The early results of the 2012 NBA All-Star Balloting were released by the league earlier today, and Josh Smith was not among the top-10 forwards in votes received. It is the latest example of how fan voting isn’t always accurate.

Don’t give up hope yet that this may finally be the year that Josh breaks through to add “All-Star” to his impressive resume. The fan vote only determines the starters, while two or (most likely) three reserve forwards will be determined by the Eastern Conference head coaches. LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony seem to be locks for the fan vote based on the early results and historic precedence, so it is really a handful of forwards competing for the collective nod from the coaches.

One day after Smith dropped 30 and 13 on the Bobcats, I felt it was a good time to make the argument for Josh to make the trip to Orlando in late February.

Smoove is the ONLY player in the Eastern Conference that ranks in the top-10 in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks among forwards. That’s right, not even LeBron or ‘Melo can make that claim. James is actually the only other player to rank in the top-10 in four out of the five categories.

Josh’s overall numbers are definitely enough to get the attention of many Eastern Conference coaches, but they have been even more impressive recently.

After a relatively slow start (10.2 ppg and 7.2 rpg in December), Smoove has taken his game to a whole new level. Over the last eight games he is averaging 20.1 ppg, 9.6 rpg, 3.1 apg, 1.9 spg and 1.8 bpg.

On paper, Smith looks like he should get some serious consideration to make this year’s team… but history has proven that there are factors other than what is found on the stat sheet that determine how coaches vote for all-star reserves.

It is safe to say that players that have made the All-Star team before have a decided edge over those who haven’t. This puts guys like Josh and Chicago’s Luol Deng at a disadvantage against players like Garnett, Pierce, Bosh and Stoudemire.

Coaches also tend to vote for guys that are leading the better teams in the conference. If the Hawks continue to play well and have one of the four or five best records in the East when the coaches cast their votes, then that should help Smoove’s chances.

There are plenty of games between in the condensed schedule between now and when the coaches votes are due, but if this recent stretch is any indication of the type of play we can expect from Smith all season long, then J-Smoove will be a hard name to leave off the ballot.

Josh Smith was in Barcelona this past weekend as part of the NBA’s 5 United Tour presented by BBVA. (Click Here to read the official press release from BBVA.)

Adidas is also a big sponsor of the event and their Facebook team was nice enough to put together a great photo gallery of Smoove in action.

Click Here to View the Full Gallery from “adidas Basketball” on Facebook

JOE JOHNSON –
Joe is serving as the Honorary Chairman of Arkansas Baptists Church’s HoopJams this weekend in Little Rock. Joe grew up playing in a similar event in Arkansas called Hoop Fest, and views his appearance at the competition as a good way to give back.

“It’s a chance to give back a little and show my appreciation for what the state and the city of Little Rock have done for me,” Johnson told Lindsey Millar of the ArkTimes.com.

AL HORFORD –
Horford definitely has a busy summer planned and is currently on the opposite side of the globe making appearances for the NBA in China. Al is scheduled to promote Tsingtao Beer (an NBA China partner) and possibly participate in a community event or two. Track all of his activity by following his Twitter feed: @Al_Horford.

Once Al is back stateside he is going to host two youth basketball camps in late June. One will be held in Atlanta at Emory University from June 25-26, and the other will be in Lansing, Michigan, from June 28-29.

JOSH SMITH –
Smoove is also spending some time abroad, working with the NBA’s 5 United Tour. Josh will be making at least two appearances in Spain this month and will join other NBA stars Dwight Howard and Derrick Rose in supporting the tour.

Smoove also has a camp scheduled for this summer (July 8-10) here in Atlanta.

JEFF TEAGUE –
Jeff Teague is hosting a pair of camps in the burbs around Atlanta next week. The first one is at Salem H.S. in Conyers, and the second is at Wheeler H.S. in Marietta.

DAMIEN WILKINS -
Wilkins recently visited the “Star Student” at a local elementary school. (Click Here to watch the video) He is scheduled to join Teague tonight at the Buckhead Bottle Bar (owned by teammate Zaza Pachulia) for a NBA Finals viewing party and Hawks Appreciation event (invitation only).

