JTFan31 Posted July 18, 2004 Report Share Posted July 18, 2004 Well let me say something about Billy Knight. He did an excellent job in scouting and during the draft. He knew Smith was slipping and indeed he did. So he went on his mind was the best available player and that was Childress, then he chose Smith at 17. He did an excellent job in thinking what the other teams were thinking and doing. Smith might very well be the a steal. He has so much potential and ahleticism that those things alone cannot be taken away from him. He is 6'9 at 240, this kid in 3 years may very well be a 6'11 player at 250, he can be PF or SF, he has those abilities. One thing I will say, if Smith does become a steal, maybe an allstar, he was definitely the steal of the draft and I will say this, he will bring more excitement to the Hawks and fans than Howard would of brought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Posted July 18, 2004 Report Share Posted July 18, 2004 KB's statement makes perfect sense. Even if he does become the best player in the draft, you DO NOT draft a player that lacks skill sets at #6. It's a huge gamble. Also, #6 would have been way too high, anyway, because the Hawks were able to grab him aT #17. Taking him at #6 would have been a huge reach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DominiqueWilkins Posted July 18, 2004 Report Share Posted July 18, 2004 Let just be happy that he did fall to us at 17th. I think he will have a bright future, but it will take time, and I love his start in the summer league. He has shown he can play both sides of the court. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzzard Posted July 18, 2004 Report Share Posted July 18, 2004 Quote: A lot of you guys are forgetting before all of the workouts, interviews, etc. Josh Smith was the preliminary No. 2 ranked NBA Prospect in the World right behind Dwight Howard. I am not a big fan of taking high school players in the lottery. They are high risk/high reward. But where we got both the Smiths at, no complaints here at all. Almost evry mock draft I looked at had Josh going between 8 and 12 and Donta going late first round. And only a few "experts" thought Josh would actually drop to us at 17. Maybe two out of twenty had that happening. What just blows my mind, is those very same experts that thought so highly of them, then gave us a C grade for our draft. I think we did extremely well and two years from now with a point guard and a solid big man or two we could be the NBA's version a Phi Slamma Jamma! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emeans Posted July 18, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2004 Quote: you DO NOT draft a player that lacks skill sets at #6. It's a huge gamble. Well I guess if you were a GM you wouldn't be drafting anyone. The entire draft is a gamble!! Dude..Every player EVEN THE NO. 1 drafted player has a weaknesses or lacks something. Based on you statement everyone 6 and above has all skill sets which is a false statement. I have news for you Josh Childress may not be better than Josh Smith...Have you ever thought about that?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Packfill Posted July 18, 2004 Report Share Posted July 18, 2004 I don't get what you are upset about. Josh Smith hopefully will be better than Childress, I doubt anyone on this board or anywhere else will deny that Josh Smith has one of the biggest upsides of anyone in this draft. I think the reason he slipped was because he is still raw - which is not so much a crticism as it is a testament to the fact that he is 18 years old. I haven't really seen him play but by all accounts his game is not as well developed as Lebron's coming out of school, so to expect him to have a huge impact in his rookie year is a little shortsighted. Now he may go out and prove everyone wrong from the getgo and make an impact as a rookie - which would be great. But, he just as easily might sit on the bench ala Jermaine O'Neal and develop a few years down the road, or not at all. That is the risk you take with such a young player. And that risk (the risk that he does not develop) is the reason he was not drafted at 6, whereas Childress was - because his game is much further developed at this point in time. Childress is like a blue chip stock, you aren't going to make a ton of money on him put he will yield a solid return for years. Smith is like a biotech stock, you could retire on the money you make from your investment or have nothing to show for it. I think we are all excited about Josh's potential and the fact that we got him at 17 makes it even better! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KB21 Posted July 18, 2004 Report Share Posted July 18, 2004 ,.....and Dorell Wright. Four years from now, when people are listing the top 10 players from this draft, I bet you that at least 6 of these high school kids will be on that list. J.R. Smith is showing explosive scoring ability, though he also is showing that he hasn't seen a shot he doesn't like. It's going to be interesting to see if Smith and Davis will mesh in the Hornets' backcourt. I don't know that they will. Both like to shoot the ball too much. Al Jefferson has just been destroying people. He and Dwight Howard went head to head last night, and Dwight got the best of him. Boston wasn't getting Al the ball as much as previous games, but Dwight was definitely the aggressor in the match up. Dorell Wright hurt his ankle, but the guy showed explosive scoring ability his first time out. Now, some may say that this is