If the Hornets could acquire Josh Smith?

I was recently spending some time on the Hawks blog (Peachtree Hoops), and came to the realization that Atlantans don't really get how valuable Josh Smith is. It's doubtful if even his own organization realizes it.

To understand how good Smith is, you have to first look at what he offers per-minutes played. Looking at some of the other Power Forwards around the league, you can see that Smith doesn't really blow you away with his rebounding, he only gets you about 12.22 rebounds per 48 minutes (not bad, but nothing on Marcus Camby or Kevin Love). There's also the matter of scoring, out of the league's top PF's, only Camby scores less. Yet, when looking at both his rebounding and scoring means, Smith is still above average when compared to the typical NBA power forward (actually, he's 0.58 and 1.70 standard deviations above average, respectively).

But, that's hardly captivating. What does stand out though, are his 3.3 blocks and 2.2 steals (/48), it's not hard to imagine why Atlanta excels at initiating the fast break. Clearly, Smith is a one-man-forced-turnover, capable of disrupting a team's offense. He's also a fairly able ball-handler, as he's dished out 5.61 assists (/48) for the season. The only knocks on Josh Smith are the 3.02 turnovers and 4.2 personal fouls (/48).

Now, it's no secret the Hawks would like to move Al Horford to one of the two forward spots, and to acquire more low-post scoring.

So, with Amar'e Stoudemire's name once again being the focal point of some pretty vicious trade rumors. What if the Hawks, Hornets, and Suns got involved in a three team trade? Sending Stoudemire to Atlanta, (David) West to Phoenix, and New Orleans receiving Smith. What would you think of the trade?

Pros: Makes the Hornets tougher inside and on the perimeter (as Smith is capable of guarding both the inside and the outside).

Cons: Puts New Orleans (slightly) over the luxury tax, and since no team is dumb enough to absorb Peja's contract, it would look like the move would disallow them from making very many off-season acquisitions (if any at all).