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Swingmen/wings (i.e. basketball players that can play either shooting guard or small forward) are typically among the most versatile basketball players on the court; moreover, one of the best abilities is availability, so add in durability to a diverse skill set and you have a very valuable player. Two NBA stars who fit this description nearly to a “T” were Michael Finley and Joe Johnson – at their respective peaks, both were iron men on the court who played roughly 40 minutes a night and scored 20+ points per game with solid rebounding and assists totals as well. Given their similar abilities and career trajectories, it is only natural to compare the pair and ask:
Who was better – Michael Finley or Joe Johnson?
The Beginning
From standout high school careers, Finley and Johnson both went on to excel at the college level before becoming first-round NBA draft picks, though both players would soon be on the move from the original team that selected them.
Born and raised in Illinois, Finley led his high school basketball team (which also included future NBA players Sherrell Ford and Donnie Boyce) to a state title before attending Wisconsin for his college ball. During his four seasons with the Badgers, he averaged 20+ points per game in three consecutive years and was twice named All-Big Ten First Team (sophomore and senior years), graduating as the school’s all-time leading scorer (though he has since been surpassed by Alando Tucker). As a result, Finley was drafted 21st overall in the first round of the 1995 NBA Draft by the Phoenix Suns and made the All-Rookie team that season by averaging 15.0 points (on 47.6% shooting), 4.6 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game.
Similarly, the Arkansas native Johnson was named Arkansas Mr. Basketball as a high school senior in 1999 and stayed in-state at Arkansas to play college basketball. The Southeastern Conference (SEC) Rookie of the Year in 2000, he further improved to Second Team All-SEC as a sophomore before declaring early for the 2001 NBA Draft, where he was selected 10th overall in the first round by the Boston Celtics. However, halfway through his rookie season, Johnson was traded with Randy Brown, Milt Palacio, and a first-round pick to the Suns for Rodney Rogers and Tony Delk; across Boston and Phoenix, he had a quiet rookie season with 7.5 points (43.0% shooting), 3.3 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game.
Career Comparison
After finding conducive long-term team environments, Finley and Johnson not only were consistently among the league leaders in minutes played, but were highly productive all-around players in their primes who could score, rebound, and pass to the tune of multiple All-Star selections.
Despite being on the upswing as a player, Finley was traded midway through his second season with the Suns to the Dallas Mavericks along with Sam Cassell, A.C. Green, and a second-round draft pick for Jason Kidd, Tony Dumas, and Loren Meyer. In Dallas, he would find a home and emerge as a budding star alongside youngsters Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash – in his first full season with the team in 1997-1998, Finley led the league in minutes played (41.4) and paced the Mavericks with 21.5 points (on 44.9% shooting), 5.3 rebounds, and 4.9 assists per game. Over the next half-decade, he was one of the NBA’s iron men, averaging 40+ minutes per game for four consecutive seasons (and leading the league 3x); moreover, he had five straight 20+ points-per-game seasons, including back-to-back All-Star selections in 1999-2000 and 2000-2001:
- 1999-2000: a career-high 22.6 points (on 45.7% shooting), 6.3 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game
- 2000-2001: 21.5 points per game on 45.8% shooting with 5.2 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game
Entering the 21st century, Finley’s numbers slowly began to decline as Nowitzki emerged as the Mavericks’ unquestioned leader, but he remained a valuable all-around player. In 2001-2002, Finley had his last season with 20+ points per game, shooting 46.3% from the field to average 20.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game. The next season, his scoring would drop to 19.3 points per game (and then 18.6 points per game), though his 5.8 rebounds per game was the second-highest mark of his career. After dropping to 15.7 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game in 2004-2005, Finley was waived by Dallas for salary cap relief, thus becoming a free agent; highly sought after, he ultimately decided to stay in Texas and join the San Antonio Spurs.
As a member of the Spurs, Finley’s role changed from starter to reserve (behind an emerging Manu Ginobili) and for the first time in his career, he was averaging fewer than 30 minutes per game. Nevertheless, he adapted to his new role, generally averaging around 10 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists in roughly 25 minutes per game during his four full seasons with San Antonio. Midway through the 2009-2010 season, Finley was bought out by the team and finished his NBA career with the Boston Celtics, retiring at season’s end at the age of 36.