ZAZA PACHULIA -
Speaking of Big Z, Pachulia will be appearing at the Hawks Youth Basketball Camp early next week at Life University. Zaza is extremely excited for the end of the summer though, when he will lead his native Republic of Georgia in their first-ever appearance in the European Basketball Championships (Aug. 31 – Sept. 18, 2011).

JOSH POWELL –
Powell recently joined up with fellow Atlanta native Dwight Howard and his D12 Foundation to help families in Birmingham and Tuscaloosa whose homes were damaged by this Spring’s tornadoes.  The duo then had a light-hearted moment as they headed for home: rap video.

Keep up with all of JP’s charitable activity on Twitter @jp21reasons.

If they come out with the same fire and precision they displayed on Sunday, Chicago is going to have a miserable time trying to pull away at home in Tuesday’s Game 5.
Kelly Dwyer, Yahoo! Sports
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To look now is to see a team unlike the one we’d seen this season or any season this century. We see a team figuring things out on the fly, which is frankly incredible.
Mark Bradley, AJC.com
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The good Josh Smith kicked the bad Josh Smith out of Philips Arena just in time for the Hawks to save themselves from themselves and make this a series again, one that is becoming increasingly more difficult for the Bulls to put away and prepare for the Eastern Conference finals.
Michael Wallace, ESPN.com
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Atlanta seems to be the ultimate light switch team – they show up sometimes and completely disappear at others – but their talent should allow them to be one of the best teams in the NBA.
Daniel Marks, DimeMag.com
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‘Every city has its own way of expressing itself, expressing how they like their basketball,’ Gibson said. ‘This place [Atlanta] becomes a hostile environment, especially when they get a dunk or a nice crossover layup. It’s bananas in here. Players feed off of that, and they have a lot of high flyers on this team. Their team is a solid team when you look at it. They have a lot of high flyers, guys that can make a spectacular play off the dribble and using their ballhandling skills, and the crowd feeds off it and gives it back to them.’
Scott Schroeder, SBNation.com
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• This is the first time the Hawks have held a 3-1 lead in a best-of-seven series since the opening round of the 1970 NBA Playoffs. Back then there were no conferences and only eight teams made the playoffs, so the opening round was the Western DIVISION semi-finals. The major difference in that series was that the Hawks were the heavy favorites as the top-seed from the Western Division, and they held a 3-0 lead before winning the series in five games.
• On Sunday, Jamal Crawford became just the third player in the past 20 seasons to score 20 or more points off the bench in four consecutive playoff games. Kevin McHale did it in 1991 and the other player that did it is none other than Hawks’ Player Development Instructor, Nick Van Exel. “Nick the Quick” averaged 30.5 ppg over his hot stretch in the 2003 NBA Playoffs while helping the Mavs to the Western Conference Finals. Neither McHale or Van Exel was able to score 20 in the fifth game.
• Jamal’s 24.0 ppg in the playoffs is on pace to be the highest average for a reserve in the past 15 years.

Quotes:

• Al Horford:
  This is the first time we’ve been in this position, being up 3-1. You know, we are a different team. They’re coming out and they’re going to give us all they have, so we have to make sure we come out ready.
• Coach Drew:
  (On putting the series away earlier rather than later) It’s very important. I think with this team particularly, I’m always talking about this team growing. To me, them positioning themselves as they are right now, to go into Orlando and to finish this thing off… that’s a huge step in our growth process.
  (On  deciding minutes for the guards) It’s really hard. I actually have a dilemma. There did come a point in the game in the second quarter where I wanted to get Joe back in the game, but yet both Kirk and Jamal were playing really well. Actually, just showing you the kind of person that Kirk is, and the pro that he is, he came over to me and he said ‘we gotta get Joe back in there.’ We left Kirk in there another minute and then we got Joe back in. It’s a nice problem to have. I like having that problem.
• Josh Smith:
  It’ important to get the win. No matter if it’s 7 games… 5 or 6 games. We want to get it done tomorrow, but if not we will have another shot at it at home… we really want to get it done tomorrow.

