Summer ‘08 Players to Watch — Josh Smith
photo courtesy adidas*Reprinted from Dime #42, on sale now*
After championships are won and lost, the NBA, college and high school basketball lays its foundation in the summer months. With the draft, the AAU circuit and summer camps giving rise to new stars replacing the old — plus the world’s most-watched basketball tournament getting underway in Beijing — we give you this summer’s Players 2 Watch…
It’s almost like Josh Smith has had two NBA careers. The first one peaked at All-Star Weekend ’05, when the straight-out-of-high school rookie won the Slam Dunk contest: the Dominique jersey, the windmill over K-Mart’s head, you remember. But after losing the ‘06 contest, “J-Smoove” seemed ready to fade into obscurity. After all, he played for the Hawks, he barely spoke above a whisper, and … he played for the Hawks.
That’s when Josh Smith’s second NBA career kicked off. As he earned a full-time starting job in Atlanta and ascended to lieutenant status under Joe Johnson, Smith slowly gained recognition as one of the League’s most versatile players, elite defenders and premier highlight-makers. But the mainstream realization that he was the real deal didn’t happen until the ‘08 playoffs. With the Hawks avoiding the Lottery for the first time since 1999, a first-round matchup with the media darling Boston Celtics ensured a large audience would be watching for whatever Josh had in store. He averaged 27.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, four assists, four blocks and two steals in Atlanta’s surprising Game Three and Game Four wins, and helped the Hawks take the Celtics to Game Seven in a series most everyone predicted would be a sweep.
It was all perfect timing for Josh, who established himself as one of the hottest young talents in the League right before he went into the summer of ‘08 as a restricted free agent. Now teams are checking their cap status and lining up for a shot at arguably this summer’s most important free agent, a budding All-Star ready to embark on Phase Three.
July 16th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Imperial-Mel says:
J-Smoov is dat man forreal. People have been sleepin on him since high school…
July 16th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
AB_40 says:
Ok he oughta get out of atlanta through sign and trade cuzz nobody gonna sign him to an offer. All the teams who had money don’t have it anymore. I think he should just stay in the A and be a proffesional
July 16th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
Ansonious says:
personally I think J smoov would be awesome as a clipper but thats granted they can stay healthy. I remember it wasn’t that long ago Camby was riddled with injuries year in and year out. Also Kaman wasn’t that healthy either last year. Another aspect to this situation is what team besides the clippers, lakers, hawks and suns has the huge need of a starting small foward. Every other team in the league has promising youth or a solid star at the position and I seriously doubt J smoov would even consider coming off the bench for the less money for a title deal either. My only hope (which would never happen,) is the suns wise up, try to negotiate a sign and trade deal involving Raja bell, and Grant Hill for J smoov. But who else besides the suns would want a prehistoric Grant Hill?
July 17th, 2008 at 12:46 am
nobsworld says:
i wont be surprise if j-smoove ended with denver nuggets remember k-mart have a close relationship with j-smoove plus the fact that they have the same agent
July 17th, 2008 at 1:51 am
JoV says:
i have had j-smoove on my fantasy team for 2 years now and this dude is a stat monster!!