Yahoo's Wojnarowski: Josh Smith still seeking trade

Josh seemed to get fed up during the playoffs with national media harping on his flaws when he was often playing better than any Hawk on the court. I can understand his frustration. He got bashed a lot for shooting 3 pointers and last year he shot a higher percentage than Joe Johnson or Lebron James from 3. He’s also gotten bad press for turnovers and sloppiness with the ball.

Other Hawks seem to be exempt from media criticism possibly because Josh is the most interesting/polarizing. Joe doesn’t get much press for overdribbling or failure to make a decision when double-teamed. His shooting was way off last year and it didn’t get as much press as maybe it deserved. This is probably because Joe’s the man and it’s his job to shoot. Marvin didn’t get much press for his disappearing act. I mean sure he gets the talk nationally about being a huge draft mistake and now he gets the most likely candidate for amnesty, but specific comments about his on court play rarely get any media attention. Josh gets a detailed critique while Marvin gets a he’s a bust let’s move on. Al Horford’s struggles against longer defenders gets quickly dismissed as him playing out of position. It’s hard to criticize Al because of all he does and he does it without outburst and perceived whining on the floor. From Josh’s perspective he might be wondering why he gets all the criticism and Al gets so little.

Having said all that it isn’t a reason to trade Josh. There are only 2 reasons to trade Josh: 1) if you get back a return that improves the team and its chances for a title 2) If you either don’t plan to resign or can’t afford to resign at the end of next year. Other than that don’t do it. What I know is that Josh improves his game each year. It seems he wants to be great and he has skills and wonderful physical abilities. You don’t give that up just because he feels he’s unfairly criticized.

I agree with the coaching comment though. Josh has had 2 head coaches in the NBA. Mike Woodson who I would argue was kept around too long and then they promoted a long time assistant, Larry Drew. He wasn’t a new and different voice. If anything he may have come across as a friend of the players. It might have made for a smooth transition but didn’t necessarily accomplish what was needed in getting the most out of the personnel. Hard to go from friend to stern hand with Josh to stick to what he does best or the guy who convinces Joe that the style of play that got him a $119M needs to change or the guy who lights a fire under Marvin. Then again it would be hard for any coach to have the perceived authority to get things done when the ownership group is a laughing stock.

Smith showed up for voluntary workouts at Philips Arena today. MC just tweeted that Smith has lost 30 pounds since last season.

I love Josh Smith as much as anybody else, but it’ll probably be for the best if he gets traded. What the Hawks is depth and size in the paint. They could easily move Al Horford to the four spot. Maybe they could pull off a sign and trade deal with the Denver Nuggets. they could get Nene and fill in that open Center spot.

Depends on what we get back (C or SF) but I want to see huge improvement from Marvin. Is 17/8/4 asking too much? Hopefully he’s walking upright after back surgery.

Hawks playing home and home preseason series with the Bobcats, No dates yet

Smith lost 30 lbs could mean he ballooned to 260 and then dropped to 230. Or he’s bad at math?

No way he is 210 lbs at age 26.

https://twitter.com/#!/SekouSmithNBA/status/142288159055675392

Then great. Our best lineups last year were the ones without Marvin in it. If Josh can maintain his early season 38% three point shooting then that’s a positive. The biggest risk of him at SF was his lateral quickness, but he may have improved that with the conditioning. The other issue was the long 2 point jump shot. He needs to turn those into 3s (and make them) or not take them. The other upside is it would allow Al to get more favorable matchups. There is also nothing saying that he can’t take his man down low from the SF position.

Still need to get a center for the lineup. Even if it Zaza we’d need a competent backup.

He now thinks he’s exclusively a SF and he will be tempted to take more shots from the outside.

Would any of you guys be on board with trading Smith for Nene in a sign-and-trade? From a Nuggets perspective I’d like a pick or two as well, but obviously if we can’t get any better deals we’re not going to be picky.

I think he’s expecting to get traded. Hes not going to hurt his value by shooting and stuff off the dribble.

Hes going to watch what Joe and Teague do and then when Horford cant get free and Jason Collins starts growing mold he’s going to do whats expected of him.
Fail to shake his man and miss a contested fadeaway. then he’ll get the bum rap and Horford gets a free pass.

