Payton is not the first person to volunteer a pep talk. Hood hears a similar message from Joe Johnson, a former teammate in Utah, and Johnnie Bryant, still an assistant with the Jazz. He labors to explain why his trajectory has changed so dramatically, and so quickly, but people close to him offer some logical theories. Hood expected to star in Utah after Hayward bailed, and he did to some degree, until rookie point guard Donovan Mitchell usurped him. Hood, who had never been traded before, was stung by the move. “It was extremely hard for me,” he admitted. Not only was he putting up career-highs, his wife was eight months pregnant with twins, and suddenly they were starting over in Cleveland.
Joe Johnson Rumors
All NBA Players
Position: G-F
Born: 06/29/81
Height: 6-7 / 2.01
Weight:235 lbs. / 106.6 kg.
Salary: $10,254,904
Born: 06/29/81
Height: 6-7 / 2.01
Weight:235 lbs. / 106.6 kg.
Salary: $10,254,904
Tim MacMahon: Joe Johnson, who just finished his 17th NBA season, has no doubt that he wants to continue his career. “Hell yeah, I want to keep rolling,” Johnson told ESPN. “I’m not even thinking about [retiring].” He said he’d be interested in re-signing with the Rockets. “I would love to have a chance to win a ring,” he said. “I thought we had a great opportunity, man. It slipped away from us. I want to go to a contender. I don’t want to just be out here playing just to be playing.”
Even at this stage of his veteran career, Johnson still studies teams around the league, particularly Utah, for which he played 32 games earlier in the season. He’s not surprised to see how things have played out with the Jazz now facing the Rockets. “For whatever strange reason, I kind of figured it would happen this way,” Johnson said. “Obviously when I left, I still watch basketball, so I’m keeping up with the Jazz, and for whatever strange reason I kind of felt that we would see them one way or another, that’s just kind of how it goes, but they’ve been playing great obviously coming off a tough series against OKC, but it is good to see that they got things on track, got things together and you’ve got to give Coach Quin (Snyder) and his coaching staff a lot of credit.
Paul has formed a close bond with Johnson, but they rarely share strategies about Utah. With all of their NBA experience, they don’t see a need for that. “We talk hoop all the time,” Paul said of Johnson. “If you watch basketball enough or play it enough, you sort of get a feel for what they like to do. I don’t think we can really do anything that’s going to surprise them. Same thing with them.”
Eric Woodyard: Chris Paul on his relationship with former Jazzman Joe Johnson: “We talk hoop all the time. If you watch basketball enough or play it enough, you sort of get a feel for what they like to do. I don’t think we can really do anything that’s going to surprise them.”
His [Joe Johnson’s] addition has helped add depth, but perhaps it’s the ease of his transition that has helped sustain the Rockets’ success. “He just knows how to play so it wasn’t really difficult for him to get comfortable and get into a role,” said D’Antoni, who coached Johnson with the Phoenix Suns. “When the playoffs come, we’ll see how it all works out, but he’s one of those players that whatever system, whatever you do, he’ll adapt to it.”
