Josh Smith amazes and frustrates: takes Atlanta Hawks into the Playoffs-NBA Update
Josh Smith, Atlanta Hawks 26 year old forward is a player with a diversified set of skills. He can shoot and he can block, he is deadly when it comes to clutch shooting. But his ability to throw head scratching shot and whining
like a kid when a call doesn’t go his way surpasses them all.
8th year into his career and the 6’ 9’’ towering player doesn’t miss a chance to send the crowd on their toes and heads shaking in frustration at the same time. But yet again his 18.8 points (career best), 9.6 boards
and 3.9 assists per game average happen to be the reason behind Hawks’ 5th seed in East.
Hawks’ Coach Larry Drew holds a mixed perspective about him.
"Is there some things he still needs to work on? Absolutely. He'll be the first to admit that," Hawks coach said. "But he's really starting to understand the type of player that he can become. He's made tremendous strides in developing
his game. He's one of the few guys in this league who has the ability to impact both ends of the floor."
The franchise took a chance on Josh after drafting him straight out of the high school in 2004 and today he ranks amongst the franchise all-time leaders in many categories. He is also the longest tenured Hawk.
Atlanta will be opening their playoffs account on Sunday against Boston Celtics. Making it this far in the regular season without Al Horford (torn pectoral muscle after 11 games into the season) they owe every bit of gratitude
to Smith as he shouldered much of the burden, especially in the last two games of the season. It was Smith who guarded Los Angeles sensation Blake Griffin on D and drew the same defensive assignment against Dallas Mavericks Dirk Nowitzki.
He stood up against the players beyond his league but even then he tallied a team high 115 blocks. Despite the fact he laboured on court with ailing knees he yet managed to make 96 steals (ranked second in team). After running
such a successful show he was nothing but humbled.
“This was definitely a year where I was productive," Smith said. "With the injury to Al, I had to step up as a scoring leader and being more of a vocal leader”
In a nutshell his bad shots and good shots are part of Smith package. The franchise and the fans can tolerate his juvenility as long as he is productive, as for now he is on song.
Or there is another way out his $13.2 million contract is maturing next season and he is bound to become a free agent by then.
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