Josh smith at small foward?

geeman · Post #1 » by **geeman** » Sat Feb 2, 2008 2:53 am

If we were to move marvin and get a defensive center and move horford to power foward, do you guys think Josh could play and defend small fowards?

evildallas · Post #2 » by **evildallas** » Sat Feb 2, 2008 2:56 am

He could but it would stress weaker points in his game. Until those areas are strengthened (if they can be) it would be hurting his contribution to the team.

geeman · Post #3 » by **geeman** » Sat Feb 2, 2008 3:03 am

But do you think the long term plan is to move horford to power foward? if so, It's possible they may try to move josh small rather than max him out this summer. I for one hope not, but they can't pay him marvin, al and josh chills

Post #4 » by **Jamaaliver** » Sat Feb 2, 2008 3:42 am

This is the dilemma of BKs drafting. I, honestly see Horford as the future big this team is buillt around. Smoove can fill up a stat sheet, but he can't dominate his man on either end of the court.

I don't see Josh smith successfully moving to SF. His advantage currently resides in that he is quicker and more athletic than the larger, bulkier PFs he plays against. This is also his weakness as he is not tall, or strong enough to stop them on the defensive end.

He is not particularly adept at guarding wing players one on one and his ballhandling is lacking to offensively take SFs off the dribble. And let's not even talk about his jumpshot (or lack thereof).

Horford is adeqate at C. But he will thrive at PF ala Boozer--Elton Brand. And he actually has a post game which will open up the floor in half court sets for three point shooters.

Boozer is the PF we need. Not Smoove. But, have no doubt, if moved, Josh Smith will likely have a great career on a team with a real C and PG. Two things we currently lack.

JoshB914 · Post #5 » by **JoshB914** » Sat Feb 2, 2008 4:00 am

I'm not totally comfortable with moving Smoove to SF. He has been so much more productive at PF.

Post #6 » by **HMFFL** » Sat Feb 2, 2008 4:07 am

Josh Smith at the 3 crosses my mind very often. He needs to fine tune his jumper, and work on a couple other areas of his game before making the transition. Marvin's not providing us with any 3 pointers, Josh attempts more, so Josh would need to improve that part of his game also.

At some point I'm expecting Marvin to knock down the 3 pointers. Maybe it happens during the tail end of this season, or maybe next season, but at some point we need Marvin to venture out there and knock these shots down.

We are undersized and it makes it very difficult at times when our opponents have the size advantage. Al will continue to get stronger and hopefully that helps him develop into what we need out of him if he's going to be our 5.

Hood President · Post #7 » by **Hood President** » Sat Feb 2, 2008 7:11 am

Me and 2 of my uncles(one of them who is a basketball coach) was watchin a hawk game and we was havng a good hawk conversation and one of my uncle said smith is a SF and i said "no he plays PF" then my uncle said " where did you here that bull5hit at? that boy is a SF trust me i know" and then we was watchin the game a smith has a nice black and steve smith says "josh smith is averaging 3 blocks per game at a SF position" and my other uncle said "you see smith knows what hes talking bout, and you say hes a PF, where did you here that? the internet again"

i personally list smith as a AF- atheletic forward

which means he is a forward that doesnt really have a solid offensive game to religh on game in and game out but he can score and is good in fastbreaks.

Skyhawk1 · Post #8 » by **Skyhawk1** » Sat Feb 2, 2008 8:35 am

Smith has a lot of weakness already playing at PF. He would be shooting 25% if he were playing SF full time. He lacks speed to defend, dribling ability to attack, and his air balls would multiple by 10 if we needed him to shoot like a SF is supposed to. I agree with you Hood, Al is the big we'll build around. He's got all the pieces to be a great player. It's a matter of time, experience, and putting the right guys around him. Now, there's no way Smith is a natural SF. Just look around the league and compare him to others SF.

sackings916 · Post #9 » by **sackings916** » Sat Feb 2, 2008 10:02 am

IMO I think the Hawks should move Josh Smith for a PG or C. I like Marvin Williams at the 3 and Horford at the 4, then u have JJ at the 2 spot. Maybe Josh Smith for Devin Harris or a deal of that nature.

Post #10 » by **HMFFL** » Sat Feb 2, 2008 4:22 pm

sackings916 wrote:IMO I think the Hawks should move Josh Smith for a PG or C. I like Marvin Williams at the 3 and Horford at the 4, then u have JJ at the 2 spot. Maybe Josh Smith for Devin Harris or a deal of that nature.

