Valley of the Suns
Fansided

Suns re-signing T.J. Warren has many positives

By Adam Maynes

PORTLAND, OR - APRIL 1: TJ Warren
PORTLAND, OR - APRIL 1: TJ Warren /
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The Joe Johnson Situation

PHOENIX, AZ – FEBRUARY 23: Joe Johnson #2 of the Atlanta Hawks is guarded by Grant Hill #33 of the Phoenix Suns in an NBA game played on February 23 2011 at U.S. Airways Center in Phoenix, Arizona. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2011 NBAE (Photo by Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images)
PHOENIX, AZ – FEBRUARY 23: Joe Johnson #2 of the Atlanta Hawks is guarded by Grant Hill #33 of the Phoenix Suns in an NBA game played on February 23 2011 at U.S. Airways Center in Phoenix, Arizona. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2011 NBAE (Photo by Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Arguably (or unarguably) the greatest mistake in Robert Sarver’s tenure as owner of the Phoenix Suns was his decision to acquiesce to Joe Johnson’s demand of a trade to the Atlanta Hawks to be the man  in the summer of 2005. What made that situation so ugly in the end was the fact that the Suns had the opportunity to sign Johnson to an extension in the summer of 2004 (at this very point in his career as Warren is now), but Sarver hedged his bet that Johnson wouldn’t be worth as much and let the 2004-05 season play out.

Big. Mistake.

Johnson obviously had a great year (thanks in large part to the addition of Steve Nash) and would then demand even more money than he would have been paid had the Suns re-signed him the summer prior. This thus not only would have cost the Suns more money had the kept him, but eventually cost them a star player who potentially could have helped lead the Suns to a title.

Statistically the comparisons are astonishing.

In each of their third seasons, Warren and Johnson averaged:

Warren: 14.4p/5.1r/1.1a/1.2s while shooting 49.5fg%, 26.5% from three, and a 77.3ft%
Johnson:16.7p/4.7r/4.4a/1.1s while shooting 43.0fg%, 30.5% from three, and a 75.0ft%

Warren also suffered the injury as mentioned and missed 16 games total, while Johnson played in all 82.

Oh, and Warren averaged only 31.0 minutes per game compared to Johnson’s 40.6.

I do not say this to compare Warren to Joe Johnson directly (although their climb to their third year stats too are astonishingly similar), but I do believe that there is a chance that the Suns, and Robert Sarver himself, may have seen the statistical similarities and believed that they needed to attempt to sign the young Warren to an extension before potentially repeating the situation they once had to take a hard loss, with Joe Johnson.

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