Josh Smith brings joy back to Houston

After entering the year with the weight of championship hopes, the theme of the Houston Rockets' season has been disappointment.

This hyper-athletic, 3-point happy team became the first ever to start the season with three-straight 20-point losses, and it continued to spiral downwards from there.

Injuries plagued the roster, James Harden went back to not caring on defense, head coach Kevin McHale was unceremoniously dismissed, Ty Lawson became a headache, and as always, trade rumors swirled incessantly with asset trader Daryl Morey at the helm.

In a word, the Rockets were flat-out miserable. But smiles are starting to crack with Josh Smith back in town.

Smith hasn't exactly been phenomenal in his return to Houston. In two games, Smith has tried 10 threes in 44 minutes (a Stephen Curry-esque rate) and hit just two. He's the same delightfully chaotic player he's always been.

But they've won both games that Smith has played, and after their 115-104 win over bitter rivals Dallas on Sunday, there were smiles all around.

"The fun is definitely back," James Harden said. As for interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff, he saw a change of his lethargic group.

"It was a great enthusiasm," Bickerstaff said. "When everybody's apart of it, everybody's connected, that's the difference of this team. I think we're starting to find that."

The Rockets, in a rare sight this season, fought in the face of adversity as they turned a double-digit deficit in the third into a blowout victory. Smith, who was a team-best plus-18 in the second half, was a key figure in the turnaround.

"I feel comfortable ... being able to get an opportunity to play with the same team around the same group of guys is awesome," Smith said.

The Rockets are loaded with talent, but one thing they've lacked is connectivity. Aside from Harden, it's a group of role players (albeit, excellent role players) who generally lack the overall skillset to make their high-speed system work.

That's why Smith is so successful on this team. He offers the ability to switch that someone like Terrence Jones or Donatas Motiejunas can't. Houston's defense is at their best when they're blanketing opponents with an endless line of quick, long, interchangeable athletes. Smith fits that description to a tee.

Smith toggled interchangeably between the perimeter and the interior in Sunday's game and picked up two steals and two blocks.

Offensively, Smith can be a problem when he's hoisting too many jumpers. He was 2-of-6 from the perimeter and 4-of-8 in the paint. Smith hardly ever passes up threes, and in any system other than Houston's, he'd probably be told to stop. But on Morey's team - one that's tried more threes than Golden State - Smith's worst habit is tolerated.

Where Smith excels is his ability to make plays. He's a strong ball handler for a frontcourt player, and he's already picked up eight assists. Pair that with his quickness, and most slower bigs are toast when he gets downhill.

Dirk Nowitzki had flashbacks to last year's playoff in trying to contain Smith's slippery shimmies.

Most importantly, he gives the Rockets someone else other than Harden who can initiate plays. That allows Harden to play more off the ball, and it prevents defenses from overloading on an already overworked Harden.

On Sunday, the Rockets put Smith in the pick-and-roll and that yielded two gorgeous assists when he didn't elect to shoot the three. Both times, Smith drove into the lane against a recovering defender, drew help, and found the open shooter.

Two nights earlier, Smith picked the Milwaukee Bucks apart with six dimes, though none were prettier than this drop off to a back cutting Marcus Thornton.

"He's a guy, again, because of his ability to pass the ball, he's a guy that brings everybody together," Bickerstaff said Sunday.

Smith was the connective tissue that the Rockets were so badly missing. And although many teams have come up disappointed in placing their trust in Smith (the Clippers being the most recent victim), Smith is exactly the in-between player that Houston needs.

- With h/t to Red94 and Rockets Insider