Thursday, July 22nd, 2010 at 7:01 pm  |  15 responses

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A Few Words With A Smith

Josh Smith discusses next season, Shaq and video games.

by Tzvi Twersky

I fell in lust with Atlanta when I went there to catch up with Jason Williams during the Hawks-Magic massacre. Since then, I’ve been itching to head back to Lang’s motherland (Does anyone rep their city harder than he does?).

Well, I haven’t gotten the chance—yet. But this week, in a fortuitous turn of events,  the A came to me. Sort of.

Below is a short A and Q that took place between Josh Smith and myself in a swank commercial building overlooking the Hudson River.

Even for a player who tends to always be in good spirits, and you’ll be able to tell this just from reading the interview, Smoove was extra chipper on this occasion.

Maybe it’s because he’s looking forward to playing for Coach Larry Drew. Or maybe it’s because he’s really hoping to play with Shaquille O’Neal. Or maybe he just can’t wait to get back to his game console…

(Image courtesy of @NBA_Photos)

SLAM: What are you hoping to accomplish next season?
Josh Smith: The ultimate dream! I mean, I think that when you step out on the court you never want to undermine your goals, and I think that everybody has the opportunity to win a ring just like anybody else does. So that has to be my goal.

We definitely have everybody back in place, add maybe a couple more pieces to the puzzle, man. I plan on doing big things this year. Obviously (laughs), Miami did make that unbelievable free agency move for the better of their team. But we can’t look at them. They put on their pants just like we put on our pants. We can’t be scared; we got to go out there and play and lace them up, just like they’re going to do.

SLAM: Can we look for you to shoot some threes this year?
JS: Ahhhhhhh! (Smiles.) Maybe a little. I don’t think I will; I’ll still be midrange, midrange, midrange and blocking shots, and knocking down open midrange shots. 

SLAM: You working on any other aspects of your game you hope to tighten for next year?
JS: Yeah. Being more comfortable off the dribble. Making moves off the dribble, and just being more consistent on my midrange jump shot.

SLAM: Looking forward to playing under Coach Drew?
JS: Yeah, I’m real excited; I’m real excited. (Smiles.) The guy’s been in the program for six year as an assistant coach. Anything that anybody had—any differences or any problems they had—on the court, they used to go to him. So I think he knows how to approach everybody. When it’s time to police guys, I think he knows how to talk to people because everybody has went to him for advice. So he knows what the players want, and everybody is buying into what he has to offer.

SLAM: You looking forward to playing with Shaq—if he lands in Atlanta?
JS: If he comes to the team, that’ll be real big for us, that’ll be real big for our team.  I think we’re missing a guy down there that’s gonna hold up Dwight a little bit. You know, give him a little physicality a little bit. I think having him on the team would be big. Just having him for his leadership and all the different accolades he’s done throughout his whole career. He definitely can teach us a little thing or two about success in the League.

SLAM: When you play the NBA video games this year, you gonna play with Miami? That’s almost like a fake team.
JS: You know what? NBA Live and 2k: They gonna be illegal, regardless. (Laughs.) You know what I’m saying? What’s funny is we’ve kinda like banned—in my house, house rules—you banned from playing with Cleveland because it’s impossible to beat ’em. You just give the ball to LeBron and he’s gonna get around anybody. So I think we gonna have to ban the Heat from 2K. (Laughs.)