Is anyone really using a preseason game to analyze whether or not Josh Smith is good? I don't care what side you take, it's the preseason. Jump to conclusions when we play them this year, but never because of what happens in the preseason. Remember the Cato! Remember Kelvin!
I know I'm acting like the resentful 'dumpee', but I don't care! More accurately though, I think I'm acting like the friend of the resentful dumpee who is telling his boy that "she wasn't that good anyways" and "you have better things going for you now" But guys, it's a fan message board, not a courthouse. Why so serious? Relax. Fact 1) Fans here are waaaaay too comfortable trashing our current PFs: either D-Mo or Terrence Jones. Especially on TJ. Fact 2) Many here still hold the position that losing Smith was a bad thing, that we somehow screwed up, that he should have been starting or back up PF for us over either D-Mo or TJ. Fact 3) Josh Smith is a Clipper now. He don't care about how he was one of the the 3-4 guys that contributed to staying alive against the Clips in Game 6, and he don't care that you think he was the sole person that won that 1 game. He comes so hard with all that 'Don't Care' that he joined the enemy. Does he really deserve your eternal appreciation? Is he really that off limits? He wore a Rockets jersey for 55 games & then took less money to join one of our biggest enemies. Fact 4) I hate the Clippers. You should too. They have always given us problems. They are super arrogant while somehow also being super whiny at the same time. They are the biggest crybabies in the league. The media always over-hypes them and over looks the Rockets. And they play like punks. So it's petty, but yeah, I want the Clippers to do bad. I want Josh Smith in a Clipper jersey to do bad. I want to point and say "Haha told you so" with some of the issues that Smoove presents for the Clippers (48 minutes of hack-a-Jordan/Smith, Lance-Smoove terror combo, Smoove maybe some playing minutes at the 3 again) I want D-Mo and Jones in Rockets uniforms to out play the hell out of Smoove in a Clippers jersey next year. I want it to be shown that the Rockets organization & coaching staff is one of the best in the league, and they routinely bring out the best and elevate a player's game while here. I want to believe that our Rockets culture is the secret sauce, the secret sprinkle sprinkled on J Smoove, and we can always find the next perfect opportunity, just how Smoove was last year's perfect opportunity. Yes it's the preseason, so of course I'm not taking it too serious. I just want to jeer and throw tomatoes at the Clippers. I want to jeer Kobe when he shoots poorly in his 1st preseason game. It's petty, it's base, it's also a guilty pleasure. "Boooooo!"
I only watched the first game, but their bench in general looked bad. Stephenson especially looked awful it was so bad it was comical. Smith wasn't that good usually here except for a few games where he was awesome. I expect similar things from him in LA. As long as TJ and DMo are healthy we won't miss him one bit.
I think the biggest misunderstanding in regards to Josh Smith is that somehow he spurned the Rockets, when really it was the other way around. If we had guaranteed him a starting job does anyone really think he'd have gone to the Clippers or anywhere else? Of course not. When fully healthy, no way Josh Smith gets more than token minutes on this team. Meanwhile Doc promised him guaranteed rotation minutes. Josh Smith was a godsend last year because we were decimated by injuries. And he performed well in the sense that he was better than our alternatives. But fully healthy, especially with Lawson, he was never going to be more than a garbage man and I'm sure the Rockets told him as such.
People forget that Josh Smith was waived for a reason. No one picked up that contract for a reason. To me, Smith was like a bigger, more physical, and less attentive Jeremy Lin.
I would like to point out that we are 121-76 against the Clippers. And we've met twice in the playoffs and twice we've come out ahead. Yes, Chris Paul has our number and always did, BUT... not in the playoffs. But I still hate them a little even though it's hard. That is one pathetic franchise that acts like a bunch of upstarts. I hate the Spurs more, the Jazz, Warriors, Lakers, and Celtics far more. The Mavs suck butts too. But the Clippers are on my board of hate. Especially during the regular season with Chris Paul in the lineup. -don g p.s. Star Wars was wrong. Embrace the hate. Hate leads to anger. Anger leads to changes being made. Less winning leads to more anger which leads to more changes... until you get it right. Getting it right leads to winning. Embrace your hate.
4 teams I'm looking at to see how we compare (SA, GS, OKC, and Clips), if we look good against those 4, it's going to be a great season.
All my fellow Clippers-haters can relax. This is a team that has historically disappointed EVERY SEASON. In their 44 years as an NBA franchise, they've never finished higher than 3rd in their division. They've NEVER been to the conference finals -- not once in nearly 50 freakin' years! While a handful of hall of famers have played for the Clippers, none of them have had their best seasons there, and some played only one year (Dominque, Moses, Wilkes). This is a franchise with seriously bad karma. It doesn't matter how many high draft picks they get, they will never win an NBA title. EVER. <BR>
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Lotta ball dominant dudes comin off that bench, I would have been way more concernedif they added a Wilson chandler but the guys they have should not work it seems like
Give credit where credit due. He is THE reason we got past the LAC and was a difference maker against Dallas. Hes a very good player & currently better than any PF we have currently. You guys are very petty with players who leave the team
I want him and Lance to take a blowtorch to any chemistry that team may have. Burn it to the ground Clippers Bench Mob! It'll only be a matter of time before CP3 is barking at Deandre again.
How will anyone ever know that you're butthurt if your reaction isn't petty? Showing grief happens in many many ways. I'm pretty sure the only reason he's not on our roster is that we have two power forwards with new contracts coming up and his free throw shooting is easily exploited. Dwight.. not as much. Or at least it doesn't seem to lead to many losses. He seems to find a rhythm at the FT line, Josh never did.
I don't think there will be any "personality" related issues, at least not fundamentally. But it is very easy to see a future where their bench just doesn't work. Smith, Stephenson particularly. But add Prigioni, Hayes, Mcah a Moute, etc... those are just horrible offensive players. But they STILL have Wesley Johnson, a should be improved Austin Rivers and Jamal Crawford. This is all on Doc at this point for the Clippers. If he figures out a way to make it work, the Clippers are SCARY SCARY good and deep. We'll see,
They would have beat Dallas regardless but he was the difference in the LA series, not doubt about it. McHale did a great job handling J Smith and the Clippers fans think/hope they are getting that Josh Smith this season. I love the way he played but I always felt uneasy when he's in the game. He is a turnover machine. All I want to say is, "thank you Josh, bye and don't let the door hit you on the way out!" :grin:
I don't know, man. Lance is ALREADY throwing fits when he doesn't get the ball and if the person he passes it to doesn't shoot it. he might be the most combustible player in the league and I think Smoove/Rivers/Crawford could be the match/gasoline that sets it all off.
I don't think Mchale gets the credit he deserves. Some how he got Josh Smith to do everything he wanted to do and it didn't torpedo the team. It's preseason but Josh is already sinking back into his old ways. Long 2's chief among them. Doc is a good coach but is WAY overrated. I still remember when Terrence Williams was traded/picked up by the Celtics. Everyone in the media was saying-- finally Terrence will get the coaching he deserves under the tutelage of Doc Rivers. He didn't change Terrance at all. I don't get how Doc got this great reformer tag.
I remember when lance left Indy and people thought he was some star player ready to shine. Lance was way overrated and his best role was in Indy as a player. It was this all along. But he instead made a selfish decision and got exposed in Charlotte. Now his value as a player is worse than before. Sucks for Charlotte and now Clips being fooled by this guy.
