Josh Smith

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This article is about the NBA player. For other people named Josh Smith, see Joshua Smith.
Josh Smith

Smith with the Hawks
No. 5 – Atlanta Hawks
Forward
Personal information
Born (1985-12-05) December 5, 1985 (age 26)
College Park, Georgia
Nationality American
High school McEachern
Oak Hill Academy
Listed height 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Listed weight 225 lb (102 kg)
Career information
College None
NBA Draft 2004 / Round: 1 / Pick: 17th overall
Selected by the Atlanta Hawks
Pro career 2004–present
League NBA
Career history
2004–present Atlanta Hawks
Career highlights and awards
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Josh Smith (born December 5, 1985 in College Park, Georgia) is an American professional basketball player with the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA. Josh is one of five children born to Paulette and Pete Smith. His siblings are Walter, Phebe, Kasola and Shanti. His popular nickname is "J-Smoove".[1]

Smith attended John McEachern High School. For his senior year, Smith transferred to Oak Hill Academy. As a player for Oak Hill's basketball team, he first earned his reputation as a consummate shot-blocker, which he would maintain in the NBA. He played alongside former Atlanta Hawk teammate Randolph Morris and the Orlando Magic's Dwight Howard on the highly regarded Atlanta Celtics AAU team in the summer of 2003.[2]

Contents

[edit] NBA career

Smith was selected by the Atlanta Hawks with the 17th overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft.

Having entered the league straight out of high school, Smith has publicly disagreed with the rule change that prohibited high school players from entering the NBA Entry Draft.[3]

He won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest during his rookie year in the 2005 NBA All-Star Weekend. He averaged 9.7 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.95 blocks per game for the 2004–05 season and was selected to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team. For the 2005–06 season, Smith averaged 2.25 blocks per game, ranking seventh in the NBA.

After the NBA All-Star Weekend, he continued his steady development. He finished second in the NBA in total blocks, 4th in blocks per game and averaged 15.0 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 4.1 apg, 3.1 bpg and 1.0 spg after the All-Star break and his contribution helped the Hawks double their win total of 13 wins from the previous season to finish 26-56.

On March 3, 2007, Smith broke the 500-block mark, making him the youngest player to do so in NBA history.[4] Smith ended the 2006–07 season with 16.4 points per game, 8.6 rebounds per game, 3.3 assists, 1.4 steals and 2.9 blocks, dramatically improving on his previous season's stats. Leading the Hawks after Joe Johnson's season-ending injury, Smith produced a career high 32 points and 19 rebounds in Johnson's absence. He eclipsed this mark on November 17, 2007 with a new career high of 38 points on the road against the Milwaukee Bucks.[5]

On August 8, 2008, Smith signed an offer sheet to play with the Memphis Grizzlies, but the Hawks quickly matched the offer sheet.[6] Smith was told by Atlanta to go out as a restricted free agent to test the market, putting the pressure on Smith to essentially go out and set his price.[7]

On October 30, 2009, in a home game vs. the Washington Wizards, Smith became the youngest player (at 23 years old) to reach 900 blocks.

On February 2, 2010, against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Smith became the youngest player (at 24 years old) to block 1000 shots.[8]

[edit] NBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

[edit] Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2004–05 Atlanta 74 59 27.7 .455 .174 .688 6.2 1.7 .8 1.9 9.7
2005–06 Atlanta 80 73 32.0 .425 .309 .719 6.6 2.4 .8 2.6 11.3
2006–07 Atlanta 72 72 36.8 .439 .250 .693 8.6 3.3 1.4 2.9 16.4
2007–08 Atlanta 81 81 35.5 .457 .253 .710 8.2 3.4 1.5 2.8 17.2
2008–09 Atlanta 69 69 35.1 .492 .299 .588 7.2 2.4 1.4 1.6 15.6
2009–10 Atlanta 81 81 35.4 .505 .000 .618 8.7 4.2 1.6 2.1 15.7
2010–11 Atlanta 77 77 34.4 .477 .331 .725 8.5 3.3 1.3 1.6 16.5
Career 534 512 33.8 .466 .282 .675 7.7 3.0 1.2 2.2 14.6

[edit] Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2008 Atlanta 7 7 33.9 .398 .167 .841 6.4 2.9 1.7 2.9 15.7
2009 Atlanta 11 11 37.3 .421 .133 .732 7.5 2.2 1.1 1.5 17.1
2010 Atlanta 11 11 35.6 .481 .333 .659 9.0 2.6 1.2 1.7 14.1
2011 Atlanta 12 12 36.5 .404 .125 .597 8.5 2.9 1.1 2.1 15.1
Career 41 41 36.0 .426 .159 .699 8.0 2.6 1.2 2.0 15.5

[edit] NBA records

Youngest player in NBA history to record:

  • 10 blocked shots in a game, Atlanta Hawks at Dallas Mavericks, 02004-12-18 December 18, 2004 (&1000000000000001900000019 years, &1000000000000001300000013 days)
  • 500 career blocked shots, Atlanta Hawks vs. New York Knicks, 02007-03-03 March 3, 2007 (&1000000000000002100000021 years, &1000000000000008800000088 days) (206 games)
  • 1,000 career blocked shots, Atlanta Hawks at Oklahoma City Thunder, 02010-02-02 February 2, 2010 (&1000000000000002400000024 years, &1000000000000005900000059 days) (423 games)

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Josh Smith Bio Page". NBA.com. http://www.nba.com/playerfile/josh_smith/bio.html. Retrieved 2012-02-20. 
  2. ^ "Just Like Old Times". Nba.com. 2008-11-04. http://www.nba.com/hawks/feature/Smith_Morris_Feature_110408.html. Retrieved 2012-02-20. 
  3. ^ Kent, Austin (2008-08-17). "Never Send a Human to do a Machine's Job". The Good Point. http://www.thegoodpoint.com/basketball/sept08/never-send-a-human-to-do-a-machines-job.html. Retrieved 2008-12-24. 
  4. ^ "ESPN -New York vs. Atlanta - Recap - March 03, 2007". Sports.espn.go.com. 2007-03-03. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=270303001. Retrieved 2012-02-20. 
  5. ^ "Hawks at Bucks Game Info". NBA.com. http://www.nba.com/games/20071117/ATLMIL/boxscore.html. Retrieved 2012-02-20. 
  6. ^ "Hawks match Grizzlies’ offer sheet for Josh Smith which means Josh Smith will remain in a Hawks Uniform through that 2012-2013 season". Yahoo.com. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AsUbxah59boo2SQEdddBx2I5nYcB?slug=ap-grizzlies-smith&prov=ap&type=lgns. Retrieved 2008-08-09. 
  7. ^ Kent, Austin (2008-08-17). "Never Send a Human to do a Machine's Job". The Good Point. http://www.thegoodpoint.com/basketball/sept08/never-send-a-human-to-do-a-machines-job.html. Retrieved 2008-12-24. 
  8. ^ "Atlanta Hawks' Josh Smith becomes youngest to block 1,000 shots in NBA - ESPN". Sports.espn.go.com. 2010-02-02. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4881933. Retrieved 2012-02-20. 

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Josh Smith

0 Teague | 1 McGrady | 2 J. Johnson | 5 Smith | 6 Hinrich | 7 Pargo | 15 Horford | 24 Williams | 25 Dampier | 27 Pachulia | 33 Green | 34 Collins | 42 Stackhouse | 44 I. Johnson | 77 Radmanović

Head coach: Drew | Assistant coaches: Conner | Bender | Hill | Gattison | Radulovic
First round
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