I think losing Josh Smith is a GOOD thing for this team

I totally agree. Also, people tend to forget how horrible Josh could be sometimes. The jumping in the air and passes to nobody that we all hated from Jeremy, Josh would do at least once or twice a game. The total disregard for Harden, Terry & especially Prigioni was almost unbearable at times. 90% of the times when he decided to bring it up, he would go 1-on-1 or 1-on-3 and turn it over and chuck up a bad shot.

I will give him credit for him stepping up in the play-offs and giving us a huge left with his blocks, drives and 3pt shooting in mainly game 6 @ LAC, but other then that, I won't miss him at all. He was one of the most frustrating players to watch and with McHale as a coach and no true leader on the floor, it seemed nobody was going to do anything about Josh's bad habits and disregard for PGs handling the ball.

Also, please stop the Maxwell comparison, he is nothing like him.

 

If both Jones and DMo is healthy, we wont even notice Jsmoove, especially since we have 2 starting caliber PGs now.

 

I think we will be fine without him. Still would have liked to have him on this squad especially at that cheap price. And I'll never forget what he did to the Mavs....good times

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Great point........except the stats say the exact opposite of what you are saying. I've posted them so many times on here it's not worth it. Just go to NBA.com and look at the Defensive Dashboard for Terrence Jones and Josh Smith in the 2015 playoffs.

Josh is terribly underrated. He's a passable stretch 4 that is great on defense. Look around the league and tell me how many of those there are.

And wth are all these comparisons of Lawson + DMo to Josh Smith? We could have easily had all three.

 

His D was definitely better than Jones. I think D-Mo is a comparable defender though. Different styles for sure, but I think D-Mo could be just as effective on that end.

People are talking about Lawson because Smith's main value to this team was his playmaking ability. Now that we have Lawson, we should have a legit playmaker on the floor at all times of the game, thus making Smith's playmaking ability a little less valuable.

 

I have a feeling Josh might do bad than good for the clips and might get cut mid season.

 

Yeah, his defense and passing will not be missed. Wait, no... those two things were huge.

This is a pretty good assessment. We will be a better team, but having Smith would mean another tool on the belt. I will not miss the FT shooting though. I prefer Dwight in those situations. He's been at the line many many times when it's like that and he doesn't really seem to rattle. He usually finds a rhythm and the other team stops fouling.

 

Who is better, Tjones or Jsmith? Who will be paid more next year? Missing Smoove is huge.

 

id have been fine with him coming back but I don't think it's a huge deal that he isn't. He's like the JR smith of big men.

 

Josh had 1.5 great quarters that will live in Rockets lore, and certainly won him some his admirers in the Clippers organization.

That aside, he was a liability at least as often as he was an asset. His skill as a passer was severely undercut, and often more than canceled out, by his awful decision making. Not just at passing, which I can forgive, but at taking bad shots early in the clock. He was a multiple-threat possession killer.

I'll miss his 4-5 PnR against bad defensive teams in the first round. Yet somehow I think we'll get through the first round without him.

I'll also miss his switchability on defense. That's one place where we'll really feel the difference between Smith and Lawson. But somehow I'm pretty sure Lawson's ability to make a free throw will make up for what we lost there.

Josh is simply too old, been in the league too long, to hold out hope at this point that he'll learn to focus on his strengths and work around his weaknesses. He wants to play in a way that's fun for him, and feels natural to him, but doesn't work out in terms of points per possession and points conceded at the other end. In most respects, he's uncoachable. And his habit of giving up on defense, just standing there while his teammates put out the effort for the loose ball, is inexcusable. He sets a bad tone for the team.

There will be times when he goes off for 15 in a quarter. It's fun to watch. But it doesn't make him the right guy to have on your team. I'll take him again for peanuts over Tarik Black, and that's about it.

 

Dmo is a horrible rebounder & below average defender. The elite PF's in the west will destroy him & Jones. Smooth was our best defender at PF & had the length to force them into bad shots. Hes THE reason we had the playoff success we had

 

Did you not watch the Dallas series? They had absolutely no answer for Smith. Liability? That's ridiculous lol. You can say Harden was a liability at times in the playoffs. Everybody is a liability when they're having a bad game

 

We will be fine. Smith was only a better defender in the post. In a pick n roll situation Dmo is a much better hedger. Josh also never contested outside shots or boxed out, which was annoying.

 

In case it wasn't clear enough, "Dallas" is what I meant by "bad defensive teams in the first round."

 

I'm not sure what you're talking about. I can recall a HUGE play against the Clippers where Smith blocked Blake helping off pick & roll. These are things Jones couldn't do (that's why he was benched) and DMo was never known for. Both might show improvement this season. But let's not minimize what Smith did for us just because he left us the LAC

 

Going to miss that 4 that can pass.. Smh

 

Josh is the epitome of a high variance player . You definitely want those guys when matched up against a team with better overall talent . However , if healthy this year the rockets are one of the most talented teams in the league . Our top guys . Lawson , bev , harden , Ariza , brewer , Howard , and DMO are probably the best top 7 in the league . If capela or jones or montrez or dekker step up then we will be quite formidable . Also McDaniel and Thornton could be fair role players . With this much talent , generally you want guys that make the safe play .

I would've liked to have Josh on the team this year from a purely on the court perspective . However we do not know the locker room situation . I don't know if the team is better off without smith , but his absence probably won't be felt .

 

Yeah Dmo wouldn't block many shots. But he does get good defensive position, hedges well on pick n roll, contests outside shots, always makes the right rotation, boxes out and has a similar rim protection % as Josh.

I think Josh does 2 of those things really well, some of them he doesn't even bother to do at all. Let's not make him out to be a world beater because of one game against the mavs and 1 quarter in the 2nd round against a team that was choking.

Dmo was the 2nd biggest reason we were a 2nd seed. He showed up the entire regular season. Not every 5 games like Josh.

 

Ty Lawson lobs will be way better.

 

can't agree more...