Is this guy quietly turning into the 3rd option we always needed? Since Dwight's been back in the playoffs this guy has been phenomenal. I really think not enough people are really paying attention to his play so far in these playoffs. He's easily been our 3rd best player this series and is playing at an elite level on offense and defense.
*16.8pt/6rb/4.3as/1bk/0.8stl/26.5mpg on 50%fg/41.2%3pt/56.5%eFG Yeah, it's safe to say that he's been our 3rd most important player His work in the paint has been terrific, especially since TJ has had such a tough time staying consistent. http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/s/smithjo03.html ------------ btw, besides his rebounding, this is pretty much on par or much better than his career playoff averages *Edit, this is through 4 games as BR has not updated their figures yet
his man-to-man defense is pretty solid, as evidenced by his blocking numbers. but definitely not as good on guarding PnR and switching.
You can pin point everyone on the team for bad defense even Dwight's been lazy even this game on rotations. I really think smith has done some solid things defensively in terms of switching on the perimeter or contesting shots in the paint. I will admit he's missed a few rebounds that he should have got because of his court awareness but I hope and think Mchale and the group will show these guys what they did well and what the didn't.
I like him a lot, but at times I feel like he makes dumb mistakes. His talent(ball handling being a huge thing) does outweigh his mistakes though, so he is a positive on the floor. I'd like to keep him, but I think unfortunately I would assume we're only allowed to have 3 poor FT shooters as main rotation players. Him, Dwight, Jones, and Donuts would be disastrous. But yes, he has been about as close to being our third most valuable player as you can be. Either him or Ariza.
Yeah, he's a little harebrained with some of his passes, but overall gotta love Josh! Hope he will stay with the Rockets and his good buddy Dwight.
I dunno, man. It's 26 minutes per game vs 37 minutes a game. Although, I wouldn't say you're wrong either. I'd like to see Brewer eat up some of Ariza's minutes.
Josh Smith is hot right now, but we all know he will eventually revert to his low efficiency offense. He's good as a bench player, but expecting more than that is wishful thinking.
Josh is the point power forward we never knew we needed. The guy is the best passer on the team. He does dumb things all the time like almost all our guys do (though he has been deferring more to James on bringing the ball up lately). However, he has amazing court awareness on offense, and I mean the amazing part. His passing is, of course, the best part of that, but he's also one of the few guys on the team that actually goes back up to the basket once he pulls down an offensive rebound instead of kicking it back out. That's been huge for second chance points for us and often if he does kick it out, it's to the most open guy on the court. As has been said, he's a really good one-on-one defender, too, from what I saw in this series. Josh has stepped up big for us in these playoffs, and he clearly loves being on this team and helping it win. Props where props are due, and also huge compliments to McHale for building that kid's confidence to this level. Those two clearly have a special bond; go watch the video where Kevin is mic'd up during this past game, and you'll see it clear as day.
josh smith's per 36 are crazy good http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/s/smithjo03.html#playoffs_per_minute::none
