Should the Detroit Pistons bring back Ish Smith?

The Detroit Pistons are likely going to lose Ish Smith in free agency. But should the Pistons bring him back if he’s willing to resign?

The Detroit Pistons are going to look at every single possibility for backup point guard. This includes drafted players, potential trades, free agency, and current players on the roster.

After spending 3 seasons with Detroit, Ish Smith is likely moving on to his next NBA team. And the Pistons are likely willing to let him go. Ish Smith brought a great spark and energy off the bench every night. He filled a nice role backing up Reggie Jackson.

In the three seasons with Detroit Ish Smith averaged 9.8 points per game and 4.5 assists on 45.3 percent shooting. He started for the Pistons in 67 of his 219 games played due to Reggie Jackson missing significant time in back-to-back seasons.

Smith has saved the Pistons in many games. His impact getting the bench unit going was huge. And his crazy athletic layups and burst of speed in transition helped set a quick pace that the bench unit loved to play in.

All of that was great. But his lack of solid perimeter shooting hurt the teams in many ways. Teams would leave him wide open from three. Most of the time Ish would take a dribble or two inside and take a 16-20 foot mid-range jumper. Or he’d shoot the three and a majority of the time miss.

Ish Smith shot 31.4 percent from three on 1.6 attempts in the 3 seasons with Detroit. The Milwaukee Bucks exposed the flaw that Ish had during the NBA playoffs.

Thon Maker sets a hard screen for Ish Smith. But instead of pulling up for the open three, he decided to take a contested mid-range shot.

The Bucks were comfortable giving Ish Smith the three. The Bucks kept the extra defender near the paint in case they went into Andre Drummond for offense. Ish would miss the three.

In the playoffs he was almost unplayable. He averaged 6 points per game and 3.5 assists per game on 26.3 percent shooting in 20.3 minutes per game.

Still though even after being unplayable during the playoffs, he was a great backup point guard. This season the Pistons were a net rating 3.4 points per 100 possessions better when Ish was on the floor and -2.1 when off the floor.

Ideally the Pistons were hoping Ish could develop a three-point shot while playing with the Pistons. Whenever he was on the floor, the team sacrificed good spacing. Instead Ish brought a spark to other players most notably like Langston Galloway and Luke Kennard.

Ish Smith is likely gone for the Pistons. Unless he is asking for a contract that’s too cheap to resist, expect both the Pistons and Ish Smith to move on from each other.