Has Smoove Turned the corner?

[JackB1]

Josh seems like he is starting to "get it". He probably had one of his best and SMARTEST games ever in a Hawks uni tonite. He was constantly cutting to the hoop and not hanging out lazily at the 3 point line and taking stupid long jumpers. He is such a force when he plays this way and his shot percentage is great when he plays on the inside.

Bibby was looking for him all night and if he keeps moving like that to the basket, Bibs will find him.

I hope I'm right :)

[PureGreatness]

all i wanted him to do was stop shooting threes. i could give a damn bout anything else because im not worried bout smith as everyone else is. if he turns the ball over than oh well as long as he isnt turning it over 5 times a game. Im not wooried bout anything but him shooting 3s, everything else i dont care.

Edited January 24, 2009 by hoodstar

[uga2006]

I'm as big a Josh Smith fan as anyone but he's done this before. Let's see him do it consistently til we can say he's offically turned the corner and become the player we know he is.

[LOL_Hawks]

Yeah. Once he completely cuts that "more jump shots than playing to my strengths" deal out, then he'll have turned the corner.

I'll take it though. This is exactly how Josh Smith should play, and it's no coincidence that we're winning now, because Smoove playing smarter basketball is an important key to our success.

[WraithSentinel]

He is playing very well of late. To be honest he is just being typical Smoove. He does this all the time. He goes through his funks and through his times where you say he is an All-Star. He will keep us on the edge our seat for as long as he remain here. We will either be ready to put him on the Pedestal or kick him off the team.

[thefloydian]

He is playing very well of late. To be honest he is just being typical Smoove. He does this all the time. He goes through his funks and through his times where you say he is an All-Star. He will keep us on the edge our seat for as long as he remain here. We will either be ready to put him on the Pedestal or kick him off the team.

I think he will mature in the next couple of years and really come into his own.

[Gray Mule]

We knew. We've saw it before. Lots of times. This is our Josh.

Now, he's playing exactly like he's capable of playing.

Why? How did he suddenly "Get It?" Why hasn't he done this

all the time? When Williams and Horford went down, Josh stepped

up. He became "The Man" for the Hawks. Not only did we lose those

two starters, JJ continues in his funk.

Last night, the slow, unimpressive, akward Zaza had as many points

as JJ and he did it in less minutes! As Hawk fans, we love to downplay

what Zaza does, yet he continues to get the job done. What is wrong

with JJ? Are our opponents spending all their energy on stopping him

and leaving others to get the points? If so, it ain't working.

Some games, you just can't win, no matter what. Remember our recent

game when we got beat by eleventy leven to dos, or something like that?

Last night, it was the Hawks turn - - Finally. Hawks were on the other

side of the equasion. Nice to finally get us one of those.

[exodus]

Smith hasn't attempted a 3 over the last 5 games. Over that span he is averaging 20 ppg shooting 57.5%. His FG% is up to 48.9% on the season.

Earlier in the season many of us were wondering why the Hawks didn't run more pick and rolls will Bibby/Smith. Now they are wearing teams out with that play.

Believe it or not the Bucks are actually ranked 13th in defensive efficiency. Their D isn't as bad as we made it look.

[DrReality]

I think a case could be made for the hoopla this summer about his contract and it being an distraction and then all the stuff about him and Woody. And then he gets hurt. First time for a young guy and when he came back he didn't really play his game. I think it's taken him a while to get his game on track this year.

And I think Bibby is helping him and that is the sign of a true leader.

[Atlantaholic]

Smith hasn't attempted a 3 over the last 5 games. Over that span he is averaging 20 ppg shooting 57.5%. His FG% is up to 48.9% on the season.

Earlier in the season many of us were wondering why the Hawks didn't run more pick and rolls will Bibby/Smith. Now they are wearing teams out with that play.

Believe it or not the Bucks are actually ranked 13th in defensive efficiency. Their D isn't as bad as we made it look.

Bibby - Smoove Pick and Roll is our deadliest play right now... by far. Good things happen out of that 9/10 times.

If Smoove has finally realized that he is 100% a PF, and that he needs to play exclusively inside. Then he will be putting up 20-10 for the rest of the year... and for years to come.

