What People Don't Realize About The Pistons Waiving Josh Smith [BLOG]
By Mike Sullivan
@MikeSullivan
The Detroit Pistons announced Monday that Josh Smith had been waived.
It's safe to say that Smith hasn't exactly been a fan favorite since he arrived in Motown last season. He takes dumb shots, commits careless turnovers, often plays lazy defense and statistically has one of the worst 3-point shooting percentages of all time with 27.8 percent (for those with over 1,000 attempts.)
According to basketball reference, the Pistons have been 12.3 points better per 100 possessions when Josh Smith is on the bench this season. His player efficiency rating is an abysmal 14.38.
Oh, and not to mention, he's paid $14 million a year.
However, as bad as Josh Smith has been with the Pistons, this decision to part ways with him goes beyond simply wanting him out of town. There's a lot more to this move than people realize.
The Pistons will benefit tremendously from waiving him:
- First and foremost, it will provide immediate salary cap relief this offseason. The downside is, Detroit still owes Smith the $27 million that's left on his contract. However, by waiving him right now, the Pistons are able to spread out his salary cap hit over the next five seasons using the NBA stretch provision. Therefore, Detroit will be paying him $5.4 million every year until the year 2020. It sounds rough -- and it is -- but doing this gives Stan Van Gundy more room to rebuild over these next two seasons since they'll be taking a $5.4 million cap hit each off-season, instead of $14 million. Van Gundy acknowledged that they'll gain an advantage for those two off-seasons, and then will also be in good shape over the next three due to the NBA salary cap rising. He said, "With the cap going up, I think you're looking at that ($5.4 million) being a very small percentage of the cap."
- Waiving Smith gives the Pistons a lot more "on the floor" flexibility. Without Smith's 32+ minutes per game, Detroit will be able to spread the ball around more and get other players involved offensively. Experience will help the long-term growth of this young team. Van Gundy said that he anticipates a lot of his players will get better due to their expanded roles without Smith.
- Waiving Smith gives the Pistons a lot more "off the floor" flexibility. Van Gundy mentioned how waiving Smith gives them the option to add another player to the team since there's now one-less roster spot. He said they could potentially sign someone off the waiver wire, find a guy in the D-League or even swing a trade in which the Pistons give up one player and get back two.
- The Pistons are changing and developing a culture. Credit Stan Van Gundy -- he's coming in and cleaning house and this is just the tip of the iceberg. SVG is creating his own environment and starting to build the type of franchise that he envisions. In his words, "We're 5 and 23, I mean, I would say the probability based on the number of wins we have, that whatever move we make, has a pretty good chance of making us better. We're certainly not conceding anything." Van Gundy is establishing an identity and creating a culture in Auburn Hills.