On Monday, the Detroit Pistons released Josh Smith, freeing a 29-year-old who signed a four-year, $54 million deal less than two years ago to go to any team. Of course, Smith is a complicated player, one full of talent and capable of great things, but one who also seems to struggle fitting into a team.
Rockets, Kings among teams interested in Josh Smith
The Clippers, Heat and Mavericks are also reportedly interested in the now-former Piston. Here’s a breakdown of how Smith would fit in with each team.
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This season, Smith is averaging 13.1 points, 7.2 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 1.7 blocks and 1.3 steals per game. But he’s only shooting 39 percent from the field and he continues to jack up mid-range jump shots despite not being good at them.
CORRECTION -- Josh Smith's shot chart THIS season: http://t.co/Jmk2H6vk4K #NBAStats #Pistons pic.twitter.com/qf9O590A0d
— NBA.com (@NBAcom) December 22, 2014 That said, Smith is still a 6’9 forward capable of guarding players out on the wing and down on the block. He’s also a good passer when he wants to be.
He might not be as good as he thinks he is, but he's still a player who can help a team, especially if put in the right situation. Early reports have the Clippers, Heat, Kings, Mavericks and Rockets as those expressing the most interest in signing Smith once he clears waivers (which most assume he will) on Wednesday. Below is a look at how Smith would fit in with each of them.
Houston Rockets
The Rockets are “aggressively pursing” Smith, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Smith and Howard are friends dating back to their days as AAU teammates, and Wojnarowski is reporting that Houston tried trading for Smith before the Pistons released him.
It's hard to say why the 19-7 Rockets would be interested in him. As surprising as it sounds, Houston's problems this year have come on offense, where they rank 21st in the league. The defense has held opponents to just 97.7 points per 100 possessions, the second best number in the league. Defense is where you'd assume the long and agile Smith could help a team the most, but while a frontcourt of Smith, Trevor Ariza and Dwight Howard could terrorize opponents, there's not much room for Houston to improve in that area.
The Rockets could definitely use some more depth, but the thought of Smith playing in an offense that emphasizes three-pointers is terrifying.
Dallas Mavericks
A week ago, the Mavericks wouldn't be one of the teams listed as a potential Smith landing spot. But then they traded for Rajon Rondo, one of Smith's good friends and a former high school teammate, while giving up some frontcourt depth in Brandan Wright.
This season, Dallas has been able to ride the league's No. 1 offense to an impressive 20-8 record, but the team is 22nd in the NBA in defensive rating, a number way too low for a group looking to compete for a title. That's an area where Smith could help. A group of Chandler Parsons, Dirk Nowitkzi, Josh Smith and Tyson Chandler gives Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle a lot of flexibility.
But there’s also bad news. Smith would most likely come off the bench in Dallas, and he may not envision himself as a bench player. He’d also be the second player added to the Mavericks roster in a one-week span that can’t shoot from the perimeter. Trading for Rondo, an electric point guard who has shown himself to be a winner, is one thing, but Smith is not nearly the player that Rondo is. Dallas has built a fluid offense based on spacing. Having Smith and Rondo on the court together could ruin that.
It’s also worth noting that the Mavericks only have a small amount of money to offer.
Horribly Wrong
Los Angeles Clippers
Both Marc Stein and Wojnarowski are reporting that the Clippers are interested in Smith as well.
It's in Los Angeles where Smith could have the greatest impact. The 19-8 Clippers are in desperate need of players who can guard scoring wings like Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and LeBron James. Matt Barnes is the one who gets that job now, but the Clippers don't want to be forced to play him in big games down the stretch. That's a major reason why the Clippers are 16th in the NBA in defensive rating.
Smith could also help the powerful Clippers' offense late in games. That's when Doc Rivers is often forced to remove DeAndre Jordan, who opponents always look to foul. Instead of going to Spencer Hawes in these situations, Rivers could play Smith at power forward next to Blake Griffin, giving opponents one more player they'd have to guard.
Rivers might also be the coach best equipped to get the most out of the ornery Smith, just like he did in Boston with Rondo.
Miami Heat
The Heat's interest in Smith is being reported by Stein, and it's understandable why Miami would be interested in the former Piston. The Heat have been killed by injuries this year and can barely scrap together a full team every night. Josh McRoberts is out for the year. Chris Bosh has missed Miami's last five games with a calf injury. Dwyane Wade sat out eight games earlier in the season with a knee injury and who knows when he'll hurt himself next. Luol Deng could go down any day.
The Heat are 13-15, which in the Eastern Conference puts them in the thick of the playoff race. Pat Riley has made it clear he doesn’t want this season to be sacrificed in order to build for the future. The Heat want to make the playoffs, and Josh Smith would help.
Sacramento Kings
Multiple reports have already linked the Kings to Smith, with ESPN’s Marc Stein saying that “Josh Smith has had no bigger fan in the NBA in recent months than Kings owner Vivek Ranadive.” We’ve learned recently that Ranadive is the one making basketball decisions in Sacramento and that the Kings made multiple offers to to Pistons for Smith. It’s safe to assume that Sacramento will be involved in the Smith “sweepstakes.”
Whether that's a smart thing is a whole separate question. Smith would certainly make the Kings interesting. They could pair him with DeMarcus Cousins up front and have one of the more athletic front courts in the league. But it would also be a fragile one, and Tyrone Corbin is not exactly the coach you want handling that.
Then again, the Kings (12-15) want to make the playoffs this year, and as they learned in the Rudy Gay trade, sometimes adding players solely because they're talented is the right thing to do.
Also, if there’s any player who’d be in favor of a 4-5, cherry picking defense, it’s probably Josh Smith.
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