RandomFan

OH Smoove, you turd. http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/12417144/houston-rockets-forward-josh-smith-calls-atlanta-hawks-fans-bandwagoners Smith dubs fans 'bandwagoners' ATLANTA -- Houston Rockets forward Josh Smith called Hawks fans "bandwagoners" following the Rockets' 104-96 loss Tuesday at Atlanta on. The interplay between Smith and the Philips Arena crowd was lively throughout the night. Smith, an Atlanta native who played his first nine NBA seasons with the Hawks, was booed loudly whenever he touched the ball. The catcalls grew louder in the third quarter, after Smith drained a 3-pointer that rattled around the rim several times before dropping in. Smith then shushed the crowd by placing his finger over his lips as the Hawks called timeout. "I mean, those fans are fickle, very fickle and bandwagoners," Smith said. "It really doesn't mean anything to me." Despite qualifying for the playoffs in Smith's final six seasons in Atlanta, the Hawks never finished in the top half of the NBA in attendance. This season, the Hawks are faring better at the gate and averaging a smidgen more than 17,000 per game, their highest total since Smith came into the league. Smith was a polarizing player during his nine seasons in Atlanta. Chosen by the Hawks with the No. 17 pick in 2014 draft, Smith dazzled fans with his acrobatics, shot-blocking and athleticism. But despite being only a 28.3 percent 3-point shooter, Smith attempted more than 942 shots from beyond the arc as a Hawk. Toward the end of his tenure, a grown would emanate from the crowd at Philips Arena whenever he elevated for a long-range shot. In 24 minutes Tuesday, Smith finished with 14 points on 6-for-14 shooting from the field, along with seven rebounds, three assists, three turnovers and two blocks. Following the game, he remarked that his 2-for-5 line from long range was "pretty good." During his time in Atlanta, Smith was active in local charities. In 2011-12, he was nominated by the Professional Basketball Writers Association for the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award. "I'd been here for nine years, and all I did was positive things in the community and with the basketball team," Smith said. In 2013, Smith signed a four-year, $54 million free-agent contract with the Detroit Pistons. Smith struggled in Detroit, which waived him Dec. 22. Four days later, Smith signed with Houston, where he has shot the ball with a bit more proficiency (44.2 percent on field goals).

I'm glad his contract was traded. Never had a problem with Johnson other than he was paid like a superstar, and was nowhere near that level of a player. If he had been paid $5m per year, we'd have been glad to have him; if he had been paid $10m per year, I think we could live with that; but the money he gets paid in reality, no way is he worth that.

Not my rule. I understand some of this is probably tongue-in-cheek for most of you. But I don't believe in superstitious gobbledygook. There is no such thing as karma, luck, fate, jinxes, or any other unverifiable influence on the outcome of our purely deterministic universe. Therefore, we're free to talk about whatever we want to talk about, with 100% confidence the outcome will be affected in absolutely no way by said discourse.

Just noticed that in the BKN win vs GSW that the "great" Joe Johnson played 36 minutes and scored a whopping 5 points.

You're wrongly assuming Miami is going to be able to hold onto a spot.

Unfortunately, I think with the addition of Thad Young and the return to health of a few other guys, Brooklyn probably makes the playoffs now. Oh well. We'll still get a pick higher than what we would have.

Sorry, but your "opinion" is trumped by the only person who matters, Coach Bud.

Came to post the same thing, lol. Yeah, sucks that it was to Brooklyn, but I'll take #1 this late in the season as a consolation prize http://espn.go.com/nba/standings/_/group/1

