Anyone reside in Ga, if so....

[hawkster411]

Has anyone watched Dwight Howard (Southwest Atlanta Christian) or Josh Smith (Oak Hill Academy) play an actual high school game?

I'm sure there is someone in this room that has an inside source that know either Howard or Smith personally.

ESPN analyst's say that Howard is soft? How?

I'm really curious on Josh Smith. I remember seeing Smith in the McDonald's Slam dunk contest. The kid looks like a freak and his a ridiculous vertical.

In the NBA Draft, I wouldn't mind seeing the Hawks draft Josh Smith. Then, draft Luke Jackson at pick 17. Lastly, the Hawks trade JT/2nd round picks for another 1st round pick.

I'm just concerned that the Hawks would have to give up too much to get Dwight Howard. While the Hawks can keep all the picks and gather the best talent available.

Comments?

[ersimo2889]

Here's a link to a video of one of his games (Region 5-AAAAA Championship).. It's about 3 minutes long, mainly just highlights of him (included are a few of his free throws for some reason)

http://homepage.mac.com/digitalhoops/Pages/Josh_Smith.html

It took me a bit to figure out who Josh Smith was because I had no idea he was left handed.

You need quicktime for the video by the way.

[Blunt91]

Well he has NBA range on his jumpshot which I already knew he had from the McDonalds All American game. He has some Athletisim but I don't know if he is the Next Vince Carter. I didn't see much as far as dribbling skills are concerned. Looks like he can only go left with the ball. Can he dribble with both hands?? Wheres is his crossover? I think his drbbling skills might need a little work for a small Forward.

[MoonKnight]

I am sure I will get blasted by some for this but Carter's game changed for the worse after Lenny moved him from the 3 spot to the 2 spot. Now Carter lingers around the 3 point line instead of playing more in the post. He also does not slash into the paint as much because more 2s can match his quickness. The point I am trying to make is there is nothing wrong in letting Smith play the 3 spot. I have also read where he has a weak handle. The 3 spot is a better place to work on his handles than against quicker 2 guards. I think playing the 3 spot makes a player have to develop more of his O game. Consider SJax. After SJax was moved to the 3 spot over the 2nd half of the season we saw his use a post up game, cut down on his turnovers and actually have a few good rebounding games. Sjax showed a much more versatile game than I thought he had. At Smiths' size he could easily play the 3. If we draft Smith then lets let him play his natural position as a 3 and not "convert" him to the 2 guard.

[hawkster411]

Blunt,

Demarr Johnson couldn't dribble. Vince Carter could jump.

Josh Smith a combination of Slim (no dribbling skils) and Vince Carter (vertical).

I hope I'm wrong, and I hope this kid has the drive and dedication to improve every aspect of his game. I would love to have this kid.

For some odd reason, I have a feeling Josh Smith is the "future" all-star in this draft.

[hawkster411]

esimonds03,

Great video! The kid is a monster. From the looks of the video, he never gives up on a rebound, he has great timing in block shots, and he has shooting range.

What impresses me about the video is that he slashes to the basket. If you pay attention to the video, he's not afraid to fall on the ground. He sacrifices his body to get a shot off. Most of all, Josh Smith is all over the court--Defensively and Offensively. He's almost the total package. Yet, he does need help on his dribbling skills (he looks a little slow).

[hawkster411]

http://www.insidehoops.com/billy-knight-021904.shtml

Q: Talk about the draft pick you received and your own along with the salary cap and what you’ll have to operate with during the summer

Billy Knight: There’s still some more intangible things that could happen and it could fluctuate some, but we’ll be considerably down and have money to spend if we deem to do so. But that certainly doesn’t mean you have to spend it because you have it. We have some picks; we’re trying to get some more picks. I’m not adverse to getting more picks than we have now. I just think the draft is so young that you can’t expect instant gratification from your draft picks because they’re investments, those are five-year contracts with those players. And the NBA is becoming more and more a developmental league. I think it’s safe to say we’re going to get a young player with our picks. We’re going to have young players that we’re going to have to work with and develop and improve something about them, but probably more than one thing. But they’ll be people we think have a good change of being good NBA players and can contribute to what we want to do.

Billy Knight is not ruling out high school prospects. I think Billy Knight's obstacle right now is to either trade up to get Dwight Howard or stay at 6 and draft Josh Smith.

