Only one question has to be asked in regards to JS

[Wurider05]

and that question is simply this. If we sign him to the money he wants and god forbid JJ goes down with an injury, is Smoove capable of leading this team to the playoffs, is Smoove capable of being the man. We all know the answer to this question!!!!

Not the man, but gets paid the man money Allstar team:

Odom

Redd

Marbury

K. Martin

Peja

Rashad Lewis

Jermain O'Neil

Shawn Marion

You guys know what these guys have in common right???

[capstone21]

No because he is always going to be a secondary player.

[AtLaS]

Those guys have much bigger deals than Josh Smith is even eligible for. We couldn't sign him to those if we wanted to, because it relates to how many seasons you've been in the league.

[crimedog]

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and that question is simply this. If we sign him to the money he wants and god forbid JJ goes down with an injury, is Smoove capable of leading this team to the playoffs, is Smoove capable of being the man. We all know the answer to this question!!!!

Not the man, but gets paid the man money Allstar team:

Odom

Redd

Marbury

K. Martin

Peja

Rashad Lewis

Jermain O'Neil

Shawn Marion

You guys know what these guys have in common right???

Wait, so are you saying JJ could have led the team to the playoffs without Smith? No, you aren't saying that because you aren't actually asking a real question here. There may be three players in the league that have proven to be able to take untalented teams to the playoffs.

Now, as far as empirical evidence. At the end of the 06-07 season, JJ went out for 2 months and we won at the exact same rate as we did when he was healthy.

[exodus]

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and that question is simply this. If we sign him to the money he wants and god forbid JJ goes down with an injury, is Smoove capable of leading this team to the playoffs, is Smoove capable of being the man. We all know the answer to this question!!!!

Not the man, but gets paid the man money Allstar team:

Odom

Redd

Marbury

K. Martin

Peja

Rashad Lewis

Jermain O'Neil

Shawn Marion

You guys know what these guys have in common right???

How many of those guys would you rather have than Smith?

[EazyRoc]

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and that question is simply this. If we sign him to the money he wants and god forbid JJ goes down with an injury, is Smoove capable of leading this team to the playoffs, is Smoove capable of being the man. We all know the answer to this question!!!!

Not the man, but gets paid the man money Allstar team:

Odom

Redd

Marbury

K. Martin

Peja

Rashad Lewis

Jermain O'Neil

Shawn Marion

You guys know what these guys have in common right???

How many of those guys would you rather have than Smith?

If we can get two of those guys for Smith, I'd be game.

[gsuteke]

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and that question is simply this. If we sign him to the money he wants and god forbid JJ goes down with an injury, is Smoove capable of leading this team to the playoffs, is Smoove capable of being the man. We all know the answer to this question!!!!

Not the man, but gets paid the man money Allstar team:

Odom

Redd

Marbury

K. Martin

Peja

Rashad Lewis

Jermain O'Neil

Shawn Marion

You guys know what these guys have in common right???

I couldn't agree more with the nature of your post.

The problem lies in the market. While Josh isn't worth a contract averaging 13 million/season IMO because his game has some major flaws the Hawks will have to pay this kind of money because the market will dictate so.

This leaves the Hawks 2 options

1. overpay for Josh Smith because if they don't someone else will

2. let him walk and try to use that money elsewhere.

The problem with #2 is the NBA doesn't operate in a "Free Trade" system

[Wurider05]

It is part of the loser mentality that exists around here. Just because we are the hawks we have to overpay JS and potentially handcuff ourselves in the coming years. Nearly every player on that last has played for multiple teams. I like JS but he needs to be paid for what he is right now. We all know that BK wouldn't have given him the max if he was still here. We can't afford to get burned. Josh is a piece of the puzzle. He is not a franchise player and he will never will be. That isn't a knock on him it is what it is.

[crimedog]

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It is part of the loser mentality that exists around here. Just because we are the hawks we have to overpay JS and potentially handcuff ourselves in the coming years. Nearly every player on that last has played for multiple teams. I like JS but he needs to be paid for what he is right now. We all know that BK wouldn't have given him the max if he was still here. We can't afford to get burned. Josh is a piece of the puzzle. He is not a franchise player and he will never will be. That isn't a knock on him it is what it is.

So at what point would you let him walk? If you did let him walk, what would you do next?

Keep in mind, Mike Redd has experienced more success as a "go-to" guy than JJ, how does that factor into your analysis?

What about a guy like Garnett who's skill set makes him an amazing supporting player but not "the man"? He makes over $10m a year more than what Josh will probably get.

[Swish]

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Keep in mind, Mike Redd has experienced more success as a "go-to" guy than JJ, how does that factor into your analysis?

WTF?? Where the heck did that come from? JJ is so far and away more reliable to put the ball in the hoop its laughable.

On the question at hand, the only guy I'd rather have was Marion a couple of years ago. He's basically a Smoove clone- bad shooting, athletic, pretty good D.

[crimedog]

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Keep in mind, Mike Redd has experienced more success as a "go-to" guy than JJ, how does that factor into your analysis?

WTF?? Where the heck did that come from? JJ is so far and away more reliable to put the ball in the hoop its laughable.

On the question at hand, the only guy I'd rather have was Marion a couple of years ago. He's basically a Smoove clone- bad shooting, athletic, pretty good D.

Swish my friend, read the post. I didn't say Redd is a better player, he isn't, Joe is better at so many aspects of the game its insane.

However a Redd-led Milwaukee team won 40 games a couple years ago and although they lost in only 5 games to the Pistons, Redd dropped 27ppg over those games shooting an insane 52% and 47% from 3.

I don't like Redd att all, I like Joe a lot. I was making the point that being paid "the man" money without "the man" production is all about context and almost all good teams have multiple guys making a lot of money. Marion in his prime with Nash was paid a lot but he was the second most important part of an elite team for a few seasons.

[Diesel]

I think the thing that you guys miss is that Smoove has some game changing ability. His transition defense caused problems for Boston. When Rondo had his head on a swivel and when Boston were missing "bunnies" inside. It wasn't because they couldn't hit them. It was because they were looking for Josh Smith.

By that same token, Josh Childress is an excellent glue guy.

The problem I perceive is that the rest of the league has looked on these guys, seen their youth and figured out that they could find a way to use them to win. While we here have been more interested in seeing ppgs and can they win alone.