Written By Steve Lichtenstein at CBSNewYork.com
While engaging with others on social media on Thursday following the Nets’ announcement that they had waived forward Joe Johnson, I flashbacked to my childhood when I would get scolded for not eating my vegetables.
“This is good,” my parents would implore. “You’ll be healthier in the long run.”
My irrational fandom might make some question my current maturity level, but I didn’t get it then and I don’t get what new Brooklyn general manager Sean Marks did now.
Sure, the buyout is good for the 34-year-old Johnson, who will now have the weekend to sort through presumed offers from the Cavs, Thunder, Heat, Hawks and any other NBA contender with an open roster spot (assuming Johnson is not claimed on waivers by Friday night). He’ll surely be participating in the postseason for a ninth consecutive season instead of languishing on the rotten Nets.
It will be good for whichever team lands the seven-time All-Star, who should thrive with a lightened minutes load and less responsibility. He won’t be expected to carry a team the way he bulldozed the Raptors for seven games two years ago en route to the Nets’ only playoff series victory in their four seasons in Brooklyn.
And, as Marks stated Thursday during an interview with ESPN, let’s not forget the $3 million Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov will save by escaping the final month and a half of Johnson’s six-year, $124 million contract.
For the Nets as a basketball team and their fans? Thursday was not a day to celebrate.
I get that Johnson, who was not exactly spry while in his prime, has lost several steps as he has aged. Some of his recent defensive efforts were literally statuesque.
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