Meanwhile, it was in Phoenix that Johnson would find his game – after a relatively quiet 2002-2003 season, his full skills would be on display starting in 2003-2004 with 16.7 points per game on 43.0% shooting plus 4.7 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game. Then, in the Suns’ fast-paced offense under head coach Mike D’Antonio and new point guard Nash (who had returned from Dallas as a free agent), Johnson further improved to 17.1 points (46.1% shooting), a career-high 5.1 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game. As a restricted free agent, he wanted to become the focal point of an offense and thus joined the Atlanta Hawks on a sign-and-trade deal sending Boris Diaw and two future first-round picks to Phoenix.
Johnson’s wish was fulfilled – similar to Finley, he became an annual 20+ point per game scorer while consistently playing 40 minutes a night as a member of the Hawks during his prime. In his first year with the team in 2005-2006, he had 20.2 points (on 45.3% shooting), 4.1 rebounds, and a career-best 6.5 assists per game, highlighted by a career-high 42-point night and his first career triple-double. This also marked the first of five straight seasons with 20+ points, 4+ rebounds, and 4+ assists per game; notably, with a career-high 25.0 points per game on 47.1% shooting plus 4.2 rebounds, and 4.4 assists per game in 2006-2007, he made the first of six straight All-Star Games (and 7x overall). Later on, in 2009-2010, Johnson earned his only All-NBA selection (Third Team) on the strength of 21.3 points (45.8% shooting), 4.6 rebounds, and 4.9 assists per game, which would result in Atlanta re-signing him to the then-richest contract in NBA history. However, following two more seasons of 18-19 points per game, Johnson was traded to the Brooklyn Nets in a blockbuster deal for Jordan Farmar, Anthony Morrow, Jordan Williams, Johan Petro, DeShawn Stevenson, and a first-round draft pick.
On a Nets team led by Deron Williams (and later including aging superstars Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce), Johnson was no longer the high-usage star of his Hawks days, but did have a final All-Star selection in 2013-2014: 15.8 points per game on 45.4% shooting with 3.4 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game. Generally, in his three-and-a-half years in Brooklyn, he was more of a 15+ points-per-game player before being waived by the team midway through the 2015-2016 season. From there, Johnson was a bit of a nomad, spending time with the Miami Heat, Utah Jazz, and Houston Rockets as primarily a reserve (he was also traded to the Sacramento Kings, but never played a game with them). Though he later signed with the Detroit Pistons in 2019, Johnson last played in the NBA at age 36 in 2017-2018; a basketball lifer, post his NBA days, he has also played in the BIG3 and The Basketball Tournament (TBT).
Despite a difference of two NBA seasons in Johnson’s favor (17 vs. 15), he and Finley have very similar career numbers: Johnson has the slight advantage in scoring (16.0 vs. 15.7 points per game) and playmaking (3.9 vs. 2.9 assists per game), while Finley was a marginally better rebounder (4.4 to 4.0 rebounds per game) with a little bit more efficient shooting percentages. Even though this also translates to very similar advanced metrics in terms of both Player Efficiency Rating (PER) and career Win-Shares (both slightly in Finley’s favor at 16.0 vs. 15.4 and 85.2 vs. 82.8, respectively), it is Johnson who earned more All-Star (7x to 2x) and All-NBA selections (1x vs. none). Head-to-head, the duo faced off 17x in the regular season (while also splitting a pair of postseason games) – Finley’s teams came out ahead 12-5, but Johnson generally was the better individual performer: 19.4 points (on 49.1% shooting), 4.6 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game vs. 15.0 points (42.4% shooting), 3.3 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game for Finley. While both undoubtedly had great NBA careers, neither Finley nor Johnson is a likely Hall of Famer.
Regular Season Statistics
| Michael Finley | Player | Joe Johnson |
| 15 (1995-2010) | Seasons | 17 (2001-2018) |
| 1,103 | Games Played | 1,276 |
| 15.7 | Points | 16.0 |
| 4.4 | Rebounds | 4.0 |
| 2.9 | Assists | 3.9 |
| 44.4% | Field Goal % | 44.1% |
| 81.1% | Free Throw % | 80.2% |
| 16.0 | PER | 15.4 |
| 85.2 | Win Shares | 82.8 |
| 2x | All-Star Games | 7x |
| – | All-NBA | 1x |
| – | MVP | – |
| 1x | NBA Titles | – |
| – | NBA Finals MVP | – |
| All-Rookie | Other Awards | All-Rookie |
| – | Hall of Fame Induction | – |
Source: Basketball-Reference.com
Gaudy regular season numbers did not always translate into playoff success for either Finley or Johnson; both were consistent postseason participants, but never quite championship contenders, with the former only winning a title later on in his career as a role player.
