I was watching the 2014-2015 rockets highlights and the reason we beat the mavs and clippers was because of Smith. Smith defended Nowitzski very well and was the point forward who took pressure off dwight to take defenders off him. This opened dwight up for lobs hence the mavs series was all smith to howard lobs http://youtu.be/IGD4xLGILzs Then if you looked at the Rockets beating the Clippers it was Smiths defense on griffin and smiths game 6 comeback which led us to win that series. Everyone please pray the Clippers drop Josh Smith so we can sign him again!! Smith is the missing piece for us to get back to contention.
No question Smoove was the key component to us outperforming in last year's playoffs. Smoove is not unique. He could be replaced. But we didn't replace him and it's hurting us very much. Just proves you've got to have 48 minutes of great rim protection to win a championship in today's NBA. Without Smith (or a replacement for him) we do not have that. We can all love Capela all we want but he is NOT a great defender at this stage of his career. He's got potential and he's improving. But he is in no wise capable of being a defensive anchor that we need when Dwight is not or cannot be out there on the court.
Sometimes Josh Smith as a Rocket killed us, too. I don't know; maybe Morey and/or McHale thought it better not to bring him back because our bigs (at the time) were such liabilities at the charity stripe. And yet Josh Smith's defense and passing (and occasional hot-from-three) are definitely missing now.
Smith arguably reached near his potential only under Coach McHale. He never came close under Stan Van and Doc Rivers clearly can not handle him. Without a coach who can direct Smith's talents...you get the Detroit situation, the Atlanta situation, and now the Clippers situation. Why would anyone think JB could even begin to handle Josh? Nope, Josh is a unique talent...but without a coach who can direct his focus and talents, he is a cancer. We had that coach...but don't anymore.
What's the ultimate goal of any NBA team? Win championships right? I get how Josh can get us a few wins with his defense but he also kills us with his boneheaded mistakes. Josh is what they call a "gifted" player but not a "high IQ" player. With everybody going small these days and the speed of the game has picked up (offense and defense), you need someone with high IQ to really make quick adjustments and changes. Smith, unfortunately, is a relic of the past. He can defend the post but he's a liability just about every where else.
Josh Smith was our best all around PF even with DMo healthy. I was watching him last nite against the Bulls and noticed the little things he does on D, like deflections, blocks, rebounds etc..He's the total package as far as being a PF. Out of the all the PF's we have he's the only the can bring the ball up, create or run pNr
He still makes me cringe when the ball is in his hand. Josh is a very good defender when focused, people don't seem to appreciate that about him, coming of the bench helps with that. If they got him back, JB would need to bridge the gap between McHale and Rivers. McHale was perfect for Josh, not a lot of thinking and allowing your instincts to dictate your game. *McHale claps hands and says, "come guys, you need more energy, get up the court, lets go!"*
Morey was leaving Josh Smith for KJ, and sent him to D-League this season. This was the biggest mistake in summer.
I want Josh back just as bad as the next guy but we have to think rationally, who would you feel comfortable giving up to the Clippers for Josh and would Josh sign long-term. If there was a way to trade Jones and or Harrell for a wing defender creating a void at back up 4 ( and hopefully some salary cap relief) then its possible because his deal is so Morey friendly that he could be had for straight cash homie. The rockets being hard capped coupled with Dekker being injured and Harrell being so puzzlingly inconsistent makes it hard to do anything. But damn it would be nice to have him back.
I don't think it's necessarily Smith we need. Smith chipped in by contributing to categories we needed help in. Dynamic scoring - When he was hot, which wasn't often, he could hit the 3, finish at the rim and had some midrange game Playmaking -Playmaking OUTSIDE of the PG position is big here, we've seen it with Parsons Consistency at the 4 - Smith was not consistent at all, but being able to sift through he and Jones while DMO was out helped 2 inconsistent players become a bit more stable Tall, athletic interior defender - DMO was a good defender but Smith was able to step up. He was quicker to rotate than Jones, had the length to give guys problems, etc... he wasn't great but he was superior to Jones. These are all problems that can be solved in other ways. Thornton already has a lot of these duties covered.
Rockets should see what D-Mo does before thinking about Josh Smith. Only reason Smith did well last year is because McHale had no leash on him. No other coach in the NBA (not just SVG and Doc) will give Josh Smith carte blanche to take any stupid shot he wants.
