Joe Johnson continues to hurt the Atlanta Hawks more than he helps. Him making the All Star Team this year is more a slap to the face to Hawks fans than an achievement. It still shows that the NBA community doesn’t recognize what is going on in Atlanta. It’s no wonder when you have the front office, coach and announcers on television continuing to promote Joe Johnson. Joe Johnson just isn’t that good of a player. He his in a system that plays him the 2nd most minutes in the NBA, all his teammates constantly look for him as the “go-to-guy” and the coach keeps calling plays for him. He is a big reason the Atlanta Hawks can’t make that next step up and the sooner the Hawks Team recognizes, the sooner they can start winning more games.

Joe Johnson shoots technical free throws for the Atlanta Hawks and is often on the court with guys that shoot a higher free throw percentage than him. Does that make sense? Why wouldn’t you award your top free throw shooter and give your team the best chance to make those technical free throws? It’s just another clear sign at how the Atlanta Hawks want to create a face for this team. In the meantime, Josh Smith continues to improve and is the heart and soul of the team. Josh Smith is the most gifted athlete in the NBA and the Hawks team just doesn’t recognize his efforts. Josh Smith is the Atlanta Hawks All Star, not Joe Johnson.

The Atlanta Hawks made a great comeback last night against one of the best teams in the NBA; Detroit Pistons. When it came down to the final two possessions for the Atlanta Hawks, coach Mike Woodson called on Joe’s number. Joe managed to shoot a backwards shot and an air ball from the 3 point line. Joe can be seen on a few highlight films making that big shot at the end for the Atlanta Hawks. There are dozens more where Joe Johnson misses the shot or just turns it over and cost his Hawks teammates the game.

Joe Johnson is not an All Star by any stretch of the imagination. He can play a part on this Atlanta Hawks team, but the guy can’t even get in the top 10 in scoring and there is no offense in the NBA which offers success for one player, like the offense in Atlanta. Kobe Bryant would average 40 points a game in this “feature offense” that the Atlanta Hawks choose to run. Mike Woodson seems to be an ok guy, but constantly tells the media after games why the team lost. Hey Mike, we can see why they lost, the question is, why did you leave the same guys out there; when you seen they wasn’t getting the job done? Many of the young players are missing valuable playing time, why we watch a role player in Joe Johnson try to shine like an All Star. The Joe Johnson experiment is over in Atlanta and it has been for some time now.