Good Investment or Over Paid: Josh Smith

The summer of 2013 is looking good for the boys from Atlanta. I am not talking about Outkast or T.I. and Luda either, I am referring to Dwight Howard and Josh Smooth. Howard and Smith teamed up during their youth as a dynamic duo on the AAU scene before making the "leap" straight to the pro's. While Dwight Howard has carved out a niche as the games best big man, Smith has become the equivalent to a human Swiss Army Knife. Howard signed a max offer to play with the Houston Rockets after a drama filled season in L.A. where he essentially became public enemy number "1". Smith signed a 56 million dollar contract with the suddenly up and coming Detroit Pistons. Both players are in need of fresh starts, but this report is only about Smith.

Josh Smith: Career Stats: 15 ppg, 8 rebs, 2 blks
2013: 17 ppg, 8 rebs and 2 blks

Smith has a skill set that is larger than life, but his tendency to "GUN" from deep is his weakness. Smith has the ability to uses his size (6'9) and long arms to drive past opponents. He is great around the basket and can finish through contact. His wingspan and quick feet make him the ideal match up for premier wings such as Durant, James and Anthony, but his lack of consistent effort keeps him from being mentioned in that group. He can rebound like a power forward and block shots like a center, but does gamble allowing his man to take advantage of open opportunities. If he puts it together now that he will play his more natural position and cuts down on the sporadic three point attempts, the Pistons could be an ideal fit.

The Pistons have toiled in the dungeon the last few seasons due to numerous coaching changes, personnel issues and a general lack of talent. Their recent success through the NBA draft has allowed them to remain hopeful that things can get better. They have two of the best young bigs in the game playing side by side in Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe. They have a feisty young guard in Brandon Knight that can hit the three and like to compete and Kyle Singler was a breath of fresh air off the bench last season. They may have potentially struck gold this past year during the draft, selecting Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in the lottery. The athletic guard out of Georgia can shoot, defend, drive and he has good size at 6'6.

Andre Drummond: Rookie Season: 8 ppg, 8 rebs, 1 blk

Greg Monroe: Career: 13 ppg, 9 rebs
2013: 16 ppg, 10 rebs

So what does all of that mean in combination with a new coach and Josh Smith, who knows but I can tell how it should work out. With Drummond and Monroe manning the middle you can expect the lanes to be clogged up, unless Monroe can develop a respectable mid range game. That would allow Smith to operate from the elbow down and roll through screens on drives. Both Caldwell-Pope and Knight can lurk on the wings to provide long range cover. On the defensive end you finally have a line-up that can compete every night with elite teams because of the length, speed and athleticism. Smith as previously mentioned will match-up with any Small Forward in the league, meanwhile because of his size and speed Caldwell-Pope should prove to be more than useful against opposing two's. The steady play of Monroe teamed with the aggressive shot blocking ability of Drummond will make it hard to penetrate a once soft Pistons front court.



So how does this all actually work to every ones benefit? Smith cannot shoot more than 50 three's this season. If he is open and its from a sweet spot, then let it go. But if its early in the shot clock and the Pistons haven't set up the offense yet, terrible!!! Brandon Knight has to make the leap from a ok player to a really good player this year. He has made good strides, but its year three and its time to play. His defense must improve and he has to be willing to get the ball to the big fellas so they can establish themselves early in the post. Drummond must dominate, it's that simple. His size and growing skill set give him an advantage over most bigs, he needs to evolve and want to excel. The young wings such as Caldwell-Pope, Singler and Kim English need to provide consistent scoring to open things up for the front court. The two wild cards are Tony Mitchell the enigmatic forward from North Texas and Peyton Siva from Louisville. If they can get healthy bench production from these two, then this Pistons should be looking at the seven or eight spot in the playoffs. Things are finally looking up in Motown, hopefully the can keep it going.

 The Draft Fanatic