just summer league and means nothing. Well, when you look at Travis Outlaw, Ndudi Ebi, and Kendrick Perkins from last year's class, these high school kids are more advanced than those guys are right now. And these guys have a year of experience on them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Posted July 18, 2004 Report Share Posted July 18, 2004 Quote: Quote: you DO NOT draft a player that lacks skill sets at #6. It's a huge gamble. Well I guess if you were a GM you wouldn't be drafting anyone. The entire draft is a gamble!! Dude..Every player EVEN THE NO. 1 drafted player has a weaknesses or lacks something. Based on you statement everyone 6 and above has all skill sets which is a false statement. I have news for you Josh Childress may not be better than Josh Smith...Have you ever thought about that?? Josh Childress, though, has been productive in college and has skill sets. Those guys selected above him all have skill sets. Yes the draft is a gamble, but taking a guy at #6 on pure athletism is a mistake IMO. That's why the NFL doesn't draft track stars to be WR's in Round 1 of the NFL Draft. Taking Smith at #6 would have cost us Josh Childress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Wretch Posted July 18, 2004 Premium Member Report Share Posted July 18, 2004 ...there were so many hssrs and question marks in this draft. LOTS of players people might have thought were sleepers. In the end, I think this draft will have produced MANY sleepers and a guy like Smith should have been taken earlier than 17. His thing was the report on his game needing MUCH work and how he relied purely on athleticism to look so good. So obviously coming into the NBA, where he wouldn't be able to jump over all the little boys, he'd struggle unless he developed handles and a shot. He seemed to have a decent outside touch in the HS clips that I saw, and he just seemed to take a couple of steps before his face was in the rim...so he seemed to be worth a decent pick to me. However, the league was looking at what the Hawks were going to do. The report was, if the Hawks didn't take him at #6 (because he fits the mold of what we need) that he'd fall. He's going to be an outstanding player if his handles and shot catch up with his athleticism, and he will be the steal of the draft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Diesel Posted July 18, 2004 Premium Member Report Share Posted July 18, 2004 Quote: I maintain that 6 was too high to take him, even if he comes out and becomes the best player in this draft. Dayuuummm How many ways can I say Nonesense? I guess 13 was too high for Kobe and #1 was definitely too high for Lebron?!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Diesel Posted July 18, 2004 Premium Member Report Share Posted July 18, 2004 rodney white Unknown weaknesses for Rodney White? The point is that many of these guys going around "scouting" are just as biased as the next guy. A human element enters into their prediction and you can't trust it after that. Just like Jay Bilas proclaiming " Biggest Bust in the draft" He would never put money on it. Because I can guarantee that Bilas has never been to one Josh Smith Game nor has he probably been to a work out. He's going by what he has heard.... Rumor and Hearsay is a very dangerous thing. Especially when you have the press leaking stuff that they are not sure what the source is. So, I guess the best thing is to trust the guys who have the up front view and who gets to work them out and find out for themselves exactly how good these guys are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emeans Posted July 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 Quote: Those guys selected above him all have skill sets Dude come on....So based on your statement (not mine I must say) Josh Smith doesn't have skill sets? .....and everyone drafted after Josh doesn't have skill sets. Did all of the 15 or so guys drafted after him in the 1st round have skill sets? What are you talking about? Josh Smith has skill sets and he is athletic. Listen I am not mad at the fact that we were able to get Josh Smith. I personally didn't think we had a chance at 17, but I think we pulled a miracle, but don't insult Josh Smith and other knowledgeable fans by saying he doesn't have skill sets. That is assinine. You guys are making it seem like he just picked up a basketball yesterday. Let me repeat for the 1000th time...The guy LEAD his team to an undefeated season and ranked 1 in the Nation. A guy with no skill sets (as you put it) can't do that, nor can a guy with no skill sets would have at one time been ranked No. 2 in the World after the season. And lastly a guy with no skill set DEFEINATELY WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN DRAFTED IN THE 1ST ROUND. "No skill sets" ......What a statement!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emeans Posted July 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 Thank you Wretch....Finally a reasonable truthful post that makes sense!! These guys make it sound like Josh Smith don't even know how to pick up a basketball properly. "No skill sets", "Can't dribble", "Can't Shoot". What have they been looking at? I know he is young and he will improve but some of these accusations are way off base. If I didn't know anything about Josh and I was reading these comments I would think he was the sorriest guy out of high school to pick up a basketball. Anyway....Excellent post!!!Josh will pan out as the steal of the draft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emeans Posted July 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 Exactly!!!! Thanks Diesel for pointing out non-sense in some of these dumb statements these guys are making. