:mccosky: on Monday

Smith's attitude isn't helping the Hawks

Chris McCosky / The Detroit News

The Atlanta Hawks appear to be a team on the rise, but I fear there is one issue -- one player, actually -- who could torpedo their ascent. Josh Smith . He may be one of their most talented young athletes, but he's also showing signs of being the most immature, as well. During the Hawks game against the Pistons, he was yelling at teammate Tyronn Lue because he wasn't passing him the ball enough. He yelled at coach Mike Woodson to get Lue out of the game and had to be restrained by coaches and teammates. When he did get the ball, he often broke plays to get off his own shot. Then, after playing terribly most of the game, he was given a gift of three free throws (on a debatable call against Rasheed Wallace ). After he made the free throws, which only tied the game, he gave the Pistons' bench the stink-eye, as if he did something heroic. The Pistons won the game on the ensuing possession. Smith, an unrestricted free agent in July, is playing for a contract and not necessarily to help the Hawks win games. That is a dangerous element on a young team.

Smith's response

Smith denies fighting with Lue
Hawks' forward calls report in Detroit paper 'a lie'

By SEKOU SMITH
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 11/12/07

During each of his previous three seasons, Hawks forward Josh Smith said he has had the displeasure of having his name and reputation trashed in published reports.

He only had to wait six games for it to happen during his fourth year.

Smith was on the receiving end of a Detroit News report that detailed his involvement in a shouting match with Hawks coach Mike Woodson and veteran Hawks point guard Tyronn Lue during the Hawks' 92-91 loss to the Pistons two weeks ago, an altercation all involved said never happened.

"It's a lie," Smith said of the report that had him yelling at Lue to pass him the ball and then yelling at Woodson to "get Lue out of the game" and later having to be "restrained by coaches and teammates."

"I'm just tired of all these false accusations about me being thrown out there," Smith continued Monday. "Where is all this stuff coming from? Because it seems obvious to me that someone out there has an agenda against me. If I'm going to get in trouble, at least let me get in trouble for something I've actually done."

The Hawks have disciplined Smith for his emotional outbursts on several occasions in the past.

Late last season he was suspended for two games without pay for a profanity-laced tirade directed at Woodson in a loss at Philadelphia. The NBA also fined him $25,000 for raising both middle fingers to the crowd in Charlotte after he was ejected from the game for arguing with an official.

This latest report has been fabricated, according to Lue.

"We never got into it," Lue said. "So he had to be restrained by other players and coaches ... man, are you serious? None of that happened. The instance they're talking about is when he had Rip [Hamilton] guarding him in the post and he was yelling for the ball. I threw him the [expletive] ball. And he was right; we needed to go to him inside when he has a smaller guy on him. But the rest of that stuff, none of that happened. It's all trash and lies."

Smith was also incorrectly identified in the report as an "unrestricted free agent in July," he'll be a restricted free agent, meaning the Hawks can match any offers made to him by other teams, and blasted for "playing for a contract and not necessarily to help the Hawks win games."

Not a good morning for McCosky.

Let's wait for his condescending rebuttal.

Some unrelated McCosky stuff. After reading this, you should feel emasculated and unworthy.

:mccosky:


Odds and Ends from Portland

People, please, you have to stop counting minutes. Six games into the season, five wins, some long stretches of fantastic basketball, and all anybody wants to talk about his how many minutes guys are playing? Good lord. Rip Hamilton played 41 minutes in Seattle last night. Big deal. He's fine. Had he not played 41 minutes, the Pistons might have given that game away -- he was the only guy scoring against the Seattle zone -- which would have been a disastrous way to start this trip. Nobody is averaging more than 35.5 minutes. Nobody is getting worn down.

And listen, if you think the only reason the Pistons faltered in the playoffs the last two seasons is because they were physically worn down, you are mistaken. It's not that simple, and it gives the players too much of a free pass. If you can't average 35 to 37 minutes over the course of regular season without being exhausted in the third round of the playoffs, then you aren't championship caliber. That's not what happened. There were a host of contributing factors (not the least of which was Cleveland's defense and LeBron James' brilliance).

