Should the hawks TRY to use Josh Smith in a LBJ/Magic role?

[Admin]

Josh is a pretty good passer. He's gotten a couple of triple doubles or at least close to it. He'll have to refine his ball handling though. I think our team had a better flow when Josh and Jeff rather then Iso Joe. Josh is great.

Josh has 3 career triple doubles. He's had a lot of games where he's gotten close to having more too. He's a very good passer but he's got mediocre handles and at times very questionable decision making skills with regard to passing (and of course long jumpers).

[ruhiel]

Josh can play the Iguodala role. He is an athletic elite defender at 1-4 positions, a shot changer/blocker, can handle in transition and find people off of screens.He could probably be 17,6,6 playing the Iguodala role as a 3.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG7smUGa8h0

[Vol4ever]

Josh can do the defensive 3, he cannot play offense at the 3 unless we are running. He does not have handles, he has the ability to pass, but his BBIQ is really low........and his ego is out of the building.

[Admin]

Josh can do the defensive 3, he cannot play offense at the 3 unless we are running. He does not have handles, he has the ability to pass, but his BBIQ is really low........and his ego is out of the building.

Josh is not a good defender against 3's either as he tends to allow them, whether by choice or not, to get past him and he tries to come from behind and block the shot. That's horrible team defense though as it forces a defender to have to rotate over to try and stop penetration.

[capstone21]

Josh is not a good defender against 3's either as he tends to allow them, whether by choice or not, to get past him and he tries to come from behind and block the shot. That's horrible team defense though as it forces a defender to have to rotate over to try and stop penetration.

agreed, he is not a great man on man defender and he is not a good perimiter defender. His strength is help defense.

[Atlantaholic]

Can we just put this guy on the damn block so he can average 20-10 and 2.5 blocks a game? Everything that's wrong with Josh is when he is in the perimeter.

[ruhiel]

Josh at the 3 means the Hawks will use more ball movement and rely on Teague PnRs more as well. Josh is our best perimeter defender, we used him on Kobe last year, Durant, and Turkoglu, and the win against the Bulls last year he played some 3. Defensively with all the length the defenses have to be more careful passing the ball.And really what SF doesn't get beat off the dribble from time to time? Especially not fair when you consider that as a 4 if Josh is on the perimeter then he has only 1 big man in the paint, Horford or Zaza.The single guy Josh has trouble with is Lebron James.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RX_M_UAtKQwAt the end of the day Josh is not going to be able to block all shots and you'd rather have someone with size in the middle and Josh's athleticism on the wing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuklWpNBhE0http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvyD9sABGCYHe'd be a walking triple double threat.

[Admin]

Josh routinely gets beaten off the dribble when he has to guard SFs on the perimeter. He's a tremendous help defender and in the post he's adequate as a positional defender but he does have the lateral quickness to keep up with the athletic SFs of the league.Nice! Notice Josh loafing back on defense after he felt he got fouled while Durant is taking the ball to the hole? Thankfully Kirk was hustling back (after blowing the layup when he should have passed to Josh) to strip the ball from KD.

[capstone21]

Josh is our best perimeter defender

Josh was a terrible preimeter defender at times...he was getting beat so many times its not funny. As for the offense going through him...that is a bad idea too...last season he was a momentum killer so many times it was not funny. His decision making is very suspect...he is a very willing passer and can be a decent one at times but the offense should not be going through him at all.

[Atlantaholic]

Josh could be effective at SF but only in small stretches. Asking him to chase around guys in the perimeter for 30 minutes is stupid, especially considering the fact he is our best Interior defender. Only way we should move him to SF full time is if we got Dwight Howard.

[capstone21]

Josh could be effective at SF but only in small stretches. Asking him to chase around guys in the perimeter for 30 minutes is stupid, especially considering the fact he is our best Interior defender. Only way we should move him to SF full time is if we got Dwight Howard.

