A Short Q &A With Josh Smith w/ SLAM Magazine

[JJFAN4LF]

http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2010/07/a-few-words-with-a-smith/

[APE]

JS: Ahhhhhhh! (Smiles.) Maybe a little. I don’t think I will; I’ll still be midrange, midrange, midrange and blocking shots, and knocking down open midrange shots.

:help wanted3:

[Uncaged]

http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2010/07/a-few-words-with-a-smith/

Nice find. It's good to hear Josh talking about winning championships :go ahead:

I'm also glad to hear the (lack of) fear of the Miami Heat. Even though they made some big moves the players can't be rattled by that. Us fans can panic but the players have to keep their composure even though the rest of the world has improved their squads.

It'll be interesting to see him in LD's system. Hopefully he means serious business about abandoning the 3 and the long jumper. Work on his handles and his 12-15 jumper and we will be looking at a 2011 NBA All Star.

[Sothron]

I approve of his no cheesing on 2k rule.

[Admin]

GREAT! So instead of him talking about dominating inside like he's not only capable of doing but also has proven to be easily his most efficient scoring area he's going to focus on taking mid-range shots and working on his ISO (errr I mean taking guys off the dribble) game? Wow I sure can't wait for that! Someone please tell Josh that he had a 28% eFG% on jump shots last year and that he was nearly twice as good scoring in close. If this offense requires a big taking the mid-range shot I'd much rather see Al taking it since he's so much better at it than any of our other bigs are.

And while it's good to hear him talking about not being afraid of the Heat this team has a long way to go before I'll believe they are mentally tough enough to ignore the talent level of the Heat with the way we've been dismantled by the Cavs and Magic the past 2 seasons.

[BusBoyIsBack]

The Heat may surpass Vick on Madden 2004 as the biggest cheese in video game history not named Bo Jackson in Tecmo Bowl

[Chinky_eyed_hawk]

GREAT! So instead of him talking about dominating inside like he's not only capable of doing but also has proven to be easily his most efficient scoring area he's going to focus on taking mid-range shots and working on his ISO (errr I mean taking guys off the dribble) game? Wow I sure can't wait for that! Someone please tell Josh that he had a 28% eFG% on jump shots last year and that he was nearly twice as good scoring in close. If this offense requires a big taking the mid-range shot I'd much rather see Al taking it since he's so much better at it than any of our other bigs are.

And while it's good to hear him talking about not being afraid of the Heat this team has a long way to go before I'll believe they are mentally tough enough to ignore the talent level of the Heat with the way we've been dismantled by the Cavs and Magic the past 2 seasons.

Isn't this exactly what we want to hear?? We know he can dominate a game in the block. Always has. What he cant do is hit that midrange shot so I would much rather hear about him working on that than anything(outside of free throws ) Seems to me like he is working on that 28% as it should be

[HAWKSFAN89]

:help wanted3:

Yeah.... I was thinking the same thing. what the *bleep* is this bullsh*t.

[HawksFan87]

Loves it. Even the haters/naysayers. Can't deny that Smoove continues to work extremely hard to improve his game. Can't wait to see this so "called" new offense...

[JTB]

Isn't this exactly what we want to hear?? We know he can dominate a game in the block. Always has. What he cant do is hit that midrange shot so I would much rather hear about him working on that than anything(outside of free throws ) Seems to me like he is working on that 28% as it should be

i agree! this is what we want to hear, i hope he comes back with a midrange this upcoming season but thats alot of hope but i believe in smoove! he can do it!

[HAWKSFAN89]

Well, if that was the case and he can hit the mid range jumper, he should be at SF and we should be using Marvin as trade bait for some kind of center.

[NJHAWK]

The Heat may surpass Vick on Madden 2004 as the biggest cheese in video game history not named Bo Jackson in Tecmo Bowl

Hmmmmm I wonder which 3 Heat players will represent the team when NBA JAM comes out in October :question:

[Dexmethylphenidate]

Well, if that was the case and he can hit the mid range jumper, he should be at SF and we should be using Marvin as trade bait for some kind of center.

Midrange is different from perimeter game. An effective SF has to be able to knock down threes which Josh should never attempt. It's nice to hear he got something in his wheelhouse that he can improve---I think improving the midrange game is pretty important to PF too. Just look at Amare, David West, Boozer, Hasleem, (and even Horford)... they can nail that 15-18footer with consistency making them more potent to the offense. He just got to pick a spot and keep practicing that same spot.

