Wow, I'm just watching the Knicks vs. Hawks game and Josh Smith made two HUGE bone-headed plays in the final three minutes (almost a third, but the ball was ruled to have gone out of bounds off Carmelo). First a backcourt violation, then an illegal screen - two HUGE turnovers caused by him. He doesn't seem to be the smartest guy...also, a horrible free throw shooter.
Ill come to Smith's defense. The over and back was a fluke that took several replays to be sure. The illegal screen was NOT Smith's fault, the guard went too soon. The foul was a horrible call, and Smith is NOT a 3 point shooter. He can hit from there occasionally, but that's just a bonus in my opinion, there aren't too many teams that would want the game to be on the line with their 4-man taking a 3. He's not a max player, but he's still VERY impactful without demanding the ball. I want him, but I don't want to pay the max to get him.
Ironically, all this talk by Smith about what he is worth is hurting his value. Let him keep talking...
I guarantee you Morey is willing to throw the max at Smith. Everyone and their mother sees how he is average on offense, and not nearly good enough on that end of the floor to carry your team. And since offense is so overrated by fans and the NBA, that is why Smith is maligned. Criticizing Smith's offense is missing the point. He is an elite impact player on defense. It's not just the blocks. He gets a ton of steals for a PF, he's tops in the league in drawing charges. It's the position defense, the 1on1 defense, he is just a monster on that end. Check the advanced stats, adjust +/-, RAPM, he has been a top 10 player overall for the past 4 years, all due to his defense. He has been the best overall player on the Hawks for years, and the reason why they haven't missed a beat without Joe Johnson. Josh Smith is absolutely deserving as a max player. The only reason there is such uproar over it is because his offense is flawed, while his defense, and defense in the NBA in general, is grossly underrated.
Never been an All Star Those are the types that get the MAX these days. (Though for younger players, its about taking a chance on "high upside" and having to pay for it)
Over and back looked legit. Also, what was he thinking? final full possession, he's starting a fast break 2 on 4? The foul was pretty weak. There was contact but it didn't look like much. But you have to stay in front of Melo (not easy for sure). He got beat and gave him a slight push, Melo's going to get those calls. As for 3s... well, what is he doing spotting up at 3? He also left Melo open a lot to gamble for steals (that's just lol). But overall, I thought he had a pretty good game.
I like Smith a lot too, but I'm curious if he's the best use of our roughly "max" capspace available for the next 2 seasons. Suppose Josh Smith puts the Rockets at #10 in defense(rising an astonishing 10 spots) while maintaining our offense, it would put us in terms of point differential, Memphis/Denver range. As he would also play the position of our high-upside players, the Rockets will likely peak at that level unless another trade is involved. Josh Smith will be 28 next year, and an old 28 given his jump from high school status. A 4yr/$50-60mil contract would be a huge gamble for the prime years of Harden's career while conceding that DMo/Jones/Morris/Patterson cannot become elite.
I think replacing Joe Johnson with Al Horford was a big reason. D is nice, but I wouldn't want my team to pay Taj Gibson 18-19 mil / year, and I think he's a better defender. If some team offers Josh Smith max, it will be in hopes that he can put his offensive game together in a new environment.
Blocks and Steals are not exactly "good" stats, the best shot blockers and stealers only 2-3 of those a game. I haven't watched a ton of Hawk games so I can't comment that much on his positional D but from my experience watching NBA the best positional defenders are those guys who have high Bball IQ, like Tim Duncan, Yao Ming, KG and Shane Battier. From all accounts Josh Smith is prone to making boneheaded decisions, I don't think I've ever seen a good positional defender who's also a bonehead. If you think someone elite defensively while bad offensively is enough to warrant a max contract, take a look at Asik and Perkins and tell me if you think they deserve max contracts. He may be the best overall player on the Hawks but considering the Hawks would have consistently been lottery bound if they played in the West I'm not exactly impressed. I think if he made $12M and below he'd be a good pickup. At the max though...no thanks.
Thats incorrect. The ball handler didnt give him time to get set to set the pick. That was not on Smith.
Even with a peaked Josh Smith, if we can get to Memphis/Denver range, we would still be doing so as one of the youngest teams in the league. We would also possess something those two teams lack. A 23 year old franchise player on the rise. Also, we may be capped out as far as max players go, but Morey has proven his ability to round out the roster once his foundation players are in place. Lowry, Kevin Martin are upper second tier players that he acquired for pennies. Furthermore, as still one of the youngest teams, we can improve internally even if Smith has peaked. Guys like Parsons, Asik, Lin can still improve, particularly Lin IMO. And don't forget, most importantly, our 23 year old superstar can still take his game to another level. That will probably be most instrumental in becoming a contender. Harden improving from a top 10 player to top 5. I'm not saying Josh Smith will make us favorites. But can he put us in the conversation? Being merely in the conversation may be the best bet we have. He is not bad offensively, just flawed. He is a good post scorer, elite finisher at the rim, and elite passer for a bigman. People call him dumb, which is untrue. He has a great feel for the game, you have to with that kind of court vision. His problem is his shot selection. He takes and misses way too many long 2s. This makes him an inefficient scorer overall, but still an average offensive player due to his passing. Average, not bad. The difference between Smith and Asik is 1. Smith can stay on the court longer. 2. Asik hurts you on offense. Otherwise, yes Asik is also elite defensively. Perkins is a much poorer version of Asik, not as good on defense and even worse on offense. As Morey said before, the only player on our team that is elite at one end while not killing the team on the other end is Harden. That is a max player. Josh Smith is the same way, just the other way around. Elite at defense, average on O.
I think Smith makes sense for the Rockets - to a degree. Not at max. At max, he's massively overpaid and he's no trade asset. 4/50 = decent and potentially a piece in a trade for a bigger piece. I'd prefer Millsap though. Re bolded -- he definitely has a very good vision. But that's not the same as basketball IQ. What people mean by "dumb" is lack of restraint. It goes beyond taking a bunch of bad shots. He just has no filters for risks. He can make a tough pass, he can run a fastbreak, he can steal or block shots, he can hit a bail out 3, etc, but a truly good player not only can do stuff but also knows when NOT to do it. Smith doesn't and he takes a bunch of bad risks in every game. One could call it a basketball IQ issue or mentality issue but it's a major issue. I don't think it's reasonable to expect him to develop those kind of filters. It's not impossible, ZBO did it to a degree, it's just very rare. A more realistic fix would be to just limit his touches. But he's also kind of a diva and he's been #1 or #1B in usage rate in Atlanta for many years, so would he be ok with it? For instance, I wonder how he'd handle a lesser Lamar Odom/Lakers type of offensive role? IMO, that would be much better for his teams. If that doesn't work then you basically have a player imposing his offensive mediocrity on his team. In that sense, it's much easier (and cheaper) to build with a role player like Taj Gibson -- a brilliant defender but average offensively and way less talented (offensively) than Smith. Taj Gibson knows he's not LeBron and he won't ask to be treated like one.
