sc8581 wrote:AngryPistonsGuy wrote:sc8581 wrote:What's truly amazing is that his shot selection is this bad yet he's still a better overall player than Monroe.
I see this argument a lot. The "He shoots like Stevie Wonder but he's a swiss army knife in other aspects" argument. I don't agree. He gets more blocks than Monroe, and his defense is SOMETIMES (when he feels like it) much better than Monroe. The difference it, it is when he feels like trying. Monroe is consistent. He will give you shoddy defense, but his offense will always be solid.
Right now, Monroe's turnovers are up and minutes are down. That seems pretty fair, when he's publicly being dissed by the front office, the coach (especially the coach), and the fans. He is in constant trade rumors, and gets no touches from BJ. I think it's natural that Monroe is a little upset. My play might get a bit worse too. But he's been consisten and a rock for us for a while now. What, if anything, does Josh do every night? Other then shoot us out of games? That is literally the only thing he does nightly....shoot poorly.
Monroe is not consistent, that's why his minutes are down, he's match-up reliant. Even though Smith does tend to fill out the stat sheet nicely other than scoring efficiency, he still is in the mix nearly every play on both ends of the floor trying to make something happen. For those of you that still don't understand why Smith and Jennings shoot so much I'm not sure what to tell you anymore, I will just repeat myself yet again I suppose... They are the only 2 players in the starting line-up that can get shots off in nearly any match-up, maybe they aren't the best looks but that's why we need a #1 option and all of a sudden everybody looks a little better. There are two ways to get said #1 option, trade Drummond or trade Monroe for a small contract guy that fills a need though has talent and potential as well and then take another crack in free agency.
If by "get up shots" you mean throw the ball somewhere in the direction of the basket, we have 5 players in our starting line up that can do that. Just because Jennings and Smith chuck in any situation possible doesn't mean they are shooters. Even when they have good looks, they still miss FAR more than they make. There is a reason why every basketball head or prior player or coach on any number of websites argues the same thing on this subject.
Having shooters or number 1 options nearby doesn't help them. In the last few years, Brandon Jennings has had shooters he could pass to instead of taking awful shots. He's had Mike Dunleavy, Stephen Jackson, JJ Redick, Ersan Ilyasova, Tobias Harris, Michael Redd...all guys who at one time or another were considered solid shooters. His problem now was his problem then. Josh Smith has had Jeff Teague, Kyle Korver, Joe Johnson...He had the same problem then, just worse now.
Neither or them "Get up shots" well. They just chuck. Religiously. It feels like Josh Smith could murder a referee on the court in front of 14,000 people, and someone would defend him because "the ref might have disrespected Josh's parents" or something. It's like he can do no wrong.
In the last 3 games, Josh Smith has gone 10-24 for 25 pts, with 8 rebounds and 2 turnovers. 6-12 for 13 pts and 5 rebounds with 2 turnovers. 2-10 shooting for 8 pts, 6 rebounds, and 3 turnovers.
In the last 3 games, while Monroe has been on shortened minutes, Greg has gone 9-13 for 20 pts with 9 rebounds and no turnovers. 4-8 for 8 pts, 11 rebounds, 5 turnovers. 7-11 shooting for 18 pts, 9 rebounds, and 2 turnovers.
In total, in the past 3 games while everyone has been trying to crush Monroe, he has scored 46 pts on 32 shots, grabbed 29 rebounds with 7 turnovers. The "Gets up shots" Josh has scored 46 pts as well on...47 shots!, with only 19 rebounds and 7 turnovers as well. The weirdest thing of it all? Greg Monroe did all of that with 28 less minutes than Josh Smith over the last 3 games. Let that sink in. You can pick and choose his stats like I did, none are much different. OR even any 3 game grouping like I did, I just chose the most recent 3 which have been 3 of Greg's worst.
If there is ANYONE who can put up shots in our starting lineup, it should be Greg, the guy screaming CONSISTENT. Stop with the swiss army knife talk with Josh. We have lost too many close games due to him.
- Courtesy of reddit via DetroitBadBoys
