Is it time to explore Trading Josh Smith

[AtLaS]

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The biggest mistake the Hawks could make right now is to trade Josh Smith. This reminds me so much of the Tyson Chandler situation in Chicago. The kid has already had a productive season and seems to be having a down season now. I don't get it when teams draft HSers and when they don't have a complete game at age 21 then it is time to trade them. Just ignore the fact that the Hawks have had zero veterans on the squad to accelerate his learning curve. Ignore the fact that the Hawks have had zero point guards to make his offensive transition easier. Ignore the fact that he has played under an inexperienced NBA coach.

I am not saying he is going to be All NBA but you drafted him at 17. Did you expect him to be more productive than what he is under the circumstances?

I keep reading you Hawk fans comparing him to Nique and saying he can't hold a candle. Did you watch a young Dominique that couldn't shoot a lick from range. Yes, defenses were more liberal to strong drivers back then so his %s look okay but Josh Smith is at least as good now as Nique was as a 23 year old rookie.

Be patient. The kid is good and just needs to learn shot selection which will come with more experience. If you trade him, you will regret it.

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It's simply a case of the grass being greener on the other side for most of these guys. I for one would NOT trade Smith unless it was for an all-star, and it would probably have to be a big man. Gasol is very attractive to me.

[BeeSwatter]

This thread is going to explode when jsmoovefemalefan or smoovethefuture see it. Or is it a coincidence that they are not posting today after a 2-14 performance?

[troubleman]

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You make an excellent point Trouble.

However, I think it's a mixture of both.

Last night at least 3 times, with the clock rolling down, I saw JJ pass the ball to Smoove who was waiting to take the three or the longshot.

My thought was "Hey, this looks like it's by design". Does Woody really draw up

the Rasheed Wallace play

for SMoove??

Then later I saw Smoove abandon the three point line trying to drive inside. I said "hey, that looks like it's Smoove being able to do what he wants to do..."

I think the truth is if you look at the Larry Brown booklet on offense, he likes a PF who can shoot. Brown was the one who first played Al Harrington big minutes. Back when they had Artest, Harrington, Oneal in the frontcourt and said that Oneal wasn't a C?? Who is complaining, they won 61 games.

Brown was the one who traded for Sheed in Detroit.

Brown's 1991 Spurs team had Tim Duncan who would set up High Post and they would run the offense through him..

Before that, Brown had Danny Manning who he allowed to be a PF who could shoot from the midrange.

I'm pretty sure that Woody is trying to redo a Larry Brown... but Smoove is not Sheed or Harrington or Duncan or Manning.

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Not that you mention it, you are correct. I never tried to put the Brown/Woodson pieces together (despite the fact that Woody coached under Brown), but they fit perfectly. My pet peeve is coaches putting players in a position to succeed. Right now, I don't see that out of Woody.

[Guest Walter]

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It's so sad that none of you realize how bad our TEAM offense is. Put Josh on a different team, with even a DECENT PG and coach and he will absolutely explode. It will be the Nique trade all over again.

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Exactly. JS is the player most helped by a credible Pg and the one most hrt by the absence of one. Moreover, WITH credible Pg play he can be better than anyone else we have overall.

W

[Diesel]

I agree that he is the player most hurt by the absence of a real PG... BUT I say the player most helped by one might be Marvin. Marvin lacks aggressiveness... So a real take charge PG would get him the ball in his spot (also would help Marvin establish "his spot").

[SmooveTheFuture]

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This thread is going to explode when jsmoovefemalefan or smoovethefuture see it. Or is it a coincidence that they are not posting today after a 2-14 performance?

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No i can care less its the same thing different day .People praise him when he does well and bash him when he does bad. Put people still think he is the only reason this team is doing some bad right now and he is not.

[BeeSwatter]

I was just yanking your chain a little, I could find fault with a lot of the players last night not just Smoove. Even though Smoove does drive me crazy

[SmooveTheFuture]

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The biggest mistake the Hawks could make right now is to trade Josh Smith. This reminds me so much of the Tyson Chandler situation in Chicago. The kid has already had a productive season and seems to be having a down season now. I don't get it when teams draft HSers and when they don't have a complete game at age 21 then it is time to trade them. Just ignore the fact that the Hawks have had zero veterans on the squad to accelerate his learning curve. Ignore the fact that the Hawks have had zero point guards to make his offensive transition easier. Ignore the fact that he has played under an inexperienced NBA coach.

I am not saying he is going to be All NBA but you drafted him at 17. Did you expect him to be more productive than what he is under the circumstances?

I keep reading you Hawk fans comparing him to Nique and saying he can't hold a candle. Did you watch a young Dominique that couldn't shoot a lick from range. Yes, defenses were more liberal to strong drivers back then so his %s look okay but Josh Smith is at least as good now as Nique was as a 23 year old rookie.

Be patient. The kid is good and just needs to learn shot selection which will come with more experience. If you trade him, you will regret it.

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Nice post. Hit it right on.

[Traceman]

And not just Smoove. A good PG would help EVERYONE.

A good PG would get JJ some easy shots instead of him always having to create his own shot.

A good PG would force Marvin to keep his head in the game and foucs on getting him in the right spots to get his shot off.

A good PG would get Smoove, Marvin, Chillz and Horford easy shots in transition.

A good PG would get the ball to all of our guys in the spots where they are most effective.

Woody has certainly not been good but it is hard for me to blame all of our poor offensive play on him. Our PG play has simply been ATROCIOUS. Last night, our commentators kept talking about how we simply didn't have a PG who could penetrate and create an easy shot for anyone with Law (and Speedy) out and that is true. AJ is slowing down (and he never was a great distributor/penetrator anyway) and T Lue is hurt and he penetrates even less than he did before (which was virtually never even when he was healthy).

I saw some highlights of Philly the other night and even though Miller is getting old, he has only missed 5 games in his CAREER and 2 of those were because of his transition from Denver to Philly. It was beautiful watching him create easy baskets for his teammates either running the break or penetrating. I wouldn't trade Chillz for him but it sure would be nice if the Spirit group would bite the bullet and spend up to the luxury tax limit. That would allow us to sign him without worrying about the salary cap repercussions next year. If the ASG would agree to spend, a package of ending contracts and a future lottery protected first (or Shelden) might be enough to entice Philly at the trade deadline. Miller may only have a couple of years left but I saw enough the other night to make me think he has enough left to be our answer at PG until Law is ready to take over in a couple of years.

[AHF]

Don't forget that a good PG would also stop the effortless penetration by the opposition on the defensive side of the ball. I struggle to figure out whether Lue and AJ are worse offensively or defensively.

[TroyMcClure]

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Gasol is very attractive to me.

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You like those rugged Brokeback types, huh?

[TroyMcClure]

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If we could get the right deal I would trade Smoove in a heartbeat. He is a walking disaster on offense and his defense and rebounding don't even come close to making up for it.

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Not me. No trade of Smoove or Marvin makes sense to me until they have someone other than Woody for a while. I'm convinced that Smoove would flourish in say San Antonio, Utah or Miami. Maybe even Jersey.