This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — Three weeks later, I'm still a little bit shocked Joe Johnson actually signed with the Utah Jazz.

It came completely out of nowhere: a link wasn't ever mentioned until Adrian Wojnarowski, in his usual way, came out and reported that the Jazz had signed him. He's 35 years old, and last year, after he was waived by the Brooklyn Nets, chose to play with Miami. Generally, players who want to play in Miami don't turn around four months later and sign with Utah.

In his introductory press conference, Johnson said he came to Utah because of "the talent that this roster has."

"Obviously, the youth, and knowing that they were just one game from making the playoffs," Johnson said. And I admire Gordon Hayward and Rodney Hood’s game, and I think I can help those guys out."

So how can he? Let's take a look.

"Seven-time All-Star Joe Johnson" has always been more of a punchline than a realistic reflection of Johnson's impact on the floor. He's never had a PER above 20, for example, and had he been in the Western Conference, it's pretty easy to imagine him getting just one or two All-Star bids.

But the role he'll play in Salt Lake City is very, very different from his lead player past, where he used huge numbers of possessions at middling efficiency to score in big bunches. He says it's not important to him whether he starts, and that's good because he probably won't, barring injury. It's going to be a little bit of an adjustment for him: even after signing with Miami, he started every game he played for the Heat. The last game he didn't start in was in 2003.

But despite that, when he was on the court, his role in Miami was much closer to how he figures to fit in with the Jazz.

"And we were really, really impressed when we studied the Miami video, they played much different, and obviously didn't play through Joe as much as what was happening in Brooklyn," Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey said. "He was moving, the ball didn't stop, he was banging shots. We think we can get him open shots in the right places."

Last season, 87 percent of Johnson's shots were jump shots, according to NBA.com data. And Johnson shot 39.6 percent on catch-and-shoot 3s, a solid mark that would make him an effective spacer, even if he only did that.

But his mid-range game adds a more dangerous element. Last year, he shot 50.7 percent from 10-16 feet, a mark that was top-10 in the NBA and would have been first on the Jazz last season. His 47.4 percent mark from 3-10 feet is also excellent, and also would have led the team last year. Those shots aren't such good ones that you want to design an offense around them, but he can get the ball late in the shot clock and design a decent look for himself. He's known as Iso-Joe, and for good reason: his efficiency in isolation situations last year was 90th percentile.

The other thing about Johnson that makes him a good fit is his passing. That's weird for the Iso-Joe character, I know, but it was the first thing Lindsey pointed out about Johnson in the press conference. "If you look at Joe, if you really study him, he's an excellent passer," he said. "Not very many 2-guards average four assists per game for their career."

That's true. One lovely thing about the NBA is that you can watch pretty much any play from any game. Click here, for example, for every Johnson assist from Miami's 14-game playoff run. You can see how Johnson's making the right read here, for the most part on the pick and roll: when he's doubled, he quickly finds the open man and whips it for an easy three or dunk. There are definitely times, though, when he holds onto the ball for too long or forces an isolation look.

He's not a good rebounder, for what it's worth. Only Trey Burke and Raul Neto rebounded a lower percentage of shots among Jazzmen last year, even guys like Joe Ingles did better.

On the defensive end, it's a mixed bag. Some nights, the speed of the game is too fast for him, and he can't move quickly enough to catch up with faster wings. That's obviously helped, though, if he plays at the four position, something he did on 36 percent of possessions in a Heat uniform.

When he does have a slower matchup, or in slow-down, end-of-game situations, he's actually really good. He singlehandedly kept Miami in its series against the Toronto Raptors in Game 4's overtime, with three consecutive possessions where he picked up a block, then another block, then a steal. Overall, the plus-minus numbers think he's about average. He gave up a 15.6 PER to his matchup last season: again, about average. More slippage would be bad, though.

Which gets to this: he'll be 35 and 36 years old during his two seasons in a Jazz uniform, and that's when wings can really start to go downhill. Lindsey insisted that "he has a body that’s, according to our doctors and trainers, much younger than 35." He'd know Johnson's medical profile better than me.

But if Johnson keeps up last season's level of play, he's going to be a fantastic pickup. His ability to score from nearly anywhere is exactly what the second unit needs, and he's a good enough teammate and defender that he wouldn't be out of place sliding into the first unit when the Jazz prefer to end the game playing small. And the two-year deal is perfect: just enough to squeeze the remaining juice out of Johnson's game without the risk of collapse over multiple years on the back end.

×