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Posted July 19, 2004 Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 Just going on what the reports said. Sorry if you think those were "assinine," but picking Smith at 6 would have been more assinine. The knock on Josh Smith is that he has used his athletism to succeed in high school and didn't need to learn basketball skills. That will not work in the NBA. I couldn't give a rat's azz how high this kid can jump or how fast he can run. I don't care if he can put back monster dunks. I want to know if he can handle the ball, pass, and has any polished moves. I want to know how good his footwork is. He DID NOT need that in high school. Please remember that the NBA is a whole 'nother level, and athletism will only get you so far. Josh Smith IS RAW. He is rough and needs A LOT of polish. If he only marginally improves, he will be nothing special in the NBA. He has a long way to go. That's why he went so late. That's why he has so much bust potential. He has to greatly improve on the fundamentals. Could he be the best in this draft? Absolutely. But does that mean you pick him high when he could be had much later? Not if I'm GM nor if BK is. You can hang from his balls all you want, but picking him at 6 would have been lunacy, especially with some of the more NBA ready and polished players available. Thank God Billy Knight is our GM and some of you armchair geniuses aren't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KB21 Posted July 19, 2004 Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 Quote: Strengths: Explosive athlete capable who can jump out of the gym … Has shown a more consistent jumper from 3-point range … Above average rebounder who uses his long arms and quick leaping ability to grab boards … Excellent finisher on the fast break where he really knows how to finish with flair and excitement … Defensively he understands how to play the passing lanes for easy steals … Shows a great sense of timing when he blocks … On his drives to the lane he has the body control and creativeness to maneuver through the lane even in traffic … Has really filled out this past season and now has the kind of body needed to play in the NBA … Does a great job of extending his body on his penetrations to get to the basket … Not a bad shooter from mid-range when he has he feet set … Still doesn’t show great court awareness during games as he tends to make costly mental mistakes … Potentially there are few in the draft with his kind of upside … Runs the court like a deer … Decent passer who is unselfish and sees the floor … Shows solid lateral quickness on defense … Weakness: Will need to improve on his overall ball handling … This will aid him in taking opposing players off the dribble … While he has three point range he lacks consistency … Will need to work on his shot selection as he can get a little too carried away … Lacks any real post up game to take advantage of mismatches … Mid range shooting remains questionable off the dribble … Has a tendency to get careless with the ball … Concentration level tends to vary as he can seem almost uninterested in the game … Defensively he needs to work on becoming more committed … Settles at times for taking outside shots instead of driving to the basket … Decision making has some questions surrounding it due to his average basketball awareness … -Matthew Maurer - 4/8/04 Smith is quite simply a freak of nature. There are few that have the NBA skills that he naturally possesses at this moment. Smith is a “run and jump” type of player. He really improved his game over the summer of 2002. At the adidas ABCD camp, he made the coveted top 20 participants list. He also made the all tournament team at the adidas Big Time Tournament..... Smith showed his ability to step outside and hit a consistent three point shot as well as developing a nice mid range shot. If Smith can develop a slashing move, a nice back door cut and a decent handle, we could be looking at a very, very good swingman.....He loves to play above the rim. Sometimes he gets caught up in trying to please the crowd or dunking on every possession. He plays in the paint on his high school team, which should help him continue to work on rebounding.....Mentally he still needs to progress. He is still learning the game. But only a junior, he has plenty of time. -Justin Young Strengths: A sweet shooting lefty combo forward. Josh is an excellent shooter with very good ball handling skills. He can shoot the lights out from down town or take the ball to the hole for a huge dunk. His ability to play more than one position provides nightmares for opposing players and coaches...Loves to back in smaller players and either slash to the basket or kick it out to a perimeter player. He is a very good shot blocker for his height and a good on the ball defender. His unbelievable shooting touch is what separates him from the rest of the pack. A special talent. Weaknesses: Sometimes struggles playing against bigger opponents…Although a proficient rebounder he needs to work on his positioning...Has a tendency to rely on his jumper too much and not take the ball to basket as often as he should...Been known to get down on himself when having an off night Notes: A potential star in the making. Smith has what it takes to make it in the league. -Savneet Singh Smith's athleticism is