And why would Dallas do that? They don't have much depth at the 1 already and by moving Devin makes Dallas extremely thin. What is Dallas going to do, trust Juan Barea at the 1 full time? It's not like Josh fills a hole when the team already has Dirk and Josh Howard.

plusjay · Post #11 » by **plusjay** » Sat Feb 2, 2008 4:27 pm

i think smith will be fine at the defensive end, altho he is little more productive in pf spot.

problem is his offensive side, just to think of him as SF makes me sick..

so I think if we can get a C who can be a outside threat ala Okur,

we'll be albe to put smith and horford in the paint.

Hood President · Post #12 » by **Hood President** » Sat Feb 2, 2008 4:54 pm

HE IS PLAYING SMALL FORWARD NOW OFFENSIVELY DAMN . WISH YALL WOULD SEE THAT

killbuckner · Post #13 » by **killbuckner** » Sat Feb 2, 2008 4:58 pm

Hood- who do you think is playing PF offensively then?

tontoz · Post #14 » by **tontoz** » Sat Feb 2, 2008 6:18 pm

killbuckner wrote:Hood- who do you think is playing PF offensively then?

LOL seriously Horford is the starting center and Marvin is playing the 3. Smith plays virtually all of his minutes at the 4.

http://www.82games.com/0708/07ATL9C.HTM

After watching him try to guard Thorton it should be obvious why he can't play extended minutes at the 3. he isn't quick enough.

Hood President · Post #15 » by **Hood President** » Sat Feb 2, 2008 9:09 pm

they list him as a SF and they say marvin is PF. its real confusing to me because i dont know what the hell he reall is. but most telecast i hear list smith as a 3.

JoshB914 · Post #16 » by **JoshB914** » Sat Feb 2, 2008 9:26 pm

Smith definetely plays the PF and Marv the SF. But Smoove definetely isn't a conventional PF, he gets a lot of his points driving to the hole like the a 3.

Post #17 » by **dms269** » Sat Feb 2, 2008 9:36 pm

Most telecasts are wrong though. He has been trying to fight this battle for a while now. Even last year when Smith was playing pf 82games had him listed as a sf. Atleast this year they have gotten in right.

reazun · Post #18 » by **reazun** » Sat Feb 2, 2008 10:35 pm

Hood President wrote:they list him as a SF and they say marvin is PF. its real confusing to me because i dont know what the hell he reall is. but most telecast i hear list smith as a 3.

so how is Marvin more of a PF than Josh? Josh is the PF Marvin is the SF. Sometimes Josh might play the SF when Marvin is on the bench. and it doesnt matter what your uncle said, just because he coaches basketball doesnt make him all-knowing in everything related to basketball. Trust me, we know a lot about basketball too. Plus im sure we follow the Hawks much stronger than your uncle. So, we should at least know what position our star player plays in. Maybe Marvin was on th bench and they moved Josh to SF and thats why the commentator said that.

conleyorbust · Post #19 » by **conleyorbust** » Sat Feb 2, 2008 11:14 pm

JoshB914 wrote:Smith definetely plays the PF and Marv the SF. But Smoove definetely isn't a conventional PF, he gets a lot of his points driving to the hole like the a 3.

Yeah, but so did David Robinson and Moses Malone. I haven't seen Smith have any trouble gaurding PFs this season, does anyone remember a specific game where a PF dominated Josh because of his size? I think 6'9 245 is around average for a PF in this league.

Moving Horford to PF is all theory at this point. When he is matched up against bigger guys he doesn't attack face up and when he is matched up against smaller guys he doesn't try and abuse them down low... until he shows us that he has the ability to be a force on offense at PF, its stupid to talk about moving Smith, our most productive player and best defender, so Al can play there.

Smith needs to take fewer jumpers for sure but we don't exactly run an offense that takes advantage of mismatches inside... Josh has seemed pretty comfortable in the post when he is matched up against guys his size or smaller and has shown the ability to go right by the bigger PFs. His shooting % has been in the upper 40s since that disastrous November (it had been higher, but like everyone else, it has fallen over this losing streak). He needs to start getting to the line at will again though.

I think he'd look a lot better if we had another shooter in the lineup and a point guard that could feed him the ball in motion. He might be one of the best alley-oop catchers in the game but we never try and run a screen and get him to the hoop like that partially because we don't have any great passers in the half court.

IDoIt4TheA · Post #20 » by **IDoIt4TheA** » Sat Feb 2, 2008 11:35 pm

HMFFL wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

And why would Dallas do that? They don't have much depth at the 1 already and by moving Devin makes Dallas extremely thin. What is Dallas going to do, trust Juan Barea at the 1 full time? It's not like Josh fills a hole when the team already has Dirk and Josh Howard.

If Dallas is really in on the Jason Kidd trade scene like it's been reported. They would probably deal Harris if they get Kidd and they would still have Terry playing some backup point and Barea. So this idea isn't too far fetched.

Plus with the Lakers making a big move and getting Gasol, this could force Dallas to try to get stronger.