Jump to content

  • Current Donation Goals

    • Monthly Donations
      Raised $440 of $700 target

BREAKING NEWS Smooth not coming back if Woodson is

TruJerz

By TruJerz
in Homecourt

 Share

Recommended Posts

coachx Newbie

coachx

Posted
Posted

PRINT

EMAIL

RSS

Yahoo! Buzz SHARE

Posted: Tuesday July 15, 2008 11:52PM; Updated: Tuesday July 15, 2008 11:52PM

Chris Mannix > INSIDE THE NBA

Camby move to L.A. great for Clips, good for Nuggets, bad for Smith Story Highlights

The Clippers now seem stacked at center -- with Camby and Chris Kaman

The Camby-less Nuggets are slowly creeping back to the luxury-tax realm

Marcus Camby, the Defensive Player of the Year last season, has played in at least 70 regular-season games the last two years.

AP

LAS VEGAS -- The Clippers made a bold but risky move, the Nuggets are left defenseless and Josh Smith is wondering if anyone wants to employ him.

The Clippers' decision to acquire Camby was a curious one. While at one point in his career the 6-11, 235-pound Camby could have been considered a power forward, he has been predominantly a center for the last seven seasons. Los Angeles, however, already has a pretty good player entrenched at that position: Chris Kaman, who had a breakout season in 2007-2008, averaging 15.7 points and 12.7 rebounds in 56 games.

Still, if Camby can shift to the 4 spot that's vacant, courtesy of Elton Brand's defection last week, it gives L.A. an imposing front line. And it instantly improves the Clippers' defense. Camby, the 2007 Defensive Player of the Year, led the NBA in blocked shots (3.6 per game) last season and averaged a career-high 13.1 rebounds. Granted, the Nuggets played defense last season the way a matador defends himself against a bull -- Denver finished 29th in the NBA in opposing points per game (107.0) -- which led to an inflated number of shot-blocking opportunities for Camby. But at 34, Camby is still one of the top three or four defensive centers in the game. And despite a litany of debilitating injuries, Camby played in a career-best 79 games last season, his second straight campaign of 70 or more games.

For the Nuggets, who acquired a $10 million trade exception along with the right to swap 2010 second-round picks with the Clippers, the deal was purely a financial one. Denver had the fifth-highest payroll ($76.9 million) in the league last season but barely made the playoffs and was summarily swept out of the first round by the Lakers -- the fifth straight time they have been bounced out of the first round. With several bloated contracts on the roster -- namely Allen Iverson (owed $21.9 million next season), Carmelo Anthony ($14.4 million) and Kenyon Martin ($14.1 million) -- Denver was desperate for cap relief and dealing Camby should get them within shouting distance of the luxury tax, which will likely be around $68 million next season. The Nuggets will lose a formidable defensive presence in Camby but, as one Western Conference assistant coach put it, "they weren't playing defense with him, they can play it just as bad without him."

The big loser in this deal may be Smith. A restricted free agent, Smith has seen the market for his services dry up quickly. Philadelphia was believed to be the frontrunner, but the Sixers pivoted and spent their money on Brand. After dining with Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy last week, it appeared the Clippers were preparing to make an offer; but in trading for Camby, they can no longer come close to offering Smith the kind of megadeal he's looking for.

Smith's options are now limited. Memphis is the only team with enough free agent money to make a serious offer, but the Grizzlies recently made a commitment to Marc Gasol and have given no indication they are interested in Smith.

The Hawks would likely raise the five-year, $45 million offer that Smith turned down last summer, but money will not be the only factor in the talented young power forward returning to Atlanta. As I previously reported in Sports Illustrated, league sources say Smith is not interested in returning to the Hawks if Mike Woodson, who just signed a new two-year contract to remain with Atlanta, is the head coach. The two have butted heads frequently in Smith's four seasons with the Hawks, and sources say the relationship is beyond repair. With a dearth of offers, Smith may change his tune but having a volatile relationship on such a young team may not be in the Hawks' best interests.

A more appealing, but less plausible scenario could be for Smith to sign the one-year qualifying offer with Atlanta and try his luck in free agency next season. But after putting up staggering numbers last season (17.2 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game), Smith will likely be looking for the security of a long-term deal.

If he wants it, he'll get it. It will just be less appealing than the one he thought he was getting when he entered free agency. He can thank the Sixers and Clippers for that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
khaos7 Newbie

khaos7

Posted
Posted

Quote:

and his dad?? lol why you say that??

Sekou Smith was on the "2 Live Stews" this week and said Josh's father basically dismissed these claims. Until we hear Josh come out and say he wants to leave, I'll trust Sekou on this one, giving what was said by Josh's father. Since Pete Smith lives in the city, I'm pretty sure he would have address the legitimacy of Sekou's claims. As Debarge sung in the early 80's "Time Will Reveal" what the truth is.

