Zach Lowe of ESPN's Grantland is confirming that the Detroit Pistons are indeed shopping Josh Smith, but in a surprising/depressing/inevitable/senseless move are asking teams for more than just expiring contracts.
Perhaps the team can fire Joe Dumars at lunchtime and cobble something together by today's 3 p.m. deadline? I joke but only so I don't cry.
Honestly, I can see Josh Smith having value to several NBA teams as a power forward who isn't asked to bear much of the scoring load (Charlotte, Houston, Cleveland, etc.), but at this point the best path forward for the Detroit Pistons is anything that gets them a do-over of its disastrous decision to sign Smith to play small forward alongside young bigs Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond.
Heck, even if the team is intent on flipping Monroe after the season in a sign-and-trade or even on NBA draft day, it behooves them to swap Smith to open up money to address holes on its perimeter offense and defense going forward.
Instead, it seems the team is valuing what Smith might be worth in a good scenario as opposed to the actual scenario of the value he provides the Pistons going forward for the next three seasons.
I would do Deng for Smith in a heartbeat. I would do Ben Gordon for Smith in a heartbeat. I would do Emeka Okafor for Smith in a heartbeat. Yet, he is likely to stay in Detroit and if it is because the Pistons were demanding TOO MUCH, it will be an unfortunate day for the franchise and a sad capper to Dumars' tenure as GM of the franchise.