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Josh Smith sets Career High in 3pt Attempts
Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2013 8:33 pm
by Jamaaliver
http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/hawks-smith-has-career-high-in-3-point-attempts/nW22K/Josh Smith already has taken a career-high 172 3-pointers this season. With 13 games remaining in the regular season he has surpassed his previous high by 18 (154 in 2010-11). A number of those attempts have admittedly been ill-advised, including two in the fourth quarter of Friday’s loss to the Trail Blazers.
When asked by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Saturday if he expected to take that many 3-pointers this season, Smith deflected.
“I don’t know,” Smith said. “Ask me a different question. Ask me something that is going to stimulate my mind a little bit.”
In October, at the start of training camp, he was adamant that the roster was full of capable long-range shooters.
“You haven’t seen the roster?” Smith turned around a reporter’s question about his long-range shooting plans on a rebuilt Hawks roster. “We’ve got Kyle Korver, Devin Harris, Louis Williams, Anthony Morrow, Anthony Tolliver. Am I missing anyone? Jeff Teague. … So there we go. That answers that question. I didn’t even say my name did I? Call me mid-range shawty.”
I love how absolutely defiant he is about everything.
Nine years in, he is who he is. No expecting him to change all of a sudden.
Just Smoove being Smoove, right? We okay with him putting up these shots at an increased clip?
Re: Josh Smith sets Career High in 3pt Attempts
Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2013 8:35 pm
by Jamaaliver
“No,” Drew said when asked if he thought Smith would take so many 3-pointers in the new offense. “I thought when we put our offense in and looking at our personnel with Kyle Korver, DeShawn Stevenson, John Jenkins, Anthony Tolliver is a stretch-3. We’ve got a number of guys. …
“The 3, no, it’s not the first shot of choice I want him taking because he is such a dominate force down on the block. He causes a lot of problems when he posts up, particularly when I move him to (small forward). The thing about him is he is a willing passer, which makes it all the better because if you are open and the double-team comes down, he is going to get the basketball out to the open guy.
“I love that about his game. He has the versatility to move in and out. Seeking the early 3, no.”
Smith has made nine of 40 3-point attempts this month, a shooting percentage of 22.5 percent. That includes a season-high nine attempts against the Celtics on March 8.
Re: Josh Smith sets Career High in 3pt Attempts
Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2013 8:44 pm
by Jamaaliver
Drew said he has conversations with Smith about shot selection. The forward acknowledges some of the attempts are ill-advised. It’s a point that player and coach continue to work through.
“He knows the shots I want him to take and when I want him to take them,” Drew said. “It’s got to be something within our offense. It’s not something where he just comes down and starts launching all over the place. That’s not how we play. That’s not how we want him to play.”
Nine years in.
Re: Josh Smith sets Career High in 3pt Attempts
Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2013 9:02 pm
by Jamaaliver
All season long I’ve kept running totals of Smith’s shooting from outside the paint, jokingly referring to it as the “mid-range shawty meter.” To obtain these totals, I have looked at Smith’s shot chart from every game this season. What I’ve found is that Smith has shot 356-for-604 (59%) inside the paint this season. On shots outside the paint but inside the 3-point arc this season, Smith has shot 68-for-258 (26%).
According to HoopData.com, among players who have attempted at least 100 shots from 16-23 feet this season, only Emeka Okafor, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Eric Bledsoe, Ramon Sessions and Tyreke Evans have shot for a worse percentage than Smith.
Perhaps a more stimulating question would have been, “Did you anticipate being one of the worst mid-range shooters in the NBA this season while taking almost four mid-range jumpers per game?”
http://hawkshoop.com/some-thoughts-to-stimulate-josh-smiths-mind/
Re: Josh Smith sets Career High in 3pt Attempts
Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2013 2:45 am
by ATLHawksfan21
I dislike Josh shooting 3's as much as the next person but anyone who understands basketball will realize that he has played SF more than ever this year which causes him to be out on the wing more often. With Joe's absence, he is also relied on to create more this year than any previous year. This causes him to have the ball in his hands at the end of the shot clock more often than any previous year.
I would be happy if he didn't break this record but no one should be surprised by it.
