Appreciating Joe Smith

While Joe Smith may not be the player he was supposed to be when he was the top pick in the '95 draft, he has been a very useful NBA player for 13 years now. His main skills - height, midrange shooting, and drawing charges - don't depend on age, so a 6'10" player who can shoot and plays solid defense will age very well. And Smith has done that, remaining roughly the same player in his 30s that he was in his 20s.

Consequently, now that he has been released by the Oklahoma City Thunder, smart teams are interested in acquiring him for their playoff runs.

As a Celtics fan, I wish the Cs would have held off on signing the very unproductive Mikki Moore so that they could pick him up, but they must have had some reason to believe that the Thunder weren't going to buy him out. Well, they were wrong, and he's available. So who is going to get him?

My money's on the Cavs, for two important reasons. First, as ESPN.com notes, they can offer him the most money, a prorated share of the midlevel exception. Second, as important, though they are arguably already the best team in the NBA, they need him more than any other contender.

The ESPN.com article linked to above notes their "need became greater when Ben Wallace went down Friday with a broken leg." While that's true, even before Wallace went down I'm sure the Cavs could have found minutes for Smith. That's because the two players who use most of the minutes at the four, Ben Wallace and Anderson Varejao, are redundant, with roughly the same skill set. Both are excellent defenders and rebounders, and are thus useful players. However, neither can shoot. At all. This allows opposing defenses to pack in around the rim, essentially guarding 5 on 4, able to help off the 4 when LeBron drives, unafraid that either Wallace or Varejao will make them pay.

Joe Smith, on the other hand, would give them a different look. It's not that he's a better player than Wallace or Varejao (his PER is slightly higher than Wallace's, slightly lower than Varejao's). It's just that he's a very different player than either of them. They excel in areas where he struggles, but he excels in areas where they struggle. And his biggest strength - hitting midrange jump shots - could be very useful for a team that would suddenly have the option of surrounding LeBron James - the league's beast driver and finisher - with four players who could make you pay for helping on drives.

Since James finishes more than 70% of his shots in the immediate basket area, you'd still want to provide help when he drives. But now, instead of helping off the offensively challenged Wallace or Varejao, you'd have a much harder choice to make. When LeBron is surrounded by shooters, which shooter do you choose to leave open to keep him from dunking on you?