Scout claims Joe Johnson isn't a "lead player"

I don't mean to just post a bunch of news updates from RealGM but I thought this might make a good discussion.

Scout: Hawks' Johnson Not 'Lead Player'

An anonymous NBA scout claims that Atlanta's Joe Johnson isn't a "lead player".

Johnson isn't letting the report bother him, but his teammates quickly came to his rescue.

"Are you serious?" Josh Smith said. "How do you respond to something so stupid?"

"When you say something like that you would hope it would be anonymous," Marvin Williams said. "I mean, how can you take that seriously? That dude must not have watched any of our games the past few years. Anybody who has seen us knows that Joe is an absolute beast. Go ahead and fall asleep on Joe and he’ll give you 30 [points] before you know it."

Johnson himself, was much more modest.

"I don’t worry about it," Johnson said. "This is something that means little to nothing around here. We have to hold each other accountable around here. To hell with what anybody else has to say.

"And that scout is doing his job. He has to come up with something to say. We can’t be tuned in to that with all we have at stake. We have to know, and believe, we’re a good team and play like it."

Would anyone agree with that anonymous scout's assertion?

I have to admit, I had my doubts after Joe Johnson signed that big contract and the Hawks made that trade. I'll admit that I underestimated him, I thought he was good in his role with the Suns and the Hawks were taking a big risk in hoping to turn him into a franchise player but that trade hasn't worked out too badly for either team with Diaw being a key player in Phoenix and Johnson stepping up as the number one option in Atlanta. Beyond taking the eventual champion Celtics to the limit in last year's Playoffs (still nothing to be sneezed at), the Hawks haven't accomplished much during Johnson's tenure but it's only been a few years and that isn't on Johnson's head alone. I think he's absolutely a "lead player" in the NBA.

Your thoughts?

"Are you serious?" Josh Smith said. "How do you respond to something so stupid?"
...
Marvin Williams said. "I mean, how can you take that seriously?"

They could be NLSC posters.

What does a "lead player" even mean? I read the actual article, instead of the often wrong Wiretap summary, and I still don't know.

Best player on a championship team? I could agree with that.

I'd say such a player would come under that description, though the NBA has seen its fair share of top players who never played on championship teams or even saw action in an NBA Finals game. My guess would be that the "lead player" label this anonymous scout is using wouldn't require standards quite that high but still refer to a player who is capable of performing at a high level that results in his team having some measure of success; the best player on a good team, perhaps? I'm assuming his meaning runs similar to that logic and terms like "Go To Player" and the like.

To me, the term 'lead player' seems a bit vague and it could mean 'All-Star caliber' player or 'a player capable of leading a team (i.e. a leader).'

Joe Johnson is definately the go to man on the Hawks team. I do think he is their lead palyer and a franchise player. He may not seem to be the dominant lead player on the Atl team because it is a very y;oung and talented team with guys like Josh Smith, Al Horford... A player who is not a franchise player would be a guy like Igoudala and that's the reason why the brought Brand over.

I don't know that Iguodala isn't a franchise player, he didn't get a long enough run as the lone star in Philadelphia for him to be fairly considered a success or failure. An inside-outside pairing with Brand is something they couldn't pass up though and two stars - so long as they can co-exist - are usually better than one.