With the new salary cap rules starting to bite next season and get progressively punitive, Josh Smith won't get 4yrs/$75M or 5yrs/$94M from anybody. He's a very good, non-impact, 27 year-old player who doesn't have any upside from what he is now. If he was 23 or 24 and had shown a strong upward arc of improvement each season, teams would line up to pay him. I would expect Smith to say this but it doesn't mean a team will actually give him the max. This could decrease his trade value for the Hawks and he might have just canceled his ticket out of town before the deadline. Maybe the Suns or Wizards go after him since they have so much money to spend.
I strongly disagree with this. He's a HUGE impact player. Tell me, would the Hawks be in the playoffs without him? Without him the Hawks are a bottom 3 team in the league. Now that's what I call impact. I think he would make us a 50 win team, but that's not worth the max. We'd still need another piece like him to be legit contenders.
Negative offensive win-shares this season...sounds legit What this guy could accomplish if he had someone like Dream in his ear every day...*sigh*
You also have to consider that the new CBA not only has a salary Cap rule, but a salary FLOOR. IE, teams MUST spend at least $49M/year on salaries. If you have cap space and MUST spend that money and you can NOT get a tier 1 or tier 2 star/superstar, Josh Smith becomes a very attractive player. While fans talk about Championship or bust, in reality the bulk of NBA teams are just shooting for the play offs. 30 teams in the NBA, how many have a realistic shot at a Championship? 3? 4? Maybe 5? In 5 years, it will be the same. 3, 4 or 5 teams. That leaves 25 teams in the cold, some of which are small markets or mid markets that don't have the attraction of the glamor destinations. If they're going to be rebuilding anyway, making a play like a Josh Smith at least helps get them into the play off race if not the play offs, and that's enough to keep those owners and fans at least somewhat happy in the short term while their talent develops or to help attract higher tiered stars. Look at the Knicks and Amare Stoudemire. They overpaid so that they could have a player who could attract Other stars. Josh Smith isn't Stoudemire, but if NY (a HUGE market) had to overpay a star to get other stars, what do you think mid-sized and small franchises need to do? Heck, the Brooklyn Nets traded for the Joe Johnson contract, which was arguably one of the worst contracts in the NBA. Overpaid? Yes. They did it anyway because their situation demanded it. Someone will pay Josh Smith, the only question is whether he goes for the money or a team that already has a good shot at the play offs, or gets lucky and gets on a team that's willing to spend for him as an important piece of a puzzle.
Multiple teams were willing to pay Roy Hibbert and Eric Gordon max contracts last summer. Are 4yrs/$75M or 5yrs/$94M the amounts the Rockets can give him or just the Hawks? I wouldn't feel so bad about 15 million per season if it was only for 3 years.
HELL NO! Dude this guy not worth close that amount. He sits on the 3 point line and jacks up jumpers all the time when he could easily be driving and getting an easy bucket or going to the line. His attitude and/or heart just don't seem to be in the game, IMO.
I talked to Matt Jackson on radio on Rockts wrap earlier this week and he tried to argue with me cause I said Smith was a stretch four...he has shot more threes than Patterson this year...So how is he not a stretch four???
"Do you know who I am? I'm Moe Greene. I made my bones while you were still going out with cheerleaders."
4/70 - Rockets, 5/94 - Hawks (or where ever he finishes this season). These numbers are likely to go up by ~5% judging by NBA revenue projections, therefore it will likely be 4/74 or 4/75 instead of 4/70.
stretch 4 means you stretch the defense. if you just shoot open jumpers because the defense is happy to sag off and give them to you, then you aren't stretching it.
Well, I think you just have to accept the fact that you have to overpay for free agents. I definitely prefer acquiring him at the trade deadline. That way the Rockets can do some damage in the playoffs. Clippers, Thunder, Nuggets are too athletic along the frontline for the Rockets to be competitive against these teams. You can't allow a player's individual deficiencies to determine his value, but how will his skills impact the team as a whole. For example, Kendrick Perkins isn't impressive at all if you critique him individually but he supplies the physical presence for the Thunder. This is where overpaying for Harden in the trade is hurting the Rockets because I don't think they have enough assets they are willing to give up for Josh Smith. The Thunder is the number one team in the NBA. Yeah, they really need a lottery pick. Jeremy Lamb is scoring 30 points per game lately in the D-League. Martin is having a great season. Although, the Dallas protected pick is not looking very valuable because they are going to pick 1-20.
