When you have a roster with names like Brandon Jennings, Josh Smith, Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe, missing the playoffs in a weak Eastern Conference is a colossal disappointment. Naturally, such a failure is usually followed by overhaul to a team’s roster and front office, and that is exactly what has been going on with the Detroit Pistons this off-season.
After bringing in Stan Van Gundy as head coach and President of basketball operations, rumors began to circulate that the Pistons next move would be to unload the massive contract of Josh Smith, who was signed just a year ago. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, these rumors have been overblown and Smith will likely still be a Piston when training camp starts this fall.
Detroit Pistons president and coach Stan Van Gundy reached out to forward Josh Smith to tell him that reports of the franchise engaging in substantive trade talks with Sacramento centered on Smith have been inaccurate and – barring an unexpected turn of events – Smith will be in training camp with the Pistons this fall, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
Sacramento had made calls about Smith in June, but Detroit never heard an offer that remotely interested them and never seriously engaged in discussions, sources told Yahoo Sports.
Since his hiring in the spring, Van Gundy has had productive discussions with Smith and sources say that Smith has been enthusiastic about moving forward with Van Gundy as coach.
This is actually pretty interesting. Detroit has been a mess for years now, and a roster overhaul would seem to be the quickest way to change that. However with a bloated contract and a penchant for taking plenty of bad shots, keeping Smith around may be easier than trading him.