3 Reasons the Detroit Pistons Are on Fire in the Post-Josh Smith Era
In what appears to be the ultimate example of “addition by subtraction,” the Detroit Pistons have been one of the NBA’s best teams since waiving Josh Smith.
They parted ways with the mercurial forward on December 22, then promptly won seven straight games and 11 of 14 overall. One can simply draw a line from point A to point B and conclude that releasing Smith is the reason for their recent success.
It is not that simple.
Sure, Detroit’s chemistry appears to be through the roof since the move, and replacing Smith with other players has changed many on-court dynamics. Even coach and team president Stan Van Gundy thought the Pistons could succeed without Smith:
But there is more than one reason for the turnaround.
A Healthy Jodie Meeks
Before Smith’s time in Detroit came to an end, the Pistons had already started to show some signs of life. That happened to coincide with the arrival of shooting guard Jodie Meeks to the lineup for the first time all season.
They got wins in his first two games, just their fourth and fifth of the season after starting 3-19. They promptly lost four more games, but those were all to teams currently on pace to make the postseason. Then Smith was released.
Meeks brings a shot of life to the Pistons bench. He is the rare scorer who does not require the ball in his hands. He is an above-average three-point shooter, knocking down 37.8 percent of his looks this season, and he has hit a Kyle Korver-like 95.7 percent of his freebies.
Only Kyle Singler has been a better outside shooter for the Pistons, and simply having Meeks on the court opens play up for his teammates.
He had his best game of the season in their 109-86 win against the Orlando Magic, hitting 9-of-11 threes, and his effect on their defense was evident throughout.
During the play leading to his first triple, Magic shooting guard Victor Oladipo sagged well off Meeks in order to help on a D.J. Augustin-Andre Drummond pick-and-roll.
Augustin was unable to get all the way to the rim, but he didn't miss a wide-open Meeks in the corner.
Just a couple of minutes later, and Oladipo was already defending Meeks differently: standing nearly touch-tight despite the ball being at 25 feet away from him. It opened up a bigger driving lane for Augustin, who nearly got to the rim before finding Meeks on the wing after Oladipo was caught with his head turned.
Meeks hit nine bombs against Orlando, a team which ranks No. 9 in opponent three-point percentage, per NBA.com. Leave him free, and Meeks can single-handedly blow any game open. Stick tight to him on the arc, and you give more room to Augustin, Drummond, Brandon Jennings and Greg Monroe in the paint.
Either way, he is a weapon the Pistons didn't have at their disposal before mid-December.
A Pair of Stretch Power Forwards
Smith's departure has allowed Van Gundy to better replicate his Magic offenses from 2007 to 2012. Notably, that means using power forwards with three-point range to help surround a single low-post scorer, with shooting at all four other positions.
In Orlando, that often meant playing Rashard Lewis or Hedo Turkoglu at power forward with Dwight Howard on the block. For the Pistons, that means giving time to Jonas Jerebko or the newly acquired Anthony Tolliver as stretch 4s to open up space for Drummond or Monroe down low.
Behind Smith, Jerebko saw sporadic playing time—averaging 13 minutes over 25 games. With Smith's minutes freed up, Jerebko's time has nearly doubled to 24.4 minutes per night.
With Detroit, Smith knocked down only 24.3 percent of his triples. Jerebko is fourth on the team at 36.6 percent. Opposing defenses didn't have to respect Smith from the arc, but they will get burned if they don't pay attention to Jerebko.
In their 98-93 win over the Brooklyn Nets, Jerebko knocked down three of his five triples on the way to 11 points. On an Augustin-Drummond pick-and-roll, Brooklyn chose to leave Jerebko open at the top of the arc to double Augustin while keeping Drummond from running free to the rim.
Augustin drove under the basket and found Jerebko wide open. Though he is a less-talented player than Smith, Jerebko makes 50 percent more of his threes than the guy he is helping replace did.
Tolliver was acquired in what seemed at the time to be an insignificant trade with the Phoenix Suns just days after Smith was released. But he has done his share to fill the void left by Smith, essentially filling Jerebko's old bench role while playing 13.5 minutes per game.
Tolliver has knocked down 34.9 percent of his attempts from long range with Detroit, which is, again, a massive improvement from when Smith was on the court. And when Tolliver plays, that is almost exclusively how he is used offensively; 75 percent of his field-goal attempts come from beyond the arc.
He isn't an elite shooter, but he was good enough to force the Nets to play tight to him. Here Kevin Garnett has to play a full four or five feet from the paint defensively as Tolliver stands in the corner during a pick-and-roll. There was no chance Garnett would be that far from the basket if it was Smith in the corner.
Neither guy is a great defender or can create his own shot off the dribble, things Smith did well. But with the system that Van Gundy likes to run, Jerebko and Tolliver are simply better fits.
Rejuvenated Brandon Jennings
Perhaps nothing has been more important to the Pistons' turnaround than Brandon Jennings playing the best basketball of his career.
Jennings has averaged 19.8 points on 43.6 percent shooting since Smith left the team. That's a major step up from the 12.6 points he was averaging prior while shooting 36.8 percent from the field.
His improvement is the most difficult to explain through X's and O's or in the box score—he is simply making more shots, even if they aren't necessarily better looks.
According to NBA.com's tracking data, since Smith left, Jennings has taken a higher frequency of shots when a defender is between two and four feet away (tight), while his frequency of shots where the defender is six feet or further away (wide open) has gone down.
Also, his frequency of shots after zero, one or two dribbles has decreased, while shots after taking seven or more dribbles have increased by 2.4 attempts per game. A higher dribble count doesn't necessarily denote worse shots, but generally a catch-and-shoot look in rhythm is better than a pull-up.
The data suggests Jennings isn't taking better shots, but nonetheless he is playing great basketball.
Jennings has benefited from the improved shooting that Van Gundy has put on the court, as driving and passing lanes have both opened up. But most importantly, Jennings seems like the one guy who has improved just because Smith is gone.
There is no way to quantify the effect that has had on Jennings, but when you see his seemingly inspired play and improved demeanor on the court, it is impossible to ignore.
Pair his All-Star-level play with Van Gundy getting the right players in place on the court, and the Pistons have positioned themselves to be in the playoff hunt through the spring.
All records and statistics accurate through January 21, 2014, and from NBA.com unless otherwise noted.
Jakub Rudnik covers the Detroit Pistons as a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter.
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