is exactly what he did and he fit in perfectly with the Jazz in his first season in Utah. Although Joe Johnson put out his lowest scoring average since his rookie season, he was still an excellent locker room presence and came up big when the Jazz needed him most. He played conservative minutes in the regular season – a career-low 23.6 per game – but that helped preserve him for the playoffs where he was spectacular.
In Utah’s first-round series victory against the Los Angeles Clippers, Johnson averaged 15.7 points per game and his late game heroics, most notably in the waning seconds of Game 1, undoubtedly were a key reason why the Jazz were able to win the series. The grizzled veteran has thus far been able to fend off Father Time and he performed exceptionally last year, particularly as a small-ball four, and he ought to continue to thrive in that position in 2017-18.
Joe Johnson has long been one of my favorite NBA players and although his time with the Jazz has been short thus far, his play last year alone was enough to make him go down as one of my favorite Jazzmen of all time. As he enters the final year of his two-year contract with the Jazz, hopefully he can continue to make the most of his opportunities and prove to be a solid piece once again.
Best Case Scenario
Assuming the Jazz can finally find a way to stay healthy this upcoming season, Joe Johnson should definitely plan to come off the bench. Much like last season, head coach Quin Snyder will likely be somewhat cautious with Johnson’s minutes, but still shouldn’t be afraid to use him (and the ice that runs in his veins) when the occasion calls for it.
Johnson will likely see even more time at the backup power forward spot this season than he did last year given how well he performed there. And if he reaches his best case scenario this upcoming season, he should very much thrive at that position.
It’s hard to imagine Joe Johnson having much better of a season than he had last year considering his age and given that he shot a solid 43.6 percent from the field and an impeccable 41.1 percent from deep all while appearing in all but four games. However, I suppose that Johnson’s best case scenario would involve him continuing to be able to put up solid numbers at age 36 and perhaps improving his scoring and efficiency from the floor closer to the figures he had in Miami – 13.4 points and 51.8 percent.
Those will be hard figures for a guy averaging 23 to 25 minutes per game to maintain over an entire season, but with Gordon Hayward gone, being able to rely on Joe Johnson for even more offensive production than last season, much like Utah did in the playoffs, will be a rather notable necessity.
Depending on how effective Johnson can be and how comfortable Coach Snyder feels with giving him more run, Johnson could see himself as the first “big” off the bench as the backup power forward and may see his minutes and production slightly increase. If he indeed stays in about the same role he filled last year, then all it would take for him to accomplish a best case scenario would be slightly better efficiency and even more clutch buckets when the team needs them most.
Worst Case Scenario
As I already alluded to, one of the most impressive aspects of Joe Johnson’s play with the Jazz has been his seemingly unwavering ability to fend off Father Time. Should Johnson falter this season and lean more towards a worst case scenario, it will likely be because he has become unable to do that any longer.
We saw this to some degree in the series against the Golden State Warriors. Although Johnson was nearly flawless against the Clippers, he appeared to run out of gas in the subsequent series. Of course, part of this was due to the fact that the Warriors are an extremely effective defensive team that had clearly game-planned to stop Johnson (especially with the absence of George Hill not helping the Jazz any), but still he also wasn’t quite himself.
Thus, the worst case scenario would include either that Johnson simply starts to waver physically and becomes too much of a liability on the floor, or that the Jazz have to lean on him too heavily for offensive production and he ends up running out of gas towards the end of the year and into the postseason when the team needs him most. Clearly, neither of those possibilities would be desirable whatsoever.
Joe Johnson has been so effective for so long that it would almost be difficult to imagine him taking a major decline. Nevertheless, we all know it has to happen at some point, so if it were to hit him during the 2017-18 season – his 17th in the league – that would without a doubt be his worst case scenario.
Next: Utah Jazz Best Case/Worst Case Scenario Series: Alec Burks
Thankfully, given how well Joe Johnson was able to contribute last season and how good of shape he appeared in, I would be shocked if his decline comes at the spry age of 36. Iso Joe still appeared to have plenty left in his tank in 2016-17 and it wouldn’t surprise me to see him follow up his near-best case scenario last year with yet another one this time around.