Josh Smith fans: Come defend your boy

[BusBoyIsBack]

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Not true! Only a few continued to bash him when he did well! Many bashed him over some D_mn scrimmage and wanted Childress or Smith to start at small forward!

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Well they sure are quiet now and I hope it stays that way.

I also hope that Smoove plays within himself more often and we put Law in the game so he won't be in those situations to fail that Lue sets him up with

[Atlantaholic]

If woody knew how to coach J-Smoove wouldn't have the ball at the wing with 2 seconds left on the shot clock every other posession in the fourth... I know Detroit is a good defensive team and it's tough to get good looks against them... but if JJ is getting denied why do we waist 20 seconds of the shot clock on Lue pounding the ball waiting for JJ to come free? We could run a curl to Marvin who was shooting lights out... but alas; Woody the "rainman" Woodson had other thoughts.

[Yeti]

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The only thing frustrating is that Josh Smith is the whipping boy of the Hawks.

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You have got to be kidding me! Marvin Williams has clearly been the whipping boy on this board until he took the whip away with his play. Josh has been the opposite, almost an untouchable. People have suggested to bench Marvin and start Smith at small forward all year long. So no I am not sympathetic to your claim at all!

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You are 100% correct on all counts. The Marvin hate started the day he was drafted and never let up. But it has only been two games, we'll see if he can change some minds. About Josh, he needs to calm down and play within his own ability. I think he'll be fine. A little humility would go a long ways. It's a great bunch of kids starting to play well.

but Lue sucks

[Joker]

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The whole team lost, I was impressed with the team and Josh at times but when you show low IQ in the clutch there's a problem.

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What was he supposed to do with a few seconds left on the shot clock???

Where's the lashing out for Tyronn Lue dribbling the shot clock out which puts Josh Smith in that poor position?

Where's the lashing out at Woody for not pulling Ty Lue with that old act of his?

Where's the lashing out at Woody for letting the Pistons close the gap by benching Josh Smith and company vs Pistons starters to fuel 16-6 run???

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They shot when Joe was in trouble wasn't JS fault man, it's like you bring up things, man forget it

[Peoriabird]

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We could run a curl to Marvin who was shooting lights out... but alas; Woody the "rainman" Woodson had other thoughts.

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You are right! They simply don't run plays for Marvin and he is one of our best shooters. But they run plays for Smith and I can't understand it!

[BusBoyIsBack]

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If woody knew how to coach J-Smoove wouldn't have the ball at the wing with 2 seconds left on the shot clock every other posession in the fourth... I know Detroit is a good defensive team and it's tough to get good looks against them... but if JJ is getting denied why do we waist 20 seconds of the shot clock on Lue pounding the ball waiting for JJ to come free? We could run a curl to Marvin who was shooting lights out... but alas; Woody the "rainman" Woodson had other thoughts.

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And then people blame Josh Smith for those shots

WTF was he supposed to do?

Get a 24 second violation?

Clearly that is the fault of Lue and Woodson yet the blame is put on Smoove?

THAT is the agenda Im talking about.

And calling him a turnover machine when he averages a little over 1 TO a game that clearly had no bearing on the outcome of the game considering the near double digit lead we had at the beginning of the 4th is another joke.

[bfwolf]

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You are 100% correct on all counts. The Marvin hate started the day he was drafted and never let up. But it has only been two games, we'll see if he can change some minds. About Josh, he needs to calm down and play within his own ability. I think he'll be fine. A little humility would go a long ways. It's a great bunch of kids starting to play well.

but Lue sucks

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Lue was very important for us last year when we didn't have as many weapons and needed a guy who could put up points. But now that we've got other weapons, his ball-hogging is a real problem. I mean, we obviously still need him on the team because Law can't play 48 minutes and we're not going to get anything out of Speedy/AJ, but we need to give Law as many of those minutes as he and his wrist can handle.

I agree with you about humility for JS. The thing is, we know he's capable of doing it--just look at the second half of last season when he started playing so much smarter.

Marvin is playing great! I never thought he would amount to much after two forgettable seasons, but he has really turned the corner this year.

[Peoriabird]

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About Josh, he needs to calm down and play within his own ability. I think he'll be fine.

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Here is the problem...He played the exact same way against Dallas!

[Atlantaholic]

We could run the play that Cleveland ran with Lamond Murry and Wesley Person. They ran two curls on oppossite sides of the keys and one of them was open all day. (Andre Miller was able to set a career high of 11 assists that year, just by them running that play over and over).

Have Horford and Smoove set picks on JJ and Marvin and have them both curl... they are both deadly mid-range shooters... I don't know why we don't attempt this, or other stuff like this. Woody is like a 2 year old with a brand new X-box.

[Peoriabird]

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Marvin is playing great! I never thought he would amount to much after

two forgettable seasons,

but he has really turned the corner this year.

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See what I mean folks

[BusBoyIsBack]

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We could run the play that Cleveland ran with Lamond Murry and Wesley Person. They ran two curls on oppossite sides of the keys and one of them was open all day. (Andre Miller was able to set a career high of 11 assists that year, just by them running that play over and over).

Have Horford and Smoove set picks on JJ and Marvin and have them both curl... they are both deadly mid-range shooters... I don't know why we don't attempt this, or other stuff like this. Woody is like a 2 year old with a brand new X-box.

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LMAO @ Woodson trying to run a play like that.

The Hawks playbook on X-Box should be a joke.

[oken]

Josh Smith is not awful.

He just needs to know what he's capable of and start playing more intelligently.

