TheNorthCydeRises

Those 3 point shots are only worth more. They're not better shots, because he can't make either shot at a decent percentage in the first place. It's like asking which dog you'd rather get bitten by . . . a Pit Bull or a Rottweiller? Both bites are going to hurt something serious.

Good video. And whatdoyaknow? Almost every highlight clip is of Josh making a play around the rim either on offense or defense.

Did you choose to ditch the cable company payment, and watch the 6 local channels for free . . like the Hawks did?

You put that in quotes, like he was actively ( or secretly ) wanting to leave Atlanta. Just keep in mind that it was US that traded HIM . . not HIM wanting out of ATL. He wasn't looking to run away from this team. The team ran away from him.

All except Kevin Garnett. KG took 442 shots from that range. Josh took 430 shots.

This is what Ferry and Drew needs to be looking at. Look at what the other top PFs in the game do. These were the top 12 PFs in the game last season . . in no particular order. - Josh Smith - Chris Bosh - Kevin Garnett - Kevin Love - Blake Griffin - LaMarcus Aldridge - Pau Gasol - David Lee - Dirk Nowitzki - Tim Duncan - Carlos Boozer - Paul Milsap Let's see how "Midrange Shawty's" mid-range shooting stacks up with what the top PFs in the league shoot. 10 - 15 FT - Lee: 48% - Bosh: 48% - Boozer: 45% - Duncan: 44% - Nowitzki: 42% - Garnett: 41% - Gasol: 41% - Aldridge: 40% - Smith: 31% - Love: 29% - Griffin: 28% - Millsap: 25% 16 - 23 FT - Nowitzki: 52% - Garnett: 48% - Duncan: 47% - Boozer: 43% - Aldridge: 43% - Gasol: 42% - Millsap: 42% - Bosh: 41% - Lee: 39% - Love: 39% - Griffin: 37% - Smith: 36% "Midrange Shawty" takes more shots 16 - 23 FT than all of the guys listed above, but shoots the lowest percentage of them all. But let's go the other way. Let's look at shots at the rim and what these same guys shoot. AT RIM - Griffin: 75% FG - Millsap: 71% - Garnett: 70% - Smith: 69% - Gasol: 69% - Lee: 69% - Boozer: 69% - Aldridge: 69% - Bosh: 67% - Duncan: 67% - Nowitzki: 63% - Love: 60% Out of everybody on these 3 list, Josh Smith is more like Blake Griffin ( athletically and with his inability to shoot jumpers ), than anybody else on this list. He's not KG. He's definitely not LaMarcus Aldridge. But while Blake relentessly attacks the paint and plays around the rim, "Midrange Shawty" stays out in the mid-range and shoots jumper, after jumper, after the jumper. In other words . . . as a poor shooter from 10 - 23 feet, Blake Griffin only took 333 of his shots from that range. Josh Smith took 430 shots ALONE from 16 - 23 feet, with a good chunk of those shots actually coming from 20 - 23 feet. And that's on top of the 113 threes he took in the regular season + playoffs. Meanwhile, Blake took a whopping 514 shots at the rim, which is over 43% of his total attempts coming at point blank range. Josh Smith? 363 shots at the rim, representing a little less than 31% of his total attempts. Somebody of significance in this organization ( or one of his friends and family ) needs to be pointing out these numbers to him. Don't just tell him to have better shot selection. If you want the guy to get to the next level, TELL HIM THE TRUTH. STOP LYING TO HIM.

It's always an "overreaction" when it comes to Josh Smith. And the reason is because he keeps doing the same thing every year. And the dang coach doesn't help the situation ANY. I'll post the link again to one of the best topics on his long range shooting ( not even 3 point shooting ). I forgot who started this topic on here, but it was one of the best illustrations of what is holding Josh Smith back as a player. http://courtvisionanalytics.com/the-long-two-and-josh-smith/ It's not just the 3 point shot, it's that 20 foot shot that he also loves to take. That shot is just as toxic for him, as the 3 pointer is. Until he and the dang coach realize that, and do something about it, he'll always be on the outside looking in, when it comes to an All-Star berth. That's why people "overreact".