After a Game 1 where Orlando’s supporting cast was extremely limited, Smoove is expecting his defensive assignment, Hedo Turkoglu, to be more aggressive in Game 2.

“I see him being more aggressive,” Smith said prior to this morning’s shootaround. “He understands that when somebody’s hot, like how Dwight was, it’s kind of hard to really assert yourself. I really think he’s going to try and get his stuff early, and I gotta be ready for it.”

Joe’s Floater, Version 2.0
Joe Johnson scored a team-high 25 points in Game 1, converting a majority of his shots inside of 15-feet with an extended floater. Joe has used the floater for years, but against Howard (recently named 2011 Defensive Player of the Year) he has to pull the trigger a little quicker. Last year Joe had trouble hitting that shot against the Magic, but this year he has been on the mark. Here is what he had to say about his floater:
I had it as a youngster coming up, and when I hit a growth spurt it kinda stayed with me. I know I’m not getting in the lane, I ain’t about to jump over nobody or nothing like that. You know I had to counteract that with something else. You know the floater has basically been my shot when I get in the lane.

Josh Smith:
A couple of guys went to Universal… went to the movie theater. Me personally, I stayed in my room, I really didn’t do too much. Watched a lot of games yesterday and the day before. I’ve really been enjoying my bed and getting as much rest as possible.

Al Horford:
Yesterday (Monday) me and a couple of the guys went and grabbed some dinner and caught a movie. That was kind of what we did. It took most of the day. We went to see “Source Code” with Jake Jake Gyllenhaal… It was good. I liked it. (Al explained this next part with a big grin on his face.) Zaza thought it was a little too complicated. I don’t think he understood the whole movie in general, but I thought it was good. It was entertaining.

Other than that the Hawks have been seen keeping things low-key around the team hotel and enjoying the Florida weather without getting too much sun.

Game 2 is tomorrow and then it is back to ATL where the players will be happy to get back to their own beds.

Update from Orlando: Watching and Waiting

In some regards, you can’t blame them. Last year Atlanta was emphatically swept by Orlando in the second round, and many of the key pieces are the same for each team. Still, there are plenty of reasons for Hawks FANS to be optimistic. Here are five of them:

1 – Motivation.
Last year is last year. The Hawks have moved on, but they haven’t forgotten.

Revenge… Redemption… Payback… These are all words that have floated around the locker room each time the Hawks faced the Magic in the regular season, and have surfaced again leading into this postseason series.

“”Now we have a chance to kind of redeem ourselves,” said Joe Johnson on Wednesday. “We just have to go out there focused, confident.”

2 – Physically Ready.
Last season the Hawks were forced to go the distance in their first round series against the Milwaukee Bucks, while the Magic were able to rest and prepare.

This season the Hawks are rested. Coach Drew made a concerted effort this season to manage the minutes of Atlanta’s key players. A lot of coaches make that claim during training camp and then can’t resist keeping the starters on the court. LD made the claim and stayed true to his word.

• Joe Johnson averaged 35.5 mpg this season, his lowest since he became a full-time starter for Phoenix (2002-03 season).
• Josh Smith averaged 34.4 mpg, which is his lowest since the 2005-06 season.

Add in the fact that the Hawks haven’t given the starters their normal rotation of minutes since they locked up the fifth seed on April 5 (vs. Spurs) and Atlanta should be plenty fresh as the 2010-11 Playoffs begin.

3 – Defensive Strategy
Last year the Hawks focused on stopping Dwight Howard. Plain and simple.

This year the Hawks want to LIMIT Dwight and keep everyone else off the 3-point line.

A lot of focus is on the “Bigger Line-Up” that LD uses against the Magic, but people forget that the Hawks went big last postseason too. The difference is that Atlanta still dropped down to double-team when they went big last year, and now they put their faith in Jason Collins’ ability to guard Howard one-on-one.

The strategy’s success in the regular season is well documented as Howard’s shooting percentage against the Hawks was well below his season average, and the Magic shot below 25% from behind the arc in three of the meetings.

4 – Offensive Benefits of Going Big.
When the Hawks go big everyone focuses on the defensive benefits, but there are distinct advantages on offense as well.

