Josh Smith Shot the Ball 26 Times

[Buzzard]

Monta Ellis doesn't rebound, block shots, or even assist his teammates like Josh does so that's not fair to criticize Josh for that when he impacts the game in multiple areas while Monta is pretty much just a shooter.I was able to find some scoring efficiency stats from ESPN to support what you're arguing, which shows this is Josh's worst season of his career.

Not being able to criticize a player's fault is living a very blissful life. And that is the attitude that the ASG and coaching staff have taken, which is why he still shoots those long balls at a clip of about .289. The fans who boo him for those bone headed shots are intelligent fans, I only wish the coaching staff was just as intelligent and had at least half as much intestinal fortitude..

[01d0rd3r]

Agreed, Joe was off, Teague was turning the ball over as if he was playing for GS. Smith and Ivan were the only positives last night. Stop complaining about Smoove, he has played an integral role in the team's success this year.

Josh by far had the best night last night. Joe played bad and Teague played like garbage. I dont have an problem with Josh taking 25 shots, as long as they are in the paint, until then he will continue to be criticized.

[willthepureshooter]

"Stats are for cavemen" Meaning, stats are for people who don't understand the game of basketball. Josh Smith is a really smart player! Look at his production in reference to his tremendous amount of minutes. He naturally flows in the game and that's why he fills the stat sheet. Statistics can be very misleading at times. Immediately after last nights game people were coming to the assumption that Josh took a ton of bad shots because he shot 26 times. Lol.. funny..? Yes! Why? Simply because majority were in the paint. And his second half shooting was pretty much ridiculous. I always shake my head at the hatred. The truth is, Josh Smith is highly underrated. And he's a beast! LOL

[MoBetta]

To all the Josh Fans I didn't title this thread Josh is the reason we lost the game. Just FYI

[Buzzard]

To all the Josh Fans I didn't title this thread Josh is the reason we lost the game. Just FYI

You did not title it Josh Smith is a Beast so it must be a bash thread. This is their problem: Josh is a great player like Kobe and Durant and if you do not see it their way you are hating. Edited March 28, 2012 by Buzzard

[MoBetta]

You did not title it Josh Smith is a Beast so it must be a bash thread. This is their problem: Josh is a great player like Kobe and Durant and if you do not see it their way you are hating.

Yea u can't criticize Josh lol

[01d0rd3r]

"Stats are for cavemen"Meaning, stats are for people who don't understand the game of basketball. Josh Smith is a really smart player! Look at his production in reference to his tremendous amount of minutes. He naturally flows in the game and that's why he fills the stat sheet.Statistics can be very misleading at times. Immediately after last nights game people were coming to the assumption that Josh took a ton of bad shots because he shot 26 times. Lol.. funny..? Yes! Why? Simply because majority were in the paint. And his second half shooting was pretty much ridiculous. I always shake my head at the hatred. The truth is, Josh Smith is highly underrated. And he's a beast! LOL

Thus is the problem. Seven of those missed shots were jumpshots outside the paint, six were beyond 15ft. We all know he cant make those shots consistently. What would be his FG% if he had simply not taken those shots? 73%is you answer. Better yet if he would have been in the post and shot those seven shots from there he would have had a high FG% than even that and might have won us the game. Josh is not the reason we lost the game last night, tired legs would be the reason, but he does need to understand that he could be a all-nba 1st team player if he simply stopped with the jumpers.

[Admin]

Stats are for cavemen... Except when they support your agenda.

51 minutes 32 points 17 rebounds and 5 assists!!! And you guys are complaining about him shooting too many shots on an injury depleted team? Lol you guys are really out of touch with reality! Josh and JJ stepped up tonight but all you "stat cavemen" are worried about are numbers... Geez!! No wonder Smoove wants to leave Atlanta!

Guess those don't count as stats?

And sorry not trying to sound like a d*ck here but if you truly believe that stats are for cavemen then the game of basketball has passed you by. No way do teams spend millions working on advanced metrics if they were for cavemen.

