Atlanta Hawks Young Guns and 2004-05 Phoenix Suns: Not So Different?

Kevin Huerter = Joe Johnson

One of the more forgotten figures of the Phoenix Suns successes in the early 2000s, at least to this writer, is Atlanta Hawks legend Joe Johnson. Iso Joe was a huge contributor to the team, even if only in a complementary fashion.

Clearly, he wanted a bit more in his career, as he signed an extremely lucrative contract (for the time) with the Hawks after his breakout campaign with the Suns in 04-05. As a beneficiary of being paired with one of the best passers of all time (Nash), an eminently productive big man (Stoudamire) and a swiss-army-knife defensive wing (Marion), Johnson excelled as a spot-up shooter and resourceful scorer.

His sky-high 47.8 three-point percentage on 4.5 attempts per game in 04-05 still represents a career-high for Iso Joe, though he could still make a comeback! I heard Philadelphia needs some help on the wing…

In terms of comps to the current Atlanta Hawks core, there can be only one comparison: Kevin Huerter.

As has already been stated, Red Pepper is having an excellent rookie season, but the similarities between Huerter and Johnson (at least in his final season as a member of the Suns) are startling.

Though the two players per-game production is not quite equal, that can simply be chalked up to minutes per game: Johnson played almost 40 minutes a night and started all 82 games for the notoriously rotation-shortening D’Antoni while Huerter is currently sitting at 27.1 minutes per game. When you look at per-36 minutes numbers, however the two players are almost identical:

Huerter: 12.2 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 3.5 APG, 1.1 SPG, 0.5 BPG
Johnson: 15.6 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 3.2 APG, 0.9 SPG, 0.3 BPG

Sure, Johnson’s overall shooting splits were higher in the 04-05 season than Huerter’s are this year, but Huerter is certainly the beneficiary of the modern NBA’s focus on three-pointers, and his huge 53.7 three-point attempt rate dwarfs Johnson’s 31.4 percent.

Not unexpectedly, Huerter’s 39.2 percent clip from long-range pales in comparison to Johnson’s career-high from that season, but for his career, Iso Joe was a 37 percent shooter from deep – a number that one would expect to be higher as Huerter continues to improve his jumper and seek out his shot.

Again, the current Atlanta Hawks are incredibly young and have yet to ascend anywhere near the same heights that the unforgettable 2004-05 Suns reached, but, given enough time and development, as well as a few more high-upside talents in the NBA Draft (Zion Williamson? Cam Reddish?), it is not without question that these young Hawks could emulate one of the most influential teams in recent NBA history.

Statistics courtesy of Basketball Reference and current as of 1-23-19.