Mo Cheeks on Josh Smith's 3-point shooting: 'I'm not going to limit someone's game'

The biggest (perhaps the only?) knock on Josh Smith's game is that he frequently falls in love with 3-point shots despite shooting a Rodney Stuckey-esque 28.3 percent for his career. So in his first game in a Pistons uniform, the fact he attempted four 3-pointers didn't go unnoticed -- even if he drained three of them.

Vincent Ellis of the Detroit Free Press asked Maurice Cheeks about Smith's shot selection (the 50-second mark in the video below) and whether it was something he's discussed with him:

Question: "Are you comfortable with him taking 3-point shots?"

Cheeks: "Well, they were pretty stand-still jump shots. Tonight, they were pretty rhythm shots. I think you get in trouble when you're trying to shoot with someone in your face. But if you're shooting 3-point shots like you're doing tonight, where they're rhythm shots and they're wide open shots, I'm very comfortable with that."

Question: "Is that something that you've talked to him about already, or is that just going to be an ongoing thing?"

Cheeks: "We had a little small conversation about it. But I'm not going to limit someone's game if he's wide open. He's got to understand -- everyone has to understand a good shot and bad shot, not just him. ... I think he understands it. Like tonight, I mentioned, wide open, stand-still rhythm shots have more chance of going in, and you have more chance of offensive rebounding."

I'd argue that any of Josh Smith's outside shots lead to more offensive rebounds because, well, they usually don't go in. They did tonight, and that's great, but I hope Cheeks revisits their small conversation if Smith continues attempting four a game.