I wouldn't even go as far as say he is our best interior defender but he is an excellent help defender

[ruhiel]

There's Josh staying with his man and playing great team defense as a 3. On Durant and Deng (in 2011 he was 245+ lbs,) and Paul Pierce.Most of the trouble came from the fact with Marvin and Josh at the forwards Josh had no help to funnel the elite SFs he was defending. With a 5 and a 4 he has help and his athleticism and size shines on the defense.Josh is actually great when he plays SF, he cuts guys off and makes them take contested shots. He's great defending the screen and guys try to cheat and foul him to get him off the ball handler.Also yes, if Dwight comes (via FA) Josh will have to play the 3. Why not give it a go early? I'd bet we see him put up bigger better Iguodala, #s, and make an All Star game. He could probably put up 17 pts,9 reb, 6 ast, close to 2 blks, close to 2 steals per game.

[ruhiel]

JSmoove has proven he's a pretty effective help defender as a wing. Most of his help defense as a 4 is not shot blocking but just being able to move his feet and stay on guards and wing playershttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnl7OoBn-_sHe had Derrick Rose even smiling and looking nervous in the playoffs remember? And that was before he lost the weight because he expected to play the 3. With Dwight probably coming, its past time to get him more minutes there. Lets be honest, No SF the Hawks could get will have more mismatch upside than Smith.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvRdVujM2I0

[capstone21]

Its easy to find his highlights...that does not reflect the whole game.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Josh can play the Iguodala role. He is an athletic elite defender at 1-4 positions, a shot changer/blocker, can handle in transition and find people off of screens. He could probably be 17,6,6 playing the Iguodala role as a 3. http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG7smUGa8h0

I did a breakdown of this game when someone on the AJC Hawks board posted this same vid and made the same claim that you made. Josh Smith did 75% of his damage in that game, when he played PF, not SF. He actually took over the game in the 4th quarter, with his offensive rebounding and put backs being what stretched that Hawk lead out.

[Admin]

There's Josh staying with his man and playing great team defense as a 3. On Durant and Deng (in 2011 he was 245+ lbs,) and Paul Pierce. Most of the trouble came from the fact with Marvin and Josh at the forwards Josh had no help to funnel the elite SFs he was defending. With a 5 and a 4 he has help and his athleticism and size shines on the defense. Josh is actually great when he plays SF, he cuts guys off and makes them take contested shots. He's great defending the screen and guys try to cheat and foul him to get him off the ball handler. Also yes, if Dwight comes (via FA) Josh will have to play the 3. Why not give it a go early? I'd bet we see him put up bigger better Iguodala, #s, and make an All Star game. He could probably put up 17 pts,9 reb, 6 ast, close to 2 blks, close to 2 steals per game.

Where in the world are you getting this stuff about him being great at cutting his man off at SF? He's also lazy at defending the PnR and relies on his athleticism to try and block the shots from behind.

[Sothron]

Where in the world are you getting this stuff about him being great at cutting his man off at SF? He's also lazy at defending the PnR and relies on his athleticism to try and block the shots from behind.

I've thought for years that is in fact Josh's actual strategy when forced to play out on the perimeter: just let the guy go by me and I'll catch up around the rim for a block or a contested shot.

[Jody23]

While Josh is not the greatest defender at the three, he's not nearly as bad as some make him out. From what I've seen, he's pretty solid and it was him, not Marvin, that drew the assignment of guarding the other teams star wing player late in games at times last season (OKC game at Phillips as an example). From the comments Wes Wilcox made at Summerleague, I can see Josh playing some more 3 this year.

[capstone21]

While Josh is not the greatest defender at the three, he's not nearly as bad as some make him out. From what I've seen, he's pretty solid and it was him, not Marvin, that drew the assignment of guarding the other teams star wing player late in games at times last season (OKC game at Phillips as an example). From the comments Wes Wilcox made at Summerleague, I can see Josh playing some more 3 this year.

Marvin was a much better one on one perimeter defender then Josh...he at least tried to stay in front of his man.

[Atlantaholic]

I wouldn't even go as far as say he is our best interior defender but he is an excellent help defender

Lets just say he's our most important inside presence... Any possession where Josh is not in the paint on defense is a victory for the opposing team, only if we got an even better interior presence, like Howard, would it make any sense to move the guy to the three.