Honestly, I believe the truth is somewhere in the middle. I don't believe the level of enmity exist between Woody and Josh that the national media reports. However, I don't think things are peachy clean as Sekou would suggest.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

For one, no link at all. This is also supposedly coming from Hoopshype, notoriously wrong on so many different things. We have also had threads going around the Squawk that says Josh's dad likes Woodson and his son has no problem with him. This coming from Sekou via radio and AJC.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
coachx Newbie

coachx

Posted
Posted

Quote:

For one, no link at all. This is also supposedly coming from Hoopshype, notoriously wrong on so many different things. We have also had threads going around the Squawk that says Josh's dad likes Woodson and his son has no problem with him. This coming from Sekou via radio and AJC.

I posted the article above from Hoopshype. It is actually from a writer for Sports Illustrated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Premium Member
Diesel Grand Master

Diesel

Posted
  • Premium Member
Posted

Quote:

Quote:

Let's for a moment say it's true.

I believe that ASG would promise Smoove that Woody will be gone after Feb.

Since JJ clearly wanted Woody to come back are you saying thatthe ASG has decided to cater to Smith and ignore JJ?

Welp, consider this.

JJ is already signed for the next 2 years. Smoove is unsigned.

Maybe there's a trade for Smoove. Smoove options has definitely dried up. However, if it keeps your 5 year guy happy, then why not?

Let's not fool ourselves, whatever the trouble we have keeping Smoove... We will have 10 times that amount of trouble resigning JJ. Already, NJ is talking about bringing in Lebron and JJ in 2010.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Chris18 Newbie

Chris18

Posted
Posted

Sekou's response to the SI article

I saw the story on SI’s website and I’ll say it again for the umpteenth time, neither Smith nor anyone else affiliated with him has ever said (on or off the record) that he doesn’t want to be here or doesn’t want to play for Woodson.

Despite their very public dust ups in the past, Smith and Woodson had a smooth (no pun intended) working relationship this past season. Are they going to be spotted at each other’s houses partying anytime soon? Probably not. But neither are any of his teammates.

But you’d be surprised, his relationship with Woodson is better than Woodson’s relationship with some other guys on the team (lots of guys chafed under Woodson’s gruff style the past four years but didn’t shoot back at him the way Smith did).

What I can tell you for a fact is that when the new general manager sat down with all the players and asked them for their honest opinions on all things, including Woodson (and this was before Woodson received his contract extension), Smith is one of the players that didn’t have a single bad thing to say about Woodson (I know of at least two other guys that didn’t hold back and let Woodson have it). So even if he felt it deep down, Smith never voiced it to Rick Sund or anyone else.

Listen, the kid’s 22 and had some dust ups with his coach. Big deal. I think far too much has been made of all the drama. I’ll aslo point out that those rifts were far from a one-sided deal. Woodson owns just as much of the blame for those dust ups as Smith does.

But they’ve never allowed that stuff to keep them from being able to work together. And Woodson knows better than anyone how important Smith is to the Hawks’ cause now and in the future, so don’t believe all the hype about their frayed relationship.

Those two will work together just fine if (and really when) Smith’s new deal is done.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Swish Newbie

Swish

Posted
Posted

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

Let's for a moment say it's true.

I believe that ASG would promise Smoove that Woody will be gone after Feb.

Since JJ clearly wanted Woody to come back are you saying thatthe ASG has decided to cater to Smith and ignore JJ?

Welp, consider this.

JJ is already signed for the next 2 years. Smoove is unsigned.

Maybe there's a trade for Smoove. Smoove options has definitely dried up. However, if it keeps your 5 year guy happy, then why not?

Let's not fool ourselves, whatever the trouble we have keeping Smoove... We will have 10 times that amount of trouble resigning JJ. Already, NJ is talking about bringing in Lebron and JJ in 2010.

Whooooa Diesel show me where NJ wants JJ please!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
AnakinJoe Newbie

AnakinJoe

Posted
Posted

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

Let's for a moment say it's true.

I believe that ASG would promise Smoove that Woody will be gone after Feb.

Since JJ clearly wanted Woody to come back are you saying thatthe ASG has decided to cater to Smith and ignore JJ?

Welp, consider this.

JJ is already signed for the next 2 years. Smoove is unsigned.

Maybe there's a trade for Smoove. Smoove options has definitely dried up. However, if it keeps your 5 year guy happy, then why not?

Let's not fool ourselves, whatever the trouble we have keeping Smoove... We will have 10 times that amount of trouble resigning JJ. Already, NJ is talking about bringing in Lebron and JJ in 2010.

But you can't let Smith pick his coach this coming season and then tell JJ that he can do the same in 2 years. That's ridiculous. Sund has been in the league for over 30 years. It's stupid to think that he didn't check to see if Woody's return would impact re-signing Smith or Childress or even other free agents across the league. When he was "evaluating" Woody, that had to be part of the judgment. So I don't think the ASG have any plans to let Smith determine who is the coach. That train left the station when Woody was offerd a 2-year extension. If and when Woody is fired, it will be based on his performance as the team's coach not because a 22 year-old who is still learning good shot selection has determined that the team needs to be run by someone else. He's not Magic nor any other all-time great who had his coach removed. He's a guy who has yet to experience a 41 win season.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...