If you are going to monitor minutes all season, you are going to miss a lot of excellent basketball.

And by the way, did you bother to notice that both Chauncey Billups and Hamilton were on the bench for a four-plus minute stretch of the fourth quarter in Seattle? With reserves Flip Murray, Jarvis Hayes, Jason Maxiell leading the way, the Pistons extended the lead from three points to seven. The starters came back in fresh for the final four minutes. Nobody is getting worn down.

On another issue: Let's back off of Amir Johnson for a bit, OK? I don't know what some people expect from this kid, but he's not Magic Johnson. He's not ready to be in the regular rotation and contribute 25 to 30 minutes a game. He's not going to be ready all year, is my guess. This isn't the Pistons' version of Cameron Maybin. Nobody's ever said he was the greatest prospect ever to come through the pike. He was the 56th pick in the draft, taken right out of high school. He wasn't the first overall pick. He's an extremely athletic but extremely raw kid. He is active and he can finish around the basket. He can block shots and run the floor. But other than that, he's still finding his way (on the court and off it). For now and for the foreseeable future, he's the 11th or 12th man this year getting mostly just spot minutes.

Rasheed Wallace and others have started calling Arron Afflalo "Showbe," a riff on Afflalo's favorite player Kobe Bryant. Afflalo has emulated Bryant's workout regimen throughout the season. He is always the first person on the court before a game. Before the last Pistons home game (vs. Clippers), he was out there putting up shots before 4 p.m. -- tip-off was 8 p.m. During training camp, he would arrive at the practice facility every day at 7 a.m., three hours before practice started. He's always the lasy one to leave, too. He's very driven, this guy, much like his guy Kobe. Thus, the nickname.

It's obvious the Det. News has asked McStupid to take a harder editorial stance, and it's quickily not winning him friends around the league.

Not a good morning for McCosky.

Let's wait for his condescending rebuttal.

I'm sure it will be nothing like his column blasting that ESPN dude ... Ford's replacement ... whatever his name is .. report that Sheed "hated" Flip.

Here we go!

:mccosky:


Atlanta's burning
Man, now I've got Atlanta Hawk fan (all seven of them) mad at me. I swear I am not trying to turn myself into a public enemy; it just seems to be working out that way. My colleague and friend Sekou Smith from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution took my little commentary on Josh Smith that ran in my NBA notes column Monday to Josh Smith. I had questioned Smith's maturity after he threw a hissy fit during the Hawks-Pistons game when he wasn't getting the ball enough. Anyway, both Smith and Tyronn Lue said it was all a lie. It was not. I saw what I saw and heard what I heard.

The incident happened right in front of me. Smith was yelling at Lue to throw him the ball on two straight possessions. When he didn't get the ball on the second one, he screamed at Lue to throw the damn ball. Play stopped, a foul or something, and Smith kind of threw his hands toward the bench and yelled something to coach Mike Woodson about Lue. Then there was a timeout and two assistant coaches and Lue all tried to calm Smith down before he went into the huddle. I did not make any of that up. And I wasn't trying to make it sound like Smith and Lue were going to blows or anything like that, just that Smith was unjustifiably frustrated. Which he was. So, I don't know how the story was presented to those guys by Sekou, I just know the incident happened as I described it.

My only regret was the dumb, brain-cramped mistake I made calling Smith an unrestricted free agent. I know he is restricted. Why I wrote it otherwise, who knows? It's the same reason that for the second straight year, I referred to Sam Mitchell as the coach of the Timberwolves. Huh? I know he coaches the Raptors. It's not easy being me sometimes, trust me on that....

sure we all know it's not easy being dumb and lying and shit

Notice how he dropped the whole "Smith was yelling at Woodson to get Lue out of the game" and turned it into "Smith threw his hands toward the bench and yelled something".

That's not different at all.

nice catch, and i was just about to defend mccosky here.

i believe mccosky just go fingerbanged, right?