He helped fuel the Spurs' 2nd quarter run with a bunch of dumb TOs when the Rockets had a nice lead going. Look, I'm not ready to pin the blame on Smith for the Rockets' crappy record since he joined the team. There are a lot of factors in their recent struggles. Ariza's horrible shooting. Bev's inconsistent play. Dwight sleepwalking through games. The lack of defensive intensity. McHale's refusal to play Papa or Canaan. But let's also consider this. Before Smith arrived, the Rockets were on a pretty good roll aside from that 2-game home losing streak against the Pelicans and Hawks. The former could be explained away easily by the team being exhausted after playing an OT game in Denver less than a day earlier. And the latter is justifiable since the Hawks have been killing everyone lately(plus Tony Brothers screwed us over that night). Since he got here, we're 3-4 with the OT win at Memphis and the blowout at home against Miami the only games worth bragging about. Let's see how the next few weeks go. If the Rockets continue to struggle against crappy opponents and can't beat any quality teams(especially at home), then maybe we can start to question this acquisition and whether or not it may be better to cut our losses short, especially once T-Jones is back.
Again -- <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Rockets are 6-6 in past dozen games and needed double-digit comebacks in four of those wins, three in overtime.</p>— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jonathan_Feigen/status/551229982627098624">January 3, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> I'm continually surprised by the suggestion that we were firing on all cylinders before these last few games. It's like all those games in the stretch right before he arrived where we either lost or squeaked by on the strength of Harden Heroics never even happened. Josh may very well be a problem -- I'm still nowhere near convinced he is a good fit. But we certainly have about 99 more, almost all of which pre-date his joining this team.
That said, Detroit looks amazing. Waiving him was absolutely, 100% the correct move and I'm equal parts excited and terrified to see what Drummond becomes now. Crazy potential.
The Rockets' recent struggles seem tied more to Howard's return than Smith's arrival. And like I said, Ariza's inability to shoot and Bev's poor play(Miami and Chicago games notwithstanding) are big factors in the starters spotting opponents big leads. But still, 3-4 since Smith joined the team is concerning. And there's no doubt, he was a disaster in the starting lineup. He seems to be a decent fit with the reserves, so maybe when all is said and done, this winds up being a move that benefits both teams. We'll know for sure by the time late January is here and we have a larger sample of games to draw conclusions from.
Agreed on all counts. I still fear he could be a disaster off the bench, if I'm being honest... I guess time will tell. Unfortunately, the Western Conference doesn't afford you the luxury of a lot of it, and we have a helluva lot of other issues to worry about in the meantime.
Perhaps proof he doesn't need to be in down the stretch, though. x_x <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Josh Smith's minus-42 in clutch situations (last 5 minutes, ahead or behind by 5) is the worst mark in the NBA this season.</p>— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) <a href="https://twitter.com/BenGolliver/status/552696269672439809">January 7, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
This is where the Smith addition concerns me. Before acquiring him, the Rockets were unbeatable in close games. They also never(or almost never) lost when scoring over 100. Neither is the case anymore. They dropped a 4-point game to the Spurs. A 1-point game to the Wizards. And they've lost despite scoring over 100 against the Spurs, Wizards, and Bulls. Again, we can't blame this all on Smith. There are other factors at play. But when a team goes from one extreme to another this quickly and the only major changes in that timeframe are the additions of Smith and Brewer, it's hard not to think Occum's Razor and conclude it's Smith that's the difference. Especially when juxtaposed with Detroit's 6-0 mark since his departure from that team.
I know other people felt the same as I did here http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showpost.php?p=9439425&postcount=85 I believe that team will make the playoffs. The talent was and is there. They just had J-Smoove and it complicated things on and off the court. I'm reticent to blame him mainly for the Rox issues since he arrived. We know the problems go beyond him and kind of started a little bit before he joined the team.
He was pretty bad in San Antonio, but I don't even think he was in the game down the stretch, was he? I could be wrong, not sure. None of the starters were getting it done vs Washington... that's the one L I'd put on McHale for going away from the guys who got us back in the game. And I'd credit Jimmy Butler for the stalled offense in the last minutes in CHI -- he took Harden out of the game, and Harden *is* our offense down the stretch. I do still think DMo should've been in over Josh, tho.
Well.. if you all argue whether or not Smith is the reason for struggles then one thing is certain: he hasn't helped much.
I think how much he helps or not helps the Rockets is still too early to tell. You have to give new players time to gel. What is certain is that Detroit is playing MUCH BETTER without him.
You know that's just like you. You can't see that oversimplifying the issue and placing all the blame on Smith isn't the right thing to do? No, you just want to bring up facts and reasonable arguments as to why the Rockets have stalled instead of relying on idiotic gumption and armchair GMing. I'm both shocked and appalled at this. <iframe style="display: none;" allowtransparency="true" scrolling="no" id="rufous-sandbox" frameborder="0"></iframe>
I said last night that he fit in well with the reserves. That trend continued tonight. And we'll see in time if it's a win-win for both teams. I will reiterate though that the Rockets' recent struggles have to do with way more than just the addition of Josh Smith. We saw it again tonight with Dwight sleepwalking through the first 3 quarters, Bev bricking open shots, and Ariza continuing to struggle from the field.
Now I want to know what exactly Smith was doing to make Detroit so bad, because now they look like world beaters.. You got every outlet advancing the narrative that Smith is a cancer.
