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Can Josh Smith Help His Team Anymore?

By Gerald Bourguet

Dec 29, 2014; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets forward Josh Smith (5) warms up before a game against the Washington Wizards at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 29, 2014; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets forward Josh Smith (5) warms up before a game against the Washington Wizards at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports /
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Josh Smith
Dec 6, 2014; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; Detroit Pistons forward Josh Smith (6) during the game against the Philadelphia 76ers at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports /

Piss-Poor Pistons

Heading into the summer of 2013, no one really knew how to gauge what he was worth. That is, until the Detroit Pistons were skewered for signing him to a four-year, $54 million deal in 2013. Since that time, Smith’s numbers have steadily declined, inversely proportional to the amount of criticism he takes with every subsequent perimeter doink.

Brick by brick, Josh Smith is building a new and unfortunate structure to house his new legacy — that of being a detriment to his team.

Smith’s tenure in Detroit was short and pretty uninspiring. He posted a decent stat line of 16.4 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.4 blocks and 1.4 steals per game in his first season there, but he shot a career-low 41.9 percent from the field while taking 3.4 threes per game…and made only 26.4 percent of them.

In 28 games with the Pistons this season, Smith’s scoring and shooting numbers continued to decline. Despite taking only 1.3 three-pointers per game under Stan Van Gundy, Detroit made the decision to waive him. That’s right. They waived a player who had been signed to a $54 million deal.

Since trading Smith, the Pistons have gone 5-0 with an average margin of victory of 18.2 points per game. Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe finally fit in the frontcourt together and Detroit may have to make a decision soon about tanking vs. making a run for the postseason.

Can such a small sample size of success be directly attributed to J-Smoove’s departure, though?

Next: What Makes Josh Smith So Bad

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