The Pistons announced they have waived forward Josh Smith on Monday.
"Our team has not performed the way we had expected throughout the first third of the season and adjustments need to be made in terms of our focus and direction," coach Stan Van Gundy said. “We are shifting priorities to aggressively develop our younger players while also expanding the roles of other players in the current rotation to improve performance and build for our future. As we expand certain roles, others will be reduced. In fairness to Josh, being a highly versatile 10-year veteran in this league, we feel it's best to give him his freedom to move forward. We have full respect for Josh as a player and a person."
The Pistons signed Smith to a four-year, $54 million contract in 2013 and Smith is due $14 million each of the next two seasons. To minimize the financial impact of Smith's release, the Pistons are expected to use the stretch provision which allows teams to stretch out contracts more than $25 million over twice the amount of years in the contract, plus one year, reports the Oakland Press.
Smith has struggled to fit into Van Gundy's system. In 28 games, Smith is averaging 13.1 points while shooting a career-low 39.1 percent from the floor.
With Smith's departure, forward Greg Monroe is expected to see an increase in minutes. Monroe is averaging 14.7 points and 8.8 rebounds over 29.0 minutes.