Finley had a decade straight of playoff appearances starting in 2000-2001 (5x Mavericks, 4x Spurs, and 1x Celtics) – individually, his best performance came with Dallas in 2001-2002, as he led the playoffs with 46.6 minutes played per game and averaged 24.6 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 2.3 assists, though the team would lose in the Western Conference Semifinals; as a team, Dallas made it to the Western Conference Finals the next year before falling to Tim Duncan and the Spurs. As the saying goes, “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” – after signing with the Spurs, Finley won a title as the team swept a young LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Finals in 2006-2007; at that stage in his career, Finley was very much a complementary player, posting 11.3 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game in the victory.
As for Johnson, though he did have 13 playoff appearances across stints in Phoenix, Atlanta, Brooklyn, Miami, Utah, and Houston, he never came close to reaching the Finals (and never even advanced past the Conference Semifinals). Even in his prime, he somewhat underperformed in the playoffs relative to the regular season, only averaging 20+ points per game on two occasions (once each with the Hawks and Nets).
Internationally, as very good, but not quite great players, each swingman had limited experiences with Team USA – Finley represented his country twice while in college (gold at the 1993 Summer Universiade and bronze at the 1994 Goodwill Games), while Johnson earned a disappointing bronze medal at the 2006 World Championships.
Playoff Statistics
| Michael Finley | Player | Joe Johnson |
| 129 | Games Played | 120 |
| 11.8 | Points | 15.2 |
| 3.5 | Rebounds | 4.2 |
| 1.8 | Assists | 3.1 |
| 41.8% | Field Goal % | 42.7% |
| 86.6% | Free Throw % | 77.9% |
| 13.9 | PER | 13.9 |
| 6.9 | Win Shares | 5.0 |
Source: Basketball-Reference.com
Every athlete goes through a natural career lifecycle, from starting off as a rookie to reaching peak years of performance and finally, declining into the inevitable retirement due to a combination of age and/or injury; post their primes with Dallas and Atlanta/Brooklyn, respectively, Finley and Johnson slowly evolved from centerpiece into complementary players in their 30s. For Hall of Fame caliber players across sports, I like to look at a concept I call a “decade of dominance.” The thinking behind this is that for most Hall of Fame type careers, there are roughly 10 great seasons that define an athlete (this idea is embodied in a sense by the NFL’s All-Decade teams), though due to injury or other factors, they might not be 10 consecutive years.
Decade of Dominance
| Michael Finley | Player | Joe Johnson |
| 1995-2005 | Decade of Dominance | 2003-2013 |
| 735 | Games Played | 744 |
| 19.0 | Points | 19.5 |
| 5.1 | Rebounds | 4.3 |
| 3.7 | Assists | 4.8 |
| 44.9% | Field Goal % | 44.5% |
| 80.7% | Free Throw % | 80.0% |
| 17.1 | PER | 16.9 |
| 66.0 | Win Shares | 60.7 |
Source: Basketball-Reference.com
For their decades of dominance, the trends are nearly identical to their overall career comparison – Johnson was the slightly better scorer and passer, but Finley was superior at rebounding and a more efficient shooter, thus resulting in slightly more favorable advanced metrics.
My Thoughts
Michael Finley and Joe Johnson were the type of wing players any basketball team needs to succeed – a versatile swingman who can do it all, from scoring to rebounding to passing, in the process each making well over $100M during their NBA careers. However, both were better-suited to be second (or even third) options on a winning team rather than the alpha dog, i.e. more of a Robin than a Batman, which to a certain extent explains the Hawks’ inability to break through as a true championship contender with “Iso Joe” as their best (and usually highest-paid) player. Nevertheless, while Finley was one of the game’s great iron men and a vital component in lifting a moribud Mavericks team to relevance, I think Johnson was the better overall player – a little bit more of an all-around player (especially in the playmaking department), consistently excellent for a longer period of time, and more dominant at his peak, e.g. his 2006-2007 season vs. Finley’s 1999-2000 season; a true “baller”, what a surprise (and pleasure) it was to see Johnson suiting up for powerhouse team Overseas Elite during TBT 2020!
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
Joe Johnson
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
More Good Stuff
- Watch: Get tickets to see the Dallas Mavericks, Atlanta Hawks, or any other NBA team in action
- Wear: Buy sports apparel for the Mavericks, Hawks, or any other NBA team
- Collect: Buy unique sports memorabilia for Michael Finley, Joe Johnson, or your favorite NBA player(s) or team(s)
- Play: Show off your basketball knowledge by playing daily fantasy basketball
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