Josh Smith’s unceremonious dumping by the Detroit Pistons turned more than a few heads – especially when only a few days later, he signed with the Houston Rockets, scored 21 points and collected eight rebounds to help them beat the Memphis Grizzlies in a 117-111. The Pistons waived a talented player while still owing him more than $25 million on his four-year, $56 million contract. So what gives?
Smith still has an undeniably high level of talent but his selfish attitude, his lack of consistency and reportedly shaky work ethic in Detroit led to the team’s decision to dump him. Smith will be able to help the Rockets as they attempt to make a championship run, but for Detroit, it’s simply been addition but subtraction.
Proof Is In The Pudding…And The Pudding Immediately Tastes Better Without Smith
When Detroit lit up the Indiana Pacers’ top-10 defense for a season-high 119 points on 54.7-percent shooting in a 119-109 win, it was immediately evident they were a better team. If that wasn’t convincing enough, the Pistons followed it up with a 103-80 win over the mighty Cleveland Cavaliers in which they knocked down a ridiculous 17 three-point shots. On Tuesday, they won their third straight game with a 109-86 drubbing of the Orlando Magic on the road.
For as good of a talent as Smith is, the reality is that Detroit was 5-23 with him on the roster, but since cutting him, they are now 3-0 with a three double-digit wins with all three coming against Eastern Conference teams in the playoffs or just outside. They are averaging close to 17 points more per game and a big part of that has been their ability to stretch the floor and rely on their outside shooting without Smith slowing down the offense. Smith was shooting a pathetic 39.1 percent from the field and 24.3 percent from three-point land. He only hit 46.8 percent of his free throws, too.
Head coach Stan Van Gundy said that he thought the game against Indiana was their “best game of the year” but then said the game against Cleveland was even better. The fact that things seemed to turn around so dramatically once they released Smith is testament to them becoming automatically better without him.
Why Are They Better Without Him?
The only question now is why Detroit is so much better without Smith on their roster. The most obvious difference is on the floor where their points per possession is up and they are doing a much better job moving the ball around and playing as a team. The way the Denver Nuggets performed after the Carmelo Anthony trade is a recent example of an offense performing at a much higher level without a star taking most of their looks. This could be a similar situation, even though Anthony was a much better player on the offensive end. Another area of concern would have been Smith’s presence in the huddle and in the locker room where he was rumored to be a major distraction. If Van Gundy felt that it was worth taking the hit on the remaining money they owed him in order to get rid of his presence, then obviously he saw things off the court that he didn’t like. Removing Smith creates a much better situation for the players on Detroit’s roster and the impact has been immediate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcAJGjOrLG4
There aren’t many situations where removing a star talent from a roster and getting nothing in return has a beneficial impact but that is the case with the Pistons and Smith. It’s hard to argue with the results so far: 5-23 with him. 3-0 without him. 2-10 on the road with him. 2-0 on the road without him.
Detroit is much better off without Smith slowing down their offense and bringing a negative presence to their huddle, and it will be interesting to see how they perform moving forward as they attempt to establish a strong foundation to build a legitimate playoff contender heading in to the 2015-16 NBA season.
