Report: Atlanta is actively pursuing Josh Smith for Pau Gasol trade

[Watchman]

I was thinking the same thing! I'd rather have draft picks than Pau. I'd rather have a motivated and focused Smoove than draft picks.

How would we go about finding a motivated and focused Smoove. if it hasn't happened in eight seasons, it isn't going to happen,

[Watchman]

Its funny but I was reading on forums that a lot Laker fans don't want to trade for Smith

Who could blame them?

[niremetal]

Pros: Pau Gasol gets 20/10 without hurting his team by taking bad shots. He's efficient. He's a better on-ball defender than Josh and gives us flexibility against opposing big men (muscle them up with Al or bother them with Gasol's 7'5 wingspan). He's a better passer from the high post, and much better off the pick and roll. He has the best low post repertoire in the league aside from Tim Duncan.Cons: We lose out on help defense, highlight reel plays, and...I'm out.Don't kid yourself into thinking that if the Lakers do this, they're doing it with any thought of keeping Josh past next year. They'd be acquiring his expiring contract. That's it. Delusional Hawks fans are the only ones who think that this would be a one-sided deal in the Lakers' favor.

How would we go about finding a motivated and focused Smoove. if it hasn't happened in eight seasons, it isn't going to happen,

Bingo. And once Josh's athleticism slides, I don't see how he will avoid a brutally quick slide as a player. Edited June 28, 2012 by niremetal

[Sothron]

I'm amazed after eight seasons that anyone is still left that thinks Josh will finally "get it" and stop taking bad shots or stop hogging the ball and letting the point guard bring up the ball and run the offense.

[CODHAWKSFAN]

Pau Gasol Hawk fan at it again

Pau Gasol Hawk fans=

^^^^^ LMAO

I know that would be me

[hawkman]

How would we go about finding a motivated and focused Smoove. if it hasn't happened in eight seasons, it isn't going to happen,

Now that's kind of unfair. Smoove has his faults that we all find frustrating, but he was 19ppg, 9rpg, and 3apg last season when the team needed it most. He led the league in rebounding during the Playoffs on a bad knee because his team needed him to do that. I REALLY understand the frustration at times, honestly I do, but I cannot sit here and make it seem like Josh is a villian that has to get shipped out of town. The things I mentioned above are evidence of a player who cares about the success of the team and is motivated to improve aspects of his game to bring about that success. I just want the undesirable parts of his game to go away, not the player himself. To me, that comes down to coaching more than anything. It's a shame that now the ASG finally 'gets it' that a fresh, outside perspective can be beneficial. I wish they could've come to that epiphany before they decided to keep Drew. Edited June 28, 2012 by hawkman

[hazer]

Pros: Pau Gasol gets 20/10 without hurting his team by taking bad shots. He's efficient. He's a better on-ball defender than Josh and gives us flexibility against opposing big men (muscle them up with Al or bother them with Gasol's 7'5 wingspan). He's a better passer from the high post, and much better off the pick and roll. He has the best low post repertoire in the league aside from Tim Duncan.Cons: We lose out on help defense, highlight reel plays, and...I'm out.Don't kid yourself into thinking that if the Lakers do this, they're doing it with any thought of keeping Josh past next year. They'd be acquiring his expiring contract. That's it. Delusional Hawks fans are the only ones who think that this would be a one-sided deal in the Lakers' favor.Bingo. And once Josh's athleticism slides, I don't see how he will avoid a brutally quick slide as a player.

^^^^^This! This! This-frigin-this!^^^^^

[thatsrightJSmoove]

Now that's kind of unfair. Smoove has his faults that we all find frustrating, but he was 19ppg, 9rpg, and 3apg last season when the team needed it most. He led the league in rebounding during the Playoffs on a bad knee because his team needed him to do that. I REALLY understand the frustration at times, honestly I do, but I cannot sit here and make it seem like Josh is a villian that has to get shipped out of town. The things I mentioned above are evidence of a player who cares about the success of the team and is motivated to improve aspects of his game to bring about that success. I just want the undesirable parts of his game to go away, not the player himself. To me, that comes down to coaching more than anything. It's a shame that now the ASG finally 'gets it' that a fresh, outside perspective can be beneficial. I wish they could've come to that epiphany before they decided to keep Drew.

My thought exactly. Josh is sometimes the best player on this team in terms of giving them a little bit of everything. He's capable of giving you a triple double on any given night. That's more than I can say for the rest of them. I too understand the frustration with some of his decision making, but the Hawks have never brought in the kind of coach that can get the full potential out of Josh Smith nor this team in general, as evidenced by the complete lack of a REAL looking offense, and the disappointing season year after year. I was really hoping any change they made this year would first start with the coach and not Josh Smith.

