JULY 10TH, 12:11pm: The Pistons have officially signed Smith, the team announced today (Twitter link).
JULY 6TH, 3:47pm: Smith's deal includes $54MM in base salary, but the value could rise to $56MM if he reaches performance incentives, writes Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News.
2:54pm: No sign-and-trade is planned at the moment between the Pistons and Hawks, so the Smith acquisition figures to be an outright signing, notes Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Windhorst also says the Rockets never engaged in sign-and-trade discussions about Smith with the Hawks.
2:34pm: Vincent Ellis of the Detroit Free Press hears the deal totals just $54MM (Twitter links).
2:01pm: Josh Smith and the Pistons have agreed to terms on a four-year, $56MM deal, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Detroit lands perhaps the most enticing name on the free agent market now that Dwight Howard and Chris Paul are locked up, using its cap space to reel in the athletic forward. The Rockets appeared to be pursuing a sign-and-trade for Smith as recently as last night, but couldn't get any traction on a move that would have reunited Howard with his AAU teammate.
The deal falls short of the maximum contract Smith was looking for, and gives him just a slight bump from the $13.2MM he made last season with the Hawks. The Warriors and Hawks also had interest, and the Celtics reportedly were set to target Smith in the wake of having traded Paul Pierce, but no team pursued him with as much vigor as Detroit, as Wojnarowski writes. The Pistons met with the client of Wallace Prather and Brian Dyke in the first hours of free agency, and though an offer didn't come out of that encounter, it was clear the team regarded him as more than the "Plan B" he appeared to be for other suitors who were waiting to hear from Howard.
The Pistons also had their sights on Andre Iguodala, and would like to have re-signed Jose Calderon, but with both of them agreeing on deals with other teams, it looks like president of basketball operations Joe Dumars and company circled back to their No. 1 option. The team should still have close to $10MM in cap room to complement an impressive front line of Smith, Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond.
The 27-year-old Smith saw his numbers dip a bit from his career year in 2011/12, averaging 17.5 points, 8.4 rebounds and 4.2 assists this past season. Though Smith is multitalented, the hole in his game is three-point shooting. He took more shots from behind the arc than ever in 2012/13, but he connected on just 30.3% of his 2.6 long-range attempts per game.
I am so confused at what Detroit is doing….They already have Monroe and Drummond why do they also need Smith? They can’t play Smith at the 3 as spacing would be terrible and all he does is take minutes away from Monroe/Drummond. Maybe they will trade Monroe for a young guard and build around Smith/Drummond…idk I just don’t see why the Pistons would tie up so much money at the PF/C positions if they decide to keep all three and pay all of them over 10 mill a year once Monroe’s/Drummonds rookie deals are set to expire…
Maybe because he can play at the 3?…
He can’t play the 3 thats the thing. Sure theoretically he can, but the spacing would be terrible on that team as he can’t shoot the 3. If he improves dramatically than sure it can work, but he showed no signs of improvement from beyond the arc, just ask any Hawk fan and they will agree with what I have to say.
JSmoove can play the 3 if he plays along with someone who at the 4/5 can shoot from outside that way spacing is still there. If Detroit runs a lineup of JSmoove, Monroe and Drummond I would just zone and let them shoot 3’s when they really have no one who is a good shooter from there….
(PG) BK7, (SG) KCP, (SF) JSmoove, (PF)Monroe, (C)Drummond.
Yeah where exactly is the shooting coming from? If I was game planning for the lineup I would just play zone the whole time and let JSmoove and his 30% or so 3pt shooting shoot 3’s.
I think BK7 will develop his shot over the years. Thats why we drafted KCP. Monroe has decent range for a big man. Off the bench Singler has to get his shot back, if we have CV31 he’ll keep launching from downtown.
Don’t think Josh Smith is worth that money… he is a forward who wants to be a guard.
still a great defender though.
biiiiiiiitchhhhhh