Josh Smith hears your complaints Atlanta. He hears the groans in Phillips Arena every time he goes up for a jumpshot outside of five feet.
And he wants you to know he things you’re wrong, he told the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Actually, Josh, you haven’t been pretty good all year.
You shot 31.1 percent on shots from 10-15 feet. That’s not good. You took more than four long-two pointers (16-23 feet) per game, and that is the least efficient shot in basketball. You hit a decent 39 percent of those, but other teams will gladly give you that shot and that percentage to keep you from attacking the rim. See there, you shot 66 percent (inside the restricted area). You took as many long twos as you did shots at the rim. With your athleticism, that simply should not be the case.
You did shoot the corner three pretty well — 42 percent. Of course, you took less than one of those a game. Most of your threes come out on the arc, where you shoot 29 percent. Not good.
And it’s all been worse in the playoffs — you are shooting 15 percent from the midrange, you have yet to hit a corner three and you are shooting 21 percent out on the arc from three. But, get in the paint and you shoot fantastic numbers.
Josh, don’t take this the wrong way, but the crowd is right to groan. Don’t settle, attack more. Go to the post. When you do the Hawks entire offense is so much more dynamic. When you and your teammates fall in love with the jumper is when things go bad.
Thanks for listening.
(All stats in this post via Hoopdata and the NBA.com Statscube, two places you should check out. When you have a lot of time to kill. Because they will suck you in.)
