I think that we need his randomness to open up brewer's play. Our offense is so predictable but with smith and Brewer and terry it brings a short of devasting chaos that is so beautiful to watch.
He so underrated that the smartest bestest GM made him take a backseat till we signed superstar KJ Mcdaniels. Dont mind me guys, I'm just your miserable neighbor contrarian.
Josh Smith and his game is not some giant mystery. What is a mystery is why many still seem to question his "value". It is self evident that in the chemistry of this edition of the Rockets right now, Josh Smith is an X factor that blows up scouting reports, set plays, attempts to dunk over or around him, and well a hell of a lot. He is a disrupter , something only Brewer and Terry seem to get, also Larson when on and Thornton also. No we do not know what he will do next, but isn't that the point ? The opponents don't seem to have a clue either, and Josh Smith has the best court vision on this team. It's only one game, but let's watch Smoove Sunday as he "blows up" Dallas' attempts to "keep it under control". Josh, I hope I have not over sold you, but I think not. At least there's a reason to watch again over here. I was so bored...........
You're right, he did. And I am sure Josh felt used and unappreciated after his playoff performance. The fact remains, Morey offered him the most money in the off-season. The other fact is we got him for even less money with valuable intel on a team we might end up facing again in the first round this year at the 3-6 or 4-5 match up.
OT: One thing I don't get is how this guy claimed he never been out of Georgia until he was drafted? He graduated from Oak Hill Academy in VA.
criminally underrated. he's better than about half the all stars who were in the all star game yet he's never been voted in as one. shameful. pple keep focusing on his negatives and nearly ignore all the good things about his game. he's extremely versatile on both ends of the court. they dont even know the pistons deliberately misused him as a "shooter" since dmo has the back of a 50 year old rockets should be serious about re-signign smith long term
He's an excellent backup for any team, and a particularly good backup for our team because of his chemistry with Dwight, Brewer and Terry.
Nice! I actually think this is the first thread of mine that has ever been bumped (thanks, cashmoney!) Of course, if I knew how to search for my old threads, I'd be bumping my theads like everyday. Haha!! I guess my only addition is just how weird that GM's value him low, given his performance just last year (see OP). He makes half of what KJ makes, and he couldn't sniff the court when Brewer was terrible. And the Clippers gave him to us for free, which had to be a last resort. Really weird. I hope and predict Josh makes those suits look stupid, as they are often are proven to be. I am really excited for him and the Rockets!!! When you think about it, this season could actually be salvaged & we could compete with anybody if the following things (which are reasonable) occur: - Josh Smith performs like last year & gets Brewer to do likewise; - We get DMo back & he peaks in the playoffs; - Offensive "genius" Finch figures out how to use both Lawson AND Harden's strength on offense on the court together. This is least likely, since he hasn't come close. Despite how they don't seem to complement each other right off the bat, these are supposed to be the best basketball minds in the world - they should be able to figure out how to make more talent work to our advantage. I mean they should be up til the early morning hours working on this every night until they get it right, cuz our current utilization of Lawson is embarrassing; - Harden gives his best effort on defense, which will set a good example for the rest of the team. I will be excited to see if these things happen by the playoffs. Thanks for the bump!
I don't follow the Clippers, and we all know chemistry and fit in can be tricky (hello Ty Lawson), but it is unbelievable to me that Doc Rivers could not have made better use of Josh Smith's skills. Josh is still a tremendous bb player, only if one can understand his pluses more than outweigh his negatives.
Josh is more of an initiator than finisher. In LA, you have two ball dominant initiators with one being probably the best in the NBA. There was no room for Josh.
Yeah the reason why he didn't do incredibly well with the Pistons was because you had a nightmare of court spacing with Monroe/Drumond (at the time) and then onward to the Clippers you already had Blake Griffin who is a similar player to Smith where he can handle the ball, post up, pass and shoot a good jumper. The Rockets need Smith as much as Smith needs the Rockets, when Smith is able to play freely as he does he can do a lot of positive things well. This also applies when he's not playing well, he can definitely have a significant negative impact on his own team. As well as Josh Smith is playing right now we still need Dmo back as a starter. Josh Smith can definitely still contribute 25-28 minutes a game off the bench giving Dwight/Dmo some rest while playing along side either one of them. I highly doubt he'll sign here long term however, I really don't see any other team giving him longer than a 2 year contract based on his history.
The Clippers didn't really need him. They already had Griffin who is one of the best 4's in the league. They had DeAndre who's one of the best 5's in the league. Aldrich was getting the backup 4 minutes. And Rivers was never gonna play Smith at the 3 like Detroit tried to. So where were the minutes gonna come from? That's why I never understood why Smith chose to sign there. Leaving the Rockets made sense. But going to the Clippers instead(and for less money)? Big mistake. Now obviously circumstances have changed here that had they been the case back in July, I think would've resulted in Morey making it a priority to resign Smith. First of all, D-Mo may wind up missing almost the entire season. That alone necessitates Smith being on this team. Add to that Jones being Jones(and I don't mean that as a compliment), Capela and Harrell still being raw and needing more time to develop, and Dekker being a complete bust who can't even suit up for the Rockets this year, and things have gone about as badly at the 4 as one could imagine.
