Its the Joe Johnson effect. Name recognition alone is going to land him a max contract. Morey isn't dumb. He doesn't go for dumb players. No way that we end up with this basketcase.
If the Rockets offer him a contract, it should be 4 year $40m at the most. Anything more, use that money elsewhere (Millsap or stand pat)
My biggest concern with Smith -- WTF has happened to him at the foul line? 66% for his career, shot 73% two years ago... then dipped to 63% a year ago and 52% this year. In addition to everything else, having two sub-60% foul shooters (Smith next to Asik or Howard) is worrisome.
To be honest i think Asik can turn into a halfway decent foul shooter, but i can understand the concern...
That's apples and oranges. At the time Morey wasn't hadpnfing out contracts he was trying to get players with high upside. Try harder.
@Jonathan_Feigen Among others, but key is price, yrs. RT @Jeandel_Amazing: @Jonathan_Feigen has Daryl Morey shown any interest in Josh Smith for the summer? All about price. He would be a great fit on this team.
When Smith signed his last contract he received at 5/58m contract that averages out to 11.6 million a year. He got that contract thinking that there would be improvement in his game to warrant the contract. I think he did improve his game to earn the 11.6 million a year. However now the improvement/potential bump will no longer be factored into his next contract. He is as good as he is going to get, however he can greatly improve upon his offensive efficiency in the right system. He cannot be the number one or even two scorer on a contending team. He needs to be the defensive stopper and gets his points off of putbacks and easy buckets. There would have to a real stupid team that offers him more than 15 million a year. If he goes to a team like Phoenix to be the focal point of the team then he career projects the the rest of the way to be like Antawn Jamision. He will make a lot of money on bad teams and put up decent stats. But he will have no team success because the team will be hard pressed to surround him with the right pieces since they over paid for him. However put him in a lineup with Harden, Parsons, and Dwight Howard, then he would be a great complimentary player. Plus signing him might be what it takes to lure Howard to the Rockets in the first place. I hope we can get him for something like a 4/51m contract to be the final piece on a contenting roster. I think it will come down to joining the Rockets for a contract like above and being part of a great team or joining a team like Cleveland and making a extra 2 million a year and being on a decent playoff capable team.
He said "Morey doesn't go after dumb players" I already named two he HAS brought in who hasn't accomplished and most likely wont accomplish anything Smith has. And throw in the fact that Houston has been rumored to want Josh Smith You sir try harder.
Terrence Williams and Royce White are unproven, unknown, low-risk high reward time players. Sometimes you take gambles on young players and either end up with Chandler Parsons or Royce White. The fact remains its still low-risk. If we give Josh Smith the max? That's high-risk. But yeah you are right. Morey has gone after dumb players, but only if they were low-risk enough and had a high enough ceiling to warrant it.
Josh Smith's basketball intelligence is underrated. He was one of those "young/athletic/dumb" guys in his early years, but has really become very effective in recent years. His offensive efficiency, though, is atrocious. It's not so much a matter of having no skills-- in fact, he's not even a really terrible jump shooter for a big (not very good, but not the worst). It is a matter of horrible shot distribution. My guess is that if he becomes a Rocket, they'd put him on the "dunks, layups and 3s only" plan that the rest of the team is on. He'd be a lot better if he just cuts out those long twos.
I agree. I think he's gotten an unfair rep as a low basketball-IQ player, which I don't believe is the case at all. He's just careless at times and takes some bad shots, however he's quite a smart player otherwise. His bad habits probably at least to some degree can be contributed to him coming out from high school and being a key player on a crappy team in his early years in the league. Poor/dumb play without the possibility of consequences (i.e. minute reduction) simply tends to lead to players picking up bad habits. Josh Smith isn't a max player, of course, but he is a very, very good player that could thrive in the right environment and I think it'd be stupid to generally rule out Josh Smith as a team with cap space. It all should come down money, really. I think he's very well worth up to $12-13M. Is he worth $14-15M. Maybe, maybe not. Anything more sounds like a bad idea to me, but what do I know, anyway.
He'll probably go back to the Hawks once he realizes their the only ones offering him the most money.
I remember him explaining this situation and I dont think he'll be mad if he doesn't get the max. It was sort of the "If I hold myself to little value then everybody else would too" That was his ordeal, not him necessarily demanding a high salary and saying screw anybody who doesn't give me just that
I want him. If we could convince him & Dwight to take a payout, we would have the best defensive front court in the league. The two both want to win, and to be paired with a star wing who isn't afraid to share the ball, as well as the marking wonder that is Lin, would have to entice the two
