He was never put in a position to succeed, Dumars was just willing enough to pay him max market value. Not like Jennings is much better, but he can at the very least be a floor commander for a NBA offense.
:grin: <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Pistons streaks: Won 7, Won 9 of 13, Lost 17 of 26, Lost 20 of 30, Lost 23 of 35 <a href="http://t.co/nLZN6ZNU0Q">pic.twitter.com/nLZN6ZNU0Q</a></p>— 3030 (@jose3030) <a href="https://twitter.com/jose3030/status/553035146287673345">January 8, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
It was never a good signing, people said it then and now are surprised? It was always a bad fit, Smith is not a superstar player where he can make every team he plays on better. Just like Monta Ellis, you put him on some teams he's going to ruin chemistry, there has to be a fit and Smith was always a bad fit.
What is it, 7-0 now without Smith? Living in Austin we get Spurs games so I watched part of the game last night. They had GREAT ball movement and overall team play. Drummond was crashing the boards hard. Everyone else playing to their strengths. They were the definition of a TEAM. I seriously doubt Smith was holding them back that much though. I think once he left everyone woke up and it kicked them into gear. Give SVG credit.
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"Fit" just doesn't explain such a big difference. How does subtracting a player have such a huge impact on the team? It's just mind boggling.
He had the highest usage on the team and was extremely inefficient (partly because of how they were using him, partly because his ft shooting and rim finishing has declined a ton).
I hope this embarrasses josh smith into changing his approach & mindset. Similar to the defense jokes Hardin experienced that fueled him to improve in that facet of his game.
Usage is about offensive design, which is the coach's job... unless of course he didn't listen to the coach. But the coach could still bench him or limit his minutes, right?
Sure, but for whatever reason, they didn't do that. When they waived him, all those possessions get distributed throughout Stan's offense, which looks pretty solid even with Monroe/Drummond playing together. Meeks also came back and spaces the floor well. It's not all Smith's fault, but it sure looks pretty bad, and the media will just latch onto the obvious narrative.
There's got to be something mental about getting rid of Smith. One player's game, fit or not, can't mess up the team so much unless he intentionally sabotage it, which I cannot believe. To borrow Nick Young's words, they are Django Unchained.
It's great to see the success the Pistons are having. It's really fun to see Andre Drummond thriving. I've been hopeful that he would emerge as a star for quite some time. I like his game.
