Josh Smith Traded By Clippers Back To Rockets

Although they are in a good position, they want to do better. To go along with that, the Clippers stumbled out of the gate this season, and struggled to stay above the. Despite starting the day in New York City, Smith was active and instantly thrown into the Rockets rotation for their Friday night tilt with the Bucks in Houston.

The Rockets shipped the draft rights to Maarty Leunen to the Clippers for Smith and the draft rights to Serhiy Lishchuk. Leunen now plays for Scandone Avellino of the Italian Serie A.

The Rockets also received the draft rights to forward Sergei Lishouck and cash considerations. The deal saves the Clippers a few bucks in salary cap fees and provides the Rockets … well, nobody is exactly sure what it does for them. “I feel great. It’s a place that I probably should have never left”.

In last year’s National Basketball Association playoffs, Smith ignited a fourth-quarter rally by Houston to beat the Clippers in a second-round series the Rockets eventually won in seven games.

With Smith seeming like a square peg in a round hole situation pretty much from early on in the season, it really isn’t surprising that the Clippers finally made a decision to cut ties with him, especially with Griffin’s return nearing. Just don’t be surprised if we find out they can’t turn back the clock to last season’s bench.

He averaged 5.7 points and 3.9 rebounds in 14.3 minutes per game – all career lows.

Okay, now that you’re happy about the trade like you should be, you may be wondering how Josh is feeling about the whole thing. His shooting is more than noticeably down a margin since then. The 30-year-old had only played 51 minutes in 13 games since Christmas, sitting in favor of Cole Aldrich as the Clippers mounted a 10-game winning streak.

Houston Rockets center Josh Smith (5) drives to the basket past Milwaukee Bucks forward Jabari Parker (12) during the first half at the Toyota Center.

Welcome back: The Bucks players and coaches will welcome back head coach Jason Kidd at Monday’s practice session when he rejoins them on a full-time basis.