He is not KG, he is not JJ, he is not Kobe.

What he is is someone that can rebound, play tough defense, intimidate down low with some nasty blocks... and offensively...he should just stick to layups and dunks and putbacks.

I think a lot of his bad plays are a result of not focusing...he needs to keep his head in the game and just play to his potential.

He doesn't need to be a 20 point scorer...as long as he's doing his thing while keeping his turnovers low and shooting high percentage shots.........thats what he needs to be focusing on...

[AnnArborHawk]

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Josh Smith is not awful.

He just needs to know what he's capable of and start playing more intelligently.

He is not KG, he is not JJ, he is not Kobe.

What he is is someone that can rebound, play tough defense, intimidate down low with some nasty blocks... and offensively...he should just stick to layups and dunks and putbacks.

I think a lot of his bad plays are a result of not focusing...he needs to keep his head in the game and just play to his potential.

He doesn't need to be a 20 point scorer...as long as he's doing his thing while keeping his turnovers low and shooting high percentage shots.........thats what he needs to be focusing on...

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Amen to that. But I'm sure his agent$ are telling him differently.

[Peoriabird]

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Josh Smith is not awful.

He just needs to know what he's capable of and start playing more intelligently.

He is not KG, he is not JJ, he is not Kobe.

What he is is someone that can rebound, play tough defense, intimidate down low with some nasty blocks... and offensively...he should just stick to layups and dunks and putbacks.

I think a lot of his bad plays are a result of not focusing...he needs to keep his head in the game and just play to his potential.

He doesn't need to be a 20 point scorer...as long as he's doing his thing while keeping his turnovers low and shooting high percentage shots.........thats what he needs to be focusing on...

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He needs to be Josh Childress but we are 4 years into this experiment and you would think at some point that the light would go on but it hasn't

[Yeti]

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I think what's frustrating is that JS can be a very good player, and he did contribute this game, but he keeps trying to do things that everybody knows he's not good at (except for him seemingly). I'm sure the coaches are telling him not to hoist up 3's, but he still does it. I'm sure the coaches are telling him not to bring the ball up the court and try to be a PG but he still does it. It's the game between the ears where he's letting us down, and that's harder to excuse than physical mistakes. Childress did not play well, but he was doing the things we should want him to be doing. He just wasn't executing. Law turned the ball over a bunch, but again, it was for understandable mistakes. A lot of JS's mistakes are very hard to understand and could be eliminated easily if he would just embrace his role.

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The only thing frustrating is that Josh Smith is the whipping boy of the Hawks.

Just like people who blamed all the Falcons problems on Mike Vick.

Man how smart those people look now

The most blatant reasons why we lost this game are

1)JJ, Smoove, Horford out the game while Pistons starters were in at the beginning of the 4th

2)Ball not bouncing our way at the end (2 balls that rim out while Pistons rim in)

3)Poor call to end the game

Singling out Josh Smith is retarded

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Josh is NOT a whipping boy (except for maybe tonight). He has gotten the least criticism of anyone on this board. He did some good things and some stupid things.

We don't need to single out anyone -- I was thrilled with how they have played the last two games. All did some good things - except maybe Lue. Marvin improved, JJ is JJ, Law and Horford are pleasant surprises, Shelden played better, and Josh hit the three clutch FT and rebounded. Let's not get into our normal blame game when they are finally on the right track. To come within 1pt of Detroit on their home opener - after Detroit cleaned up in Miami and Orlando - lets CELEBRATE - we have a real team again !

[PureGreatness]

what i noticed is josh doesnt know what the hell hes doing on offense. and i think its confusing him forreal.

is he a jump shooter...no

is he a post up guy...no

is he a slasher...kind of

i think he needs to drive to the basket with authority IMO. hes driving the ball like a little [censored], he needs to dunk on some folks. and he needs to catch some alleys...if all that happens his jump shot will come.

and if he slows down and get big on the block it will help him. he is 9/33 in 2 games..damn

come on smoove GET YO STUFF TOGETHA!!!!!

[AtLaS]

Detroit and Dallas are VERY good defensive teams, though. Scoring on those teams is not easy.

Dallas was ranked 5th in defense last year, Detroit 6th.

[Murat]

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Detroit and Dallas are VERY good defensive teams, though. Scoring on those teams is not easy.

Dallas was ranked 5th in defense last year, Detroit 6th.

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It wasn't a problem for Marvin who shot 60% in these games. Marvin needs to have the ball in his hands more often and Smoove needs to provide energy which is the best thing he can do.

He has no business taking 35 shots during a 2 game span and MArvin only 22. I think it's more of Woody's fault than Smooves though.

[Peoriabird]

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I think it's more of Woody's fault than Smooves though.

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I don't know what a scape goat looks like but I bet if closely resembles Mike Woodson!

[AtLaS]

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It wasn't a problem for Marvin who shot 60% in these games. Marvin needs to have the ball in his hands more often and Smoove needs to provide energy which is the best thing he can do.

He has no business taking 35 shots during a 2 game span and MArvin only 22. I think it's more of Woody's fault than Smooves though.

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I agree about that, I really wish Woody would jump on Josh and tell him to not shoot. It would be good if he'd bench Smith when he plays out of control like that, but the problem is that our defense suffers HUGELY with Smith out of the game. It's a catch-22, but he needs to get on Josh for shooting too much.

EDIT: I wasn't trying to excuse Smith's offensive performance, just saying he has played against very good defenders. Marvin has certainly done very well.