Josh Smith's Value is Dropping

[Jamaaliver]

It's time to get rid of this guy.

He literally threw the game away tonight. Threw it straight to Rondo TWICE on inbound plays.

This dude is terrible. He makes the worst decisions at the worst times. ALL THE TIME!!!

He got bailed out by Horford on that last play tonight or our season is OVER!!!!

He's shooting a whopping 39% this series.

We GOTTA get rid if this dude while we still can. If we can trade him for a lottery pick, we get cap relief and young talent to build around.

[HMFFL]

How low of a lottery pick would you be content with? Sund apparently shopped him for a top 5 pick (Sund wanted Enes Kanter) last year, no one wanted Josh, so I doubt Sund will be able to get a high lottery pick for him. A low lottery pick is too much of a gamble, so I prefer the sure thing route if we move him, but I doubt he gets moved this off-season.

[Jamaaliver]

Remember when Joe pulled out of the All-Star game and Commissioner Stern named Rondo as a replacement?

Stern made the right choice.

Rondo is the best PG in the league, Smoove isn't even the best PF on his team.

Seriously. He ALWAYS does the wrong thing at the worst possible time. Whenever a truly boneheaded play happens for our team, I know that J-Smoove is on the court up to his old shenanigans.

Notice we held our own against Boston in Game 3 without him. Because the other guys played with effort and focus. Things that Josh Smith doesn't always bring.

Josh Smith returns for Game 4 and we're down by 20 at the half.

7 years and he's never accomplished ANYTHING in the league.

[Jamaaliver]

A top 7 pick in this draft would be golden. This a DEEP draft and we'd probably be able to get one of the KY 5 coming in this year. If nothing else, addition by subtraction.

With Horford healthy, we see what he can do. And a certain 6'11" future HOF Power Forward will be a free agent this summer. Jason Thompson out of SAC is a FA this summer, too. He's 25, 250 pounds and had some HUGE games when filling in for Demarcus Cousins.

We drop Hinrich and Smooth's contract off the books this summer, we'll have more than a few options.

[Jamaaliver]

How low of a lottery pick would you be content with? Sund apparently shopped him for a top 5 pick (Sund wanted Enes Kanter) last year, no one wanted Josh, so I doubt Sund will be able to get a high lottery pick for him.

New Jersey traded a lottery pick this year for Gerlad Wallace (outta desperation.)

Washington is overloaded with young players and is not improving.

Golden State is essentially a place where lottery picks go to die. (And the fans in Oakland would LOVE Smoove.)

If Charlotte misses out on a top3 pick this year, we could probably convince MJ to consider Smoove for their #4 pick. He would at least draw a crowd and play with intensity. (Things currently missing at Bobcat games.)

These are just a few teams that might trade us a lotto pick for Josh Smith.

[MaceCase]

What I saw mostly is that Josh is extremely ineffective on both ends when he doesn't have his athleticism to rely on. That has to be a worry if a long term deal is considered because he just isn't fundamental enough to compensate. I will say that he sort of clicked again in the 4th though and managed to push his ratio of bad to good plays in the positive for the most part although those jumpers could have easily been misses too.

[Jamaaliver]

The biggest issues I have with Smoove:

-Intensity (and focus) when things go wrong
-Putting up too many bad jump shots (He hasn't had a single game shooting over 40% this series.)
-Bad decision making.

These are things that I expect a rookie or a 21 year old to struggle with, not a guy 7 years into his career. He's in his prime, RIGHT NOW! And he still struggles with these. You trade a commodity at it height, not once it's apparent to others that the value has diminished.

HE THREW THE BALL TO RONDO TWICE on inbound plays. TWICE! At crucial times.

[parson]

I agree he makes dumb choices but he mans up when we need him. This entire season has proved that. The pass to Joe that Rondo intercepted was foolish but, there he was at the end, hustling to tap the ball away.

By the way, he started 0-8; that means he finished 6-8 for the rest of the game. With 16 rebounds, 6 assists and one block.

[Jamaaliver]

He hasn't had a single playoff game shooting over 50%. And even that 6 of 8 shooting included some ill-advised jumpshots that fell for him. Please tell im to shoot closer to the basket, preferably in the painted area.

He's a warrior. No doubt. But a bloody idiot.

Note: Horford has shot over 50% in both games this series. Not surprising as he is the best mid-range jump shooter in the league.

[azuresou1]

I'm not seeing this Smoove hate. We are CLEARLY a better team when he is playing. And you want to replace him with that scrub Jason Thompson? C'mon man.

[Jamaaliver]

I'm not seeing this Smoove hate. We are CLEARLY a better team when he is playing.

The problem is WITH Smoove, we're stilll not very good. We've never won anything with that guy. HE'S never won anything on any level. He's been here longer than any other player.

We're not contending for anything with him as our best player. He's our most tradeable asset at this point, soo let's take a chance and move him for an asset. His value wil never be higher than this year.

He's not elite, he's not mentally tough. He's not a winner. he's a millionaire college drop-out who's gotten by for years on his athleticism. And now he's at the age where his athleticism is waning.

It's been 8 years, dude. It's time.

[Rip2137]

I'm sorry dude, but I just don't get the complaining.

Did he have a big turnover, sure. He also had 16 boards(without we don't win) made a couple of huge defensive plays, including that block of Ray Allens layup at the rim(and he can't even really jump right now) made some game changing assist in the 3rd(again, we lose without them) and made clutch baskets down the stretch(and you know the drill here...we lose without them).