[macdaddy]

I object to the term caveman. I prefer "civil behavior-challenged"

[dhawk]

Josh carried the load and them some. He got hot and the team kept feeding him the ball. Now having taken around 20 shots by half-time was a little alarming, which basically meant no one else got into any kind of shooting rhythm. He toned down the shots in the 2nd half but he didn't have enough help on this night.

Edited March 28, 2012 by dhawk

[KB21]

Learn to deal with it. Everyone sees how lucky we are to have the guy but us. Even an ESPN guy is calling him the most underrated player in the league.

chris palmer‏@ESPNChrisPalmer

Josh Smith is ridiculous: 30 points, 18 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals. NBA's most underrated player.

I agree that Josh is underrated, but I'm not going to use volume stats to try and support that.

Superior blog man, 54% shooting is efficient. Free throw % is one thing as he is shooting a career low this season. You can't compare Josh to the best scorers of this generation in Kobe and Durant. They have the refs in their back pocket and their franchise has truly built the offense around them.

The difference between Josh, Kobe, and Kevin are the fact that Kobe and Kevin can both attack the basket and shoot efficiently from the perimeter. League average FG% on shots in the 16-23 feet range is 37.8%. Kobe Bryant hits 41% on 373 attempts at that range. Kevin Durant hits 48% on 222 attempts from that range. Josh Smith hits 33% on 301 attempts at that range. He is second in the league to Kobe Bryant in shot attempts at the 16-23 feet range.

No problem, just wanted to clear that up. Shooting 54% for a game is pretty good and the rest of his numbers were excellent, except for only having 4 FT attempts. I'm in the camp that would rather see him shoot 20 FGA's along with 10 FTA's per game as he'd easily average 25 PPG while opening up 10 more FGA for other players who are better shooters.

I agree, but efficiency rating and looking at efficiency statistics are two different things. I really don't pay much attention to efficiency rating, because it doesn't tell me much about what the player does on a possession by possession basis.

No because this threa is about scoring efficiency and that stat apply other variables like rebounds and blocks. Overall nobody is arguing that Josh is an ineffective player. We are arguing over whether he is an efficient scorer.

That stat is the efficiency rating.

Most of the time he's not an efficient scorer but he drastically impacts the game in so many other areas that it seems trivial to criticize him for this, at least IMO.

I agree. However, at the same time, it is a little frustrating watching him because you know he could be such a better player if he would be more selective with his shooting and attack the basket, even if all he does is draw a foul. He reminds me so much of Andruw Jones with the Braves. Andruw was a great defensive center fielder, tremendous power hitter, and could drive in a lot of runs. However, his weakness was anything on the outside edge of the plate because he pulled off everything. Because he never corrected that weakness, he never became the player he was capable of becoming.

With that said, I do wonder if Josh would be more selective with his shooting if he played in a faster pace scheme. Part of me thinks that Josh "settles" for 16-23 foot jumpers because of the style the Hawks play. Josh is assisted on a lot of his jumpers (about 74% of them), so that makes me think that he's not clearing out for himself and taking contested jumpers. He's getting swung open by the offense and is missing open jumpers.

[Wurider05]

The problem I have with the volume shooting is that this will not work come playoff time. When things tighten up and teams get gritty that crap is not going to work. teams will capitalize on those stupid jumpers that come at the worst time. I don't want this volume shooting to carry over into the playoffs.a team where Josh Smith is your best player is a team that will not go very far. I will stand by that statement.

[Supporter]

Why does Josh need 20+ shots to be an effective player. He can still assists, rebound, block, and steal without taking as many shots. But hey, Josh is apparently our "best offensive player". He has taken the most shots out of all hawks this season.

[01d0rd3r]

a team where Josh Smith is your best player is a team that will not go very far. I will stand by that statement.

That is not a fair accusation. Josh has games were he stays inside and gets 30, we beat anybody in the NBA. A team were josh has more than 6 missed jumpers is not likely to go very far. But a team were Josh is the best player can win a championship. It all depends on how Josh decides to play from series to series.