NOTE: League average from each range is about 38% FG. These are "Mid-range Shawty's" shooting numbers ( combined regular season + playoffs ) for each of his 8 seasons 2005: 10 - 15 FT: 20% 16 - 23 FT: 36% 2006: 10 - 15 FT: 29% 16 - 23 FT: 37% 2007: 10 - 15 FT: 18% 16 - 23 FT: 33% 2008: 10 - 15 FT: 27% 16 - 23 FT: 31% 2009: 10 - 15 FT: 17% 16 - 23 FT: 35% 2010: 10 - 15 FT: 31% 16 - 23 FT: 29% 2011: 10 - 15 FT: 27% 16 - 23 FT: 39% 2012: 10 - 15 FT: 31% 16 - 23 FT: 36% At best, he's shooting league average every three seasons from 16 - 23 feet, and has never mastered the shot in that "floater" and high post range of 10 - 15 FT. And the fact that he can't put the ball on the floor and raise up and shoot a pull-up jumper, limits his game from the midrange. His midrange game consists of shooting wide open spot up jumpers. He needs to purge the urge to shoot that shot from him. 4 shots a game is all he needs to be taking from the midrange. The rest need to be at or near the rim . . . period. People need to just stop lying to this dude about him being a guy who needs to work on his midrange shot. No he doesn't. He needs to leave that shot alone, and take the ball HARD to the damn hole. Work on your post game . . . not your jumper. Tell "Mid-range Shawty" to become "Short-range Shawty".

Drew and Mr. Analytics " Danny Ferry need to not only look at Josh's shooting numbers from midrange ft, they need to compare it to other guys who love the midrange shot. Quit lying to that dude and tell him to attack the (( bleepin )) paint.He's not making any All-star team being "midrange shawty".

For Josh to raise his PPG 4 points to 23+ ppg, he's going to have to give that ball up and become even more of a monster in transition as a FINISHER. Then he needs to crash the offensive boards and put that ball back in the hole. Because for him to average 23 PPG, he'll have to make at least 8+ shots per game and 5 FTs.Can he do it?If he eliminated 50% of the long jumpers he takes ( and just about all of his 3 point attempts ), he could be a 50+% FG shooter overall. He got lead scorer all-star type usage last year ( 28.4% ) and took almost 17 shots a game . . and averaged a little less than 19 ppg. So if he makes 50%, that's 8.5 FG makes on 17 shots.At best, he's a 70 - 75% FT shooter, so he'll have to take 7+ FTs a game just to make 5 of them.Honestly, I don't see how you justify Josh getting 28% usage and that many shots per game , when Al Horford has been a guy who has made 50% of his shots his entire career in the NBA. Without JJ here, Horford's usage has to rise to over 20% ( which it has never been over that his entire career ) and Josh's may have to come down to around 23% ( which is his career average ). Add to that all of the so-called shooters and PGs we have on the team now, Josh may not get enough shots and scoring chances to up his PPG by 4 points.Josh is a 5-tool player ( points - rebounds - assists - blocks - steals ). He's not a 23 ppg type of scorer.

These are the lineups the East teams are going to throw at us this year. I'll give what will probably be their top 8 players MIAMI PG - Chalmers G - Wade F - Battier PF - Lebron ( if they go with what worked in the Finals ) C - Bosh 6th - Allen 7th - Haslem 8th - Cole BOSTON PG - Rondo G - Lee ( will be Avery Bradley when he returns off injury ) F - Pierce PF - Bass G - Garnett 6th - Terry 7th - J. Green 8th - Wilcox INDIANA PG - Hill G - George F - Granger PF - West C - Hibbert 6th - Hansbrough 7th - Augustin 8th - G. Green BROOKLYN PG - Deron G - JJ F - Wallace PF - Humphries C - Lopez 6th - Brooks 7th - CJ Watson 8th - R. Evans SIXERS PG - Holliday G - Richardson F - Turner PF - Hawes C - Bynum 6th - N. Young 7th - Hawes 8th - Wright KNICKS PG - Felton G - JR Smith F - Melo PF - Amare C - Chandler 6th - Kidd 7th - Novak 8th - Camby BULLS PG - Hinrich ( Will be Rose when/if he returns late in the season ) G - Hamilton F - Deng PF - Boozer C - Noah 6th - Gibson 7th - Belinelli 8th - M Teague/N Robinson Those are the projected top 7 teams in the league, and what probably will be their top 8 players. When you do our lineup PG - Teague G - Harris F - Korver ( Ferry loves him, so he may encourage Drew to start him initially ) PF - Smith C - Horford 6th - L. Williams 7th - Zaza 8th - Ivan Or who knows what our lineup will be.

