Is Anyone a Little Skeptical About Josh Smith Finally Getting It

[BusBoyIsBack]

Im ecstatic about his play and the team in general but the pessimist in me wonders if he can keep it up. Right now he has an insane field goal percentage and it's not a fluke because of course he's making good decisions, he's taking high percentage shots instead of shooting those long jumpers and 3 pointers that have always made us wonder if he would ever get it. In fact I was one of the first people on the bandwagon of him moving to Power forward from small because it would keep him away from those shots, put him near the basket which is good on both sides of the ball. Of course that still didn't keep him from taking some of those bad shots.

Well through 12 games, it looks like he finally gets it. But I stay cautiously optimistic because I've seen a month or two in Josh Smith's career where it seems like he gets it and then reverts back. Sure he probably doesn't finish the season with Shaq/Artis Gilmore esque percentages but man he definitely could finish well over 50% if he keeps this up.

But anybody just a little bit skeptical? It seems too good to be true. I mean I was almost going to concede that Josh Smith is what he is. An exciting guy who would always be a fringe all-star player. But now he looks like a fringe superstar.

Can something really that fortunate happen to such an unfortunate city in terms of sports? Because if it does the future is absurdly bright.

Edited November 19, 2009 by BusBoyIsBack

[TheNorthCydeRises]

I think he started to get it in the Cleveland playoff series last year. In the Miami series, he was either great, or absolutely horrible. In the Clebeland series, he seemed to drive the ball a lot more, which led to him playing well in 3 of the 4 games.

I was at Game 3 of that series ( ironocally, his only bad game of the series ) and I remembered how the fans flat out booed the kid for coming out in the 3rd quarter and taking jumpers. I guess because JJ was ice cold, that he felt that he needed to take over the game . . . with his jumpshooting.

In Game 4 though, he played under control and had a real good game.

Then you have to wonder what playing with the US Select team over the summer did to or for him. You have to wonder if hearing another coach tell him that he should abandon the jumper, finally got to him.

Or did he play with the Hawks in a video game, and saw from there that he couldn't shoot the ball?

I don't know. But the more he plays like this, the more praise he's going to get from local and national media. If we have a real good record going into January, and he's averaging over 16 pts - 10 rebs - 4 asst - 2 stls - and 2 blks . . . he'll be talked about as being an All-Star pllayer.

I need to look at last night's play-by-play, but I think the Hawks scored off of every Josh Smith offensive rebound, including 2 assists by Smoove to JJ for a 3 pointer.

He's been amazing during this win streak, and especially in the last 3 games.

[exodus]

He said in preseason and then again during the season that he wasn't going to take 3s any more so I am confident he won't start that again. As far as his rebounding goes I have no clue what is going on. He started the season rebounding like crap but has gotten 47 rebounds in his last 3 games.

:cant believe:

[JackB1]

I am always skeptical of Josh, but he has been proving me wrong...thankfully! What's amazing is how EASY it is for him to play at this level. All he had to do was get his head screwed on straight and focus.

Lets hope it sticks! The good thing is, the more he hears about how great this transformation is, the more he will want to keep it going!

This is the Josh we all knew was in there. He was only being held back by himself.

He's done it for 10 games......lets check back after another 10 :)

[Traceman]

Im ecstatic about his play and the team in general but the pessimist in me wonders if he can keep it up. Right now he has an insane field goal percentage and it's not a fluke because of course he's making good decisions, he's taking high percentage shots instead of shooting those long jumpers and 3 pointers that have always made us wonder if he would ever get it. In fact I was one of the first people on the bandwagon of him moving to Power forward from small because it would keep him away from those shots, put him near the basket which is good on both sides of the ball. Of course that still didn't keep him from taking some of those bad shots.

Well through 12 games, it looks like he finally gets it. But I stay cautiously optimistic because I've seen a month or two in Josh Smith's career where it seems like he gets it and then reverts back. Sure he probably doesn't finish the season with Shaq/Artis Gilmore esque percentages but man he definitely could finish well over 50% if he keeps this up.

But anybody just a little bit skeptical? It seems too good to be true. I mean I was almost going to concede that Josh Smith is what he is. An exciting guy who would always be a fringe all-star player. But now he looks like a fringe superstar.

Can something really that fortunate happen to such an unfortunate city in terms of sports? Because if it does the future is absurdly bright.

