"When he arrived there was no consensus. Disagreement among owners over the sign-and-trade for Joe Johnson in the summer of 2005 touched off the back-and-forth litigation that hamstrung the Atlanta Spirit for years. Johnson has, in the five years since, stamped himself as the finest Hawk since Dominique Wilkins, and still there's no consensus.

The Hawks have offered Johnson the maximum to stay here, and yet there will be no civic celebration if/when he re-ups. He has lifted this team from oblivion to Round 2 of the playoffs, but he has left his audience wanting more. Even more confusing: He has left Larry Drew, the new Hawks' coach, wanting less.

Nobody else in the NBA plays quite like Joe Johnson, which sounds like a compliment but really isn't. He monopolizes the ball in a way no other shooting guard — not even Kobe Bryant — does. When Johnson arrived there was some thought he was so skilled at distribution that he could even be the point guard, which was one of the excuses briefly given as to why it was for OK for Billy Knight to have passed on Deron Williams and Chris Paul in the 2005 draft.

But a strange thing happened: The shooting guard who could also pass wound up shooting to excess, and once the Hawks got good and started playing big games Johnson began to impress less. In three playoff runs as a Hawk he has scored under his regular-season average every time. Thus the (inevitable) question: Do you pay max money to a guy who doesn't max out at crunch time?"