Top 50: Joe Johnson, no. 20

by Lang Whitaker It’s impossible for a Hawks fan to understate the importance of Joe Johnson. Simply: Dude IS the Hawks. Josh Smith is nice, Marvin Williams and Al Horford have improved, Bibby can still knock down jumpers, but everything revolves around Joe Johnson. Even the franchise. Especially the Franchise. Don’t forget, it was just four years ago that then-Hawks GM Billy Knight, with free agent dough burning a hole in his pockets, decided to splash his cash on JJ, a restricted free agent with the Suns. BK was so determined not to miss out on Joe that he was willing to work a sign-and-trade with Phoenix, giving them a couple of first-rounders and Boris Diaw. This made one of the owners so angry that he ended up suing all the rest of the owners (and giving us one of the greatest photos of all-time). This mess dragged on for four years, until recently a judge ruled in favor of the remaining Hawks owners. That entire time, while Judge Wapner tried to figure out a ruling, we had Joe...