[lethalweapon3]

How do you pronounce "Tzvi"?

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Hopefully he's working on free throws, free throws, free throws so his offensive opportunities are not limited to midrange, midrange, midrange.

~lw3

[Admin]

SLAM: Can we look for you to shoot some threes this year?

JS: Ahhhhhhh! (Smiles.) Maybe a little. I don’t think I will; I’ll still be midrange, midrange, midrange and blocking shots, and knocking down open midrange shots.

SLAM: You working on any other aspects of your game you hope to tighten for next year?

JS: Yeah. Being more comfortable off the dribble. Making moves off the dribble, and just being more consistent on my midrange jump shot.

Notice that he DID NOT say that he is PRACTICING the mid-range shot. He's talking about what we're going to see him doing next year and he makes that clear by even throwing in the part of about blocking shots and then later talking about making moves off the dribble. I'm fine with him doing those things but he doesn't say anything about working on his low post moves or scoring in the paint. He even says he may shoot the 3 a little.

82games.com has a breakdown of shots by area and Josh took 46% of his shots as what they consider to be "jump" shots and while I'm not certain what that area is I am certain that it is not considered to be "close, dunk or tip" as those are the other areas for shot selection. So it's safe to assume that to them "jump" shots include the mid-range shot and the 3pt shot and Josh had a staggeringly low 28.5 eFG% (effective field goal percentage) on "jump" shots last year.

By comparison here are the eFG% on "jump" shots for our other starters:

Bibby - 51%

Joe - 48%

Marvin - 39%

Horford - 44%

Josh was a full 11% worse than a player that many here hate on all day long saying he's such an inconsistent and poor shooter. And Josh says this is the area where "he'll be" next year and somehow this makes some of you happy to hear?

Note: Effective Field Goal Percentage; the formula is (FG + 0.5 * 3P) / FGA. This statistic adjusts for the fact that a 3-point field goal is worth one more point than a 2-point field goal. For example, suppose Player A goes 4 for 10 with 2 threes, while Player B goes 5 for 10 with 0 threes. Each player would have 10 points from field goals, and thus would have the same effective field goal percentage (50%).

[Admin]

Midrange is different from perimeter game. An effective SF has to be able to knock down threes which Josh should never attempt. It's nice to hear he got something in his wheelhouse that he can improve---I think improving the midrange game is pretty important to PF too. Just look at Amare, David West, Boozer, Hasleem, (and even Horford)... they can nail that 15-18footer with consistency making them more potent to the offense. He just got to pick a spot and keep practicing that same spot.

Josh is going into his 7th season and he STILL cannot shoot for crap outside of the paint. It's time for him to realize that this is never going to be a strength of his so he needs to be focusing on scoring in the paint and rebounding and playing good defense. That's all we need from him! We've got plenty of other guys who are actually good at shooting outside and maybe if we had 1 or 2 guys that focused on scoring in the paint we wouldn't go 5+ minutes without scoring in the 4th quarters of games on numerous occasions since we'd be looking to score in the paint and at the very least draw some fouls.

[pimp]

Notice that he DID NOT say that he is PRACTICING the mid-range shot. He's talking about what we're going to see him doing next year and he makes that clear by even throwing in the part of about blocking shots and then later talking about making moves off the dribble. I'm fine with him doing those things but he doesn't say anything about working on his low post moves or scoring in the paint. He even says he may shoot the 3 a little.

They asked him what parts of his game is he working on.

I assume working on it is practicing.

[SuperSavvyNation]

The crazy thing about Smoove is his discretion. He loses his head at inopportune times. We all remember times when a 4th quarter went haywire, a couple of turnovers here and there the Hawks needed someone to grab hold and get them back on track. But what do we see, Smoove deciding to jack up a 20 footer at the worst possible moment. Too often he feeds in to the frenzy instead of stablizing the offense with a drive and at least getting to the line.

Now that I mention it, that's one thing we' ve missed in our offense in the 4th quarter. A player to draw fouls and keep adding points even if the defense clamps down. That's one of my major issues with Joe.

[AHF]

Work on the mid-range game in the summer along with post moves and moves off the dribble but mentally plan to take that ball inside as much as humanly possible once the whistle blows. As Dolfan points out, the numbers are indisputable and teams would love to see Josh shooting the jumper because it means he isn't killing them inside.