Re: Josh Smith sets Career High in 3pt Attempts
Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2013 3:30 pm
by Rip2137
He shot over 35 percent in 3 of the 5 months of this season.
At 35 percent its a good shot and better than a long two in my eyes. He is having a bad month shooting just like he did in January.
The point is, with him being the worse shooter on the court, he often is the only guy open at the end of the shot clock and takes alot of those. I counted 6 jumpers with under 3 seconds on the shot clock in the Bucks game for example.
Re: Josh Smith sets Career High in 3pt Attempts
Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2013 5:48 pm
by Jamaaliver
Rip2137 wrote:The point is, with him being the worse shooter on the court, he often is the only guy open at the end of the shot clock and takes alot of those.
Is it possible he's always open at the elbow, or the three point line because opposing bigs don't consider him a threat from there?
I'd have my defenders sag off on him if he sits at the 3pt line, this cuts off his driving lane and encourages him to take low percentage shot.
As great as Shaq was, he's not really a threat from the 3-pt line. Same goes for Josh.
Re: Josh Smith sets Career High in 3pt Attempts
Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2013 6:44 pm
by Geaux_Hawks
Jamaaliver wrote:Rip2137 wrote:The point is, with him being the worse shooter on the court, he often is the only guy open at the end of the shot clock and takes alot of those.
Is it possible he's always open at the elbow, or the three point line because opposing bigs don't consider him a threat from there?
I'd have my defenders sag off on him if he sits at the 3pt line, this cuts off his driving lane and encourages him to take low percentage shot.
As great as Shaq was, he's not really a threat from the 3-pt line. Same goes for Josh.
You have basically explained one of the reasons he shoots those shots. Josh is more of a threat driving by slower defenders and posting smaller ones. You can easily counter that by just giving him the jumper, and live with him making them. So what I'm having a hard time understanding is, why continuously bash him for some of the jumpers he takes? Sure we hate to see him take them, but when he is probably the only person open, with 3-5 seconds left on the shot clock, what can you do but agree that you would rather him hoist it up and attempt a shot than take a violation.
Re: Josh Smith sets Career High in 3pt Attempts
Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2013 8:48 pm
by Jamaaliver
Geaux_Hawks wrote:So what I'm having a hard time understanding is, why continuously bash him for some of the jumpers he takes? Sure we hate to see him take them, but when he is probably the only person open, with 3-5 seconds left on the shot clock, what can you do but agree that you would rather him hoist it up and attempt a shot than take a violation.
This actually leads to other larger basketball issues.
1. For the last 9 years, Josh has missed 70% of the shots from this area of the court, which is why opposing bigs generally don't guard him out that far.
2. When defenders aren't gurding Josh, they usually are doubling the ball handler, clogging the paint, cutting off driving lanes or preparing to rebound the ball.
3. Instead of sitting at the three point line, where he has been inefficient his entire career, Josh could instead set picks for the ball handler, set back screens for AL or the shooters.
Or just crash the offensive boards. (We have been one of the worst rebounding teams for the last 5 years, Josh living on the perimeter is a big reason why.)
Josh is always open as time expires because his defender is off helping on defense.
Josh shooting 28% from outside 16 feet is not an effective way to offset this.
Josh shooting 59% from inside the paint indicates he should either stay in that area (as much as possible), or box out/set screens for the other players on offense.
What other player in the history of pro sports has constantly gone out of their way to accentuate the weakness in their own game?
Re: Josh Smith sets Career High in 3pt Attempts
Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2013 9:08 pm
by MaceCase
The point of him being open by the 3 point line is that........he shouldn't be open by the 3 point line. Instead of rotating out to be an outlet on a shot he cannot make why is he not rolling to the basket presenting a target for an easier shot (you know, like Al, Ivan, Zaza) or just getting into rebound position at the end of the clock (Like Al, Ivan, Zaza who shockingly have much higher offensive rebound rates)? That's what gets lost in the excuse making for his jumpers.
On a team and lineups where he is likely the second best rebounder (hint, it means that there are usually 3 other shooters on the court not including Al to pass to) why is he taking it upon himself to be the outlet on end of the clock situations? Teague taking a contested jumper is still a remarkably higher percentage shot than Josh wide open and you now add the chance of having an extra offensive possession to the equation and there is simply no excuse for why he's out there launching up the equivalent of turnovers.
