Since last seasons trade deadline it has been rumored that Josh Smith’s days in Detroit were numbered, and Stan Van Gundy may have just cleared all that up. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports Stan Van Gundy met with Josh Smith recently and told him he had a role on this team, and Smith has been ecstatic since.
Detroit Pistons president and coach Stan Van Gundy reached out to forward Josh Smith to tell him that reports of the franchise engaging in substantive trade talks with Sacramento centered on Smith have been inaccurate and – barring an unexpected turn of events – Smith will be in training camp with the Pistons this fall, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
Sacramento had made calls about Smith in June, but Detroit never heard an offer that remotely interested them and never seriously engaged in discussions
Since his hiring in the spring, Van Gundy has had productive discussions with Smith and sources say that Smith has been enthusiastic about moving forward with Van Gundy as coach.
This makes the Greg Monroe off season rumors even more interesting now considering Josh Smith played his best basketball inside the paint, and Smith certainly shouldn’t be anywhere away from it on either side of the ball. Van Gundy has publicly said he wants Monroe back in Detroit, but the longer this goes the more likely I see him being dealt. Josh Smith and Andre Drummond is an intriguing defensive duo in the paint considering Smith has been a pretty good shot blocker since coming into the league. I’d say this was a classy move by Van Gundy going to a guy he wants on his roster to clear up the trade rumors so he can move on with the off season.
