3-on-3: Josh Smith is gone, now what?

1. Now that Josh Smith is a Houston Rocket, how will the Pistons offense change?

Patrick Hayes: It will be less hilarious. Smith’s willingness to shoot would’ve been perfect for Stan Van Gundy’s offense if not for the whole “historically terrible shooter” thing. And his passing would’ve been a better weapon in the Pistons’ offense if, A. he did it more and, B. most of his teammates were not also bad shooters. The absence of a shot-happy, undisciplined player will hopefully allow Van Gundy to begin building a more sensible offense.

Brady Fredericksen: For the better… eventually. I think the immediate differences will be a different distribution of shots. I think more shots for guys like Jodie Meeks and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope are going to help. I don’t know that more shots for Andre Drummond will help today. I do think a big part of Brandon Jennings’ inconsistencies over the past year and a half was Smith. Jennings is a guard who needs the ball in his hands to be effective. The more he’s watching or (trying) to move without it, the more disengaged he gets. I think having more control of the offense will eventually have him playing better.

Tim Thielke: Now we should be able to see if Van Gundy can install a variant of his Orlando offense in Detroit. Not that that wasn’t an option before. Van Gundy could have benched Smith whenever he felt like it. But, without that crutch, the Pistons really only have two rotation-worthy non-shooters remaining on the roster. Between foul trouble and fatigue, I expect both Monroe and Drummond to be on the court together less than half the time.

2. What about the defense? It was inconsistent with Smith this season, how will it be without?

Hayes: What’s worse than inconsistent? Just bad? We’ll go with bad. Smith occasionally proved this season he was still capable of being a game-impacting defensive player. The Pistons have a couple players with potential to be dominant defensive presences, but they aren’t there yet. Smith was probably their most polished defensive player, so that’ll be missed, albeit not that much … the Pistons probably aren’t that interested in winning this season anyway.

Fredericksen: Still below average. Smith wasn’t a great defender, but he’s surely the best of the bunch left to replace him. I think his limitations may have been a bad fit for what Van Gundy liked to do defensively. I just think having more traditional wing players defending on the perimeter helps. The issue is the Pistons don’t have many good wing players to replace Smith out there.

Thielke: Probably worse. Smith has been arguably the Pistons’ best defender this year (although I’d be hard pressed to put Drummond, Smith, Caldwell-Pope, and Jerebko in any particular order). But I guess it really could depend who ends up sopping up Smith’s minutes. Tolliver is looking like the best bet at the moment. And he is definitely an inferior defender. But hey, maybe it’ll be Jerebko. That’s what I’m hoping for.

3. Does all of that mean the Pistons will be a better team over the remainder of the season?

Hayes: Probably. Replace Smith in the starting lineup with Greg Monroe, who unlike Smith, has a contract to play for and the Pistons are likely to get better results. They’re still bad though, and without Smith’s dynamic kind of bad, they’ll be less interesting to watch. We’ll just have to rely on Brandon Jennings’ terrible habits for entertainment purposes now.

Fredericksen: Maybe? That’s a cop out, but I think it could go one of three ways. The Pistons could have just been suffering from a bad case of the Joshs over the last year. It’ll be like Bill Simmons’ Ewing Theory, one of your top players leaves and magically the team gels. I also think this might just be the same team with inferior talent. They’ll win more because they fit what Van Gundy likes more, but they’ll also lose because they’ll be worse in the talent department. Three is they’re worse, but let’s not even consider how that’s possible right now.Thielke: No. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them win at a higher rate because they have already been playing at the level of a team that wins at a higher rate. Specifically, that of a 7-21 team. While the Pistons are losing some talent, Stan has been using it so ineffectively that I’d expect the team to remain about equally bad and win a few more games.