I have read many threads from other boards which are majorly down playing Josh Smith. He was obviously suppose to be their franchise player and was a let down so its understandable. It should be obvious to us that Josh Smith is a major head case, but he was also utilized in a very wrong way. Here is why i think Josh Smith will work for us. 1. he is not a small forward. This guy was a defensive stalwart, averaging 2.5 blocks and 1.5 steals for atlanta. However his quickness is effective against power forwards at the paint.. he cannot should not be expected to guard more agile quicker small forwards at the perimeter through out the game. This is insulting talents of an NBA all defensive player. Here in Houston he will eb expected to use his quickness against ZBO, Aldridge, Duncan, Nowitzki, Ibaka Etc. 2. Playing with two hulking center like players with no outside game who park them in the paint. Smith obviously cannot go to his natural driving post up game. Secondly when your point guard and shooting guard shoot 37% from the field and 30% from 3's there will b eno one demanding double teams. Smith is an automatic from 12-15 feet.. his worst shooting in Atlanta was 46% which isnt as bad as advertised. I believe if he contributes 15 ppg 8 rpg 2 bpg at 45% shooting that would be an awesome steal. my only concern is playing in the detroit system has eroded arlot of his confidence and post game. If he can revert back to his 2012 form we will be a very good team.
Im not too worried about his game here, he can learn from McHale and the great #34. Hes with his best friend and others hes known or played with before. Every player you ask loves coach, we know hes not an X and O guy, to him its about relationships and getting the production he needs out of his players. Plus, hes option 3, nothing on his shoulders, just get out there and play hard and hes set. Smith being in the right situation will benefit him and the Rockets.
One thing I'm concerned about is if Smith has a falling out with Mchale, will Dwight follow. It could turn out really bad depending on how how bad Smith plays and how loyal Dwight is. I mean, what if he is removed from the starting 5? Things could get ugly. Best case scenario for him is he has a revival like Walker did for Miami.
that is a disasterous scenario; but i dont think Dwight is a head case like that.. he should know he is in a very good situation and is a go to guy for a very promising team, he will not hopefully want to throw it away.. again i see the 2007 season when Smith actually attempted only 7 three pointers after attempting 150+ in the four seasons before.. Even this year he is only attempting 1 three a game after taking a record 3.5 last season.. again i will give him the benefit of doubt and think he only took that many because he was delegated to be at the perimeter and with two centers in the paint it didnt give him room to operate freely as he had in Atlanta... In Atlanta he had an ideal situation because Horford was a similar out of pain shooting from elbow type of player.. Smith wont have that with Dwight, which makes me think he may play better with Dmo.. But my point is I think Smith can control his urge to take three's, he has shown that in the past..
If he fits in well, we are a championship level team. If he does not fit in well this season might be a disaster. His being on the team will directly affect at least one other player but for the opportunity to win it all, it is worth the chance.
I think is the other way around. D12 is the superstar. Jsmoove should be very loyal to him he not gonna mess up for the sake of their friendship. And I think that jsmoove has matured with Detroit and Mchale has a good history of handling players.
I was just thinking, would he actually be able to effectively guard legit 4s like you listed above without help? Isn't he a bit undersized for a 4?
I actually think Smith's 3 point shot rate per game will increase in this offense. However, they will likely be corner 3's since they are the most efficient 3-pt shot.
A player who is playing for 1) a contract 2) to prove to others he still has it and 3) to prove to himself he still has it...now that often is a great situation, especially when the player has the kind of talent that Josh obviously has. My only concern in this whole situation is DMo and how he will react. He is still very young and may not have the maturity to see that this move can actually help him in the NBA. DMo has great upside still to realize....and I hope for his sake he also has the maturity to accept this change and make the best of it.
I am optimistic all the way around. I think DMo will get in 25-30 minutes a game until Jones comes back. I think we are actually lucky that this is happening when it is. At 20-7 they can already see that we are contenders and won't want to mess it up. It's a lot easier to play nice when they've built up a good record for themselves.
Basically a better T Jones of last year, long arms and actually knows how to use his length defensively. He actually plays Aldridge pretty well, holding him to under 45% shooting every game since 2012 http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/h2h_finder.cgi?request=1&p1=smithjo03&p2=aldrila01
I think this makes Jones expendable. Especially if we can sign Smith to an extension next year. I think we could get more in a trade for DMo though. But at that point, what do we really need to upgrade. Defense will win us a championship and we will be basically two deep at every position. I'd say Terry is the only player outside of our 2-3 year window.
I would have loved to see DMo have a crack at Aldridge. Not that he would have stopped him but you cant teach length
The thing is, we are going to see what the best Josh Smith has to offer. He's playing for his next contract, so he's motivated to work hard. I just wish that he'll play within the system and not just to play for his own stats.