So how good are we going to be? Even if the offense is better, even you have to admit that we're going to be weaker defensively. If we try to play better defensive players like a Stevenson, that takes time away from one of the scorer/shooters. Our frontcourt depth hasn't improved, other than getting Horford back full time. We have no starting caliber SF, other than Josh Smith, who will probably play PF. We have a glut at PG, in which 2 of the PGs will have to play an undersized SG role. Honestly, there's plenty of reasons to doubt this team. You guys are acting like Anthony Morrow, Kyle Korver, and Anthony Tolliver solid all-around players or something. I wouldn't trade ANY of those guys for Marvin straight up, if salaries were the same. And I wouldn't trade those 3 for JJ either, if salaries were the same. Drew is going to have to become a master of situational substitutions in order to make this work. And that's something that hasn't been very strong at for the past 2 seasons. While I don't agree that Golden State should be ranked ahead of us overall, it's hard to argue against the Hawks being rated 7th or 8th in the Conference, and somewhere between 15 - 17 overall.

East Rankings1) Heat . . ( 1 overall )2) Celtics . . ( 6 )3) Sixers . . ( 7 )4) Indiana . . ( 8 )lol . . so the East has 4 of the top 8 teams in the league? OK.5) Nets . . ( 12 )6) Knicks . . ( 13 )7) Bulls . . ( 15 )8) Hawks . . ( 18 )

Josh Smith nor Al Horford are not going to listen to Kyle Korver give some sort of leadership or motivation. This is Josh and Al's team . . . period.If anybody else is the leader, we're in for a long season. So our two stars have to lead . . . and lead more by example than by verbage. Talk is cheap.

Love that commercial. And I like the way he is talking. He seems to have the right mindset coming into the season.And . . . . he looks like he's bulked up a bit too. He's PF size again.

Smoove will never be an All-Star, if he continues to be Smoove. Because Smoove does think he can do it all. Smoove is bad at times, to himself and to his team. Now if he turned into Smash ( as coined by a blogger on the AJC boards ), then he'll become a perennial All-Star. In this top highlight of the Hawks last year, you'll see Smoove and Smash in the same clip. Smoove takes a bad shot early in the shot clock. He was 6 - 16 FG in the game, and had only made 2 of 7 jumpers when he took the shot you'll see at 0:03 When he switched to Smash, he makes the Play of the Year for the Hawks. http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmSVT3OcLOc I've been begging for him to play like that since he started to show signs of being a star player. That play not only energized the team, it took him to the next level, seeing him make his next 2 jumpers ( including a 3 with the clock running down ), and scored 11 of the last 12 points for the Hawks to close out the game and get the win. But Smoove won't let Smash come to the forefront. Smoove will almost always the easy way out. Smoove is not tough or physical. Smash take it to the rim, ala Shawn Kemp. Smash will mix it up on the inside and gobble up rebounds. Honestly, I refuse to call him Smoove. Smoove MUST DIE . . and SMASH MUST EMERGE.

( looking up the answer ) . . lol.And like I said about Brandon Bass. If you just need him to play a role, he can do it. 48% FG from 16 - 23 feet is damn impressive.

In 2010 - 11, the answer would've been Horford/ I know Lou Williams was very good from the midrange last season, so I'll guess him. It'll probably be someone I'd never guess though. Heck. Jamal Crawford used to be very good from midrange, but he'd lower his overall shooting percentage on all shots 16+ feet, with all of those 3s he took.

If he wants to, JJ is still going to be in this league even after his next contract expires at age 34. With his size and skill level, he'd be the guard/foward version of Antawn Jamison once he hits 34. At 36, Jamison is still a guy who is better than 80% of the guys in the league, due to him having skill sets that can keep him around. So if Deron can make the game easier for JJ on offense, he could not only play at an All-Star ( or slightly below ) All-Star level for the next 3 years, but also switch roles with Marshon Brooks as a 6th man in the future. Or he may slide over to Gerald Wallace's SF spot as the starter Guys like JJ have traditionally had long careers in the league.

