Josh Smith to transfer to Georgetown
Going to Georgetown might payoff..The school is known as Big Man University..Ewing is a Hall of Famer,it seems likey that Alonzo Mourning and Mutombo will be joining him there 1 day..Roy Hibbert has surprised alot of people and has become 1 of the top centers in the nba,he made the All Star team ''last season''.......Monroe is off to a promising start with the Pistons...Jeff Green and Mike Sweetney were top 10 selections....Othello Harrington & Jerome Williams were solid role players...Plus Ewing,Mourning and Mutombo have always went back there to work with the Hoyas big men.....
Jahidi White had problems dealing with weight,while he was in college..White was close to 300 lbs at 1 point...But worked hard and spent 7 seasons in the league......So if Smith wants the help, they will be several former Hoyas he can get advice from..And the rich tradition at the school should motivate him to get his a$$ in gear...............
Yeah Georgetown is a great place for him to go, they let their big men have a lot of responsibility for playmaking and keep them involved on the offensive end, if they can get him in shape, the experience he gains playing in their system could still make him a lottery pick - or an All-Star one day - which is of course the very best scenario for him.
I think it is an awesome choice for him to go to Georgetown. How he fares there is completely up to him. He needs to seriously work out and get into shape. He needs to learn discipline with his eating and exercise. I know it isn't easy to diet and workout everyday. I, personally, can't diet but I am in much better shape than Josh Smith. He has to motivate himself and think about the millions that can be made playing the game of basketball. There is no reason he couldn't be a better version of Kendrick Perkins. He just needs to put in the work.
Georgetown plays such a slow style of offense, it will help them to have a guy like Smith on the post to run some offense through. That being said, I don't think he plays a game in the NBA. Weight issues for big men make and break careers. He has shown he doesn't have the work ethic of a Dexter Pittman, and remember those guys who didn't like Renardo Sidney and Tiny Gallon, and how they panned out.
I'm just skeptical about a guy who has been projected as a 1st rounder for 3 years, yet never gets in shape, always has drama around him.
Dec 2013.
This is also big news for Syracuse and Kentucky. Dakari Johnson (the top center in this years class) lists his final 3 schools as Syracuse, Kentucky and Gerorgetown. With Smith coming to the Hoyas next year, it makes it more likely Johnson will choose UK or the Cuse. Seeing as syracuse will likely have Baye Keita, Rakeem Christmas, DaJuan Coleman and CJ Fair coming back and Kentucky likely losing Noel and perhaps WCS as well its looking like Dakari will be coming to UK.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaab-the-dagger/ex-ucla-center-josh-smith...
Unable to shed enough weight to fulfill his immense potential during his two-plus years at UCLA, Josh Smith quit the team a month ago in hopes a change of scenery might help him reinvigorate his stalled career.
Now we know where that destination will be.
Smith will transfer to Georgetown and will be eligible to play by mid-December of 2013, according to a report from CBSSports.com. Smith's former AAU coach confirmed the news via text message Wednesday afternoon.
That Smith drew interest from the likes of Georgetown, Kansas and Washington is a testament to his tantalizing potential. The 6-foot-10 junior was a McDonald's All-American and one of the top big man prospects in the nation when he graduated from Kentwood High School in Kent, Wash. in 2010.
Smith flashed NBA potential when he averaged 10.9 points and 6.3 boards as a freshman, but he regressed as a sophomore as weight issues led to foul trouble and prevented him from playing more than a few minutes at a time without getting winded. He was only playing 13.5 minutes per game behind Travis and David Wear when he left UCLA this season, the scant playing time a product of Ben Howland's frustration that Smith had again failed to meet his target weight-loss goals during the offseason.
Whether taking Smith will be a good gamble for Georgetown has little to do with how he fits in the Hoyas' system or how he meshes with his teammates. It will primarily be a question of whether coach John Thompson III and his staff will have more success than UCLA did giving Smith the help he needs to get serious about basketball, to overcome his weight issues and to tap into his NBA potential.
If Smith can use his year off to shed 40 or 50 pounds so he can run the floor and play for longer than a couple minutes at a time, he could reemerge as an NBA prospect and one of the best centers in college basketball at Georgetown. If the change of scenery doesn't result in a change of habits, however, his college basketball legacy will probably be one of squandered potential.