Sekou: Smoove "transformed".

[Swatguy]

But I also think there is the natural maturation of the body. As this happens he can carry more weight. Really blows my mind he still so young.

His dad is a big guy. I think he can carry more weight.

Josh needs a mid-range bank shot.

[Swish]

His dad is a big guy. I think he can carry more weight.

Josh needs a mid-range bank shot.

That would be SICK if he took lessons from the Big Fundamental. Does anyone know how TD developed that? I've never seen anything quite like it.

[coachx]

That would be SICK if he took lessons from the Big Fundamental. Does anyone know how TD developed that? I've never seen anything quite like it.

He grew up in the 80's when everyone used the backboard Much more then now.

[Swatguy]

He grew up in the 80's when everyone used the backboard Much more then now.

I teach that as well as the high release point. Young guys don't see it and are slow to use these fundamentals.

[exodus]

His dad is a big guy. I think he can carry more weight.

Josh needs a mid-range bank shot.

I have seen him do that successfully before. He actually seems to shoot better off the dribble, probably because he gets his legs into the shot more.

Unfortunately he frequently starts from too far out and either jacks it up to tries to drive all the way to the rim.

[Swish]

I teach that as well as the high release point. Young guys don't see it and are slow to use these fundamentals.

Are you a coach Swat?

[Traceman]

According to articles in the AJC last summer Smith cut weight going into this past season.

Maybe he did from year 3 to year 4 but he was NOTICEABLY bigger to last year than he was as a ROOKIE.

[AtLaS]

Good to know he's gotten bigger. I just really hope he works on that midrange jumper relentlessly. If he can add that, he'll be a poor man's Amare on offense.

[Red Hawk #21]

Good to know he's gotten bigger. I just really hope he works on that midrange jumper relentlessly. If he can add that, he'll be a poor man's Amare on offense.

You do realize Amare looks so good because he has Steve Nash getting him good looks at the basket right?

[Swatguy]

Are you a coach Swat?

Swat is trill. You don't know? :super:

Edited August 19, 2008 by Swatguy

[Frenzy]

I think he can be better than Amare

[Red Hawk #21]

I think he can be better than Amare

Exactly, most of Amare''s points come of alley oops or Nash getting him good looks at the basket. Smoove doesn't have a great PG like Nash but I think he still has the potential to be better than Amare.

[Admin]

Exactly, most of Amare''s points come of alley oops or Nash getting him good looks at the basket. Smoove doesn't have a great PG like Nash but I think he still has the potential to be better than Amare.

I wouldn't say that most of his points come from that. I'm sure a lot of them do, but he also has perhaps the best mid-range game of any 5 in the game and it has to be respected and with his explosive 1st step he can usually just blow past defenders that are playing him close.

[EazyRoc]

Not to mention that he aggressively crashes the boards!

[AtLaS]

You do realize Amare looks so good because he has Steve Nash getting him good looks at the basket right?

Actually that's not true at all. Amare plays just as well if not better when Steve is out of the lineup. He dropped like 45 on us last season with Nash gone. Regardless, if you watch Amare enough you'd know that it's not solely Nash that runs his engine.

Just like Smith, Amare can take bigs off the dribble with that quick first step and finish very well. But, the difference is that Amare has a MUCH better midrange jumper which forces the bigs to step out and guard him. Smith doesn't have that jumper, so it's much tougher to drive past defenders because they just back off him and basically force him to shoot.

Now, Smith has the potential to be better than Amare just because of defense, but he'll have to become a much more efficient scorer and better rebounder first.

[Fritzenheimer]

"He’s transformed his upper body into a sculpted mass of muscles. He looked as physically imposing as I’ve ever seen him..."

I hope he's resculpted the mass between his ears. With all his physical gifts it's distressing to see how poor his judgement is on the court. His lack of respect for the coaching staff cannot be excused because he's playing for Coach Woodson. Its probable that a lot of his 'tude issues come from his old man who's a bad influence.

I hope he's grown up, but I don't have high hopes for a guy who wore a wristband that said "I want my money." I believe there are reasons why he didn't draw the offers he was looking for from other teams.

[Sasha_Volkov]

I hope it went better than other similar endeavors...

:questions:

[DrReality]

I heard from one of the Hawk's strength and conditioning coaches that Josh was also working on his inside footwork with "surprisingly" John Lucas - former NBA guard and college tennis star (Maryland) in Houston.

Sounds like he's more commited to working on his game than anyone else on the team?

[JackB1]

I hope he's resculpted the mass between his ears. With all his physical gifts it's distressing to see how poor his judgement is on the court. His lack of respect for the coaching staff cannot be excused because he's playing for Coach Woodson.

This is a huge problem and I dont see Smith completely changing his mental outlook this season. If anything, it will get worse now that he's making more money and knows he's more valuable to the Hawks then Woodson ever will be. Even in Game 3 vs Boston where he hit those 2 3 pointers, his 3rd attempt was a brick not even close to the cylinder. He actually THINKS he can make those. He doesn't realize he got lucky once or twice and shouldn't push it. If Smoove ever realizes he can score at will when he plays above the rim and in the paint, he will be real dangerous. But if laziness takes over and he settles for jumpers, his progress will be stalled.

Edited August 21, 2008 by JackB1

[Boomer]

I hope he's resculpted the mass between his ears.

:lol6: Classic.

NBA.com has Amare listed at 6'10" 249 and Smith at 6'9" 235. I guess they're not too far apart in size. I love the matchups between Smoove and Amare, Maxiell, those types of guys. It's like who can dunk on whom the hardest.

But I agree, a little mid range jumper would be nasty. Hit a couple short jumpers, then give em the head fake and go in for the cram.