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Smoovin' on Up


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www.nba.com/hawks/feature/Smoovin_On_Up_030806.html

Smoovin’ On Up

Josh Smith is showing signs of becoming a complete NBA player.

It came as little surprise that Josh Smith was wide open in the corner when he got the ball with the Hawks trailing the New Jersey Nets by two in the closing seconds. The Nets chose to double Joe Johnson, preferring to let Smith try and tie them by hitting an 18-foot jumper than letting Johnson try to beat them with a three.

Their reasoning was sound. Smith’s response was resounding.

The second-year pro, nicknamed “J-Smoove,” calmly released his shot, which bounced on the rim before dropping through, sending the game to overtime.

In the extra session, Smith struck again, nailing another long jumper that provided the deciding points in Atlanta’s 104-102 victory.

The Atlantic Division leaders left the floor wondering who that guy was wearing No. 5 for Atlanta and what the Hawks had done with the Josh Smith that they knew. They found out the hard way about the new, more confident Josh Smith, with whom the Hawks have done a lot.

“I feel more comfortable more than anything,” said Smith, who enters play on March 11 having scored in double-digits in eight of his last eleven games with three double-doubles (he just missed both in the March 1 overtime win at Toronto, scoring nine points and grabbing nine boards). ”I’m just taking my time and relaxing and seeing things open up on the floor.”

Hawks Head Coach Mike Woodson believes Smith’s progress is more a result of him better seeing the light rather than better seeing the court.

“It’s like night and day from when we started with him,” said Woodson. “I don’t think he knew what playing hard was all about when he first got here. He thought he was playing hard but he didn’t have a clue of what playing hard every time you go out on the floor — may it be practice or during the game — was about.”

Woodson admitted that getting Smith to find that extra effort didn’t come easy.

“My staff has done a tremendous job in pushing him,” said Woodson. “I’ve tried to push him. I’ve probably been harder on him than anybody on this team, but there is a reason; because of the talent that’s there. Josh has got to learn all the facets of playing basketball. He’s got to learn how to dribble. He’s got to learn how to pass. He’s got to learn how to defend, shoot the basketball. All those things mount up to being a solid basketball player in this league.

“Has he gotten better? Without a doubt,” Woodson continued. “He’s 100 percent better but he still has a long way to go if he wants to be the player he thinks he should be and this organization and I as a coach and the coaching staff think he should be.”

No longer relying completely on athleticism, Smith who last year was tops among rookies in blocked shots (12th in the league) and third among rookies in rebounds, not only has improved on those skills (he is sixth in the league with 2.52 bpg and is grabbing 6.2 rpg) but also has improved his passing.

He has handed out at least five assists in five of his last nine games, including dishing out a career-high seven assists in Atlanta’s Feb. 24 win at Indiana.

That facet of his game may be a revelation to others but not to Smith.

“All my life I’ve been able to pass and see the floor,” he said. “I look for guys, I can see the floor real well, so I think that is kind of overlooked in my game.

“I make a lot of good passes,” he added with a laugh. “But people get fouled most of the time so a lot of them don’t get counted.”

Smith is starting to get the last laugh on people around the league who had pigeon-holed him as just the 2005 Slam Dunk Champion.

“When you win something like that people tend to think you’re a one-dimensional player,” he said. “They thought that I was just that, which I’m not. I do different things to help my team — whether it’s pass the ball or play defense and knock down that jump shot when I have it.”

That Smith is confident enough to include his jump-shooting in his repertoire is evidence that Woodson’s message is getting through and that Smith is living up to his potential.

“You don’t cringe now when he shoots the basketball.” Woodson said and smiled.

Lawrence Frank and the New Jersey Nets are among those that may beg to differ.

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“When you win something like that people tend to think you’re a one-dimensional player,” he said. “They thought that I was just that, which I’m not. I do different things to help my team — whether it’s pass the ball or play defense and knock down that jump shot when I have it.”


Music to my ears.

