Greg Smith

Houston - Patrick Beverley, Greg Smith and Ronnie Brewer: Despite the injury to Beverley and the lack of minutes for Smith, both are extremely good value at the minimum salary and are sure to stay. Brewer is in much greater danger - having played only 78 minutes all season, Brewer is not needed as a player, and, given the Rocket's predilection for roster turnover, they would no doubt much rather have the open roster spot to keep their options open. After all, they have some Rio Grande Valley Vipers to call up. (Troy Daniels, take note. Everyone else, take note of Troy Daniels.)

[...] It is plausible, therefore, that any further decline in Asik's play and value that comes with returning him to his unsatisfactory role will be offset by the actual NBA trade deadline helping stimulate demand for a deal. Indeed, it may even increase his value. A further benefit may be that in keeping Asik in this role, Greg Smith is kept out of the rotation; he direct by-product of this may be that Smith, a proven NBA rotation-caliber player and thoroughly capable potential backup to Howard himself, is to get scant little playing time (and thus opportunity to build up his value) in the months approaching his restricted free agency. Keeping Asik down keeps Smith even further down, and while one of these situations is bad, the other is far better for Houston. The Rockets control Smith's future via this restricted free agency. It behooves them if he is not needed so much now.

Greg Smith

If Smith wasn't the best backup centre in the NBA last season, then I'm struggling to think of who was. (EDIT: oh yeah, JaVale.) After going undrafted, a slimmer, quicker Smith played his way into the league, then the rotation, and then into the conversation the first sentence of this blurb credits him with. He scores very efficiently through pick-and-roll play and catching and finishing around the basket (aided by his 12' inch hands), rebounds better than he ever did in college, and defends those bigger than him better than expected. He does so while committing far too many fouls, but mistakes happen, and it's at least counterweighted by impressively low turnover numbers. But largely, with Smith, it's those hands. Here they are in comparison to a person's shoulder.

Greg Smith - More than most, Smith is trying to take advantage of this weak draft. He has declared after a solid but not eyecatching sophomore season at Fresno State, one in which he averaged 11.7 points, 8.1 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.1 blocks per game, shooting 57% from the field and 54% from the line. An out-and-out post player, none of his touch, footwork or defensive awareness is especially refined, but the physical profile (6'10, 250, hands the size of small yachts and sufficient mobility) makes him intriguing. Ideally, he would hone those skills as an upperclassman, but he chose to forego his final two years (citing "instability" at Fresno State) to gamble on the idea that he'll be drafted as a project at some point. He might be right, too.

Here is a video of Greg Smith in high school, made (and thus captioned) by Greg Smith himself.