Josh Smith Can Make Crowded Houston Rockets Front Line Truly Elite: While you were busy shopping for Christmas presents, Daryl Morey was getting the Rockets fans a much deeper bench. And the big present from Santa Morey was Josh Smith, who was shockingly waived by the Detroit Pistons. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reported on Christmas Eve: Smith will sign a one-year deal with the Rockets for the biannual exception of $2 million after he clears waivers at 5 p.m. ET on Wednesday. His agents, Brian Dyke and Wallace Prather, informed the Rockets of the decision on Wednesday afternoon, sources said. This is in addition to the earlier acquisitions of Corey Brewer and Alexey Shved in a three-team trade for what was essentially spare change: Sergei Lishouk and a 2015 second-round draft pick to the Philadelphia 76ers along with Troy Daniels, cash, a 2015 second-round draft pick and a 2016 second-round draft pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves. After the dust had settled, the 20-7 Rockets had acquired three new rotation players without giving up any. Per RealGM, the Rockets are last in bench scoring, so it’s help they needed. And now, they’re looking suddenly very deep, particularly in the frontcourt. At small forward, they have Trevor Ariza, Kostas Papanikolaou and Corey Brewer. At power forward they have Terrence Jones, Josh Smith and Donatas Motiejunas. At center they have Dwight Howard and Tarik Black. That’s a legitimate frontcourt rotation of eight players. Black isn’t the kind of player you’re going to build the future around, but according to Basketball-Reference, he is tied for third in win shares among rookies. Having him as your last rotation player is a considerable luxury. Which Josh Smith Do the Rockets Get? While many people will spend most of their time focusing on what Smith can’t do (hit a shot more than three feet from the rim), what he can do will be the key to making everything else work, because what he can do is literally everything else. The perception is that he’s fallen off massively since his years as an Atlanta Hawk. That’s not entirely true. A look at his per-36 numbers from his last year in Atlanta compared to this year in Detroit reveals a bit of a surprise: In fact, this year his rebounds plus assists (13.4) are higher than his last year in Atlanta (12.9). His blocks plus steals (3.4) are also greater than they were 2012-13 (3.1). So, apart from the scoring, he’s actually as good or better. That’s not to ignore the elephant in the room. It’s just to acknowledge the chamber encompassing the beast. Smith’s passing will be particularly helpful. He leads all power forwards in assists per 48 minutes, according to HoopsStats. And per NBA/Stats, the Rockets are fourth worst in assists. And the striking thing about Smith’s dime dispensing is that they go to the areas the Rockets prefer, whether that’s near the rim: Or from the three-point line: Elephant Hunting So let’s palabra pachyderms. Smith is a horrible shooter, and the only living person who doesn’t know this is him. But let’s be honest here. There was a bit of a perfect storm for Smith’s penchant for rim-clanging to happen in Detroit. He was as impacted by playing alongside Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond as they were by him. In fact, since he was the least horrible shooter of the trio, he suffered the most. Because he was the only one who could make a deep shot at all, he was made the 3. Thus the threes. That’s like giving an someone with an eating disorder a job as taste-tester in a bakery. Smith went crazy. There was no such thing as an outside attempt that he didn’t adore. He had the worst three-point shooting season ever. This year, new coach Stan Van Gundy reined the terror in. Smith went from 3.4 deep attempts last year to 1.3 this year. But the other problems are still there. The restricted area is only so big and you can’t cram three players inside it, especially when you have limited three-point shooters. Smith’s offense has just turned into a tragic onslaught of what it should be. Over 60 percent of his shots are from long two, so his inefficient jumper has just become even less efficient. And Smith is experiencing the worst shooting year of his career, hitting just 39.1 percent of his shots. The thing is, as demonstrated by his last shot chart in Atlanta, when there’s a reasonable degree of floor balance, such as exists in Houston, Smith can be an efficient scorer by dominating at the rim. Kevin McHale signed a three-year extension on Christmas Eve, per Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. And he could be the right blend of coaching styles to help Smith revive his career. The Rockets’ owner, Leslie Alexander, explained why the team kept McHale: Players love him. He has that rare ability to be straight-forward and honest and tough, but at the same time, it’s sort of like brotherly love. Almost nobody can do that. He can. The players around the league love him. The whole league loves him. That could be the right combination to reach Smith. Add to that the fact that Howard and Smith have been friends since childhood. Smith told Marc Berman of Fox26 Sports: Its an exciting time for me. Being able to be reunited with a good friend and one of the best teammates I ever played with, I think we can definitely do something special. Playing beside the best two-guard in the game right now in James Harden, what more can you ask for. There is a generally good vibe going on with the addition of Smith. Sometimes fans and the media like to dissociate players from certain aspects of being human, like having a soul. Yes, players actually have thoughts and feelings and stuff. And they’re affected by those things just like anyone else is—even in their jobs. A change of scenery and ambiance could have a massive impact on Smith, and the Rockets are the perfect fit for him. Versatility Provided the Rockets can get Smith back to being mainly an inside scorer, he’s a wonderful fit for them too, because he does so many things well. He can help the Rockets have more than one of the deepest frontcourts; he can help them be one of the most versatile. Because of his array of talents, he can pair with just about anyone to offer a different attack. Need defense? Try dealing with the athleticism of Howard in the post with Smith coming in for the weak-side blocks. Pair him up with Motiejunas running four-out with D-Mo stretching the court and Smith pounding the rock inside. Run him with Black to get that interior scoring the rookie can’t provide. If you want to go big, play him at the 3 with Motiejunas and Howard. If you want to go small, play him at the 4. Need someone other than Harden who can create for himself and others, play him with Papanikolaou and go positionless like the Phoenix Suns do. He has handles like a 3. He can drive to the rim and kick it out if he needs to. He provides interior scoring, shot creating, passing and rebounding. He can give you everything but three-point shooting, and that’s the one area the Rockets—who lead the league in threes with 11.7 per game—don’t need help. And that’s why Houston is suddenly one of the deepest teams in the league. For a team that already owns one of the Association’s best records, shoring up their biggest weakness pushes them into legitimate contender status. Stats for this article were obtained from NBA/Stats and Basketball-Reference except where otherwise noted. Read more NBA news on BleacherReport #Basketball #NBA #NBASouthwest #HoustonRockets #fantasybasketball
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 05:27:48 +0000
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