MaceCase wrote:Whatever his value is it'll only be improved come the end of the season when he will be a large expiring.
Yeah, People want to give up talent to "rent" Josh Smith, who already said his window is closing. Pretty sure he is going ring-chasing.
And he's been shopped. Problem is he's a PnR and fastbreak type power SF. Realistically You need spacing at the 4 or 5 to win with him at the 3.
So this will be a season to watch for Smith and Horford, because Johnson (obscene contract) and Williams (classic underachiever) will either be tough to move or won't fetch value in return.
The Hawks have always weighed the merits of keeping, or moving, Smith and Horford. Both are tweeners. Horford is undersized at center but doesn't have a face-the-basket game for power forward. Smith has crazy athleticism and skills for someone 6-foot-10 but too often falls in love with 20-foot jumpers. Both are in their primes, so holding onto them much longer would hurt their trade value.
From a money standpoint, the Hawks must decide sooner on Smith. His deal is up after next season, which means the Hawks must either decide to extend him or trade him in the offseason. If Horford and a throw-in could fetch a legitimate center, the Hawks might go that route and then extend Smith. Or they'll package Smith and maybe Williams as a salary dump and get what they can.
How many teams have a Dirk or Ryan Andersen (or Jon Leuer) to afford Smith at SF?
Whatever comes back won't be contender pieces. Smith is a tweener and thats why he's been kept so long.
ATL fans can piss and scream all they want but they have a couple tweeners here...Smith is being surrounded with redundant (undersized power players) not complementary players.
I see Smith as a SF version of Dwight Howard. AT SF you dont have to rebound all the time so you can fastbreak. Surround him with shooting. Putting him at SF with a shooter at the 4, eliminates most his problems. Undersized post defender, undersized help defender (most elite teams find ways to score over him or run motion offense pulling him away from basket) shooting,
And the biggest one imo trailing the break instead of running the wing.
Not a lot of Cs available who can shoot so for an undersized PF in the NBA you look for oversized SFs. Here are some big "hybrid-PFs" I've seen that "complement" hybrid-players like Josh Smith (as opposed to Marvin Williams):
Kevin Love
Dirk Nowitzki
Ryan Anderson
Jon Leuer.
The last is a guy I think could take the Marvin Williams spot but people whine about "redemption" and "confidence" Marvin Williams on an all star ballots yadayada.
Also a maybe on the 6'10 Gallinari although he's gone to defend SFs and had back issues at PF and heck no on Bargnani. too slow.