[Weez]

no, Carter's game has definitely changed, for the worse. While I'm not sure if I attribute it to Lenny, or the moving of positions (he'd played sg for awhile...go look at the all-star ballots ~ for what that's worth). However, with his "injuries" and his general attitude towards taking the team on his back, being injured, combined with the early knocks on his three point shooting (it has gotten much better)...he's stopped going inside and can generally be ofund out drifting near the 3pt line. He's just too damn panzy to have continued the high wire act (imo).

As for the comparison that Smith has the skill set crossed between Vince and DerMarr...I think it's pretty accurate. That can either be tremendously uplifting to some, esp. iwth his size/ability to play sf...and discouraging to others, who want the perfect HS Kid (LeBron) or something of that ilk.

Personally, from everything he's said, it simply sounds like he wants to be a great one, and knows that he still has work to do. I like that. I like the fire he's distributing. It's also one of the reasons that I'm not so sure on Howard.

[Diesel]

Yeah, there was much B.S. in the comments about Lenny hurting Vince's game. Vince was a Wuss before Lenny. His injury only made things Psycological. Let's not be fooled, though, this happens to ever great slasher. It causes them to have to reinvent their game. Remember when all Jordan could do was drive and Dunk? Well, he reinvented his game twice... He became a post up Guard, then he became a standstill shooter. Nique was probably the greatet slasher in history.. But soon, you started to see Nique with the Spin Move and later he became a standstill shooter.

Kobe and Vince are still young, but Vince has always been a three point shooter type. He always have done it, but what stood out was his backdoor cuts and his jumping over people....

[Weez]

the sad thing with vince is that he could have been better than Nique...solely because of handles and shot. He could dribble better than I remember Nique...and started with a better jumper to which he now relies solely upon.

plus, Jordan sorta added those aspects to his game without completely abadoning the dunk ro the drive...Vince. nope.

[KB21]

They have different styles and completely different body types. The player I think is most similar to Vince Carter is J.R. Smith.

I think Josh Smith has a chance to be a Tracy McGrady type of player. He's a legitimate 6'8" player who can play the shooting guard position when he improves his ball handling ability. Right now, he's a lefty that can't dribble at all with his right hand. He's got a good jumper but it is inconsistent.

Josh has also been compared to a young Dominique Wilkins, and their skills at the same stage of development are very similar. We will see if Josh has Dominique's drive to take over the game. Comparing a player to Dominique Wilkins is placing a lot of expectations on that player. He pretty much has to become a guy who scores 26+ ppg over his entire career while grabbing 6-7 rpg and shooting 48% or better. That's pretty much in line with Dominique's career numbers.

[Diesel]

Yeah... If Vince had the courage... He could have easily been better than Nique because of his weapons... But Nique had more heart... That's the difference. Nique put the load on his shoulders every night. Every night he went out to put up 30 & 40 points. Everytime down, nique wanted the ball in his hands.

Nique didn't have bad handles and Vince's handles are not that of a PGs.. I have never looked at his stats, but I would doubt that Nique turned the ball over that much. Nique just didn't pass. That's the difference. Nique was definitely a black hole. When the ball came in to him, he was going to score.

But Vince never realized that if he played aggressively with the ball, that he would either score or go to the line. He was aggressive on all those backdoor alley-oops... however, with the ball, teams learned that if you give him an outside shot and cover the path to the lane, he'll shoot it. Sadly, the same is more true of Paul Pierce. Defensive coaches are not stupid. They love to see a player coming off a yearlong injury. They know that if he got it in contact, that he will be one of these guys who will settle for a jumpshot.

It didn't happen with Jordan which is why he was great. He came off ACL and when he came back, he dominated basketball. Nique came off ACL and when he came back, he's was a bit older but that team was the best team that the Hawks ever had until they traded Nique.

[KB21]

'nique had an unmatched desire to carry the load. He wanted the ball. When it came crunch time, he basically told his teammates to get him the ball, and he would win the game. Dominique definitely wasn't shy about his ability to score on anyone.

When Dominique came off the Achilles injury, he made himself a better shooter. He still had the desire to take over the game, but he knew his game would no longer be centered around the iso play and his ability to beat his man to the basket. Dominique shot 38% from the three point line the year after his Achilles injury.

[cyman3]

i remember at one point... Carter and Bryant were considered the 2 best SG in the league (this was obviously before the TMAC explosion)...

but Carter simply does not have that desire to play at a high level all the time...

thats a shame...