Is Zaza really more valuable than Smoove.

[Diesel]

I see a whole lot of Smoove doing nothing and I see a whole lot of Zaza playing with heart. Smoove's FT slump and bad decisions with the ball really irk me.

[Wurider05]

Truthfully it seems like it. Smoove is a dumb basketball player with super athletic skills. Zaza plays with heart and is a scrapper. I am telling you it is like Smoove doesn't like contact. With his jumping ability he should be getting 10 boards a game. When he takes those long jumpers and misses he isn't close enough to get the rebound. He is playing like he doesn't want to be here. I don't think that we lose much by starting ZaZA. Smoove can't hit a damn free throw to save his life so he probably will continue to settle for the jumper. He is trying to be something that he is not.

[Gray Mule]

Josh has a mental block. Diesel recently reccomended he may need to be

hypnotized. He does? Yep. Something needs to be done.

Now his thinking goes, "If I drive to the basket and draw the foul, I can't hit

the shots, therefore I can't score. Maybe, if I shoot from here, it will go in."

Josh has a poor % from the 3 point line. We all know that. But just think.

If he hits 25 % on his 3's, that means with 100 shots, he hits 25 which adds

up to 75 points. Hitting free throws, he would have to hit 75 % to reach

the same scoring total with 100 shots.

Josh is more dangerous from the 3 point line than he is from the free throw line!

That doesn't make a lot of sense. This shouldn't be.

:no-no:

[Peoriabird]

Josh has a mental block. Diesel recently reccomended he may need to be

hypnotized. He does? Yep. Something needs to be done.

Now his thinking goes, "If I drive to the basket and draw the foul, I can't hit

the shots, therefore I can't score. Maybe, if I shoot from here, it will go in."

Josh has a poor % from the 3 point line. We all know that. But just think.

If he hits 25 % on his 3's, that means with 100 shots, he hits 25 which adds

up to 75 points. Hitting free throws, he would have to hit 75 % to reach

the same scoring total with 100 shots.

Josh is more dangerous from the 3 point line than he is from the free throw line!

That doesn't make a lot of sense. This shouldn't be.

:no-no:

Kinda hard to rebound the ball from the 3 point line

[NineOhTheRino]

Woody is letting Josh know that he doesn't care about his offensives numbers. If Josh does not begin to put a premium on rebounding then his pt will continue to go down. Josh has enough athleticism to average a double double in this league.

[DrReality]

Depends upon the situation. Smoove started out great last night and then faded but Za played great inside, mixing it up. I was glad to see Smoove on the bench in the last quarter. Hope he gets the message.

[buckeye242424]

Depends upon the situation. Smoove started out great last night and then faded but Za played great inside, mixing it up. I was glad to see Smoove on the bench in the last quarter. Hope he gets the message.

Admittingly, I am a huge Smoove fan and I think he is extremely important to the success of this francise. However, sitting him last night was in the best interest of the team. Zaza earned the minutes and played as well and hard as I have ever seem him play. Also, he was a better match for Z than Smoove. After all that, we still lost the damn game! So is Smoove more valuable than Zaza when it's all said and done.. Yes! We lost. Maybe Smoove gets a hand on Mo's shot in the corner?? Hindsight is 20/20.. Grass is always greener.. I know. But we lost. No more moral victories.

[Traceman]

Admittingly, I am a huge Smoove fan and I think he is extremely important to the success of this francise. However, sitting him last night was in the best interest of the team. Zaza earned the minutes and played as well and hard as I have ever seem him play. Also, he was a better match for Z than Smoove. After all that, we still lost the damn game! So is Smoove more valuable than Zaza when it's all said and done.. Yes! We lost. Maybe Smoove gets a hand on Mo's shot in the corner?? Hindsight is 20/20.. Grass is always greener.. I know. But we lost. No more moral victories.

I thought the decision to keep Smoove on the bench last night was the right decision. Zaza is NOT a better player by any stretch but sitting Smoove last night was about matchups. Zaza matched up better with Ilguaskas than Horford does and we went from a 7 point deficit to a 7 pt lead with Zaza in the game. We needed Horford in the game because Smoove is not rebounding like he should. Obviously, Marvin was doing a stellar job on LeBron so you couldn't take him out. LeBron's last FG in the game was the transition 3 he made with 3 minutes left to go in the 3rd.

