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Monday, November 24, 2008
When is Josh Smith coming back?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
HAWKSVILLE - If I had a dollar for every time someone has asked me that in the past two weeks, I’d take us all out for steak dinners and pick up the bill.
People ask me in hallways at Philips Arena, the Publix on Paces Ferry and Cumberland Parkway (the hottest hangout spot in town for family guys, ha!), in bathrooms (enough already), at the barbershop and in line the bank.
Scouts from other teams ask all the time, in the press room and even on flights; one did during take off Saturday on the way to Cleveland, wanting to know if Smith would be back in time for the game against his team this week.
My answer is always the same, “I honestly don’t know.”
(And for the record, Smith is expected back sometime next week at best.)
If it were up to Smith he’d have been back six games ago. But that high ankle sprain he suffered Nov. 7 in a win over Toronto has done more to ground the Hawks’ high-flying defensive effort than anything an opposing team has done.
He wants back on the floor for Wednesday’s Thanksgiving Eve tilt with Milwaukee. Hawks coach Mike Woodson says it’s not happening. Or at least that’s what he said before the Cavaliers ransacked his team Saturday night.
But no one could blame him for allowing Smith an early return. Because the Hawks need a jolt of energy in the worst way right now. They had to work so hard to fend off the Bobcats at home Friday night that I knew they’d have trouble in Cleveland - and I knew that even if they played well from the start (which, of course, they did not) they’d struggle with the Cavs because LeBron’s crew is sp big and physical and would force the issue inside, where the Hawks are most vulnerable right now.
The Bucks will pose a similar challenge, as will the Raptors Friday night in Toronto.
The worst kept secret right now in the scouting world is that the Hawks are tender in the middle. Teams aren’t even masking their intent, going at the Hawks’ head from the start of games hoping to force Al Horford into early foul trouble and therefore forcing the Hawks into playing their reserves for extended minutes (music to the ears of the likes of James, Chris Bosh and others frontcourt starts of their ilk).
I asked a scouting friend how one guy could make such a huge difference defensively if he’s never included on the list of All-Defensive teams and roundly criticized for being a shot blocker but not a good overall defender (criticism I think is not only trivial but totally off base)?
He raised some interesting points with his response.
“The thing with Josh is he’s a gambler,” my scout friend said. “He’s always baiting people into shots that he can block or alter and that’s what makes him so effective. It’s also what drives coaches nuts, because it’s something they can’t control or coach him to do. And that frightens most coaches. I think it’s one reason he doesn’t get the respect he deserves as a defender and one reason why he’s always left out of the conversation of the best defenders in the league. But if you look at them without him out there, patrolling the baseline and protecting that rim, they’re a totally different team. They couldn’t even stop friggin Rasho [Nesterovic] and [Troy] Murphy [in Indiana last week]. So that tells you just how much they are struggling right now. The other thing is, when you have a shot blocker back there, guys who aren’t great defenders but really put forth a lot of effort to play defense look a whole lot better. When that shot blocker isn’t there, those other guys can’t hide. I can’t lie, Smith drives me crazy. I’m not a gambler. But I promise you, if he played for us, we’d build the entire defensive scheme around him. He not only blocks shots but he intimidates guys. I was at a game last season when he had Boston so worried about where he was on defense that it kept them out of rhythm for the entire first half. There aren’t many guys in the league that can do that.”
All that said, I don’t think Smith answers all of the Hawks’ defensive questions - there has to be someone that can come in as a defensive bulldog on opposing point guards, either Acie Law IV or Mario West, even if it’s just for brief stretches to knock the opposing team off balance momentarily.
But there’s no question the Hawks will get a major lift when Smith returns. When that is … well, just ask me next time you see me.
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