Why does this ever happen? It doesn't matter who is on the floor with him, the offense always starts running through him. It's like everyone loses their mind and starts deferring to him. Even Harden. This guy needs to know his role and stop running the fast break. In the half court set I want the ball in Harden or D-Mo's hands exclusively.
He tries to lead the fast break when Harden and Brewer are on the floor with him. Unacceptable. The guy turns over the ball at an alarming rate.
Now the refs are going to start calling fouls against the Pistons in the 4th quarter after the game is pretty much decided just so it looks better on paper. People will look at the box score and see 19 fouls to 14 fouls or something and think it wasn't too bad.
Agreed. He and D-Mo have the highest basketball IQs on the team. I'd love to see them play some extended minutes together.
Yeah, I've started to agree. The Rockets as a team need to work on their fast breaks. Nobody ever knows who's open and who's trailing, so you rarely actually see them execute a fast break where they actually to an open player for an uncontested score. Seems like most of our fast breaks end in free throws. If we're not going to take the power play approach to fast breaks and just drive straight to basket, then if Josh is closest to the basket, I say let him blast on the down the court. Unless Harden or someone other guard is clearly open in front of him, it's just time wasted in passing to them, and likely to kill the break entirely. Now, when there's no break on, he needs to get the ball to guards immediately and go set up as part of the offense.
Everyone on the team turns over the ball at an alarming rate (even Harden) You don't slow down a fast break just so Harden can touch the ball.
I don't have a stat atm to back this up. But from the eye test alone, the fast break run by Josh Smith is way less likely to result in a positive possession than one run by Harden or Brewer. It's not as if he has no opportunity to pass the ball to someone more efficient. That's what your statement is implying.
Josh is usually a mismatch for whomever is guarding him. Too big for 3s, too quick for 4s and 5s. Putting the ball in his hands on the block is not a bad idea. Not every play can go through Harden, especially if he's getting mugged/shut down. And if he's in there with the Headband Crew - he's the only creator we have. Brewer pin downs are nice but you can't run that every play. As for fast breaks - if he's leading a fast break it's usually because he's rebounded the ball and is trying to go coast to coast i.e. it's not a true fast break caused by a long rebound. It's just him creating a fast break by leaving his man (and whomever else) in the dust instead of passing to a PG to run a half court set. I have no problem with this. As for DMo - totally agree that Smith shouldn't take touches away from him. i still don't get why DMo doesn't get more possessions. He got 13 shots last night - 2 fewer than Ariza. He was fairly effective even with Monroe and Drummond in the game, which says a lot about how far he's come.
Smith is averaging 10.6 FGA in 24.2mpg since he's been a Rocket. DMo is averaging 9.2 FGA in 28.1mpg this season. That's just wrong.
Smith makes at least one fast break turnover per game on some boneheaded ****. Smith does not need to be a playmaker on this squad. That's always a recipe for bad things.
Our offense is aching for an offense. Dmo is too shy and Jsmoove isn't. How much Harden vs the world can we get away with?
I don't think it's a matter of being shy. Smith has that chucker mentality. For DMo however, team comes first.
I'm a DMo fan yes, I do not bash other players though. I think my assessments are pretty fair. I do remember you being one of the biggest DMo haters though. So to each their own I guess.
Even when he has a "good game" most of the time this still an issue. In the half court set when Smith is in the game, everyone starts deferring to him. I just don't understand that. There is no reason for that.