Smoove pissed me off last night with his pouting about the situation, sitting down and not joining the huddle during timeouts. Bibby was in the huddle cheering his teammates on and Smoove was sitting on the bench pouting. I'm sure Bibby wanted to go back in too but he realized that he was not 100% and that Flip gave us a better chance to win last night.

Smoove had better be ready to go tonight because we will need him in WAS. He needs to look at what is best for the TEAM and not worry about himself so much. If he had managed to grab more than 3 rebounds in 34 minutes last night, maybe Woody would have put him back in the game down the stretch.

Edited March 2, 2009 by Traceman

[Gray Mule]

Kinda hard to rebound the ball from the 3 point line

Not any harder to rebound from a missed three than it is from a missed free throw.

:no-no:

[JackB1]

Josh has a mental block. Diesel recently reccomended he may need to be

hypnotized. He does? Yep. Something needs to be done.

Josh still has the mindset of someone playing a pickup game of hoops. If he doesn't get

it by now, he never will. Look at how he started out Fri night, taking long jumpers and throwing

up bricks. He did the same thing yesterday. He thinks if he makes the first couple of shots, that

gives him the green light to keep chucking.

The other thing that kills me about Josh, is how he has long stretches where he doesn't seem to try. He just stands around with his arms hanging at his sides and doesn't look to get involved. I am really getting tired of his lack of work ethic. He is a prima donna and we rewarded him with a huge contract. Woody feeds into his crap when Josh needs someone to slap him upside his head and wake him up. But for now, he is no better than Zaza. At least with Zaza, you get 100% effort all the time.

Edited March 2, 2009 by JackB1

[Popeye]

Zaza got called for 2 offensive fouls on illegal picks, but i like when he sets a hard pick. It makes other team think where Zaza is at, at all times. Smoove doesn't like contact like u guys said. Zaza plays well against physical teams and we do need his toughness in playoffs especially.

[HawksFan87]

NO.. Za-Za still sucks.. He is the reason they got back in the game..

[ATLSmith]

No. Zaza is not more valuble than Smoove. But I've always loved the way Z plays with heart. That guy took some beatings in the paint a couple of years back and just kept on kicking.

[AtLaS]

Woody feeds into his crap when Josh needs someone to slap him upside his head and wake him up. But for now, he is no better than Zaza.

I'd love to see the bashing Zaza would get if he was signed to Smith's contract. I'm not even going to respond other than saying your statement is nowhere near true.

[drditzel]

simply for his trade value, zaza is small potatoes compared to josh.

same for talent and skill.

the only thing zaza is leading in is heart, and they both make boneheaded plays. josh just gets more minutes.

[Spiral]

I think the biggest problem with Smoove is he quit doing the things that he did well...

Hustle

Josh is always at his best when he's active. I watched McGee for Washington last night and he reminded so much of what Smoove used to be. He was all ove the floor, challenged anything and everything. Finished Strong at the rim. When Josh hustles, he impacts the game in so many ways, offensively & defensively. It wasn't that long ago that Josh was being considered for DPOY. Now, he looks like the 3rd or 4th best defender on his own team. I don't ever remember Josh jumping out of the way when others come to rim strong. He did it last night with McGee and did it the night before with Hickson. I remember when Josh would challenge all comers at the rim. I used to come out of my chair when people would go down the lane and he would be there. I knew the excitement was coming. I remember when he would streak down the court and challenge the opposing teams on breakaways. He used to chase opponents down and block shots with shear hustle and atheleticism. Nowadays he just kinda loafs up and down the court. Can anyone remember the last time you saw Josh chase someone down? He still does challenge shots from the weak side, but not as aggresively as he used to and usually against someone with far less hops than he has. Perhaps this is due to his injury, but I don't know. He just seems like a different player these days. It's almost if he's scared or something. Maybe the truth is what others have said and that is he got paid and now really doesn't feel like he has anything to prove. Almost like he seems like he's pacing himself or something. He has been my favorite player since he arrived, I really hope he gets it together.