Not everyone gets over that however.

A guy I know, we’ll call him Don Markest, is almost 30 and still hasn’t figured it out.

as for Josh Smith, I haven’t sounded my opinion off, yet, partly because is I’m not sure. I love Josh Smith as a player – his age, his talents, his attitude doesn’t worry me so much as my question as to whether he’ll ever develop a polished three pointer. Maybe this is spurned on by the combination of FreeDarko and the fact that in NBA2K8 I demolish all comers with the Hawks by repeatedly taking Josh Smith and Cramming him down the hole, but I really like the idea of him on the Kings. The practicalities however, are less inclined.
Where would Smith fit on the Kings? Well, this becomes a question of his value. Say we get my conceptualization of what is fair value ($12 million for five) – that means that for the next five years we have Beno, Martin and Smith locked up. That means our rebuilding plan better be complete in two years (which may or may not involve Beno), so these guys have two plaoff bound seasons together before they make the final run for the rings in five years. We’d have Cisco at an extra five mill as the sixth man at that time (theoretically), and we’d have signed Hawes for another $8-12 (assuming 7 footers get increasingly rare), and would have just extended JT from anywhere from $10-$16 million. Well, that’s 6+11+12+15+12+5=61 million tied up in six guys – when we don’t have a real big man on the floor, nor a stellar PG? I mean, we can be optimistic and say Beno becomes great, JT becomes a bigger, more offensively talented Josh Smith, and Josh Smith becomes even more of what he is, as well as the greatest lockdown defender since Scottie Pippen. Being a Kigns fan, this team would kill, it’d be awesome. Championship!
The problem arises in the (very likely scenario) that a few of those players don’t pan out. Maybe Cisco leaves for 7 million a year in Chicago, maybe Beno becomes what Bibby is, except even slower and with a worse shot, JT and Shawes are really just backups. Then, in that scenario, having $12 million assigned to a tweener that doesn’t really fir you system will kill your ability to make moves, and you’ll be constantly trying to build around a failed formula – that is, a high efficiency scorer with limited defensive ability tied to a roaming small forward who never sticks to his man and relies solely on his athletecism to score.
So, Josh smith is a dream, but like all dreams, it has me putting more fantasy in the reality. I see the sick blocks, the ridiculous hangtime, and I think: Imagine KMart running around nilly-dilly, as this roaming beast that is Josh SMith eats the rim – teams wouldn’t know whether to protect the rim, guard the midrange or lock out the three. And shit, the power forward and center all have range till the three, and one of them is a low-post monster (Shawes), and the other gathers up all the loose rebounds like a priest on a collection plate. Then hell, Beno can be Beno and it’s all good, because anyone who thinks they can get past Beno will get swatted by Smith, as KMart and JT lock down the other teams primary scorers and Shawes is the big dude in the paint.
Sadly, all that’ll end up happening is we’ll curse JSmittys name every time he launches a three when Shawes is on the block, or drives and tries to dunk over three people when Kevin is open at the top of the key, and his insistence on being a three that plays the four forces JT to become a really slow three rather than Karl Malone part deux, and in all this mess Beno decides to get his so he can get the hell out of Sactown.

Signing Smith is a big risk, because it delays management finding out about the players they have, ties up the books for a loooong time and limits managements ability to rework the roster, as well as possibly causing locker room problems. However, like all risks, I can’t but help but look at the rewards, but we must all take a deep breath, swallow, and take a hard look at those odds.

That’s what she said.