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Great kid. It really looks like Atlanta is doing something right with these young players. I love watching Josh, Marvin, and Josh play. Hopefully Salim will adjust as well. The "potential" or "upside" is coming out. I'm excited.

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Salim is adjusting a bit since their (Woody) altercation last month. It comes down to what Woody said, Smoove finally begin to learn what it's like to work hard on and off the court, Salim will get advice and encouragement over the summer, giving him the opportunity to do the same. I'm pulling for him, because like Iverson and Larry Brown went through, a very competitve scorer's mentality is to be aggressive and always want to be on the court. I went through it before when coming up through highschool and college. In the end, I matured and my deeper love for bball and how to play bball won over the coach and his confidence.

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i was singing that in my head the entire time i was reading this thread


So was I, but I was saying "in the east conf" instead of "to the east side."

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It's also nice to see that he's finally getting pretty good at talking to the press, which I guess is part of his maturing process. I remember being on the verge of laughter tears back when Cheryl Miller interviewed him in front of everyone after he won the dunk contest. If anyone has any video of that, Id love to have a good laugh again.

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He seem able to talk to the print media. I haven't seen him talk to tv media in awhile. JJ himself look unfortable at times talking to the TV media earlier in the season. I haven't see how he has handle it since then. Everytime FSN said they are talking to JJ I end up missing it.

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It's great that not only the HAWKS organization is seeing the growth in JOSH, but so are the sport reporters. But he is starting to believe in himseld and his shot, all he needed was confidence and some talking to to keep his head on straight .Now dont get me wrong he has a long way to go, but with the talent that he is showing .WOW is all I can say we have something special in him .and not only that in all of the young guys .

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I've always been pleased with Josh's passing in traffic... He does have good court vision...

Here lately he's done a good job of pushing the ball and finding JJ on the wings or someone cutting to the basket... What he does need work on is his delivery of passes out to the wing... He tries to do a bounce pass and in both instances last game, they were slow getting to the open shooter... That shooter needs those valuable mili-seconds to get off a 100% comfortable shot... Actually, last game the ball had to bounce twice before it got to JJ...

But I would have to agree with his comment that it's an underrated aspect of his game...

The Hawks have done well with the point-forward offense (mainly JChill running it)...

What excites me more than anything during a Hawks game though is when the other team is on the fast break and trailing the play in the corner of the TV screen you see Josh Smith start his sprint...

You know exactly what's comin'... www.swattage.com

I hate that half of his blocks are legit and are so unbelievable that the ref calls goal tending on him... I could only imagine what his block #s would be if he'd get 75% of those missed calls...

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but I would have to agree with his comment that it's an underrated aspect of his game...

The Hawks have done well with the point-forward offense (mainly JChill running it)...

What excites me more than anything during a Hawks game though is when the other team is on the fast break and trailing the play in the corner of the TV screen you see Josh Smith start his sprint...

You know exactly what's comin'...
www.swattage.com


No doubt. It always cracks me up at Philips, after a big block they'll have a graphic come up that says "INSPECTED BY #5...", and then a red stamp comes down that says "REJECTED" laugh.gif

I think his passing is good, and he sees all the nice passes, he just has yet to learn what is a good or a bad pass. He throw a lot of passes away when it's a play that would have been amazing if it had made it, but he should have known better than to try it. I would certainly say that most facets of his game are coming along nicely.

If I was him I would dedicate this summer exclusively to dribbling and post moves. Those 2 areas are still way subpar, and even just a small progression (especially in his handles) would allow him to use his other skills much more efficiently

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I think his passing is good, and he sees all the nice passes, he just has yet to learn what is a good or a bad pass. He throw a lot of passes away when it's a play that would have been amazing if it had made it, but he should have known better than to try it. I would certainly say that most facets of his game are coming along nicely.


Yes, you are right there are quite a few times when he tries to make the long breakout pass which results in a turnover that makes Woody go ballistic on the sidelines... Part of the maturation process... He's definitely better at the short passes...

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