Buckets in a Winery
If dominating your sport well into your late 30s and early 40s is “aging like fine wine”, Joe Johnson might be a walking winery.
With week four of the BIG 3 taking place this Saturday in Texas, I wanted to take this time to cover one of my favorite Nets players ever in Joe Johnson. Since entering Ice Cube’s BIG 3 basketball league, “Iso Joe” has completely dominated in a fashion that has people everywhere talking.
Joe spent his entire NBA career as a guy who could score from anywhere and get hot at any moment. A 7X All-Star (6 with Atlanta, one with Brooklyn), from 06-12 Joe averaged a combined 21.0 PPG on 44/35/80 shooting splits. Joe played in a time where the shooting guard position was loaded with talent, often overlooked Johnson still logged an incredible NBA career with 20,405 career points.
As a Net, Johnson was our go-to player in crunch time, and time and time again he came through with game-winner after game-winner. So it’s not surprising that in a 3 on 3 setting a player like Johnson is absolutely dominating at 40.
Johnson joined the BIG 3 in March of 2019 and would win MVP and a championship the same season. He took the league by storm, shattering the league’s scoring record with ease. This season Johnson currently leads the league in points, steals, and field goals. His current averages of 29.0 PPG, 11.0 RPG, 3.7 APG, and 2.0 SPG is nothing short of insane as his team the “Triplets” are 3-0 and are hoping to raise another championship trophy this season behind Joe Johnson and his stellar offensive play.
There’s really no option to double-team in the BIG 3 unless you want to leave players open in the paint all game. But when Joe is on (and he’s always on) it might not be a bad idea. MLB legend, Barry Bonds was once walked with the bases loaded and it actually worked. There’s no real way of defending Joe, you just have to limit his impact. He’s 6'7" and can post up smaller players while taking literally everyone off the dribble if he chooses.
There’s no doubt in my mind that Joe could still play in the NBA today. He’s hit, two straight game-winners so far this season, and has shown no signs of slowing down. Joe just might be on his way to another MVP award if he keeps this up. Cube’s BIG 3 league is still fairly young, but you have to admit that he struck gold with this idea. The games are highly entertaining with both younger and older players balling out of control week after week.
