Josh Smith - Guard/Forward

[suiluap]

http://www.nba.com/playerfile/josh_smith/index.html

NBA.com says that J-Smoove playing for forward and guard (???) positions... How to understand that ? Or is it something new we don't know ?

Sorry for silly question but it's rather interesting info at nba.com :shy11:

P.S. I'm sorry for my bad English.. :(

[thecampster]

http://www.nba.com/playerfile/josh_smith/index.html

NBA.com says that J-Smoove playing for forward and guard (???) positions... How to understand that ? Or is it something new we don't know ?

Sorry for silly question but it's rather interesting info at nba.com :shy11:

P.S. I'm sorry for my bad English.. :(

They used to do sub ratings there. Based on who you sub'd in for you took their rotational position on the floor regardless of what you were doing. My guess is Mo sub'd for JJ a lot and Josh came in for Mo at the substitution. Craw came in for Bibby a lot which by the way they used to do it when I was in to fantasy sports would have made Craw a point guard. Then when Teague they would go 3 guard sets, someone like Bibby would technically be the small forward or power forward based on who he replaced. They would log minutes based on that. Then they would "qualify" a player at that position based on if he played enough minutes at that position. Obviously that system didn't last long.

I'm betting it's something like that though. It's also possible that his assist numbers being better than the majority of guards confused some nba illiterate intern filling out data in a database.

We did use Josh a great deal last year as a "point forward". A point forward is a player that gets the ball at mid range and decides to drive, dish or reset the offense. Similar to the responsibilities of a point guard but about 10 feet closer to the basket. Again, some lackey filling out data probably noticed that and assumed that made him a guard.

Edited August 25, 2010 by thecampster

[lethalweapon3]

nba.com needs such an overhaul. Just needs to be scrubbed clean and started completely over. Turner runs it if I'm recalling correctly and they're right here in ATL. A few of us could intern and fix that whole site in a matter of months.

http://www.nba.com/playerfile/josh_smith/career_stats.html

My biggest gripe is the "rankings" (look at the Regular Season ones on the above page in particular... Smoove ranks #1 in the NBA in WHAT?). Every player's is like that. And they've done nothing about it for years. I could understand if this was the ABA2000 league or the CBA, but for a so-called professional institution like this I think it's absolutely sad.

~lw3

[tremor]

Josh played vast majority of his minutes at PF last season. He used to play SF early in his career. Usually you'll see him listed as PF/SF (e.g. at Yahoo) or just PF (ESPN). I can't recall him to play any guard position even one single time.

BTW good luck to Lithuania in upcoming FIBA World Championship. Interesting group. I expect your team to win 3 games (Lebanon, New Zealand and one of France/Canada).

[justin31]

When Josh came out of the draft a lot of people had him listed as a SF/SG. don't know why, but I guess that label stuck.

[hawkman]

When Josh came out of the draft a lot of people had him listed as a SF/SG. don't know why, but I guess that label stuck.

True. The reason he was listed as a SG/SF coming out of HS was because he had a decent handle, nice passing skills, and a solid jumper at the time. He still shows flashes of those abilities but just hasn't been consistent enough with them in the NBA. If he could play the way he did back in HS, he would be even more of a monster than he is right now.

[Jody23]

Actually, Josh did play some shooting guard in his rookie year. For instance, he started at shooting guard when the Hawks went into Detroit and beat the then defending champions on their home floor and he was quite impressive in that game. I know that's not where he'll play nowadays, but it showed to me that Josh is more versatile than he's given credit for.