unmatched on the high school level and already places him in the upper echelon's of the NBA's leapers. Not only can he jump high, but he has mastered the ability to use all of his leap to his advantage on offense and defense. On offense he also uses the fear of his jump with a masterful array of pumpfakes. Once he is in the air his hangtime allows him to alter his own shot for maximum effectiveness. He has also shown signs of a jumpshot and even range to the 3 point line, but this is far from consistent. One game he'll drill five 3 pointers and the next he will go 0 for 5 from long distance.He is a very quick leaper who can go up, down, and back up again before an opponent will even realize what is happening. This skill helps him a great deal on the offensive glass where he gets the most of his points. He is savvy around the hoop in terms of gaining rebounding position and can sky effortlessly. On the fastbreak you should not even attempt to stop him; he is great at finding the open lanes and the finish is sure to draw numerous camera flashes. Smith is also a great shotblocker, aided by his athleticism. His shotblocking skills are through pure reflex action. Smith's potential is easy to see, he is a legit 6'8"-6'9" player who seems at home on the basketball court. Raw. So very raw. Smith, as amazing a prospect he is, does not have anything amounting to a complete game (on offense or defense). While he can leap high, that is generally all he can do on offense. His handle is not yet proficient enough to be able to drive against the better defenders in the NBA. Nor is his outside shot consistent enough (some games he can get very hot though) to deserve respect from a smart defender who would rather lay off and prevent the drive, daring Smith to shoot. Most of his scoring comes near the basket where he can simply sky over the smaller defenders or from putbacks. He cannot yet create his own shot consistently. His defense, other than the eerie shotblocking ability, is atrocious. For all his speed and athleticism he doesn't have the lateral quickness to play the faster players on the perimeter. He is also very lax on defense, barely trying at times. He simply cannot be asked to cover any better than average offensive player on the perimeter. The key in his weaknesses can be summed up in one word really: consistency. He needs more consistency instead of simply the flashes that he does show. As it turns out, Savneet Singh may be the only one who legitimately watched Josh Smith more than once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emeans Posted July 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 Can you read. Dude I said I was elated that he fell to 17, but the main reason that happened was because of his attitude and immaturity. I don't think anyone thought he would be there at 17 however. That is not the debate. I have always said Billy Knight is the a genious for getting him and Josh Childress. Your statements "Everyone drafted above him has skill sets" and KB's "Can't shoot" , "Can't dribble" accusations is what is assinine and is what we are debating....Not that he wasn't drafted at 6. Also most players are underclassmen or high school players...guess what THEY ARE ALL RAW. Josh is not the only RAW player. Again the draft is a gamble anyway. Dwight Howard may be a bust, so your arguements of what he didn't have hold no water. All of these players have weaknesses. Before you start putting words into my mouth let me go on record by saying every player drafted this year have a lot to learn to be successful on the next level. We all know that. Players drafted ahead of Josh will have a lot to work on including Josh, but to sit her and say he doesn't have "skill sets" is crazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emeans Posted July 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 and_one did your read this KB's scouting report: Quote: Smith is quite simply a freak of nature. There are few that have the NBA skills that he naturally possesses at this moment According to you he has no "skill sets". That is the non-sense statements I am talking about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Posted July 19, 2004 Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 1.Yes I can read. 2. What words did I put into your mouth? 3. KB and I are going off of scouting reports. What is your basis? Yes all of the other HS kids are raw, but please, in your words explain why they went higher. (Dwight Howard and Shaun Livingston that is.) There must be a reason. I mean, why did teams not take this guy right behind Howard??? According to the reports, he is not as polished and his "skill-sets" aren't what they need to be. This is coming from those with insider information. Howard is a better defender right now. He has better footwork. He can use both hands effectively. Livingston has awesome court awareness and is an outstanding passer and floor general. Josh Smith, well, he can jump out of the gym and dunk. Of course all of these guys must work on improving consistency and range with their shooting to make it in the NBA, but it is clear why the other guys went high and Smith fell to 17. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Posted July 19, 2004 Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 Perhaps I was in error by saying "no" skill-sets. But he is very lacking in those skill-sets, according to many reports. Did you happen to read the other ones? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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