A plea to Josh Smith

[evildallas]

Josh,

Let me first say that I'm not a hater. I am actual a big fan. I hope this gets to you somehow because you, Josh, are holding yourself back and often hurting the team. There a lot a things you can do. You are a tremendous athlete with near unlimited potential. Right now you are doing a couple things that are causing the problems. And this won't be a rant about you shooting jump shots. I can live with you doing that occasionally. I just hope your not so delusional to think your really good at it yet. You need to keep working to make that a real part of your arsenal and minimize doing it in the meantime. You seem to have already taken this to heart for the most part. Now let me get to the real problems and they all tie together and more on the jump shots later.

1. Your free throw shooting has been horrible.
2. Your handle in traffic isn't that strong.
3. You get visibly frustrated when calls don't go your way and it hurts your performance.

Free throw shooting. You know you are having problems. I know it. Everyone knows it. You actually used to be adequate at it but this year it's gotten totally derailed. The obvious effect is that missed free throws are lost opportunities and back-to-back missed free throws might as well be considered a turnover. There is another effect though and I see it watching the games. Teams are defending you differently. You're getting bumped and hacked because well the refs don't always call the foul if the play is consistently aggressive and if they do call the percentages say that you won't take advantage of it.

Your handle. Sure you can dribble the ball in open court, but you aren't a guard. The ball has a long way to get up to your hand and the opportunity for the defense to affect it is great. It's not just your dribble that's been lacking, it's your hold on the ball in the lane as well. This dovetails with the free throw shooting because the scouting book on you says hack at him. The defender has a good chance of knocking the ball loose (your not the only Hawk in this boat) and if they do get called for a foul, well then Josh, you likely don't make them pay by stroking the free throws. Furthermore the bad handle makes it less likely that the ref will blow the whistle for a foul. The doubt is already there, did you get hit or lose control of the ball first and then the contact was incidental?

Your response to adversity. This is another thing that I am sure is in the scouting report on you and it leads to teams be more likely to bump and hack you. Think about it. If the ref doesn't give you the foul call, you are complaining, becoming exasperated, and not hustling back on defense. Your negativity builds and you seem to think the refs are out to get you. The way you complain makes the refs more likely to tune you out.

My advice? I can't help you on free throws. That's focus and repetition. You've got to work through it. The handle and hand strength are also things that can be worked on with coaching and a lot of practice. Trust me you need it. What I can offer is something for your reactions. It is called channeling. It means taking the adversity and apply all frustration and hostility toward a focused, positive outcome. Don't complain when you don't get the call. Run back on the defensive end and play extra hard defense. Focus everything into that defense and rebounding. If you don't get to score, they shouldn't either. When you have a dead ball situation that's when you can tell the official that he missed one or point out who's hacking you or why it should be a foul. By doing this complaining at the dead balls rather than the heat of the incident you won't be placing the team at a man down situation and you won't be showing up the official by demonstratively throwing a fit. Sometimes it will be hard. Sometimes you'll feel wronged. But if you channel you can still have a positive effect on the game and your teammates. Think to yourself how the rest of your teammates must feel when they see you slowly jog back on D because you didn't get a call as the ball was taken from you in traffic. If you don't hustle, why should they? Know think about how that feel if you are giving 100% and refusing to let man mess with your head. If you don't sulk, then they can't sulk.

Now let's talk about jump shots again. I said I don't mind you occasionally throwing up one of your low percentage bombs. Let me clarify that. If you are busting your ass to be the defensive leader of the team and a shining example of effort to your teammates then I can live with you launching some perimeter j's. It's not where you're most effective, but you seem to enjoy doing it occasionally and you'd deserve a little indulgence in that case. However, if you are going to be Mr. Complain, Mr. Sulk, Mr. Half-Effort, then you really shouldn't shoot any low percentage jumpers because you are already doing a lot to hurt the team. I know this is strange coming from one of your biggest supporters, but someone had to say it and if someone on the team is saying it (coach or player), well it doesn't seem to be sinking in. It'd be sweet if your scouting report told opponents to be careful playing you rough because if they do you have the attitude and ability to make their life hell on the other end of the floor. Don't you think?

Sincerely,

Evildallas

[conleyorbust]

good post.