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A Further Look: Should The Sacramento Kings Sign Josh Smith?

ByTi Windisch|

It’s been the biggest question for Sacramento Kings fans lately–should the Kings take a chance and add Josh Smith to the roster? He’s still a free agent and Rudy Gay has been trying to recruit him, so it’s definitely a possibility that he joins the Kings. But is that a good move for Sacramento?

Josh Smith is an interesting case of how perception can be so off on certain players. I read a lot of reports that seem to think Smith is a chemistry killer because of his poor stint in Detroit. That seems patently untrue. There was no incident that made the Pistons release Van Gundy, and he didn’t clash with anybody. He just shot too much.

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Was he playing poorly? Of course. Per that ESPN article I linked above, Smith was “on pace to be the first NBA player to shoot below 40 percent on field goals and below 50 percent on free throws while taking at least 12 shots per game.” That’s uh, not good.

But that doesn’t really speak to Smith on the Kings, because he was starting for the Pistons. Despite his poor play, Stan Van Gundy decided to start him in all 28 games he played for Detroit. When he went to the Houston Rockets and played great basketball for the team in their playoff run, he rarely started.

He also became a great bench weapon for the Rockets, playing both forward spots and shooting a smooth 33 percent from beyond the arc. He also averaged twelve points and six rebounds in just 25.5 minutes per game with the Rockets, which are solid contributions from a relief player.

This is promising news if Vlade Divac were to sign Smith, considering he would probably be a bench forward relieving both Rudy Gay and Willie Trill Cauley-Stein. Omri Casspi already occupies this role, and he’s a better shooter than Smith, so I’m not sure exactly how that would play out in regards to the two forwards’ minutes.

Then again, adding more good players to a team isn’t a bad thing, and if Smith is good enough to challenge Casspi for his minutes then adding him might be the right call.

I should note there is a chance George Karl tries to start Smith at power forward given that he isn’t usually fond of playing rookies major minutes, which would be an interesting proposition considering it would give the Kings another shooter on the floor.

The Kosta Koufos signing seems to go against that happening at least a little bit though–with Smith and DeMarcus Cousins playing big minutes, Koufos and WTCS would have to share bench minutes, which would seem to waste one or both of their talents.

I would rather see Smith play relief forward and Koufos being a relief center with either WTCS or Boogie sliding to power forward when he enters the game. Smith just doesn’t have the upside to be worth starting this year; give Willie Trill those precious minutes, so he can develop into a devastating threat on both sides of the ball that, when paired with Boogie Cousins, makes the best frontcourt in the NBA in a year or three.

That’s the real best case scenario for the Sacramento Kings, by the way. Guards are generally easier to add then big men, so try to develop Cauley-Stein into a great player and then just fill in the blanks around he and Cousins.

Hopefully if Josh Smith is brought in, it’s not at the expense of Willie Trill’s minutes. That would be my only real opposition to the signing. Although I’m not exactly foaming at the mouth at the thought of adding Smith either.

I think it’s a move that probably has a 50/50 chance of working out pretty well or bringing even more turmoil to an already-tenuous team, so maybe Josh Smith isn’t really worth adding to the team, especially considering Omri Casspi seems like a capable backup forward already under contract.

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