It was too early to start smith . Regardless of how you see the long term playing out , he needed more time to integrate with the starters . Dmo had been playing well and is a young guy . Our defense was sub par tonight and I know turnovers killed us but still we couldn't get a stop when needed. At least with dmo our defense is on point . Smith needs to PROOVE he should start over dmo . I know guarantees etc , but you are a good enough team that you shouldn't be succumbing to the demands of a RELEASED , declining player . Especially when you already had a good option at his position . Jones will come back soon , I just don't like it when the team is taking direction from players and not from management and coaching.
As I said in the original post there is a time when smith should be in the starting lineup but that time wasn't today. Why fix something that isn't broken?
So after an interview where McHale answered the starting Josh question with: "we will see by the ear" or some **** like that, he just starts him after one full day of practice? Sorry, but I would get him at least a week to get acclamated to being with the team.
And then on top of that he has to go back to D-Mo to close out the game because Smith's defensive awareness (especially his pick and roll defense) was atrocious. Some of that will improve with time. Smith will understand more after a few weeks of practice. But we just got another Bev type of all athleticism/hustle (I consider going for blocks hustle) type defender who makes flashy steals/blocks but is not very good at team defense.
I did like what I saw defensively early on from both Josh and Dwight before Josh got in foul trouble (phantom calls). Even though the Spurs attacked the rim quite a bit in the early going (Danny Green) that tandem is on its way to being scary good (again, defensively). It also looked as if he was a bit too concerned with passing the ball which led to his turnovers. Yes, he needs to pass the ball, just not when he has a layup. I could tell he was playing out of rhythm. This will be fixed over time. I'm still really cautious about fully jumping on the Josh Smith bandwagon, however the positives I've seen thus far outweigh the negatives I've seen. Smith will learn it's only his 2nd game.
Smith has been on the team for a total of 3 days. He's a unique player...it's going to take time to integrate him into the offense. One issue of concern...I didn't fully appreciate how much of a non-shooter Smith is. Everything beyond a hook shot looks like a brick. I trust TJones and DMo as shooters way more than Smith, and that's saying something.
I know why we signed Josh and I am still all for it at for the price and low risk that we got him at, but man was it frustrating to watch him on offense last night. Even though he did well in the Memphis game, I didn't like the way in which he scored his points for the most part. I miss that ball movement that we saw early in the season with Ariza, Terry, and Papa all getting minutes as high IQ offensive players. Hopefully the chemistry will build back up, though then we have to potentially worry about integrating another player after the trade deadline.
I don't think we're positioning him in the right spot, and clearly he was going off the cuff against a defense that's clearly well-organized. Seems like he can do better work closer to the rim.
Honestly, D-Mo still shows far too many inconsistencies on both ends of the floor to be a full-time starting PF on a contender. Smith will make this the best starting 5 in the NBA once he gets acclimated.
D-moted!!!!! Rockets had to do it. IT was reported he was only interested in signing with teams that would let him start and the Rockets told him he would.
Not fair to the team or to Smith to have him start before he knows his role and what the team needs. And I really HATE that they promised him the starting spot.....he has not earned it.... DD
Lol please. D-Mo's inconsistencies stem from a young player not always being put into good situations to succeed and a lack of that aggressive and assertive play style that most foreign players have. Smith on the other hand got paid by a lottery team to go away because he's made a career of being a low iq player. We are not gonna be a good team as long as the starting line-up has both Bev and Smith in it.
They did that Trophy **** for Melo, we're known as the league whores when it comes to comforting "Big names"