If he had a much lower volume of jumpers then people could explain away these shots as solitary instances but no intelligent person could make the argument that 438 of his 1,065 FGAs are somehow all miraculously happening with 3-5 seconds on the clock. The Hawks must be employing the absolute worst offense in BASKETBALL history for that to be the case on even 50% of those jumpers. The most sensible answer could just be that Josh Smith wants to take jumpers.....and thus positions himself to take jumpers......regardless of the clock....or position.....or role.
LD says that's not the gameplan and for some odd reason the other bigs don't engage in this behavior within the scheme so nope, not the coaches fault.
Is it 'cause he's playing more SF this season? Well, how come jumpers are making a lower total this season (6.4 attempts of shots from 16' out vs. 7.9 attempts last year) and percentage (56% vs. 61% last season) of his shots now that he's logging 10% of the team's total minutes at SF? So nope, can't be because he's on the perimeter more.
Add these facts to his flippant response to a legitimate question and uhm, why are people still making lame excuses for this again?
Re: Josh Smith sets Career High in 3pt Attempts
Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2013 11:35 pm
by D21
I almost doesn't care about his 3pts shots because there's a bigger problem : his long 2s
Why talk him about one problem only if it's not the main problem ?
At 31.1% from 3pts, it means that on 100 shots, he will bring 93.3pts : it's his second best zone
He's making 59% in the paint (and 77% at the rim) : 118pts / 100 shots
But only :
39.2% between 3-9 Feet : 78.4pts / 100 shots
26.7% between 10-15 Feet : 53.4pts / 100 shots
30.0% between 16-23 Feet : 60pts / 100 shots
I will repeat it until he stop mid 2s and long 2s : he has to shoot 3s or he doesn't have inside-out game anymore.
Maybe part of what makes him being ready to shot long 2s is some of his plays with Horford, with Smith at the high post making an assist to Horford at the rim. If Josh could send it from the 3pts line, it would be perfect, because he would choice between giving the ball to Horford or shoot at 3pts.
If he could only pass the ball when at mid-range or long 2s, it would be perfect, and he could shot more 3s and maybe improve it.
I would have prefer that, and test for a season, than continue to hear that he doesn't have to shot 3s, when it's not the main problem.
Re: Josh Smith sets Career High in 3pt Attempts
Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2013 2:01 am
by parson
D21 wrote:I almost doesn't care about his 3pts shots because there's a bigger problem : his long 2s
Why talk him about one problem only if it's not the main problem ?
"And1000"
Re: Josh Smith sets Career High in 3pt Attempts
Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2013 2:49 pm
by Jamaaliver
parson wrote:D21 wrote:I almost doesn't care about his 3pts shots because there's a bigger problem : his long 2s
Why talk him about one problem only if it's not the main problem ?
"And1000"
I suspect that both these issues are derived from the same problem.
Josh standing around the top of the key for entire offensive possessions. And then receiving a pass and launching long jumpers ad nauseam. The 3 pt stat is just tangible evidence of Josh's poor shot selection.
Whether it's shots from from 16-23 feet (long twos) or shots from 24+ feet out (3-pointers).
Josh's insistence on low % jumpshots is a problem. And has been for the last decade.
Re: Josh Smith sets Career High in 3pt Attempts
Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2013 10:43 pm
by Rip2137
And again, for the majority of the season he was a 35-36% shooter from 3. He has been crappy from the long two all year. The three point shot isn't he problem and in rhythm in the flow of the offense I have no problem with him taking them.
the long two seldom is in the flow of the offense. It often comes off ISO and has little to no chance of foing in because he has reverted back to his all arms, lazy shot.
Re: Josh Smith sets Career High in 3pt Attempts
Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2013 11:56 pm
by Jamaaliver
Rip2137 wrote:And again, for the majority of the season he was a 35-36% shooter from 3. He has been crappy from the long two all year. The three point shot isn't he problem and in rhythm in the flow of the offense I have no problem with him taking them.
Fair enough.
I'd like him to just not stand stationary at the 3pt line for entire possessions.