JOSH SMITH TO PARTICIPATE IN USA TEAM MINI-CAMP

Post #1 » by **HMFFL** » Thu Jun 25, 2009 8:31 pm

Hawks forward Josh Smith has been selected as one of 25 NBA players who have accepted invitations to participate in the 2009 USA Basketball Men’s National Team mini-camp that will be held July 22-25 in Las Vegas, Nev., it was announced today by USA Basketball Chairman Jerry Colangelo.

The July USA Basketball Men’s National Team mini-camp will feature practice sessions on July 23 and July 24 at Valley High School, and the mini-camp will be capped by the USA Basketball Showcase, a Blue-White intra-squad game, on Saturday, July 25, 8 p.m. (PDT) at the Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of UNLV.

“This is a tremendous honor and opportunity for Josh, and we are pleased to hear that he has received the chance to display his talents within USA Basketball’s highly-competitive program,” said Hawks Executive Vice President/General Manager Rick Sund. “He is starting to gain notice around the league for the versatility he brings to the court on a nightly basis, and we fully believe he will continue to grow from this experience.”

“I’m very happy for Josh and the opportunity for him to display his skills for USA Basketball,” said Atlanta head coach Mike Woodson. “This is fantastic for him and provides him with a great opportunity to make others aware of his ability as a fine all-around player in our league.” Link

johnny878 · Post #2 » by **johnny878** » Thu Jun 25, 2009 8:48 pm

obviously, team usa hasnt paid attention to hawk fans on this forum. As according to them, Josh smith very presence on the court makes his teammates worse and is incapable of playing well even when leading the hawks in scoring and rebounding in the playoffs.

i guess they are just getting the worst players in the league together so the team usa can boost their egos by beating up on the practice squad. it couldnt be possibly because josh smith is a good player.

azuresou1 · Post #3 » by **azuresou1** » Thu Jun 25, 2009 9:18 pm

What Hawks fans are you talking about on this board that want Josh gone? I'm under the impression that a good 80% of us want him to stay on the team longterm.

raleigh · Post #4 » by **raleigh** » Thu Jun 25, 2009 9:19 pm

It's a great honor, for sure.

But people have to stop talking about Smith leading the team in scoring and rebounding during the playoffs as it was some great honor. He played the 2nd most minutes, he should be up there. (It's more a reflection of how much JJ sucked).

Josh's eFG% in the playoffs was an amazing 42.8%. Horford and Pachulia both had higher Reb%'s.

Bibby was the Hawks' best playoff player.

johnny878 · Post #5 » by **johnny878** » Thu Jun 25, 2009 9:26 pm

lol @ even bringing up horford.

he got flat out embarrassed when he was healthy. an old jermaine o neal who can barely walk down the court made horford look like a d-leaguer

and with marvin out, he was literally the only person who looked remotely adequate of defense.

evildallas · Post #6 » by **evildallas** » Thu Jun 25, 2009 9:27 pm

It is an honor and I hope the exposure to other top players will help Josh understand what he needs to do to polish his game.

raleigh · Post #7 » by **raleigh** » Thu Jun 25, 2009 9:33 pm

Yeah, because it's not like O'Neal averaged 17 points in Game 4 and Game 5 without Horford playing major minutes...

lol @ shooting 42% eFg not being embarrassing.

johnny878 · Post #8 » by **johnny878** » Thu Jun 25, 2009 9:35 pm

mrhonline wrote:Yeah, because it's not like O'Neal averaged 17 points in Game 4 and Game 5 without Horford playing major minutes...

lol @ shooting 42% eFg not being embarrassing.

yeah against zaza pachulia and solomon jones LOL. its embarrassign that horfords defensive impact was comparable to those two.

raleigh · Post #9 » by **raleigh** » Thu Jun 25, 2009 9:39 pm

Or it could be that Jermaine O'Neal is still a 6'11 big man who raised his energy level for the playoffs.

Nah, that wouldn't make sense, would it?

(And Al outplayed O'Neal in game one. You're drawing conclusions from two games. Some solid logic there).

johnny878 · Post #10 » by **johnny878** » Thu Jun 25, 2009 9:42 pm

later when im less lazy, ill search threw the pages of this forum and bump the game threads. Which are full of hawks fans begging for horford to get taken out of the game because of how poorly he was playing.

raleigh · Post #11 » by **raleigh** » Thu Jun 25, 2009 9:54 pm

Will you bump the ones complaining about Smith's shot selection?

Didn't think so.

JoshB914 · Post #12 » by **JoshB914** » Thu Jun 25, 2009 10:40 pm

mrhonline wrote:Will you bump the ones complaining about Smith's shot selection?

Didn't think so.

To be fair, the complaints about Smith and Horford will be in the exact same threads.