Josh Smith is unquestionably the most "No no no no no YES!" player on the Rockets since the Ron Artest/Metta World Peace era. By this I mean players that do horrible, nay, abominable things outside their wheelhouse and somehow get a good result (eg. Every Josh Smith three-pointer). This got me thinking about the most "No, No... Yes!" players all-time. Potential candidates: Rafer Wafer Mo Taylor Otis Thorpe...
Mad Max, and it's not even close, followed by Big Shot Bob, Kenny, Sam, and Mario. Interesting how that works out, huh? The lesson really hasn't changed in 20 years. You can never ever have enough gunners or ball handlers.
If you had a "no no no no" feeling when Horry, Kenny, Sam and Mario had the ball in their hands then that is a you problem, not a them problem. Those guys were all pretty efficient. Not superstars, but pretty damn good. Josh Smith is certainly on the list. Ariza is as well when he shoots. You just cringe right now. Mutombo when he used to take that weird 5-7 foot jumper when he found himself alone. The TMac heat checks...
All those guys could be relied on in the clutch on the biggest stage of them all. There are so many examples of this. Josh Smith has never been able to shoot like that in his entire career.
Barkley. He used to shoot all those god forsaken three pointers as well -- and was just about as bad as Smith at them. Also, TMac. Not that he was a bad shooter -- quite the contrary. But he'd take shots that were so difficult or long range I would be like, "noooo, that's a horrible...oh my god, YES, he made it".
Josh Smith, as long as he plays like he did yesterday, is a "yes yes yes" player. Josh Smith, when he is shooting three pointers, is usually a "no no no.......no" player.
Yeah that's totally off. Josh Smith makes dumb decisions. The guys in bold made the right decisions. I'd add the following to the list: Ariza (first stint) Ron Artest Ryan Bowen (anytime he touched the ball)
Steve Francis. Dribble Dribble Dribble NO NO NO Dribble drive into 4 defenders, take some crazy contorted wild circus shot that has you going NOOOOOO and then it goes in. YES!
I found myself "no no NO YESSSS"ing a lot when Artest would try to create offense on his own. Coincidentally, that was probably the last year that he could create for himself, as he proved very valuable with the TMac/Yao injuries, both late season and playoffs.
