Previously: Maurice Evans, Mike Bibby, Zaza Pachulia, Marvin Williams, Jamal Crawford, Al Horford, Josh Smith, Joe Johnson, Mike Woodson, Rick Sund
Perhaps Joe Smith provided some behind-the-scenes value as a veteran leader but by the measurable standards his value was negligible to the team. That Smith, with his indifferent defense and quick trigger, never looked integrated into the team on the court makes me skeptical of his intangible value but, in the interests of sticking to that which is known, let it be noted that Smith didn't get even rate the 675 minutes that his incompetent predecessor, Solomon Jones, played in 2008-09. One reason was better health for Al Horford and Josh Smith. The other reason was his play.
Only Joe Johnson, Jamal Crawford, and Josh Smith attempted more shots per minute than Joe Smith and only Jason Collins and Othello Hunter made a lower percentage of their field goal attempts. It's easy to see why:
| Joe Smith | %FGA inside 10' | eFG% | %FGA outside 10' | eFG% |
| 2009-10 | 40.9 | 55.7 | 59.1 | 29.4 |
Joe Smith attempted most of his shots* from locations he was least likely to make them and relatively few inside of 10 feet where he was, when located there, fairly effective, a fact further illustrated by his surprisingly strong offensive rebound rate (though a small sample size warning applies).
*Common surname trivia: The two Smiths combined to attempt a jump shot from beyond 16 feet every three minutes and 51 seconds they played. They combined to shoot 28.4% on those attempts. And still the Hawks had the second most efficient offense in the league.
Smith appeared to be, despite his limited minutes, a significant part of the second unit's collective defensive struggles. The Hawks allowed a team-worst 111.1 points per 100 possessions with Smith on the floor. His pick-and-roll defense, in particular, did Jeff Teague no favors in terms of the rookie impressing his head coach.
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