Threads to show counter JAVA SWING

Would not it be better to implement it with a timer?

I give you an example:

import java.awt.EventQueue;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
import javax.swing.Timer;

/*
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/**
 *
 * @author Eduardo Isaac Ballesteros
 */
public class TimerEjemplo2 {

    Timer timer;
    int contador = 0;
    int valorMaximo = 100;
    int valorInicial = 0;

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        TimerEjemplo2 timerEjemplo2 = new TimerEjemplo2();
    }

    public TimerEjemplo2() {
        EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            @Override
            public void run() {
                final JLabel label = new JLabel("", JLabel.CENTER);
                Hilo hilo = new Hilo("test");
                hilo.start();

                timer = new Timer(1000, new ActionListener() {
                    @Override
                    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                        label.setText(String.valueOf(valorInicial));
                        valorInicial++;
                        if (valorInicial == valorMaximo) {
                            timer.stop();
                        }
                    }
                });
                timer.start();
                JOptionPane.showConfirmDialog(null, label, "Ejemplo", JOptionPane.YES_NO_OPTION, JOptionPane.PLAIN_MESSAGE);
            }
        });
    }
}

A dirty solution with Thread would be like this:

public class Sistema {
    private static int contador = 100;

    /**
     * @return the contador
     */
    public static int getContador() {
        return contador;
    }

    /**
     * @param aContador the contador to set
     */
    public static void setContador(int aContador) {
        contador = aContador;
    }
}


import java.util.logging.Level;
import java.util.logging.Logger;
import javax.swing.JLabel;

/**
 *
 * @author Eduardo Isaac Ballesteros
 */
public class Hilo extends Thread {

    JLabel label;

    public Hilo(JLabel pLabel) {
        this.label = pLabel;
    }

    @Override
    public void run() {
        int cantMaxima = 100;
        int iterador = 0;
        while (iterador < cantMaxima) {
            Sistema.setContador(Sistema.getContador() - 1);
            label.setText("Desde hilo: " + String.valueOf(Sistema.getContador()));
            iterador++;
            try {
                sleep(1000);
            } catch (InterruptedException ex) {
                Logger.getLogger(Hilo.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
            }
        }
    }
}


import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;

/**
 *
 * @author Eduardo Isaac Ballesteros
 */
public class TimerEjemplo3 {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        TimerEjemplo3 timerEjemplo3 = new TimerEjemplo3();
    }

    public TimerEjemplo3() {
        final JLabel label = new JLabel("", JLabel.CENTER);
        Hilo hilo = new Hilo(label);
        hilo.start();
        JOptionPane.showConfirmDialog(null, label, "Ejemplo", JOptionPane.YES_NO_OPTION, JOptionPane.PLAIN_MESSAGE);
    }

}

The screen freezes because the thread is not running independently, so for the screen to refresh, I suggest the following:

new Thread(new Runnable() {

       @Override
       public void run() {
           //Colocar todos los algoritmos aca
       }
   }).start();