Josh Smith does a Very Good Thing....

Say what you will about professional athletes, some are knuckleheads, some have inflated opinions of themselves and some of them are just genuinely good people who care. Josh Smith of the Atlanta Hawks is one of those people who care.

Smith, an Atlanta native is doing something that he (a) didn't have to and (b) did because he had met the people involved.

Last month we told you about the murder of McEachern High School (outside Atlanta) football player Rajaan Bennett. Bennett, the captain of the football team who had signed a scholorship to play football at Vanderbilt was killed in his home trying to help his family escape his mothers former boyfriend who was holding them at gunpoint.

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((Rajaan Bennett playing football//Courtesy: AJC File Photo))

Smith, who went to McEachern, still works out there in the offseason. He had met Bennett during one of those workouts and came away very impressed. After he heard what had happened, Smith stepped up and has pledged to cover the next 6 months of living expenses for the Bennett family. The Hawks will also recognize Bennett this coming Saturday before they play the Detroit Pistons.

We have interviewed Smith many times over past several years and have seen him grow from unsure teenager with freakish athletic skill to a man who has become aware of the world around him and has begun harnessing all of that skill. The OSG salutes Smith for trying to do something good and show that he and other athletes do care about what happens inside of their communities.

For those of you not familiar with Mr. Smith, here is some video of him in the 2005 NBA Slam Dunk Competiton. Thanks You Tube:

Mike Woodson doesn't like eyebrows...Gotta problem with that?

File this one under the "Strange but True" banner. Last night before the Atlanta Hawks took on the Houston Rockets in Houston, Hawks Coach Mike Woodson showed minus his eyebrows (yeah...we are not making this up).

Apparently it was a move to help his players loosen up and...well it worked. They beat the Rockets last night in Houston for the first time in ten years 102-95.

As for the eyebrow incident. The players were confused as well.

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((Woody and his eyebrows or lack of them//Courtesy: @HawksPRMan-Arthur Triche))

So Woodson says his "Barber did it on accident". We aren't quite buying that. Having covered Woodson and the Hawks for several years, we know that Woody is a very smart man with a good sense of humor, over the years he has learned how to motivate his team.

We can remember a couple years ago before the Hawks played their first playoff game in years at home against the Boston Celtics and Woody showed up with his head shaved. He had been known for his hair and it floored the whole team when he showed up bald. Said Josh Smith at the time "He looks like Mr. Potato Head". At the time, no he didn't, but since he kept the bald look and then lost the eyebrows (though he put some tape where they used to be for a while), now...he really does look like Mr. Potato Head.

Hawks Match Josh Smith Offer Sheet

In a move that surprises no one... and something they truly had to do to avoid complete laughing-stock status, the Atlanta Hawks took no less than 8 hours to match the 5-year, $58-million offer sheet the Memphis Grizzlies gave to Josh Smith ((pictured, thanks nba.com)).

After losing Josh Childress to Olympiakos of Greece, the Atlanta Spirit LLC ownership group was actually forced to spend some money on players... for a change- and we're talking a collective spending where the Hawks and Thrashers are concerned...

Ahem...quote...

HAWKS RETAIN FORWARD JOSH SMITH
Atlanta matches offer sheet from Memphis Grizzlies

ATLANTA, GA ----- Atlanta Hawks General Manager Rick Sund announced tonight that the club has retained forward Josh Smith and matched the offer sheet of the Memphis Grizzlies.

“Tonight, the Hawks organization received an offer sheet from the Memphis Grizzlies for Josh Smith,” said Sund. “We are happy to announce that we will match their offer sheet. Ownership, management and the team are happy to have Josh return as a member of the Hawks. We look forward to training camp in October and we will continue to look at additional opportunities to improve our roster.”

Smith, whom the Hawks drafted with the 17th pick overall in the first round of the 2004 NBA Draft, has finished second in the NBA in blocks per game in each of the past two years and averaged team-highs in blocks per game (2.80) and steals per game (1.57), while also ranking second on the Hawks in points per game (17.2), rebounds per game (8.2) and assists per game (3.4) in 81 appearances last season.

The 22-year-old forward from Oak Hill Academy (VA) and College Park (GA) has averaged 13.6 points, 7.4 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.5 blocks in 307 career games with the Hawks, and during last May’s first round series, Smith recorded 15.7 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.86 blocks in helping the eighth-seeded Hawks to a decisive seventh game in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs against the eventual NBA world champion Boston Celtics.

We imagine the first words out of J-Smoove's mouth upon hearing this news was...

DAMN!