Smith does not care if hes traded anymore or if they needed his bulk to defend power players. This team could be at an impasse.

Smith is not “seeking” a trade like Woj is lying about. Smith has to show he’s improved before he can start seeking or demanding trades.

Trade him for some 1st round draft picks or through a sign and trade and make a run for a player like Deandre Jordan and/or Thaddeus Young. I’m not sure what kind of money those two players would be looking for, but I believe Jordan is a guy that would improve our team big time. Here is the top guys we should go for in my mind through free agency or sign and trades:
1.) Nene (Would balance the team and a huge improvement over Smooth, but prob at the same price or more)
2.) Deandre Jordan (Big guy we need to balance our lineup and he is getting better, would be cheaper than Smooth,i am assuming)
3.) Thaddeus Young (Could take Marvin’s spot at the 3 and is so much better than him)
4.) Marco Belinelli (Could take Marvin’s spot or could be a guy off the bench)
5.) Shane Battier (Could fill the 3 or come off the bench; would also be a leader we’ve needed)
6.) Leon Powe (Would be a nice addition and would be much better than Josh Powell)
7.) Anthony Parker (Could be great bench help and plays great defense)

I’m not saying the Hawks should sign all of these guys. I just think if they are getting rid of Josh then they should make a run at one or more of these guys to improve the lineup while also spreading the $$ around.

I did not know Ron Artest changed his name to Metta World Peace…

"Rajon didn’t talk much about it but let me do it for him," Smith said. "It’s mind-boggling to me to see people talking about getting rid of a player who damn-near broke his arm during the playoffs last year for his team and kept playing. We’re talking about arguably the best player in the playoffs for his team energy-wise, defensively and offensively. It’s a sick joke. For anyone to talk about getting rid of him, one of the elite point guards in this league and a true point who passes first and shoots second … it just reminds me of what I already knew, that the NBA is strictly a business. They can try to make it as family oriented as they want to, but at the end of the day it’s a business. And the fact is there is no loyalty in the NBA or any other profession. It’s always business."

Smith said he is like most of his peers, extra sensitive to that fact with a condensed free agency period and the rushed start to this abbreviated season causing a spike in trade chatter. It’s not just his name or Rondo’s being tossed around. It’s Dwight Howard and Deron Williams and just about any other name you can think of these days.

"Nothing surprises me, though," Smith said. "After seeing what happened to the NFL players when they came out of their lockout and they had something like 600 transactions in a week and you saw good players, quality players, getting shuffled around the league because of the way the process was structured. Nothing would surprise me."

ATLANTA – Look who was the first, and only player, to show up when the doors swung open in Atlanta. Yes, the same player some Hawks fans wanted to push out the door last spring.

Lol he should not have showed up. No other team captain or team member did. Sick Joke of a franchise.

The Hawks do not have an untouchable player. Sorry, but they don’t. And as I’ve also said, if they trade Josh, they’d better not do it just for the sake of trading him. They need to get noticeably better. Also, (off topic) they need to call the Bulls and convince them that JJ is the missing piece they need. I’m sure they’d have to take back a bad contract, but it won’t be nearly as bad as the one they’d be giving up. He needs to be off the books as far as I’m concerned. I don’t think it’d be that hard to convince the Bulls to sell out, considering everyone knows they need a shooting guard. It’s worth a shot. :) Hope everyone is well. One last thing, Rick Sund gave up Jordan Crawford, Mike Bibby and a first round draft pick to get Kirk Hinrich. Is there any reason to think he’s going to pull off a trade for Josh that makes the Hawks better? I vote no.

Just like last year, other teams made big moves. What can the team do? Any scenarios?

Looking at the stats the site has had its biggest three-day traffic bump since last season’s playoffs. We appreciate you guys sticking around for the long haul.

NOOOOOO! My Kevin Love wet dreams almost came true!!!! THERE IS NO GOD!!!!

like it or not, Joe will likely start to decline, and there are still 5 years left on that deal. Yes, they need to move him while some team is stupid enough to take that contract. They need to build around the young guys. This team as currently constructed has peaked. . And Josh does a lot for this team as far as scoring, rebouding, blocks, assists and steals. No matter how you feel about Josh, teams aren’t just giving away players who do all that. So, yes they need to get more for Josh than they’d get for Joe. His contract is a disaster and it needs to be moved.