Josh Smith Pro's vs. Con's

[HMFFL]

Posting this as if it's just about Josh and NOT Elton Brand.

Link

[td00]

The pros outweigh the cons by about 11-12M/year. Smoove will have to come back for anyone in this town to come and support the excitement that the Hawks generated last year. He is as close to Dominique stature as anyone in recent memory. We should have had him signed long ago.

Could he be gone in about a week? If the Thrashers allowed Hossa to leave, yes it could. We are talking about the same ASG group. Hossa gave the Thrashers a chance to compete.

Losing Smoove, you would have to sign Chills then and then go out and find a couple more players to fill the void you just created.
And letting your own homegrown players leave will tell you about the loyalty this ownership group has. Their dealings with the Thrashers are at the same level. You just don't know what you are getting, but you definitely aren't striving to be a championship contender.

My question is could the Hawks succeed without him? Yes, but you would have to convince guys to come here to play for Woody, and that is not going to be an easy task. We are in a tough place here. We would be back to the days of convincing JJ and probably having to overpay someone to sign here. What a debacle for the fans this would create as well.
Tell Gearon to get off his arse and get something accomplished this offseason besides signing his good buddy!

[Jamaaliver]

I still mantain that though Josh Smith is an AMAZING athlete and a great individual player, his skill set and size dont fit with our team.

Not the ballhandling, deep shooting wing we need, not the bruising rebounder or rugged post player that Horford is.

Wherever he goes he will thrive, but the way this team is built, he is ..........disposable. Replaceable.

JJ and Horford are the foundation. We get a scoring wing next to Joe Johnson and a legitimate
Center next to Horford. Use the extra funds to build an actual bench with vets and specialists, and maybe we actually get a winning record next year.

[joeshmoe]

I still mantain that though Josh Smith is an AMAZING athlete and a great individual player, his skill set and size dont fit with our team.

Say What?

17 pts, 8 reb, 3 assts, 3 blocks, 1.5 steals.....fits on every team. He with JJ and Horford are our foundation. It is not a question whether he fits on our team, he along with JJ, Bibby, and Horford are out team, we just need to find the pieces to fit around them.

[Jamaaliver]

17 pts, 8 reb, 3 assts, 3 blocks, 1.5 steals.....fits on every team.

Eh, 17 pppg is not hard to replace. 8 rebounds, our rookie PF managed to beat that. 3 Assists, eh.....

The blocks and steals are Smoove's greatest contributions, but if we get a center who duplicates his rebounds and blocks AND who allows us to play Horford at his natural PF position AND provides a somewhat steady post presence........

Seems like an easy decision. Josh Smith is NOT the difference between us winning a championship and being lottery bound.

[jagstang76]

Jamaaliver, I beg to differ! You cannot be a fan of this team, watching them all season, and not see the impact that Smoove has on this team. He is our energy guy. How many other players do you know can make a huge block on one end of the floor and turn around and make a spectacular dunk in transition? IMO, Smoove has so much more to eventually bring this team, and he will be the big star still around after they've given up on JJ. Horford might just have the same level of promise, so I'd gladly spend big money to keep him around too. We HAVE to keep him here! All this talk about him liking Philly is probably just his agent positioning his client to get that big payday from either ATL or PHI. Perhaps any compensation we get from PHI should we let him go will have as much if not more ability to replace what he brings, but I seriously doubt it.

I can fully agree that Horford would more naturally fit the PF position and would excel with a good C next to him. However, I definitely believe that Smoove and Horford have big-time talent and athleticism that makes them an extremely difficult matchup every night out. I would not sacrifice Smoove and his upside just so Horford can be in an ideal situation. Having both of them on the court is better than having only one out there. Honestly, we'd have to get a beast of a C for that move to make real sense. I'd rather trade Marvin, who has yet to show that he can live up to his "#2 overall pick" status, and get a solid SF who can compliment Smoove and Al better. (This year should be the deciding season to see if Marvin can be that.) If it weren't for his attitude issues, I'd go after Artest because of his great defense and nice perimeter game.

Anyways, I couldn't disagree more about Smoove's importance to this team. He and JJ WERE the reason we took BOS to game 7. With a bit more seasoning and better depth, we could actually take them on and have a good chance of an upset. (I'd love to steal Posey from them!) We'll see if the ASG feel as I do and shell out for an extremely important player or if they follow your thought process and want to find another way to do it.

[Jamaaliver]

A VERY compelling argument. I think you may have even changed my mind.

[Harry10]

Smith is like Vick, for every bad thing he does, Smith will do two or three good things

but alot of the cons are an idenity and youth thing, and can easily be corrected with time and growth, and to think a 22yr still can't grow is ludicrous

[Jamaaliver]

Smith is like Vick, for every bad thing he does, Smith will do two or three good things

O dear God no.