4/20 Star of the Game vs Blazers

[mkwest]

14 to go...

[Ranma]

[madmaxmedia]

It's refreshing to have a center with, you know, center skills...defend the paint and the rim, score down low, be a presence on the boards.

It doesn't matter if he can't knock down 3's or lead a fast break, there should always be other players on the court who do that better than your center.

[nickhx2]

gonna be sad when cole goes. but gd if he doesn't deserve to get his ass paid this coming offseason

[nickhx2]

It's refreshing to have a center with, you know, center skills...defend the paint and the rim, score down low, be a presence on the boards.

It doesn't matter if he can't knock down 3's or lead a fast break, there should always be other players on the court who do that better than your center.

i'll be one of the biggest complainers forever about how this season went trying to incorporate smith as a small ball 5. but at some point what's done is done.

that said, i will forever wish we got to see how smith/cole played together, though, and i think we may have missed out on a really powerful defensive lineup with those two guys, austin, lance, and wes. so unfortunate that doc basically carved out a role for paul pierce when it's pretty clear he is a net negative player.

[og15]

I think it would have been a great defensive lineup, but the problem was always with Smith. He's just too hard headed to accept a smaller role. Smith was probably the teams worst offensive player while he was here, but the bigger problem is that he shot and handled a lot. If you aren't producing or efficient on offense, it can be fine, as long as you don't go and shoot or use a possesion 1/4 times down the court.

Smith would be an amazing defensive role player, but with the Clippers, among players getting minutes, we had:
5th in FGA/36 with 14.1 -- no
6th in 3PA/36 with 4.5 -- no
1st in TOV/36 with 3.2 -- no
4th in USG at 23.6% -- no
Last in Ortg at 90
Last in TS% at 45.6%
Last in eFG% at 43.3%

He was essentially tanking the bench offense singlehandedly, and from his history, we know that part of the issue was likely that he was not willing to take a step back on offense. He believes in his skills and he considers himself to be a guy who should be a decent part of the offense when he's on the floor.

If he left his ego at the door and made the transition to defensive role player, teams would be very willing to sign him, but I'm not sure if he'll find suitors this off-season.

[nickhx2]

yeah, i know. it's hard to defend him on the offensive aspect. that said, i still would like to think he'd have played better on that end as a PF vs other PF's, as opposed to a PF fighting through C's. the guy just could not finish against tall trees.

i believe another thing that was happening off the court was he was trying to hold some certain chuckers accountable for their actions and the locker room didn't take too well to his presence as a want to be leader.

overall i'm still miffed we didn't get arthur to begin with. the josh smith thing never should have happened in the first place.

[og15]

Yup, Arthur would have been a nice fit for sure, I was more inclined to him too, but I accepted the Josh Smith addition assuming everyone was on the same page when they signed him / he agreed to sign. Ah well...

Also with Smith, on the one hand, sure it's harder to finish against bigger guys if you try and go face to face with them inside, but on the other hand, he's a guy who used to play SF and should be able to blow by big men off the dribble, but he really couldn't do it consistently. Technically small ball is supposed to give you an advantage on offense and disadvantage on defense, but with poor shooting and no consistent ability to get to the basket, Josh did not give any offensive advantage, which of course we were all saying.

Small ball works with quickness and spacing and shooting, not with clanging shots and congestion.