Josh Smith is a beast. He come to the Rockets even without Howard and our non existent 4 spot last year is gone. Grab the next best Center and lets go.
Actually, no. S&T can only be with the team that he played with last season. Otherwise, there's actually waiting period after you sign a player to a contract before you can trade him.
yes Or better yet take Lin and Asik both off our hands. Gives us enough to assure we sign Josh. And I would love if they take White away.
Could we potentially do a Asik + Lin + White for Smith? Thats nearly $18.5 million in combined salary. Sign Smith for $13-$15 million per year, then we have the $1 million we need to sign Dwight without having to cut anyone, and that leaves $2-$4.5 million to sign another piece to go with Dwight along with the room exception. We'll be able to add 2-3 (not minimum) players to help with depth. We give up Lin + Asik in exchange for the extra cap room and them taking Royce off our hands. If this has been mentioned then my bad, didnt look through the whole thread.
Hopefully they know Josh Smith isn't worth screwing up flexibility for the future. Detroit or some other team should make a higher (worse) offer.
I thought so too. However, Feigen, who tends to be pretty plugged in on these sorts of things said this earlier: http://blog.chron.com/ultimaterocke...h-smith-who-played-with-dwight-howard-in-aau/ The Rockets moved from Sunday’s late-night meeting with Dwight Howard to a scheduled Monday sitdown with his one-time AAU teammate, Josh Smith, a person with knowledge of the meeting said. The sessions are considered related, rather than Smith’s being a backup plan if the Rockets fail to land their top target. .... Smith earned $13.2 million last season. The Rockets would not seem to have the means to match that without including both center Omer Asik and guard Jeremy Lin (whose combined salaries would count as $16.7 million against the cap) in a sign-and-trade. If Howard is in the fold, the Rockets are more likely to put Asik’s salary together with a combination of their next-largest guaranteed contracts (Terrence Jones, Donatas Motiejunas or Royce White), but even that might not be enough to land Smith. As a contingency if the Rockets do not sign Howard, they would have more than enough cap room for Smith but would not consider themselves a title contender without other significant additions. A person familiar with their plans said if the Rockets do not land Howard, they will likely structure contracts as they did Carlos Delfino’s free-agent deal last summer, with team options on the second and third seasons, in order to maintain cap flexibility for next summer.
wow Well if they want Asik then they need to take Lin too. Or find a couple of teams to take both and give us little back. Hinkie wants Asik for sure.
Signing Smith when Dwight is not coming here is something that goes against everything Morey has said this whole year. They want to be players in 2014 and stay flexible when Dwight and CP3 could not be had.
Josh Smith is a career 47% FG shooter and 66% FT shooter. His shot selection is crap given that he tries to do too much on his own, especially last year with the departure of Atlanta's former #1 chucker, Joe Johnson. Smith's numbers last year I think are indicative of him trying to do too much with so many new faces around him. Smith messing up our spacing is totally wrong. I think Smith's shot selection will improve in Houston as he wont have to force anything. He also made 33% from 3 last year, which is not bad for a PF. I don't see anything but positives if we bring him in next to Dwight to form the most athletic defensive frontcourt in the NBA for the next 3-4 years. Josh Smith would be the 3rd of 4th option in Houston and would take all the pressure off of him. Less pressure = Less forced shots = Higher shooting %This would be ideal for his game. I think he fits better than any other stretch 4 that has been discussed, better than LMA and far better than athletically challenged Kevin Love(ya he can shoot, but I think his scoring and especially his rebounding numbers are inflated because he has spent his career on horrific teams that lack any other rebounders)
Smith might not create the height mismatch you typically see, but there are other reasons they would be so potent running it together. Not having the height advantage affects the pick & pop situations most, because Smith shooting over a defend is exactly what a defense wants. However, his explosiveness & strength going to the rim create mismatches of their own. Harden's bounce-pass is one of the best, and Smith can handle those low, hot passes better than just about any other big man in the league. It's damn near impossible to defend, but Asik bobbled too many of those bounce passes to consistently take advantage. Smith's also very effective at slipping the screen to keep defenders honest on the switch. In the past ball handlers like Teague have had trouble getting the rock to him when they can't get the easy pass over the top. Throw in Harden's ability to split a trap, and I see a deadly pnr combo. Not so much because Smith is the prototypical screen/roll guy, but because he maximizes Harden's strengths as the ball handler.