I'm rooting for Jenkins to win that starting job at SG. If he can prove that his skills can translate to the next level, that may be the difference in this team making the playoffs or not. Everybody else, we know what they can . . and can't do.

Because he wants to be "the man". And when you're "the man", you have the leeway to not only play outside of your comfort zone, you're almost encouraged to do so. So while Coach Drew called Smith a "kamikaze" last year, he did nothing to reign him in, out of fear of limiting the good things that come out of Josh playing "kamikaze". When you saw in that interview earlier this week in the AJC about Josh probably not entertaining ( or being given ) an extension, you saw Ferry mention "Josh and his handlers/associates". And I'm sure that his "associates" are constantly telling Josh that if he just did "this and this", he can become an All-Star, even a superstar. Josh does not have a "role player's mentality". He wants to be the star. And it doesn't help when we have a part owner that says that Josh is the "closest thing to Lebron we have in the league." That encourages Josh to be an even bigger star. Stars take chances. Stars take bad shots. Stars play "hero ball" ( which you'll see a lot of that out of Josh this season ). But the thing that makes you an All-Star or a superstar, is if you can do the things that stars do, and do them well.

Having said that . . . if I were a team looking for a solid 4th option who can be efficient on both ends of the court, I probably would take Bass over Josh. A player like Bass has to have good to great players around him who can maximize his abilities. If you need that solid offensive forward who can play defense ( especially in ISO situations . . . 0.56 ppp . . ranking a whopping #2 in that category in the NBA last year ), then Bass may be a solid choice.If you break their games down piece by piece, you may can actually make a case that Bass is at least more "skilled" than Josh in his offense, and fundamentally with his defense.But if you're a team that needs a game changer, there's no way you take Bass over Smith. Despite all of the bad things that Smith tends to do, you just can't overlook the good things either. Josh can flat out save a game with his defensive abilities, especially as a team/help defender. And Josh is by far the superior passer, even with some of the turnovers he commits at times.All I know is that Josh is much more likely to get a game-saving block or steal, than Bass is more likely to make game-clinching shot or assist.Only in Leprechaun Land would a deal of Bass for Josh even be entertained.

Gotta love Boston fans. Next they'll be trying to trade Jeff Green for Al Horford.

Honestly, I'm kinda shocked when I pulled up Bass' Synergy numbers from last year ( which include regular season + playoffs )OFFENSEShot 47.4% FG overallFavorite shot was the spot up jumper ( no surprise ), but made 46.6% of his shots from that rangeDEFENSEThe man he ends up guarding in any particular possession shot 31.3% FG, which is outstandingEven more outstanding was his defense in ISO situations, in which his man shot 25.5% FG and only gave up 0.58 points per play ( ranking him #14 in the leauge ).Even better than that was his post up defense, in which his man shot 28.3% and only gave up 0.56 points per play ( ranking him #2 in the league ).If you break their skill sets down individually . . yeah . . you CAN probably make a case for Bass > Smith.But the reason why you CAN'T put Bass > Smith, is that Smith impacts the game in so many areas, that it would be silly to take him over Bass ( unless you had a superstar player playing alongside him . . . which he has borderline superstars playing with him in Boston ). Smith makes game changing plays ( both good and bad ). Bass is just going to be steady with very few peaks or valleys. Josh is more likely to make a game winning block or steal or grab a key rebound, than Bass is to make a crucial late game shot or grab a big rebound.If you're looking for a guy to be a 3rd or 4th option on a real good team, then Bass is probably a better alternative than Josh. If you're looking for an impact player on both ends of the floor, Josh is by far the better choice.Josh > Bass

Or let's play it like this. Which team would you rather have . . . 2012 Hawks PG - Teague G - Harris F - Smith PF - Horford C - Zaza 6th - Williams ( G ) 7th - Korver ( F ) 8th - Ivan ( F/C ) 9th - Morrow ( G/F ) 10th - Stevenson ( G/F ) 2007 Hawks PG - Bibby G - Johnson F - Marvin PF - Smith C - Horford 6th - Childress 7th - Zaza 8th - Acie 9th - Solomon Jones 10th - Salim