Excellent points. To add one more of my own, I think some people underesitmate the value of knowing where to be on the floor at all times. It's very important to any offense, but even moreso in our "pace and space" system that is completely designed to take advantage of the defense with how our players are spaced on the floor to influence defensive angles and put pressure on them to provide open cracks in the D. If you've noticed lately when we play more of our little used backups on the floor at the same time, you'll frequently see bad spacing from them (3 players jumbled up in the same area, players not where they should be for passes, cutting at the wrong time, etc...). So in addition to everything you listed, knowing where to be and why to be there is a very underrated talent in our system: and Pero is apparently very good at it. Of all the reason's I've considered to why we gave up on Payne so quickly, a lack if being able to grasp this skill is most likely the biggest reason he looked to never move ahead of Mulscala, Brand, or Pero in the rotatation anytime soon. In addition to the reason of kicking the rookie contract and player can down the line, I think that is probably the biggest basketball related reason: obviously this is pure speculation on my part - but I'd consider it an educated guess. Payne was obviously more physically gifted than Muscala, and even Pero. That means that he will probably carve out a fairly nice career in a role that doesn't demand as much mentally from him as our system does. But in our system, understanding your role and how it fits in our system, and where you are supposed to be at all times is more important than mere individual talent.

Good article. Another confirmation of what many of us have been saying.

So, JaVale McGee is now a free agent. I know we don't really need a big man, per Bud, but I got to thinking to myself, hey, how many athletic 7 footers come available this late? Maybe we could grab him up and work on trying to develop his game some more, see what happens. And then....I saw this.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdb3vv-5ygI NO. Not just no, but heck no! LMAO at this guy. I had no idea he was this silly.

It doesn't help that Boston choked the 4th quarter by only scoring 15 points. Oh well, it would have been nice, but doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.

A little off topic, but is anyone else keeping up with the GSW vs BOS game? WTF? Boston is taking it to the Dubs. Up by 26 at one point in the game. Lets hope they can hold on for that win. It would give us both the same amount of losses again.

Well then, there is part of your problem. I'm not the one saying he's playing poor on offense, you folks are. I'll allow that he is SHOOTING poorly. But the problem lies in thinking shooting well is all that is involved in playing good on offense, and many here appear to have fallen into that trap. It's not. And that's what some of us, including Coach Bud obviously, are saying. And just because you're not seeing it, he plays some darn good defense too.

That reminds me, I can't remember who it was, but someone in chat asked if Bud would sit out Korver and Millsap our next game vs Houston. At the time I said probably; but looking at the schedule ahead, I'm changing that to probably not. He will probably sit some people for our game vs Phily on March 7th. It's the 2nd game of a back-to-back, and it's winnable even with sitting people. We have 2 days off between our next game at Houston, so no real need to rest them for that game. Then we have one day off, followed by a back-to-back with Cleveland here and at Philly on the 6th and 7th. The players sitting I would expect Millsap, Korver, and Pero since he never plays the 2nd game of back-to-backs. It's possible Schröder will sit as well. That might even mean we get to see a start for Horford at PF, with Brand and Moose handling the C rotation like they did for the Heat game.

Maybe he's counting Coach Bud as #15? LOL

Acting like he's a prime Bill Russell? You're not much for analogies are you? Sure, saying a backup C that is making a very small salary in the NBA is the same thing as comparing him to Bill Russell, in some universe....I guess...

But is it replaceable for the $1,250,000 salary he makes this season? That is a big factor people don't acknowledge - very low salary for the minutes he provides.

Love the picture. Remember that show from when I was a kid.

And almost as soon as I typed that, it looks like Rose might actually be back before the end of the season. Apparently he had a 10 minute surgery and was very simple. Now has a 4-6 week rehab, which would return him to the court a few weeks after we get Thabo back. That definitely changes things for me. I'd rather see Toronto in that 4th seed now.

Chicago still isn't going to be a pushover. They do still have Butler, Pau, and Noah - 3 All-Star level players when fully healthy. Losing Rose definitely hurts them, but they will still be a tough out. That being said, I'd still prefer them to finish in the 4th spot and face us in round 2 instead of CLE or TOR. We seem to struggle vs TOR for some reason; or perhaps they have just caught us at the right times this year. Whatever the reason, I'd still rather only have to play one of CLE and TOR, which happens if they play each other in round 2 as the #2 and #3 seeds.

I think you meant Utah and Philly. NY is Jackson and his triangle offense. Philly's coach is from San Antonio and is trying to implement what they and us do, but with younger players.

About as well said as possible.