[benhillboy]

I agree with those who want to see him play this way consistently, not just a trend, as our last three wins have come against struggling teams with struggling defensive interiors at best. As long as he doesn't take 19 + footers, dribble behind his back/ legs, or try to lead the break, everything he does is a plus for this squad. He needs to realize that he can bang with and jump over most average-sized forwards in this league. Taking it to the rack and defending it is his niche.

[High5]

This isn't the first time he's gone through a great stretch. We'll know he has turned the corner when this becomes the norm.

[AtLaS]

Earlier in the season many of us were wondering why the Hawks didn't run more pick and rolls will Bibby/Smith. Now they are wearing teams out with that play.

I've been griping about it all year, even last year because Bibby is an artist at the P&R.

Maybe now we are starting to get it.

Quote of the night from JJ: ""We were not settling for a lot of jump shots,'' said Joe Johnson, who was able to sit out the entire fourth quarter. "We got to the hole a lot. The pick-and-roll worked to perfection.''

Please take note of that, Woodson. If we continue to run it our offense will be WORLDS better and we'll actually be able to get baskets when other teams are on runs, and we'll be able to finish games and not rely on the jumper.

[Diesel]

Josh seems like he is starting to "get it". He probably had one of his best and SMARTEST games ever in a Hawks uni tonite. He was constantly cutting to the hoop and not hanging out lazily at the 3 point line and taking stupid long jumpers. He is such a force when he plays this way and his shot percentage is great when he plays on the inside.

Bibby was looking for him all night and if he keeps moving like that to the basket, Bibs will find him.

I hope I'm right :)

There's got to be some reward and positive reinforcement when he plays well like this!!! Hopefully Bibs is giving him some!!!!

[thefloydian]

Smith hasn't attempted a 3 over the last 5 games. Over that span he is averaging 20 ppg shooting 57.5%. His FG% is up to 48.9% on the season.

Earlier in the season many of us were wondering why the Hawks didn't run more pick and rolls will Bibby/Smith. Now they are wearing teams out with that play.

Believe it or not the Bucks are actually ranked 13th in defensive efficiency. Their D isn't as bad as we made it look.

I agree with most of this, but I think without Bogut that last stat is pretty much meaningless.

[Admin]

There's got to be some reward and positive reinforcement when he plays well like this!!! Hopefully Bibs is giving him some!!!!

What type of reward would you like him to get?

[bronnt]

Josh has always been a better player in the second half of the season. Maybe he's just starting a tad earlier this year. To me, he's still the same old Josh Smith. When he's playing smart, he's outstanding, and when he's taking loads of jumpshots, being mostly lazy on the boards, and doing stupid things with the ball...he's still pretty good.

This is not the first time he's gone a stretch looking like a world beater. Last January he was probably our best player. He was pretty much averaging 20/10 with 3 blocks in the last couple months of the 06/07 season.

I still need to see more from him, even over his past 6 games. His ability to impact a game defensively is a huge part of what he's about as a player, and his defense has been indifferent since the end of December. He finally had a good game against the Bucks, but with no Bogut, that's a team who can't really score down low, and can't drive in from the perimeter. He started the season off looking like DPOY material and hasn't really gotten back to form...actually, his first few games back from the injury his defense was still there, but it's tailed off since. And he still takes too many nights off in terms of rebounding.

Milwaukee might be his first complete game of the season (maybe the opener against Orlando as well), and that's one game, and it's against a team missing their starting center who are a pretty bad team even with him. He's been even more impressive in games in the past-like last year when he dropped 35 on Washington with 9 boards and 5 assists, or like that triple-double he had in Denver.

If he played every game on offense like he has the past 5 or 6, and played every game on defense like he did against Orlando and New Orleans, he'd be among the game's greats. I'm not going to get too optimistic yet because I'm burned so often by believing in him.

[mrhonline]

What type of reward would you like him to get?

Personally, I'd like to see him get $58M dollars.

And you?

[Kimsey]

It's funny they are finally running pick and rolls/lob passes since we finally acquired a very serviceable pg who are not bench caliber, has been point guards.

These type of numbers JS is putting up would be tip of the iceberg. C. Paul would have had JS playing like this his 3rd year but BK couldn't come to the conclusion a true pg could do this, let alone a hall a fame one.

[High5]

Ugh. Stop reminding me how nasty a combo Smith and Paul would be.