Are there better players than Smith? Sure. Again, if we could get Al Jefferson for him, I would be ALL over that. But when Smiths shot is off, he offers other things that most players in the NBA just don't. Hell, Joe's shot has been off and what else has he offered?

I don't see how you could look out on that court and point at the guy playing on one leg as the one that has to go on this team.

[azuresou1]

I'm not seeing this Smoove hate. We are CLEARLY a better team when he is playing.

The problem is WITH Smoove, we're stilll not very good. We've never won anything with that guy. HE'S never won anything on any level. He's been here longer than any other player.

We're not contending for anything with him as our best player. He's our most tradeable asset at this point, soo let's take a chance and move him for an asset. His value wil never be higher than this year.

He's not elite, he's not mentally tough. He's not a winner. he's a millionaire college drop-out who's gotten by for years on his athleticism. And now he's at the age where his athleticism is waning.

It's been 8 years, dude. It's time.

A) Just about every NBA player is "a millionaire college drop-out," I don't see how that's relevant in the least.
B) You can say just about the exact same thing about Joe Johnson, who gets paid more and does significantly less.
C) We probably should trade him but your 'reasoning' reads as pure frustration/misdirected hatred.

[Skyhawk1]

The problem with his game is that he doesn't have the fundamentals but we run a lot of things through him. I truly think the Hawks and Josh will be better off away from each other.

[Rip2137]

I'm finding it hilarious that people think trading the guy that carried the team to 40 wins and was playing well until he got injured is what we need.

There is seriously a VERY short list of guys you should trade Josh Smith for.

[Jamaaliver]

I'm finding it hilarious that people think trading the guy that carried the team to 40 wins and was playing well until he got injured is what we need.
There is seriously a VERY short list of guys you should trade Josh Smith for.

18 points and 9 rebounds aren't exactly irreplaceable.

Expecially when he shoots less than 50% from the field, which is atrocious for a PF.

He's been here 8 years and he's carried us as far as he could.

Beating bad teams in the regular season doesn't make you a superstar.

He's in his prime now. There's no better time to trade him. We've seen how far he can take us as the best player. If he was making us a contender I could see holding on to him. If he was amidst a HOF or even All-NBA type career, I could see keeping him.

He's just another dude, who makes terrible decisions. And he's never won. Anything.
He's too light, small to guard strong PFs. He's not a winner. There's a reason that fans, coaches, or even the commisioner won't select him for the All Star game.

The conversation about the best PF in the game has now moved from KG and Duncan to two guys who came in after Smoove but have developed all around games (Blake, K-Love) superior to Josh's.

He is what we see and what we've seen for 8 years. A great shot blocker, but not much more.

[ZA ZA ZA]

I don't think his value will start dropping until next year. It's clear his value is at an all time high right now since he was given the chance to be in the spot light with Al out. Draft night would be the no-brainer time to trade him (MKG or Drummond).

[azuresou1]

This is a terrible argument on so many fronts. Why don't you find me a list of 19 and 10 guys who play stellar defense and are great passers? I'll wait. Seriously, find me

No, he's not a superstar. Know what? There are like 6 or 7 legitimate superstars in the entire league. So he's never won anything. Who has? Huh? "He's not a winner?" What the **** does that even mean? People said that about Jordan; they said it about KG; they say it about LeBron now. While he's not on their tier, being a "winner" really doesn't mean anything.

Your rationale for trading him because he's not in the conversation for best PF in the game makes... what kind of sense again?

You have not given a SINGLE concrete reason for why we should trade Josh Smith as opposed to trying to get any sort of value for Joe Johnson, or salvaging what we can with Marvin, or any of the other half dozen ways we could improve the team.

[Jamaaliver]

"He's not a winner?" What the **** does that even mean? People said that about Jordan; they said it about KG; they say it about LeBron now. While he's not on their tier, being a "winner" really doesn't mean anything.

Your rationale for trading him because he's not in the conversation for best PF in the game makes... what kind of sense again?

You have not given a SINGLE concrete reason for why we should trade Josh Smith as opposed to trying to get any sort of value for Joe Johnson, or salvaging what we can with Marvin, or any of the other half dozen ways we could improve the team.

I mentioned Blake and Love because they are PFs who should be considered untouchable. Their production and impact is unmatched. But this isn't about them. It's about Josh.

He just hasn't gotten it done. In eight years we've seen highs and lows, but we've been just okay.
He is at his peak right now.

JJ should go, if we can find a suitor. Marvin should go, if we can find a suitor. But if Josh Smith is your best player...your team just isn't very good. He breaks my heart with every lazy pass, or ill advised jumper. We need a clean break and getting a lotto pick for us gives the team a young prospect and salary cap space. Imagine getting MKG and Kevin Garnett to replace Smoove. Might be worth the sacrifice, right?

We get a top 5 pick and $20 million in cap space, you'd be surprised what options we might have.
(Note: $20 million in capp space includes Smoove and Hinrich's salaries cleared off the books.)

[Rip2137]

...Did you just say Blake Griffin is a better all around player?

Blake Griffin is a better rebounder than Josh Smith.

That is the end of the list. Josh is a better jumpshooter(not saying much) better passer, better scorer on the block, better team defender, and a better man defender.

Do you really think Griffin and Love don't take bad shots? Love shot a worse percentage than Smith and both turn the ball over just as much as Smith(2.3 to 2.5). Love is a great offensive talent, but come on dude. You would score more points playing 2 on 1 against Love and Griffin than you would 1 on 1 against Smith.

Also, WHAT has either of them won? One has never gone to the playoffs and the other made it this year but you would think they traded for a All NBA first team point guard and had 3 other former allstars on the team or something.