Sports

Yashinsky: It's Essential that Pistons Get Rid of Josh Smith

July 17, 2014, 11:17 AM by  Joey Yashinsky


Josh Smith

The Detroit Pistons have added a number of players this offseason.

Most, if not all, are spare parts that do one or two things well. 

Jodie Meeks can make 3s.  Aaron Gray can rebound and commit fouls.  D.J. Augustin can score points in a hurry off the bench.  And Caron Butler was a really good player nine years ago. 

But there is really only one way this team is going to improve, and one way they will enter 2014-15 as a healthier franchise overall.

Trade Josh Smith

And that is by trading Josh Smith.  Addition by subtraction.  Take that cumbersome three-year deal and send it flying to the first NBA city willing to give it a home.

It appears the Sacramento Kings might be coming to the rescue.

After talks broke down last month regarding a Smith-to-Kings deal, the conversations have heated up again.  Apparently the Kings have fantasized about teaming Smith with DeMarcus Cousins and Rudy Gay to create some unstoppable, star-studded frontcourt.  It looks more like a recipe for bricklaying, finger-pointing madness to me, but hey, who am I to judge?

If a team is ready to voluntarily acquire Josh Smith, that is their right.  We as Pistons fans will nod quietly and hold our breath until all the official paperwork is signed and the ink is dry.

Then we’ll throw a massive party like they did in The Wizard of Oz.

Those munchkins finally got rid of their terrifying Wicked Witch of the East; we’ll have eliminated our three-point-hurling forward of the Midwest.

Stan Van Gundy is new to the job, but even in that short time, he realizes the importance of dealing Smith. 

The moody forward never fit in Detroit, and after ten NBA seasons and 25,000+ minutes logged on the court, this is the player he is and always will be -- a once freakishly athletic small forward that is now content to launch ill-advisedly from the perimeter, make 50% of his free throws, and oversleep 1-2 team plane rides per year.

The Pistons would get no great haul from Sacramento in return.  The offer being discussed would involve Derrick Williams and/or Jason Thompson, unexciting forwards that have not lived up to their potential.  Jason Terry might be tossed in as well, despite the fact that his jump shot died in 2011.

But again, the Pistons need not worry about who is on that plane coming back from California.

What’s important is who is on the one heading there.

If Van Gundy the Magician can figure out a way to get Josh Smith aboard that jet, he will have done the impossible, moving a contract deemed league-wide to be unmovable.

He’ll have made this Pistons team better today, and for the future. 

The playoffs will still be a long shot -- an NBA title not even a pipe dream.

But there will be the slightest hint of light at the end of the tunnel.

And that’s good enough for now.


 



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