An interesting Article on josh smith

A_dub06 · Post #1 » by **A_dub06** » Wed Sep 3, 2014 5:55 pm

http://bleacherreport.com/tb/ddSAc Found via http://ble.ac/teamstream

Josh Smith spent his summer adding upper-body muscle in anticipation of playing closer to the rim under Stan Van Gundy for the Pistons.
by Keith Langlois Web Editor
Posted: Sep 02, 2014

In their off-season communication, Stan Van Gundy and Josh Smith have focused more on big-picture stuff: team culture, leadership, chemistry. It was lighter on the specifics, but Smith heard enough to tailor his summer workout regimen.

“I’m ready to play whatever position is asked of me,” said Smith, noticeably thicker in the chest and shoulders, in his first day back at the Pistons practice facility on Tuesday. “But I’m going to play a lot of (power forward) and that was my main focus on being able to get more in the weight room and put some more muscle on my body to be able to withstand that physicality in the paint. I played that position so much, so long in the league that I know how big you have to be in order to be able, night in and night out, to withstand that impact and that physical nature inside the paint.”

Van Gundy is known for innovative lineup combinations and has said he’ll experiment liberally in the preseason with everything from playing small with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, perhaps, at small forward to playing big with the staple of last season’s starting lineup – the frontcourt of Smith, Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe. But he’s said consistently since his mid-May hiring that he doesn’t anticipate playing big, with Smith at small forward, for long stretches.

Smith also saw the way Van Gundy teams played in Orlando, in the same division as the Atlanta team that was home for the first nine seasons of his career, and noticed the shooters – Jodie Meeks, D.J. Augustin, Caron Butler and Cartier Martin – added to the Pistons roster over the summer.

“I know that he believes in his system,” Smith said. “That was one of our rival teams when I was in Atlanta. We saw them quite often. So that’s what I see – he believes in his system. He’s a really good, demonstrative coach. He knows what it takes to be successful in this league. It’s a proven fact with his body of work. When you’re able to be a part of a coach like that, you want to buy into his philosophies because you know they’ve worked.”

It’s a fair bet that Van Gundy envisions Smith’s passing skills as a major component of his offense. Smith knows the influx of shooters means the lane will be less congested this season than last, so he anticipates getting the ball at his sweet spots – the elbows and mid-post areas – with room to operate and ready to exploit holes left by help defenders.

“Being able to play in the mid-range and attacking,” Smith said of his likeliest role. “If somebody comes over to help out, I’ll be able to find the open man and I’m very confident that those players are going to knock shots down because they’ve proven it their whole careers.”

“He’s not only a very willing passer, but an outstanding passer,” Van Gundy says of Smith, who joined Caldwell-Pope at the same Atlanta gym focusing on upper-body weight work every other day over the summer. “I think it’s the best part of Josh’s game. Probably the most overlooked part of his game – his ability to create for teammates.”

After averaging 4.0 and 4.3 assists in his last two seasons with Atlanta, Smith’s average dropped to 3.3 last season. It wasn’t because he was any less willing a passer. This season, a few more of those kick-outs will find 40 percent 3-point shooters on the receiving end.

“People will have to concentrate a lot on the perimeter,” he said. “It’s going to be hard to pack the paint and dare us to shoot like they did last year because we have a lot of guys who can really stretch the floor and shoot the basketball. Bringing those guys in and having (Caldwell-Pope) with another year under his belt, being able to see the game slow down a little bit for him, and we have Jonas Jerebko as a stretch player. It should be fun to see it and how this thing is going to evolve.”

Smith knows – and Van Gundy emphasized it to him, just in case – that a positive start to that evolutionary process is critical to the season ahead. It might not necessarily be reflected in wins and losses out of the gate, but the establishment of a winning culture – and the eradication of whatever negative energy lingers – is foremost on Smith’s mind.

“We understand each other,” he said of his early interactions with Van Gundy. “I know he knows how focused I am as a player in order to become the leader that he wants me to be. I’m just trying to come in and set the example early and show everybody we have to put in work to get productive outcomes for a good season. We just want our main focus and concern to gel early because there are some new faces on the team now and we want to create that camaraderie early on.”

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MotownMadness · Post #2 » by **MotownMadness** » Wed Sep 3, 2014 6:11 pm

Lets see it on the court Mr.Smith

engelbert321 · Post #3 » by **engelbert321** » Wed Sep 3, 2014 6:39 pm

I like what I'm reading. Now I want to see it happen.

