It amazes me how many people seem to think that Josh Smith is a good player. Honestly I wouldn't want him as a plan D, I'd rather just develop the players we have rather than waste money on someone of his caliber. I'd wait till there was someone worth spending money on.
How would the 76's be able to achieve signing Bynum AND Smith? I wouldn't mind being able to sign Bynum for maybe 12mil/3 years. If we don't get either Smith or Dwight. I seriously can't see Paul coming over here to play, we'd have to make a deal and ship out Lin somewhere else to make that happen. No point in having a 8mil back up PG.
No one is paying Josh Smith close to the max. Not sure why that is in the discussion. Even without Howard, Smith makes this team a contender. Going from Garcia/Delfino, or any of Donatas, Robinson, Smith, Jones at the 4, to a top 10 PF is going to make a difference, sorry to say. The Rockets were 6th in offense this year - Josh Smith doesn't hurt that, considering who the Rockets trotted out at the 4 spot this year. They were 16th in defense - Josh Smith, along with improvement due to experience, probably pushes them into the top 10. Top 10 in offense and defense = a contender.
It amazes me on how some don't think he is a good player..Can you beat the man playing basketball. Why aren't you in the NBA? And why are so many people worried about Les's money? LOL too funny
i agree that we are a contender with Smith. I've always liked him and think he will fit very nicely in our uptempo offense. We need his shot-blocking and rebounding as well. I just want to make sure we don't pay the guy and annual average salary of over $12 mil. And you might be right that there's not a team out there desperate enough to pay the guy the max or close to it, but i make it my business never to underestimate stupidity in general.
I agree. Here is an interesting article about Smith. People don't realize that there is a lot of substance to his game because all the see is the flashy dunks and sometimes poor shot selection. If we could pull him in for 12 a year, I would do it in a heart beat. http://hoopspeak.com/2013/02/all-that-josh-smith-can-be/
The key idea is that we want as good a defender as possible at the 3/4 position while not being an offensive liability. For the sole purpose of spreading the floor, we are fine as long as this guy cannot be left open all game long at mid-range or the corner three. It doesn't really matter a whole lot if he is Millsap, LMA or Bosh since you already knew our best offensive option is Harden/Lin P&R with Howard. I totally agree with you that it's pretty good to play Parsons at the 4 while having a defender at the 3. You may think about a Tony Allen or Iguodala type, but look, Josh Smith is as good a defender as anybody in the NBA at the 3 while being an OK shooter. Moreover, you can easily have him defend traditional 4's when Parsons is overmatched, provide shot-blocking and rebounding when Howard is off the floor. He may not be able to defend the 2 guards, but there just aren't many elite 2-guards to defend out there these days, plus you have Beverly and Lin. Josh Smith does not have elite offensive skills to be a star to built around, but his versatility is exactly what we need (after Howard) as a contender.
