Rondo didn't get waived by a bottom feeder. The Mavs actually traded for him giving up some talent. Smith was falling into out lap (assuming we get him) BECAUSE HE HAS BEEN SUCKING. Besides, I think throwing Rondo into the starting lineup of a top ranked offense is a big risk. Time will tell whether that's a smart move or not.
If we add Smith I'm looking forward to the rest that Harden & Howard are going to get. Smith + Brewer + Svhed has our main guys playing way less minutes and that's a great thing. TJones is gonna have to earn his way back into the rotation whenever he comes back
The fact is this. D-Mo was terrible in a reduced role. He is obviously a player that plays off of confidence and is developing into one of the better big men in the NBA. He is the 4th best rim protector in the NBA. His offense is super effective and efficient. ~60% on hook shots on the post. The difference in opinion stems from one side seemingly thinking this will have no effect on D-Mo (as well as Papa, the only other guy who can create offense on this team) and the other side thinking it will hurt their effectiveness a lot. I think Smith could contribute good things. I still do not think Smith > D-Mo + Papa. Smith plays the 4/3. There goes Papa right off the bat. No minutes for him left. D-Mo plays 4/5. Well now he's relegated to the bench. McHale has this historic tendency to play his starters huge minutes. This is what I see happening. Smith is in the starting line-up. Dwight will come out around the 4 min mark. D-Mo will probably be the back-up center. An alternative is somehow Dorsey still gets minutes. Anyway, if it's D-Mo, he will likely play until 8 minutes in the second quarter. Half of this will be with Smith, half with Dwight. Then Dwight will sit again with about 2 mins left in the second quarter if the game is going well. D-Mo will get some mins there. In the third quarter Dwight, nor Smith will come out till about 2 minutes in the quarter. Then the Rockets will play their usual wonky 2 pg rotation. D-Mo will get center minutes at this time. Depending on how the game is going, he'll be out of the game by minute 8, max 7 in the 4th quarter. That's why I think he'll be marginalized. I'm basing this off how McHale has been handling rotations lately and what I think. Obviously I could be completely wrong. I said this pages ago. There's nothing else to do but wait and see. I hope Smith will come in, know his role and play within it and that D-Mo will not go back to being terrible as a result. I don't see that happening though. Let's see. <br> Being relegated to the bench does not automatically mean "OMG MORE POST TOUCHES!" Have you seen the way our bench unit plays? They don't look to feed anyone in the post and just try to get out in transition, otherwise hit 3 pointers in a half-court set. Once again this is gonna be compounded by the fact that the only guy who looks to feed the post off the bench (hell even out of the starters other than Harden) Papa will be glued to the bench.
You are sounding like Smith is a superstar. He has never been one. Now, I am not saying that DMo is a better player. I think we should try to ease Smith into the lineup rather than just throw him in. He may eventually earn the starting job. But promising him a starting spot without even seeing how he plays with the team is just not a good idea. This logic makes no sense. They played for totally different teams.
Really don't understand the anti smith meltdown in this thread. We simply aren't good enough to not take low risk gambles like this.
i am not a huge Smith fan myself - but I dont get where you are getting your stance from based on his averages and considering he played out of position - I'll wait to see what you say - maybe tomorrow though I am going to bed soon
It will be tomorrow, I am off to bed as well.... But suffice it to say it will be based upon shooting percentages, and locations of those shots on the court. DD
Or you can compare the trade to Mark Aguirre for Adrian Dantley during the bad Boys Pistons era. Like Dwight and Smith, Isiah and Aguirre were very close friends but many warned that it would affect team chemistry on a championship contending Pistons team. Team actually got better chemistry wise and won 2 straight championships. Your comparison is not only negative but the situation is completely different. Pacers got rid of a team leader and former all star albeit recently injured player in Granger. Rockets would would be replacing a marginal NBA player (Black/Dorsey) for a guy with just under all star production.
The only reason Josh Smith is even out there is because SVG is an overrated coach in over his head as a GM. Smart or even mediocre GMs don't do what he did. Smith hasn't caused issues in th locker room. He played out of position for a crappy team. He has value and Morey knows it.
86 pages in and all I see are DD and Bobby spewing the same thing over and over again. We get it. You hate the move. Despite being presented the logic of obtaining a former all star for nothing but an unused bi-annual exception, these 2 seem OBSESSED with finding any and every reason to bash a dude who will probably be a Rocket in 2 days. You're doing nothing now but pissing off the fans who are either in favor of this or (like me) in wait and see mode. Give it a freaking rest. YOU MADE YOUR POINT.
Pacers real problem was Hibbert forgetting how to play basketball and Lance. Look at Hornets. 4-0 without and they are actively trying to trade him and you have Reports saying the Pacers players are making no effort to show they want him back.
This....this 100 times throughout this thread. I heard both Zach lowe and Marc stein say regarding the rondo trade there was some risk given what they had to give up (bench depth) but both agreed the Mavs had to take the risk since the west is so tight. If they didn't do something they'd be stuck in the middle of the pack. We're one or two pieces away and we need to risk something to get into legit contention. The difference here is we don't risk nearly as much as dallas does. And I'll be clear on this, they not only risked losing their bench but their chemistry as well. But teams in the middle of the pack don't win the title without taking risks. This is a calculated low risk.
DudeWah, I get your points on DMo, but do you think the team in its current state will do much in the playoffs? I feel that they might as well go for something and if it burns them, oh well. I have watched the Rockets long enough and mediocre performance in the playoffs is getting old, I mean the last time the Rockets went far in the playoffs was 97... And It's also not like DMo is a Duncan/Garnett type player and hopefully he takes it better than Asik if he does lose the starting spot. I still remember in 05 TMac acting like it's no big deal they got smoked by 40 in the first round after being up 2-0 to the Mavericks in game 7 of round 1... And the reason it was no big deal was because he'd be in the playoffs for years to come... Unfortunately we all know how that played out. I'm not saying Smith/whoever is going to take the Rockets to that next level but watching tons of Rockets games it's like there's much to lose here. The Rockets are currently a 2nd round team in the West and that's being generous...
Josh Smith is not in decline. We would be lucky to get him for dirt cheap like this. People who say otherwise are merely defending some ongoing argument or stance they've been protecting for a season or two about being against Smith...assuming it would mean giving up a starter. But this is dirt cheap?? so, shut up
Smh people upset Dmo going to lose his starting spot. He never earned it. Jones went down and then Dwight went down. When you have black and Dorsey competing with you, you're bound to look like Hakeem.