[Watchman]

FG% is not an efficiency stat. It's actually a volume state. 30 points on 26 shot attempts is not efficient. 30 points on let's say 20 shot attempts and 10 free throw attempts is an efficient night.

Actually if someone took 20 shots and attempted 10 free throws, then in all likelihood they did take around 25 shots. If you are fouled in the act of shooting and miss, the attempt does not count. Only if you make the FG does the attempt count.

[Buzzard]

That is not a fair accusation. Josh has games were he stays inside and gets 30, we beat anybody in the NBA. A team were josh has more than 6 missed jumpers is not likely to go very far. But a team were Josh is the best player can win a championship. It all depends on how Josh decides to play from series to series.

Not in a million years can a team with Josh as the best player win a championship. Man even arguably the weakest champions over the last three or four decades had players better than Josh. Detroit with RIP and Billups, Big Ben I consider to be at least Josh's equal as far as impacting a game . Then Dallas with Dirk and a bunch of old role players.You act like its Josh who determines how well he plays and not a playoff teams D. You are sorely mistaken in that regard. Josh and JJ stink up the playoffs and I am 100% positive they did not choose to play like that. Great read though, I am still laughing...

[MaceCase]

Either I'm doped up on Redbull, allergy meds, and skittles or this last part makes no sense.

He's picked up a number of his technicals in the short period of time since the All Star game. My suspicion is because he's no longer on his best behavior for a selection but he claimed he wasn't selected because he doesn't kowtow for people so hmm.Get it?

[01d0rd3r]

Not in a million years can a team with Josh as the best player win a championship. Man even arguably the weakest champions over the last three or four decades had players better than Josh. Detroit with RIP and Billups, Big Ben I consider to be at least Josh's equal as far as impacting a game . Then Dallas with Dirk and a bunch of old role players.You act like its Josh who determines how well he plays and not a playoff teams D. You are sorely mistaken in that regard. Josh and JJ stink up the playoffs and I am 100% positive they did not choose to play like that. Great read though, I am still laughing...

Thanks! I enjoy reading condescending responses!Anyway you are sorely mistaken if you think that Josh cannot dictate the flow of the game when he plays in the post. When josh plays on the block he is a top 5 inside scoring threat. The Hawks winning and losing games hinges largely on how Josh decides to play every night. He is the most important player on this team both offensively and defensively. The Bulls dont have an inside force good enough to stop Josh, neither do the Heat or any other team in the eastern conference sans Orlando,

[willthepureshooter]

Stats are for cavemen... Except when they support your agenda.Guess those don't count as stats?And sorry not trying to sound like a d*ck here but if you truly believe that stats are for cavemen then the game of basketball has passed you by. No way do teams spend millions working on advanced metrics if they were for cavemen.

Your cyber words have no hold on my attitude so respond how feel my man. Once again, you've over analyzed what I've stated. Sure, starts are for people trying to find a deeper understanding of a subject. But before all of this wonderful stat technology, the game focused more on raw decision making and ability. Stat watching has given way to numerous first round busts in the NFL, MLB, and the NBA. Look at the stats of Bruce Bowen, Robert Horry, and Dennis Rodman. Did there stats say tons about their games? Or was it enough for scout watching them play in college?

[HawkItus]

Your cyber words have no hold on my attitude so respond how feel my man. Once again, you've over analyzed what I've stated. Sure, starts are for people trying to find a deeper understanding of a subject. But before all of this wonderful stat technology, the game focused more on raw decision making and ability. Stat watching has given way to numerous first round busts in the NFL, MLB, and the NBA. Look at the stats of Bruce Bowen, Robert Horry, and Dennis Rodman. Did there stats say tons about their games? Or was it enough for scout watching them play in college?

I look at the advance statistic wave and say what has it wrought? Nothing. Money Ball? Zero titles. Houston's GM? Not even a conference final. It's silly. People point to Lebron and other superstars saying "well look at the PER etc. Their at the top so it has to mean something" Bullcrap, I don't need win shares to know how good Lebron is. It's called winning and observing. He wins so I know he's good. I know Barkley was good, but not as good as Jordan because he didn't win as much and I watched both play.