Ah, but every woman marries her man thinking she can change him. Every man marries his woman thinking she'll never change. They're both wrong. (Just about) always.
It's ironic people fault him for his 3s, when in actuality, Josh Smith would've been a much better offensive player had he practiced and shot 3s from the beginning of his career. Making 3s at a 30~35% is so much more efficient than actual Josh Smith.
3-pters are a problem, as much as people hate to admit it. He's a PF so every 3 he takes means we lose the opportunity for a better 3pt shooter or a good 2pt shot + no PF to help with the offensive rebound. To have a PF taking a high volume of 3's at a poor% really kills the team and team chemistry as well. His problem is that he takes dumb shots (including the 3's) and would rather showcase his imaginary multi-dimensional game than focus on his core strengths until he develops other skills. What he does in games should instead be done in practice. His rebounding rate needs to be AT LEAST 1 rebound every 4 minutes and his FG% needs to be close to 50%. How he achieves that is not important, but unless he achieves that the disadvantages of him being athletic outweigh the advantages. Like I said, unless he commits to being a responsible team player who doesn't waste posessions with wishful passes and 3pt shots then he is not worth more than 8-9m. He should be practicing elbow jumpers rather than 3pt shots. What he does is selfish and designed to showcase his ability to be mediocre at a lot of things but shotblocking. We should not be begging him to join us, he should be telling us what he is willing to do to earn the max. This team could be perfect for him and him perfect for us if he is willing to make a late pitch to grow the F up. If he wants a ring as he says, he needs to realize that rings don't come to teams who's maxed out PF is shooting 45% from field, 30% from 3, rebounding poorly and turning it over 3-4 times a game. The good news is everyone knows he can improve dramatically with a simple attitude adjustment. There are 30 Forwards who shoot a better FG% than he does (46%) There are 14 Forwards who rebound more, 8 of whom play fewer minutes (8.5) There are 23 Forwards who shoot better than him from 3pt range (30%) He is last among Forwards in FT% (51.3%) He is the 3rd most TO-prone Forward (3.1 TO's). 1st is Durant and 2nd Cousins. Is all of this worth him blocking 1.8 shots and assisting 4.3 times in 35 minutes? Stats don't tell the whole story, but sometimes the stats are so damning you just have to say no. Unless he acknowledges his faults and commits to a change, please don't give this guy the max. I'd rather spend 8m/yr on Millsap who, if we wanted him to, is more than capable of hitting 46% from the field on 15 shots, assisting 4 times for every 3 TO's, pulling down 8.5 rebounds in 35 minutes, probably even hitting 30% on 2-3 3pters a game. He may not be on sportscenter since he averages 0.8 fewer blocks in 5 less minutes, but he hits about 25% more of his FT's.
It is easier to turn a 30% 3-pt shooter into a 40% 3-pt shooter than it is to take a 35% elbow shooter and turn him into a 60% elbow shooter.
i'd take him...would have to be no more than $13 mil for me, but I think he would fit. with the Rockets. Help patrol the paint and can run with the kids and finish strong.
I love to see that 3 in the same team. Only way to score against them is to chuck 3s and pray it goes in. Spacing might be an issue, but 3p shooters at the wing position is the easiest to fill. Hawks could try tempt Lakers with Horford and celtics with teague and williams.
The draw for me personally, is that players seem to play better, more efficient basketball for the Rockets than they do elsewhere for whatever reason. (Landry, Lowry, Dragic, Brooks, Hayes, Wafer, etc.). Can he be reigned in? I pulled this from an Atlanta board: The question is whether or not the criticisms are fixable by better coaching and leadership?
