Before buying a WSM, I used my kettle for indirect cooking / smoking. Through experimentation I found it best to put coals on only one side, a drip pan under the meat, and put the meat on the far side from the coals.
Even with the meat as far away as possible, the edge of the meat closest to the coals gets roasted more than the furthest edge. Two things you can do to even out the cooking. 1) Rotate the meat regularly , 2) put something in between coals & meat to partially shield it (like maybe an iron wood chip smoker box).
VERY High temps (500-700+) are possible with a kettle, but lower temps are finicky to maintain. Its almost like a race car that doesn't idle well.
The highest temp I ever got off the smoker was about 350-375. If you really need higher temps, you might try cooking without the water pan. That would increase the air draft / pull of the smoker, but it exposes the meat to flare-ups. I want to try this technique with chicken on the upper grill, but I suspect it will work best on smaller cuts of meat.