When Joe Johnson arrived in Brooklyn for the 2012-13 season, expectations went wild. With Deron Williams, the Nets had a backcourt to carry them to the playoffs and beyond.
Oops.
“Honestly, I don’t think much about the disappointments so to speak,” said Johnson, who had to flee Brooklyn via buyout and sign with the Heat on Saturday in order to keep his playoff streak intact. “I do remember a lot of the good times and those are the things that are going to stick with me.”
Johnson was the hub of attention for the Heat prior to starting and scoring 12 points versus the Knicks at the Garden on Sunday. Johnson, a seven-time All Star, is a career 17.0 point scorer and 44.1 percent shooter. He left $3 million on the table, accepted a buyout and signed with Miami.
“For me, this is my 15th season so if I had a chance to get out and get a chance to play with a playoff contending team, obviously I looked into it, talked to my agent and family and we all came to an agreement that was the best thing to do,” said Johnson, who averaged 14.7 for the Nets this season. “That is what we came up with.”
Johnson had options. LeBron James did everything but drive from Cleveland and escort him back there. Atlanta wanted him. The Knicks? Not so much, obviously because of Johnson’s age, 34, and playoffs now desire.
“His name did not come up, no,” interim coach Kurt Rambis said.
But his name came up all over the Heat’s war room and locker room.
“I had a connection with a lot of guys here,” Johnson said, naming Dwyane Wade, Amar’e Stoudemire and Udonis Haslem. “Guys I’ve been in contact with. Not just throughout this process but over the years and I just felt it was right. It was the decision I went with.”
And the Heat were downright ecstatic. Johnson is not only a quality player, but he also serves as a mental aid for a team rocked by the possible loss of Chris Bosh for the season.
“We’re really excited about this,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We’ve had some adversity the last few weeks. And then to be able to acquire a player of Joe’s class, somebody that we feel fits our personality, our DNA, our culture, and to get him at this time of the year and where he’s actually been playing his best basketball the last month, we feel terrific about it.
“From a culture standpoint, personality standpoint, we think he fits in very well with our organization, with our players, his skill set, being a two-way player, we think fits. We have the ultimate respect for him,” Spoelstra added noting that in past playoff series, the Heat had an “anybody but” Johnson attitude about who would take the shots.
Johnson can now look ahead. After the whole Brooklyn experiment crashed and burned, — made even worse by the additions of Kevin Garnet and Paul Pierce when the Nets traded their future for Boston’s past and came up horribly empty — Johnson felt it was best to move on for another run at the playoffs.on during a year where the Nets changed the coach and general manager. And they lost. Lots.
“I had some great times [with the Nets]. Obviously, from the first year I go here with Avery to Tony Brown,” said Johnson, who claimed he cleared waivers at 5 p.m. and had a deal in place a 5:01 p.m. Saturday. “I had some great times. Obviously, we had our ups and downs but I think the good outweighed the bad for me.”
“The changing of the GM and coach, it’s pretty tough but not really. I’ve been through quite a few coaches in my career in Brooklyn so it was kind of second nature for me. But just losing, us playing hard and losing was probably the toughest.”