I think he will still have his moments of losing focus but I think they will be less frequent. Last night, he started the game by letting Beasley get an easy wide open look for MIA's first bucket and followed that up by taking an ill-advised long jumper. He got a few defensive rebounds but he didn't really get it going until his "and 1" with about a minute left in the 1st. He went to the bench shortly thereafter but when he returned, he was a BEAST! The old Smoove would have let his slow start take him out of his game but he was patient and let the game come to him last night.

I don't think there is any doubt that he now understands what it takes for him to be successful. The key is for him to maintain his focus/aggressiveness on a nightly basis. That is what the great ones do.

[Sothron]

I'm a big believer in the old Bill Parcells "you are what your record is" kinda idea to players or teams. Right now Josh Smith has "got it" and he's playing at a very high level on both sides of the court. Unless he falls back on bad habits I'm going to go by what I see at the games and on television.

[coachx]

He has grown up and yes, it will stay this way !

[Atlantaholic]

He´s rebounding lately has been totally unprecedented

[High5]

12 games definitely isn't enough to get rid of the skepticism, but I'm cautiously extremely optimistic about the road he's on. I think as long as he's having success he won't revert back to his old ways. If he slumps and plays through it without turning back into his old self then that will be a great sign that he has truly turned the corner.

[DjGrizz]

I don't think Josh has never showed this type of consistency for this long. To be honest we all have a point in our lives where we realize when we've been hard headed. I think Josh has came to that conclusion. Maturity has a lot to do with it. Remember Smoove isn't even 25 yet. I think this is the brand new Smoove and we need to learn how to enjoy it :)

[jy23]

I think that the guy has just completely matured overall, I get my haircut by the same guy that cuts Pete's hair and he used to cut Josh's hair, when I went to the shop the other day he was on the phone with Josh talking about cutting his hair again and as I was listening to their conversation (barber had the phone on speakerphone bc of course he wanted everyone to know that he was talking to Josh....lol) Josh kept saying that all he ever does is sit at the house now with his girl. He kept talking about trying to stay out of trouble and just focusing on the season. I think that he really has just gotten it now.

[coachx]

I don't think Josh has never showed this type of consistency for this long. To be honest we all have a point in our lives where we realize when we've been hard headed. I think Josh has came to that conclusion. Maturity has a lot to do with it. Remember Smoove isn't even 25 yet. I think this is the brand new Smoove and we need to learn how to enjoy it :)

He is not even 24 yet !

[DjGrizz]

He is not even 24 yet !

lol, I know, not till December anyway!

[Kimsey]

I think losing 10 pounds during training camp has helped him too cause he's looking nimble as ever. I'm guessing MW is still pushing 240-250 and he should target 220-225 area.

[benhillboy]

A little, but he'd have to be a complete, plum fool idiot to change anything about his current game when we're blowing squads out of the gym. An airball here, a behind the back turnover there. Failing to box out a few times over here. I don't see him being Bad Josh for any extended period, though. He has to be feeling himself and all the love he's getting, so I see him keep keeping on.

[crimedog]

I think losing 10 pounds during training camp has helped him too cause he's looking nimble as ever. I'm guessing MW is still pushing 240-250 and he should target 220-225 area.

He's actually playing tougher than ever with a little less weight. He's also getting more highlights than ever because he's playing closer in. This is a Josh I could really get used to. Instead of worrying about whether he goes back to bad Josh, we should be reinforcing good Josh. If you go to the game, try and make it known that the rebounding and inside play is what we want to see.

[tremor]

I have no doubt that it's persistent. But don't expect him to play perfect, no one does. He's playing great, that's enough.

He needs to improve a couple of things (free throws shooting, finishing with right hand around the rim) and he'll be 20/10/4/2.5/2 guy and our best player.

[frosgrim]

At the beginning of the summer someone posted that Josh was working with Steve Smith. I wonder if that s the big reason for his vastly improved mental approach to the game?

[DjGrizz]

At the beginning of the summer someone posted that Josh was working with Steve Smith. I wonder if that s the big reason for his vastly improved mental approach to the game?

Yeah, I remember seeing that somewhere. Good call. Maybe Smitty finally knocked some sense into him!

[DrReality]

I will continue to be skeptical, but he's got to have some awareness of all the attention he/s gotten from his play this year. And he's doing what he said he wanted to do. He could be a real bargain if he continues