no, but, Smith wasn't the core strength of the defense. Defense was very up and down in '01-02. But it wasn't just Smith. Antonio Daniels, Terry Porter and Danny Ferry were all awful on defense (and of course TP, but you forgive him because he's a rookie and a point guard) and it was clear we needed more size and defense on the wings. Anderson didn't cut it either; he was a good 3 & D guy against average SG's but he was just too small and weak to guard Kobe. Ergo, enter Bowen.
Malik Rose was trick or treat on defense. His best skills were flopping taking a charge and "pulling the chair out" in the post getting less than stellar post players to commit a turnover. But Rose always folded like a lawn chair against the big boys.
The 01-02 team got off to a hot start (20-4) but were very up-and-down the rest of the year. Both on offense and defense. We'd win a game 81-74, win a game 120-113, then lose a game 77-80, then lose a game 109-119.