If We Had Josh Smith...

[SendEm]

Weakside shot blockers like Josh Smith are like "cover cornerbacks" in the NFL. It's great to have 1 cover cornerback on your team to place against the best receiver on the opposing team, but when you have 2 cover cornerbacks in your starting lineup who is going to come up and support the run?

Dalembert and Josh Smith both are cover cornerbacks, so who is going to score in the low post and defend the second PF/C player on teams like the Lakers and Suns who have 2 of them in their starting lineup? Josh Smith can't defend centers and he can't defend any of the elite PF's. He also rebounds poorly from the PF position.

[Skeletor]

I like Smith's athleticism, but I think in the longer term we need someone who will help us run a semblance of a half-court offense. You can run a lot of teams to death, but in the end you need to be able to go to the half-court well. I'd rather go after someone who helps us out there than Smith.

[Johnny Broad-Street]

I couldn't agree more. A style is one thing....a winning philosophy is another. The NBA season is long....as are games. Running isn't an approach to winning championships...it's a style. You have to be flexible. Great comment Skeletor

[STChaser]

Dalembert and Josh Smith both are cover cornerbacks, so who is going to score in the low post and defend the second PF/C player on teams like the Lakers and Suns who have 2 of them in their starting lineup?

Why not Thaddeus. He's got the length and size to cover some of these guys. Look at the job he did last night against Nowitski and then consider that Young is only 19 and could still fill out with his frame. And besides, Thaddeus, surprisingly, has shown some really nice post moves and being left handed often works to his advantage.

As for your examples with the Lakers, you could put Sam on Bynum (though that's a horrible matchup, there are few 5's in the league who do match up well with him), Smith on Gasol, and Thaddeus on Odom or Turiaf. I know that Odom is listed as being 2'' taller than Thaddeus but Young's wingspan is off the charts, as is Smith's and this needs to be considered because it is a factor. And though Gasol is taller than Smith, I think Smith clearly has the athletic advantage over Gasol, so the matchup problem occurs on their end too. Get Smith out on the floor running and Gasol is going to get tagged with fouls. But let's also be fair here. The Lakers are a VERY difficult team for most NBA teams to match up against. They're now stocked with talented players in Gasol, Kobe, Bynum, Odom, Turiaf, etc. I think they're more the exception than the norm. Let's just hope they get knocked off out West and worry about the East for now...

STChaser

[CPops57]

I like Josh Smith. He's long, athletic, and a stud of a shot blocker. I think he's an impact player. And that's the one thing the board has not understood:

It's just hard to see how we're going to have a shot at a title without a real post player.

On a team with a good young option at SF/part-time PF already, not to mention limited resources, I just don't see where getting Josh Smith is the best possible solution.

ALL title teams had impact players, including the Pistons(They had 2 game-changing players, Billups and Wallace.)

Well, the Pistons didn't try and play Tayshaun Prince at the PF and win that way, did they?

[SendEm]

Dalembert and Josh Smith both are cover cornerbacks, so who is going to score in the low post and defend the second PF/C player on teams like the Lakers and Suns who have 2 of them in their starting lineup?

Why not Thaddeus. He's got the length and size to cover some of these guys. Look at the job he did last night against Nowitski and then consider that Young is only 19 and could still fill out with his frame. And besides, Thaddeus, surprisingly, has shown some really nice post moves and being left handed often works to his advantage.

As for your examples with the Lakers, you could put Sam on Bynum (though that's a horrible matchup, there are few 5's in the league who do match up well with him), Smith on Gasol, and Thaddeus on Odom or Turiaf. I know that Odom is listed as being 2'' taller than Thaddeus but Young's wingspan is off the charts, as is Smith's and this needs to be considered because it is a factor. And though Gasol is taller than Smith, I think Smith clearly has the athletic advantage over Gasol, so the matchup problem occurs on their end too. Get Smith out on the floor running and Gasol is going to get tagged with fouls. But let's also be fair here. The Lakers are a VERY difficult team for most NBA teams to match up against. They're now stocked with talented players in Gasol, Kobe, Bynum, Odom, Turiaf, etc. I think they're more the exception than the norm. Let's just hope they get knocked off out West and worry about the East for now...

STChaser

There will always be teams at the top with dominant bigs. Signing Josh Smith as the Power Forward of the future is ensuring that the Sixers will NEVER have a legitimate opportunity to compete in the playoffs against the elite. It's not as if the Sixers already have Tim Duncan at center or even a tall low post PF like Al Jefferson, we have SAMMY DALEMBERT....Dalembert is a shot blocking rebounding alley oop catching specialist. Nothing that Josh Smith has complements that at the PF position.