Horford probably benefits the most as he is able to get off the block and roam out to his sweet spot (15-18 footers) and not worry about banging with Dwight.

Smoove also gets to face a smaller defender and should have more success on the offensive glass.

Even Joe should benefit since it takes away the option of moving Turkoglu over on him and letting Jason Richardson match-up with Marvin.

Speaking of Marvin, with him moving to a reserve role, it gives the Hawks a potent one-two punch when he and Jamal come off the bench. Throw in the recent play of Zaza and the bench could be one of the Hawks biggest advantages in this series.

“Jamal’s been huge for us the last two years, and obviously I’ve tried to contribute when I have been moved to the bench this season at times,” said Marvin after practice on Thursday. “I know what’s expected of me whether I’m starting or coming off the bench. I’m just gonna go out there and do it.”

5 – Ready to Attack.
In past season’s Dwight’s presence in the lane really got inside the Hawks’ heads. Even when he wasn’t blocking shots he was making people miss or make bad decisions simply by being in the area. This season the Hawks seemed to figure out a way around the big man.

“We just trying to be aggressive and make plays,” said Johnson. “If you get into the paint you gotta know that he’s coming to try and block your shot, so you gotta have dump off passes or try and get contact and get him in foul trouble.”

“You can’t just settle for jump shots,” Coach Drew agreed. “You have to attack the rim even though they have probably the most potent defensive player in the league. You still have to attack the rim. You can’t have a fear about it. ”

There you have it, “Five Reasons to Be Optimistic”.

The simple fact is that the Hawks have shown this season that, if nothing else, they can compete with this Orlando team. As the series approaches everyone in the locker room is saying the right thing. (At least six different players used the “one game at a time” cliche.) When the ball goes up in the Playoffs, words don’t mean a thing.

Personally, I can’t wait until 7pm tomorrow. It should be fun to watch.

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Smith is also being featured in print advertising (full page ads have been seen in SLAM Magazine) and in online banner ads such as this:

Three captains is more than most teams have, and for a league where only 12 players are active for each game it might seem a bit overkill. But if you look at each captain, they bring completely different aspects of leadership to the table.

First off, they are each All-Star caliber players. Joe was an All-Star starter last year, Al was a reserve, and Josh was probably the most deserving player that was left off the team. Let’s break down how each player adds value to the Hawks:

Joe Johnson –
Joe is the classic “lead by example” captain. While his quiet demeanor is often exaggerated by the media (his teammates will tell you repeatedly that he is not as quiet as you think), Joe’s actions and his work ethic speak louder than any of his words. Joe is consistently among the NBA scoring leaders despite the fact that he does not benefit from many easy shots or dunks. Joe is always in prime condition physically and can be found going through shooting drills on the practice court as often as anyone on the team.

Al Horford –
Plain and simple, Al Horford is a winner. The guy won back-to-back national championships at Florida and hasn’t missed the playoffs as a professional. Most people remember Zaza facing off with Kevin Garnett back in the ’08 Playoffs, but it was Al, showing great leadership even as a rookie, who made a statement a game earlier. Horford “allegedly” guaranteed a Hawks win and backed it up by hitting a clutch shot late in the game, creating more controversy. But I digress.

It is not Al’s confidence that makes him a good captain (that helps) but it is his willingness to do whatever it takes to win. It was evident early in his career that Horford was going to find a way to win in this league, the only question was how long it would take before he was able to assume a leadership role in Atlanta. Today’s decision to name him as captain signals that time has arrived. It is definitely a positive move for the Hawks.

Josh Smith –
For most fans Smoove is probably the surprise pick out of the trio. He isn’t a leading scorer and doesn’t appear to be extremely vocal on the court or in the huddle. The reason you might think Josh isn’t vocal is because he is doing his talking when the other team has the ball. The man who finished second in the NBA Defensive Player of the Year voting last season is constantly directing traffic on defense, helping teammates (and himself) stay in position. His leaping ability and athleticism definitely leave an impression, but getting in position to block shots and steal passes is a more cerebral skill.

So one day is in the books and the Countdown to Opening Night marches on, but now the march is led by a very impressive trio of captains.