Stop Wit the Josh Wants to Be a 3 Talk!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dexmethylphenidate]

This is probably the #1 reason why Smith shouldn't be playing the 3 spot for heavy minutes (if he is then Marvin will not get any minutes to develop into a star).

[Buzzard]

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Look. If you put him at the four, he will still take the shots from outside. IF you put him at the 3, he will take outside and midrange shots in the flow of an offense.

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So ol Smoothe cannot flow with the offense at the four; yet he had his breakout season at the four. Diesel, I am seriously beginning to think the only knowledge you have of our team is gained from this board.

You must have called up Last Don and asked him to start this beating a dead horse post again. Man it will be nice when the season starts. At least then these same ol song and dance post will only happen once a week instead of once a day....

[SmooveTheFuture]

Please watch this video and tell me why he cant play and be effective at the SF spot. Career High against minnesota most of the shots coming from the outside he is going to be alot better next year he has improved every year and I dont see him stopping his improvement he wants to be good and take atlanta to the playoffs. This guy is going to be great anywhere you put him. Marvin Should be on the bench and I say start Smith, Horford and Zaza down low see how it works out. Until Marvin earns the starting spot he should be no where near the Starting lineup yet alone our starting SF. Also just because he is playing SF on offense does not mean he needs to be guarding the teams SF he can play SF on offense and guard the teams PF on defense. Many players have done this and it has worked.

[Peoriabird]

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Also just because he is playing SF on offense does not mean he needs to be guarding the teams SF he can play SF on offense and guard the teams PF on defense. Many players have done this and it has worked.

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So have Smith guard the four and Horford or Zaza guard the 3?

[Peoriabird]

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Please watch this video and tell me why he cant play and be effective at the SF spot. Career High against minnesota most of the shots coming from the outside

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T. Lue had career game at the point last year for the Hawks but does that mean that he should be our starting point guard?

[BossTweed]

Here is some information for you guys.

http://www.82games.com/0607/06ATL11C.HTM

http://www.82games.com/0607/06ATL12C.HTM

According to this, Josh didn't play as much PF as I thought last year and Marvin actually played a lot of PF? Is this accurate?

It also says that when Smith was playing PF, he was more effective on offense and defense based on the PER of him and the opposing players. Some of the other stats don't make much sense though, for instance the percentage of his shots that were inside shots went DOWN when he was a PF, not a SF or SG.

[atlien]

Smoove hitting mid-range jumpers, etc., like he did in that game is more the exception than the rule with him. Don't get me wrong, I think he'll improve at that, but I also would rather have Marvin more out on the perimeter.

You're obviosuly a big smoove fan (I am too). He will thrive more in the NBA at the 4.

[AHF]

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Some of the other stats don't make much sense though, for instance the percentage of his shots that were inside shots went DOWN when he was a PF, not a SF or SG.

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That might be explained by the fact that when he plays PF he can more easily get a good outside look and it is more difficult to score inside against a bigger defender without good post moves. Taken to the extreme, if Josh Smith is playing center he probably takes a higher % of outside shots because they are easier to get and the inside shots are tougher to get against bigger players and if he plays point guard he probably takes a higher % of inside shots posting up smaller defenders.

Josh needs to develop better post moves to increase the % of his FGs that are inside shots at the PF position. Hopefully that time with Hakeem was well spent. I have fewer long-term questions about Smith at PF than I do at SF, personally.

[BossTweed]

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Some of the other stats don't make much sense though, for instance the percentage of his shots that were inside shots went DOWN when he was a PF, not a SF or SG.

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That might be explained by the fact that when he plays PF he can more easily get a good outside look and it is more difficult to score inside against a bigger defender without good post moves.

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Good point. That would make a lot of sense.

[AtLaS]

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According to this, Josh didn't play as much PF as I thought last year and Marvin actually played a lot of PF? Is this accurate?

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Not even close. I'm assuming you watched the games last year, and if you did, it's obvious that Marvin played basically zero PF all season. I love 82games and their stats, but some of them are extremely inaccurate.

Smith did play a good bit of SF though, he played primarily SF for the first 17 games when Marvin was injured, and played there sometimes when Shelden entered the game.

I'm not sure why, but fans across the league (realGM for example) always seem to think Marvin plays PF, and it's not true at all. His game is NOTHING like a PF.

[AHF]

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According to this, Josh didn't play as much PF as I thought last year and Marvin actually played a lot of PF? Is this accurate?

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Not even close. I'm assuming you watched the games last year, and if you did, it's obvious that Marvin played basically zero PF all season. I love 82games and their stats, but some of them are extremely inaccurate.

Smith did play a good bit of SF though, he played primarily SF for the first 17 games when Marvin was injured, and played there sometimes when Shelden entered the game.

I'm not sure why, but fans across the league (realGM for example) always seem to think Marvin plays PF, and it's not true at all. His game is NOTHING like a PF.

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Agreed. Josh didn't play much SF after the first quarter of the season and Marvin didn't play more than a few minutes at anywhere other than SF and the last few games at SG.

[BossTweed]

I definitely watched a lot of games, that's why I was confused. I did forgot about the early part of the season where Josh played SF while Marvin was out, but even including that, there is no way Marvin played that much PF.

I wanted to use the 82games stats to see what it said would be a better position for Josh Smith statistically, but when you see something like that, it makes me worry that other statistics might not be accurate either.

Those positional stats are probably worse than average because of the difficulty of tracking position per minute. Who knows how they came up with it, they may just look at the set of players on the floor at a given time, and incorrectly assume that if Zaza, Marvin and Josh Smith are on the floor at the same time, Zaza is the Center, Marvin is the PF and Smith is the SF.

[AHF]

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I definitely watched a lot of games, that's why I was confused. I did forgot about the early part of the season where Josh played SF while Marvin was out, but even including that, there is no way Marvin played that much PF.

I wanted to use the 82games stats to see what it said would be a better position for Josh Smith statistically, but when you see something like that, it makes me worry that other statistics might not be accurate either.

Those positional stats are probably worse than average because of the difficulty of tracking position per minute. Who knows how they came up with it, they may just look at the set of players on the floor at a given time, and incorrectly assume that if Zaza, Marvin and Josh Smith are on the floor at the same time, Zaza is the Center, Marvin is the PF and Smith is the SF.

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This doesn't require too much soulsearching for me, though. Josh's 82 games numbers are much better at the PF position and last year I saw him struggle at the SF position and blossom at the PF position. I think the Kirilenko comparison is a good one and that anyone who doesn't think AK-47 struggled at SF last season didn't watch enough of the Jazz games.

[Lascar78]

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Until Josh sees himself as a 4, then this argument is moot. Josh shot more 3 pters than Marvin last season.

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And Sheed shot more than anyone on his team not named Billups. What does that have to do with the fact that they're both power forwards? If he played to his skills, he wouldn't be shooting 3's.

The 100th best 3 point shooter in the league last year shot .316. Smith shot .250.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

OFF TOPIC . . to AHF:

I'm about to put my VHS recording of the 1998 Final Four on Ebay. ( Still can't believe Jamison and the boys from UNC lost to Utah in the semis that year )

I'm also thinking about putting the 1998 National Title game between UK and UTAH on there as well.

As a UK fan, how much do you think I could get for either tape? I've never used Ebay before, and is curious how much a collector's item like that could bring me.

[AHF]

I don't know. If I need a UK tape or DVD I could get a someone to burn one for free on a UK fansite. From the 1998 tourney, you could probably get the most from the championship game and (perhaps even more) from the Duke game.