Josh Smith did not start on Friday against Atlanta because he missed Thursday’s practice, reports The Detroit News. Smith was used by head coach Maurice Cheeks off the bench, however he did not score a point (0-for-7 from the floor) over 19 minutes of game action. Smith had started every game since Nov. 18, 2005. Smith will likely start the next game, but Cheeks would not confirm that.
“Probably, but nothing’s written in stone,” Cheeks said. “We’ll see.”
Smith, while with the Hawks, did have issues with both Mike Woodson and Larry Drew and one has to believe something might be brewing with Cheeks. Smith is being used as a small forward with Greg Monroe at power forward and he has struggled mightily to start his time with the Pistons. Smith’s scoring, rebounding, assists and blocks are all down along with his shooting percentage. He has never been a strong three-point shooter, however he is taking 5.2 attempts this season. His career high was 2.6 which took place last season.
The Smith at small forward experiment is not working which means the Pistons have two options: 1) move him to power forward while shifting Monroe to center and Andre Drummond to the bench; and 2) putting Smith on the block come December 15 when he becomes trade eligible. Smith’s trade value is very low as he makes $13.5 million per season though 2016-17.
