Josh Smith changed cities, but he hasn’t really changed.
The Detroit Pistons signed Smith to a four-year $54 million million this off-season, and he was expected to help change the culture back to a winning one.
Friday night, Smith was benched Friday night vs. the Hawks for missing a practice according to MLive. Smith being the guy he is, subsequently went out and went scoreless.
Cheeks said Smith missed practice Thursday.
The player, meantime, already had planned to spend what he expected to be an off day in Atlanta that day.
Cheeks decided to bench Smith under unusual circumstances instead.
Cheeks, asked if Smith knew there was a practice scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday, replied, “Yeah, he knew.”“He just didn’t get back. He didn’t get back,” Cheeks said.Cheeks also was non-committal about what happens next.
“Is Josh Smith starting going forward?” Cheeks said. “Probably, but nothing’s written in stone. So we’ll see.”
Moments later, Cheeks seemed to soften that stance.
“Come on, Josh is one of our top players,” he said. “So he’s not going to be on that bench. You know, things happen.”