DetroitSho · Post #4 » by **DetroitSho** » Wed Sep 3, 2014 6:54 pm

Sure thing Smithers

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detroitKG · Post #5 » by **detroitKG** » Wed Sep 3, 2014 7:05 pm

Ok Josh, I'll believe it when I see you put it together for a full season...

haulerch · Post #6 » by **haulerch** » Wed Sep 3, 2014 7:24 pm

I know I am one of the few, BUT I am really excited to see what Josh Smith does this season. SVG will be the best coach that Smith has had in his entire career and it seems like Josh realizes this and is working towards having a good season. It will also be great to see him back at his power forward spot, I'm really expecting a good season from Smith.

jakebernat · Post #7 » by **jakebernat** » Wed Sep 3, 2014 7:29 pm

i'd feel much better about this if monroe's situation was resolved. the optimist in me not only wants smith to succeed, but to also thrive in SVG's system. there is a greater chance of this happening than monroe learning how to play respectable defense in my opinion.

honestly, if we can get payne and korver back in an atlanta trade for moose, that'd be enough for me to pull the trigger. that gives you THE premier floor-spacer in korver and smith's eventual replacement in payne. what a clusterfck of an offseason it's been...

kurtis48239 · Post #8 » by **kurtis48239** » Wed Sep 3, 2014 7:34 pm

Its no secret that I have been pro smith,but regardless of last season,we should see smith at pf alot (which is his position in the NBA).I think alot of guys around here will change their tune,especialy if smith gets to play most his minutes at pf with andre.

c rasheed · Post #9 » by **c rasheed** » Wed Sep 3, 2014 7:38 pm

Nothing he hasn't been saying every offseason for nearly a decade

DBC10 · Post #10 » by **DBC10** » Wed Sep 3, 2014 7:42 pm

Guy's been in the league for how long now?

He's not going to dramatically change except maybe make a few smarter shots occasionally. His post game is below average as far as I'm concerned (on a PPP basis) and his mid range has been a putrid 32% from 9 to 15 feet. The only thing I'm counting him on to do anywhere sort of decent is to defend and get transition baskets which are pretty much his only strengths.

Unless he somehow absorbs Hakeem's essence and IQ, I don't expect a significant change.

epheisey · Post #11 » by **epheisey** » Wed Sep 3, 2014 7:46 pm

detroitKG wrote:Ok Josh, I'll believe it when I see you put it together for a full season...

This. He played PF every other season he's been in the league. Until I see him on the court outperforming his Atlanta days, it doesn't mean a thing.

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engelbert321 · Post #12 » by **engelbert321** » Wed Sep 3, 2014 7:53 pm

He if goes back to his Atlanta version, I'll be more than happy.

DetroitSho · Post #13 » by **DetroitSho** » Wed Sep 3, 2014 8:10 pm

engelbert321 wrote:He if goes back to his Atlanta version, I'll be more than happy.

That version was still an idiot. Not much to crack a smile about.

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TurboTitan · Post #14 » by **TurboTitan** » Wed Sep 3, 2014 8:30 pm

He's finally showing some initiative.

Post #15 » by **dVs33** » Wed Sep 3, 2014 8:33 pm

I'm cautiously optimistic ( like i am with Jennings) that SVG will get Smith back on track.
He isn't going to get smarter over night, but SVG should put a system in place for Smith to thrive in.

Moose10Fan · Post #16 » by **Moose10Fan** » Wed Sep 3, 2014 8:37 pm

Josh Smith stinks.

Notanoob · Post #17 » by **Notanoob** » Wed Sep 3, 2014 8:46 pm

jakebernat wrote:i'd feel much better about this if monroe's situation was resolved. the optimist in me not only wants smith to succeed, but to also thrive in SVG's system. there is a greater chance of this happening than monroe learning how to play respectable defense in my opinion.

honestly, if we can get payne and korver back in an atlanta trade for moose, that'd be enough for me to pull the trigger. that gives you THE premier floor-spacer in korver and smith's eventual replacement in payne. what a clusterfck of an offseason it's been...

The Hawks aren't going to trade Korver. Their coach is a shooting fanatic and Korver is probably his favorite player on the team. He's done nothing but rave about him. They won't move him, and especially not for a non-shooter like Monroe. Payne can probably be had, since he's only a low first round pick, but someone else will have to come back instead of Korver to match the salaries assuming that the Hawks really want to get Monroe at all.

Honestly, I think that most people (almost everybody) here would do that trade-Payne's not only a local boy but a stretch 4 and thus a perfect fit around Andre, and Korver would be a godsend-I don't know if there is a team in the league that wouldn't replace one of their starting wings with Korver.

To think that we could have signed Korver instead of Smith last year...argh. Damn it Dumars.

Billl · Post #18 » by **Billl** » Wed Sep 3, 2014 8:57 pm

Smith took 3.4 3's per game last year and only 1.6 lifetime. He has 1 year where he only took 7 all season and shot 50% overall. He's clearly capable of chucking MUCH, MUCH less than he did last year. That doesn't mean he won't make some knucklehead plays along the way, but you can live with that as long as he's causing havoc with his athleticism. We'll see if he can get back to that.

engelbert321 · Post #19 » by **engelbert321** » Wed Sep 3, 2014 9:07 pm

DetroitSho wrote:
engelbert321 wrote:He if goes back to his Atlanta version, I'll be more than happy.

That version was still an idiot. Not much to crack a smile about.

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I'll take his fringe all-star form any day.

Moose10Fan · Post #20 » by **Moose10Fan** » Wed Sep 3, 2014 9:28 pm

engelbert321 wrote:
DetroitSho wrote:
engelbert321 wrote:He if goes back to his Atlanta version, I'll be more than happy.

That version was still an idiot. Not much to crack a smile about.

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I'll take his fringe all-star form any day.

Theres a reason Smith has never been an allstar, he is a bonehead, his shot selection has held him back his whole career.