The Brooklyn Nets have a star-filled roster this season, but head coach Jason Kidd believes Joe Johnson might be the team’s closer.
Kidd cited statistics when saying that Johnson might be the guy to get the final shot for the team, though he thinks the most important thing is to make the best basketball play.
“Well, if you’re into analytics, you would look at Joe Johnson as the clear-cut, of the guy taking the last-second shot. He was 9 for 10 with 24 seconds or less, so that would be your guy that could, who’s the closer,” Kidd said Tuesday, per The Brooklyn Game.
“But the game of basketball is something that, you put five guys out there and you draw up a play for your- for one player, most of the time it doesn’t end up being that one guy taking that shot. He creates a problem, which results in one of his teammates getting a wide open look, and make or miss, it’s the right basketball play. So for us, it’s about making the right basketball play at the end. But if you’re looking at stats, which a lot of you guys do, Joe Johnson is the name that comes first.”
In addition to Johnson, the Nets have proven stars like Deron Williams, Brook Lopez, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry. All of those players are talented and have shown over the years that they can deliver at the end of games (some to more of an extent than others).
Maybe the stats are in Johnson’s favor, but I’m not sure he’s a better end-of-game option than Williams or Garnett. My guess is things will change depending on the situation.
Chest bump to Beyond the Buzzer
