It’s been 16 days since the first and most shocking move of the NBA season so far. A move in which, as you all know by now, or at least should, Josh Smith was waived by the Detroit Pistons on Dec. 22. We’ve talked about it previously so I won’t get too much into it, more on that here.
After his departure some writers/bloggers (read: me) praised Smith’s ability to pick his spots on offense and blamed his alleged offensive and physical decline on the fact that Detroit used him as a 3 when we all know he’s at his best as a natural 4 on the court. By the previous assumption, Josh Smith arriving to arguably the smartest offense in the league was a no brainer.
Right? Right.
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After a rather short negotiation, the Houston Rockets defeated the Dallas Mavericks and eventually won J-Smoove’s sweepstakes, thus improving their chances at contention by handing out one of their unproven players’ minutes to a 10-year veteran who’s yet to make his first All-Star appearance. Great.
After seven games with the Rockets, Smith is averaging 10.7 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game and shooting .385/.100/.250 per game. Of course, Josh Smith is as bad a three-point shooter as they come so it is probably a good thing that he has taken only 14 shots — two per game — from beyond-the-arc while in Houston.
Hell, it was only after five games that Smith, a 10-year veteran lost his spot as a starter to an unproven Donatas Motiejunas who, by all means is having a great year.
Here’s a look at the Rockets performance, per points per game scored and allowed since Smith’s arrival:
As you can see, the Rockets in general have been all over the place since Josh Smith got there, nevertheless, it would be stupid to try and pin all their problems to his acquisition.
The Rockets have dropped four of their last seven games in what could be their worst seven-game stretch of the season, however, those “drops” and/or “struggles” have come against four of the toughest teams in the league — the San Antonio Spurs, the Washington Wizards, the New Orleans Pelicans and the Chicago Bulls.
We’ve previously made the case for the Rockets’ defense being, almost exclusively, what has kept the team afloat throughout almost half the season. The Rockets are 6-7 when their defense allows 100 or more points per game and 17-3 when it allows less than that.
In each of those four losses the Rockets’ defense allowed more than 100 points from their opponents. So even if fans will generally blame the new guy for disrupting the team’s chemistry and “wreaking havoc” on a team that was rather successful prior to his arrival, the Rockets’ “struggles” are a direct result of one of the toughest seven-game stretches of the season and the NBA’s tight and tiring schedule.
Things are bound to get better for the Rockets as they face a series of struggling teams — the Cleveland Cavaliers, the New York Knicks, the Utah Jazz, the Brooklyn Nets, and the Orlando Magic — before squaring off against the rising Oklahoma City Thunder on Jan. 15.
Whatever happens then, won’t be Josh Smith’s fault either … Or will it?