[Alex]

If the front office does something stupid like trading Smith for Gasol, then Danny Ferry might as well not even stick around until November.

[Johnnybravo4]

Hawks fans wont be happy til we finally get that stiff. Whos going to go to Phillips go watch Joe, Pau and Horford play?

[niremetal]

Hawks fans wont be happy til we finally get that stiff. Whos going to go to Phillips go watch Joe, Pau and Horford play?

Who the hell has gone to Phillips to see Smoove play? The Hawks were 20th in attendance this year, 22nd last year, and haven't been higher than 18th since Smoove came to town. Casual fans don't give a rat's ass about Smoove.

[cam1218]

Josh does a lot of things well, but when I think about losing him, one of his skills that I feel we would miss the most is his passing. We have a unique situation with both of our two frontcourt players being great passers for their position. Gasol is a good passer himself so this wouldn't be an issue and he would probably help us gain more motion in our motion offense. He would also add some more size and allow Horford to play PF (I'm assuming the taller Gasol would be the PF chosen to be our starting C depending on matchups). Niremetal pretty much covered it all in his post above this. I'd miss Smith and would rather not lose him, but we all know he won't be back after this year. This is a good return for him and I think would help make us a more mature team. We would have Gasol who has won a NBA championship as well as Horford who won his two NCAA championships in our starting lineup. Gasol wants out of LA and would hopefully embrace being a leader for the Hawks.If this trade goes down, I would really like to receive a future first from LA. I would also not do this deal if it required us sending them our first too unless we were getting another first via a three team trade.

[ag82]

Our fans audibly groan so much so that you can hear it through your television set when Josh shoots the ball. I'm not too worried about it.

[High5]

I would be very sad to see Josh in a Lakers uniform. Kobe would whip him into shape and it would be nothing but "Showtime Smoove" on Sportscenter.

Edited June 28, 2012 by High5

[cam1218]

I would be very sad to see Josh in a Lakers uniform. Kobe would whip him into shape and it would be nothing but "Showtime Smoove" on Sportscenter.

I would miss him too. We don't have Kobe in Atlanta though. Josh needs a guy like him to make him a better player. He might become "Showtime Smoove" in LA but he will always be "Shoot away Smoove" in ATL.

[Jody23]

If the report is true, what it signals is that the Hawks ALREADY KNOW that Josh won't resign. Unfortunately, they should have realized that two years ago when first made his trade request.

[Jbrinson]

If we get Gasol then we are not looking towards the future. Unless people think we are a championship team with Gasol then there is not reason to get him. I would rather trade Josh for draft picks and let them develop. Then look forward for the future of the Hawks.

[Brotha2ThaNite]

Its funny but I was reading on forums that a lot Laker fans don't want to trade for Smith

Who could blame them?

Please link me to where you both see this. I searched the ESPN MB and found only "ONE" replay out of 26 that said, "they don't want Josh." Link: http://espn.go.com/nba/team/forum/_/name/lal/los-angeles-lakers#!/topic/1340836596-510-826

[ag82]

I just found this with a quick googling of lakers realgm forum. Granted, there is some positive in there too, but I just picked a few of the bad ones since that is what you asked for. (These are all from a thread of only 3 pages btw)

haven't read anything in this thread, just wanted to say i hate josh smith's game. i would be gravely disappointed in this.

I knew I couldn't be alone in letting Pau go simply for Josh Smith, just not right for what Pau brings.

totally agree. The recent Lakers championship teams weren't focused on Bynum. We need to go back to our roots. Bring Lamar back and move Bynum for whatever we could reasonably get to compliment Pau in the frontcourt or maybe for a PG

I think Smith is a good player, but he's not worth more than 10 million dollars a year.

I don't care what he did last year or the year before.

He's a good ROLE PLAYER. A good fourth option on a championship team.

He's being paid as a second option and unfortuantely I think he sees himelf as such (a second option).

No. Please God, no

As much as I'd like to get younger, IQ player > No IQ player. Do not want

this would make the lakers seem like they're desperate to make a move while the hawks get a lot better

For Josh Smith, man hell no

I hope this doesn't happen

Edited June 28, 2012 by ag82

[thatsrightJSmoove]

I would miss him too. We don't have Kobe in Atlanta though. Josh needs a guy like him to make him a better player. He might become "Showtime Smoove" in LA but he will always be "Shoot away Smoove" in ATL.

You're right, it is what he needs but he's not going to get it here unfortunately.