Should the hawks TRY to use Josh Smith in a LBJ/Magic role?

[EazyRoc]

Marvin was a much better one on one perimeter defender then Josh...he at least tried to stay in front of his man.

Better..yeah. much better..not really.

[ruhiel]

NBA level defense is not played 1 on 1. As a SF I can't remember Josh outright getting beat off the dribble except by Lebron and that was in 2011 before the weight loss. He's gotten much much quicker and more stamina as well.As a PF People can't really hold him getting beat off the dribble. If Josh is the 4 that means him and Al are the only ones capable of protecting the paint. If the 4 gets beat off the dribble then you only have Horford able to help. For example here,Josh as a PF means there's no size to help clog the lane if and when he gets beat. So it looks bad if he doesn't block the shot. At the same time an elite offensive player can get by his man and is worried about the 2nd defender. The help defender. Lebron has said that a # of times and so its only fitting that we use a Lebron vs Josh clip.Lets assume Lebron can get by his initial man anytime. If Josh is the PF and is on Lebron that means the 1,2, or 3 is now the 4.That means Joe Johnson or Marvin Williams or a PG needs to come protect the paint. Not happening of course any NBA defender looks bad if one of there big men is Joe Johnson/Marvin.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1dolCveHQYOn the other hand, This is Josh as a SF, with Collins size to cut off the lane, Josh is not beat because there's nowhere to go and he eventually makes the right play.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLata6prCroI think the ultimate goal is to go through Miami and Boston the Hawks will need to go big to do that.But I also worry that a lot of the lesser teams that aren't knowing for being big got bigger and more physical like Washington, Portland, Detroit, Phoenix, Golden State, Charlotte, to name a few. I would hate to lose to those teams because we got smaller and Josh is more than capable of guarding and attacking the wings on those teams.We will have to wait and see how it shakes out but Josh is capable of playing the 3/

[capstone21]

NBA level defense is not played 1 on 1. As a SF I can't remember Josh outright getting beat off the dribble

I have seen it time and time again.