Detroit Pistons: Were They Right To Waive Josh Smith?
By Adam McGee
It came as about as big of a bombshell as the NBA has seen in recent years. In fact, if the news hasn’t quite sunk in yet, we can all be forgiven.
The Detroit Pistons announced their decision to waive veteran forward Josh Smith on Monday morning, in a move that was truly unprecedented and could change the landscape of the modern NBA for years to come.
Smith had been the Detroit Pistons’ marquee signing during the free agency of 2013, and in the end proved to be one of many poor decisions to cost the team’s former general manager, Joe Dumars, his job.
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It was no secret that things weren’t working out between the Pistons and Smith, yet there was always a feeling around the league that Smith would prove too talented not to lure at least one of the league’s other 29 teams into trade discussions.
In the end, it seems Detroit simply grew tired of waiting though, as in his most significant decision since his appointment as president of basketball operations Stan Van Gundy showed a willingness to bite the bullet and move on.
Even if Smith had played considerably better than he did in his time in the Motor City, his contract was always going to hang over him, not just because of its value, but also its length.
Hindsight is a great thing, but it shows that if the Pistons really wanted to take a gamble on Smith back in 2013, they would have been better served doing so on a two-year deal.
As it was, Smith signed on four years. With almost two and a half years remaining on his fully guaranteed deal, what happens now so? Jared Dubin of Mid-Level Exceptional, the HP Basketball Network’s home for everything salary related, explained:
"The Pistons waived Smith via the stretch provision. This means that the rest of the salary owed for this season will be paid out on schedule, while the remaining $27 million will be stretched out over double the remaining length of the contract, plus one. That means he’ll receive the rest of the $27 million over a five year period, because there are two years left on the contract. The Pistons may elect to stretch the salary cap charge to match the payment schedule, which will save them a little more than $8 million in cap space each of the next two seasons (2015-16 and 2016-17), but cost them about $5.4 million in each of the following three seasons (2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20)."
Was this a sound decision though? The argument in favor of the move, would suggest that it helps the Pistons to accelerate their rebuilding process and start to build a new cohesive culture, while also presenting a measured hit on salary that the team should be able to cope with due to the prospect of the league’s rising salary cap.
In reality, there are a couple of problems with that though. First and foremost, why did the Pistons feel the need to make the move now? There seems no real benefit to it. Detroit don’t have a young player who has been waiting in the wings behind Smith ready to breakout.
In fact, they don’t really have great options in terms of replacements, full stop.
You could say that moving Smith may help to improve the spacing and the flow of how the Pistons play offensively, but then, do the Pistons really want to get better between now and the season’s end?
Seeing as they were already on the books to pay his full salary for this season, the Pistons could just as easily have hung on until the end of the season to make this move, perhaps after they draft their future franchise small forward in the lottery even.
The idea of the Pistons being able to stomach the $27 million hit due to the upcoming jump in salary cap seems like a bit of a myth too. Sure, with a larger cap the Pistons mightn’t be as conscious about an extra $5.5 million a year, but at the same time it could be what sees them left behind.
Surely the best way to use the bump in salary cap is to rebuild and reinvest in talent, not to use it to cover over past mistakes. So, while all of those around the league are using their extra flexibility to retain their elite talent and further improve their squad, the Pistons will be looking on, under these constraints.
As disappointing as Smith may have been during his time in Detroit, a move like this wasn’t really about talent, it was a business decision, and therefore must be assessed as such. In that regard, the jury is still out on the decision-making process here too.
It’s a significant risk with the potential to see the Pistons stand still for the next few years, and I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see how it will be viewed in time.