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This year we are seeing less of Josh Smith and it actually could change the career of the eighth-year Atlanta Hawks forward, possibility vaulting him to his first All-Star selection. Smith has never been short of potential and he has enjoyed a solid NBA career, but there have always been the questions – such as what if?

What if he brought the same intensity on a nightly basis? What if he played to his strengths, instead of insisting on hoisting some ill-advised treys? What if Smith could transform himself into more of a leader, in addition to an all-around player?

Smith must have been asking himself these questions as well and he simply determined that less would be more.

So he entered the season having lost 25 pounds and now the 6-foot-9 Smith looks chiseled at 225 lbs.

“His discipline that he has shown over the summer in losing that weight and you can clearly see his energy level has gone up losing that weight,” Hawks coach Larry Drew said before a recent a game in Philadelphia against the 76ers. “He was a man on a mission when he came back and you clearly see it and thus far he has had a phenomenal year.” http://hoopshype.com/articles/narducci/ ... sideration

I think his odds are still long. The coaches voting for reserves likely takes place in 1 week. By that time the Hawks will have faced just over half of the NBA teams. When you factor in a few bad games I don't think he's had the chance to make a big impact on a lot of coaches.

Looking at the stats, among Eastern Power Forwards he's 4th in scoring, 3rd in rebounds, 2nd in assists, 1st in steals, and 2nd in blocks which should be good enough. But ahead of him in scoring are Bosh and Stoudemire. At SF you have James and Anthony. Igoudala is likely to gain a lot of support for his defense. And with Chicago having best record Deng is likely to get support. One thing really in Josh's favor is that the only forwards outrebounding him right now are Varejao and Humphries which I would argue are 1 trick ponies on bad teams and isn't Varejao playing C?

Bottom line is that the Hawks need to win the rest of the road trip and possibly the visit to Memphis to have hope of multiple all-stars. Having a record on par with Miami and ahead of Orlando will justify the result. BTW, Joe is an automatic. He's leading qualified SG in scoring and assists. Dwayne Wade will get voted in but has missed half the games. After that the pickings get slim. PG is no better. After Rose you have Deron Williams and Brandon Jennings, but the reputations are bigger than the stats for most of the list right now.

I would think Josh makes it in over Deng. Especially when you factor in Deng's injury.

If a All-Star is someone that still does not understand how to play winning basketball then Josh is one.