Very pleasing to see him driving instead of shooting long 2's and his hustle came up big for us today. He was definitely a factor in this W. It's early but he already changed his habits in the first game. Funny what playing with a winning team will do.
I was also extremely impressed by his passing. This team finally has some depth, however i was still puzzled by some of Mchale's rotations. I fear that Big papa is going to the same doghouse that Canaan went to. Also Ariza (even in regulation) played a few more minutes then i would have preferred, which could have opened up some minutes for papa.
Exactly, why would the number of shots Smith took worry anyone when Howard is having a bad offensive game? And Smith could be that much needed #3 scorer. And if he is that does nothing but help Howard as opposing defensive will have to focus more on Smith in the paint.
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/CRwR33FLmrI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Maybe Papa is more hurt than we all suspect, same with Canaan. McHale could also be simply eager to play with his new toys as well. You'd figure with all the annual shuffling Morey does that sometimes McHale might just go "Screw it, let's see what we got game time with these new guys!"
Correct. We won with Smith contributing big time ! I was for signing Smith . So first game thoughts of him ... Will be good if McHale can reign him in . He did pretty good but still saw a couple times "I'm a hero and throw up shots trying to get hot ." I think I saw 2 crazy 3s he shot . Was happy with everything else including excellent rebounding .
Great game from smith. Took a few bad shots but mostly played well. Hopefully they reign him even further and he weeds out those bad shots in the future.
Well we have a legit glut at PF now with Smith, Jones, and D-Mo. Between the 3, I'd ship out Jones because he's easily the worst defender. Too bad his injury completely sabotaged his trade value.
lol How about TJ back up Smith and Dmo Howard? Howard need rest start Dmo. Depth is nothing to whine about.
Rockets don't need Papa to be a rotation player. With Smith and Brewer, there are no minutes for him at PF & SF. It's scrub time from now on.
T-Jones didn't have much trade value before his injury. No big deal. Not enough minutes for all 4. Gotta choose between D-Mo and Jones, which is an easy choice now. D-Mo's versatility between PF & C, his ability to score in the post and defend without fouling give him the upper hand. T-Jones will ride the pine unless D-Mo's blows it.
Smith played good... Not great. He has some unique abilities that make you see how much more versatile the Rockets can be. But he was just as inefficient offensively as advertised. 21 points on 21 shots... It's crazy. I doubt DMo has taken 20 ****s in a game. And while this isn't a DMo vs Smith thing, it's just a point. He took 2 threes... When it should t be that complicated. Don't take a three... Ever. I mean DWade is a SG that can figure it out. Also down the stretch of regulation he took way too many shots. Not sure what McHale was calling or why, but I didn't like how involved Smith was offensively. They ran a lot of Harden-Smith pnr down the stretch. I'd rather those be Harden-PG pick and rolls. Happy with the minute distribution... Happy with Smith being in there... Just really really wish he learns what shots to take and when, and what not. He still could have scored 21.... On 5 less shots. The Rockets can be dominant if McHale and the players can figure out the PF and C rotations effectively. We shall see. Tough stretch here.
825-31 I know a handful of posters have made it clear we are too good and do not need Josh Smith. I wonder what they think now.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Rockets fans saying Josh Smith had good shot selection. He had ten layups/dunks. He had 11 jumpers. He made two.</p>— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) <a href="https://twitter.com/HPbasketball/status/548688307765657601">December 27, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
