I like Jay, but he's kind of a tabloid reporter and favors the LA teams. I believe Josh when he says he went there for the role.
Josh Smoth was great for the Rockets last year. We lacked 2nd ball handler, toughness and length after Some injures . However, now we got Lawson and healthy DMo, TJ, the need for him became minimal
I just listened to the podcast version. He never said he wasn't that close to anyone, just that he only played there for 8 months so he didn't feel like that was long enough to tell anyone he was leaving.
Well, he did start with 2 40 point games, but finished the series with 29ppg on 47% shooting. That's a good effort, but the league itself admitted the refs screwed up crucial calls (which cost us 2 games) in that series. Technically Aldridge should have been out of the playoffs already before Lillard hit 'the shot' - and then we'd be talking about a guy (Aldridge) who is a career 43% playoff performer, for 19ppg - ie, a step down on his regular season numbers. I'm not sold that he puts the Spurs over the top - but I guess we'll see?
There's a reason why Morey decided not to make him 1st priority. Below 50% 2pt shots, 33% from 3, 52% FT, and 134 TO in 55 games. Easily replaceable.
I think I agree with all of that. I actually like us better than the Spurs. I was just trying to support the idea that we should keep an Aldridge matchup in mind - or a Griffin matchup. Jones just doesn't seem to be able to do much defensively against those guys. Yes, people often argue - "but Aldridge didn't just score against Jones. He scored against Asik. He scored against Howard." I specifically remember that when Aldridge scored against Jones, he literally just backed him up into the paint & then hit easy layups. Like Jones didn't even exist. When he scored against Asik & Howard, he was hitting these crazy turnaround impossible shots. So it was different. Granted that was 2 years ago, but Jones got scorched again this year in the playoffs. I am pleased with Morey with the Lawson signing of course, but I don't know why he didn't prioritize signing Josh Smith on the cheap more - esp. considering his superiority in these matchups to Jones.
Good call on the turnovers. 33% from 3 for a big man isn't so bad. That's what Draymond Green shot. I don't think it is easy to find a PF that does all 3 of these: - defends well; - can stretch the floor; - rebounds competently. I've actually wasted time looking around for players that meet that criteria, and I can't find many. Even DMo doesn't rebound. Plus, he was SO D*MN CHEAP!!!!!!
I disagree. true, he has many flaws. But he was a great defender and passer and one that could make the difference on any given night. But most of all: he was cheap. With the salarycap the most important thing is to get player cheaper than they play. Retaining Smith would've made it much easier to finish out the roster. And with Lawson, he would've been our 4th option - and a guy that can defend any 4 or 3 in the league. I truly believe with Smith we would have been in the elite group in the west right next to SA and GS. without him, we are one tier below that. We just have to hope that either TJ or DMo takes it to the next level - and we have been hoping that for a couple of years now...
Which would be odd since he kept calling them his "brothers" during the season, didn't he? And he seemed close to McHale on the court and it'd be even weirder if he said nothing to Dwight if they were really as close as the media made them out to be.
Weird, guess he wasn't that great friends with Dwight. Good riddance to him, all that fake talk about how great everyone was. His true colours showed and he's exactly the person I thought he was: all about himself.