People really think that Josh Smith can start at power forward for a championship team.
And if they don't believe that he can start at Power Forward for a championship team then why are they as fans looking for the Sixers to sign Smith to a $12 million per year free agent contract as the starting PF? You only offer players deals like that when you want them as a building block towards winning a CHIP. Josh Smith at the PF for ANY team guarantees that the team will not win the championship. Josh Smith couldn't start at PF on a team with Shaquille Oneal in his prime and win a championship. Why? Because he has one of the worst jump shots in the NBA.

[Dedicated_76ers_fan]

Okay, Mr.Basketball 101 who SHOULD the Sixers sign?

[SendEm]

Wow Josh Smith just Blocked Arron Afflalo's dunk, it was nasty.

[STChaser]

There will always be teams at the top with dominant bigs. Signing Josh Smith as the Power Forward of the future is ensuring that the Sixers will NEVER have a legitimate opportunity to compete in the playoffs against the elite.

You are assuming there are all these bigs around who are just waiting to be signed and that Josh Smith's salary will take up those funds. 1st, decent bigs like Shaq and Duncan are far and few in between and there's no point waiting for one to magically appear because it could take years for that to happen. 2nd, a player like Josh Smith is not going to suddenly lose value because even if he doesn't work out at PF, he could still be an elite SF. We're not talking a 5'11 combo guard like AI who's in his 30's. A 6'9 SF/PF with Smith's athleticism and scoring mentality is going to be valuable for years to come. And while you're down on him right now for his jumper, you've got to remember that he's really young. Most of us though that Iguodala's jumper was never going to improve and look how much better he's gotten in one season.

STChaser

[SendEm]

There will always be teams at the top with dominant bigs. Signing Josh Smith as the Power Forward of the future is ensuring that the Sixers will NEVER have a legitimate opportunity to compete in the playoffs against the elite.

You are assuming there are all these bigs around who are just waiting to be signed and that Josh Smith's salary will take up those funds. 1st, decent bigs like Shaq and Duncan are far and few in between and there's no point waiting for one to magically appear because it could take years for that to happen. 2nd, a player like Josh Smith is not going to suddenly lose value because even if he doesn't work out at PF, he could still be an elite SF. We're not talking a 5'11 combo guard like AI who's in his 30's. A 6'9 SF/PF with Smith's athleticism and scoring mentality is going to be valuable for years to come. And while you're down on him right now for his jumper, you've got to remember that he's really young. Most of us though that Iguodala's jumper was never going to improve and look how much better he's gotten in one season.

STChaser

I wasn't amongst the people who thought that Iggy's jumper would never improve. Making shots wasn't his biggest problem. Creating shots for himself and having the balls to take open shots were higher on the list of Iggy flaws.

The point that I'm making is that it's better to lose with Mikki Moore as your power forward than it is to lose with a $12 million+ per year Josh Smith as your Power Forward. Atleast with Mikki Moore you will have alot of cap space to have the flexibility to acquire a legitimate PF/C whenever one comes on the market. When you sign Josh Smith as your PF when you already have 2 SF's on your team you are capping out your franchise and locking yourself into a future where you can't compete with the big boys in the playoffs. Phoenix had the MVP for 2 years straight and couldn't compete because they had no post game.

Suppose the Sixers draft the next Carlos Boozer in the second round, what happens to your overpaid out of position Josh Smith then? If Thad develops then you automatically go into trade mode. We will be spending years trying to figure out how to get rid of Josh Smith's contract so that Thad, "Boozer", and Dalembert can be the front court. We all know that people don't just give away their cap space for overpaid players.

What I'm saying is that only good fundamental basketball moves should be made. Overpaying a SF to play PF for your team is not a good fundamental basketball move. The move to make if signing a PF this season is out of the question is to draft one or trade for one. If that can't happen then remain patient because who would have ever thought that the Lakers would have a front court of Bynum, Gasol, and Odom just 3 years after trading away Shaq? The Lakers GM made good fundamental basketball decisions.

Finally Iverson is a HOF player and has looked that way since Day 1. Do not compare Josh Smith to Iverson please.

[Dedicated_76ers_fan]

So, are you saying Josh Smith's not a good basketball player? What if he plays his natural position of SF? What are your takes on him then?

[SendEm]

So, are you saying Josh Smith's not a good basketball player? What if he plays his natural position of SF? What are your takes on him then?

Well that's different. I really like Josh Smith as a SF. He is somewhere between a Bruce Bowen and Tayshawn as a SF. He still is a horrible shooter and isn't worth the $12 million at SF considering that players like Caron Butler and Josh Howard are making around $8-10...

Josh Smith is really a gimmick player and Atlanta is actually using him correctly...

[IggyTheBEaST]

Sign both Josh and Emeka = Best Defensive Team in the League