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Free agent forward Josh Smith and Joe Dumars met for five hours in the early morning Monday and walked away without an offer extended, according to reports.
As much as Detroit Pistons fans fear the courtship of 2013 will mirror the courtship of 2009 -- when the Pistons walked away with Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva -- at least in one central way things are different. President of basketball operations Joe Dumars isn't intent on identifying his targets and not taking no for an answer.
In 2009 he signed Gordon and Villanueva on the first day of free agency to big-money deals. When Adrian Wojnarowski reported at 12:01 a.m. that Joe Dumars was already meeting with Smith it felt like history was repeating itself.
Dumars, it was reported, was prepared to make a big-money offer to Smith, a power forward with limited offensive ability but game-changing defensive prowess.
I fully expected Smith to be a Piston by the time I woke up this morning. And while it still might happen both sides walked away without agreeing to anything.
DET, Josh Smith didn't get specific on $ at meeting Monday, per source. It was a "feeling out" process to see if both are comfortable w/fit.
— David Aldridge (@daldridgetnt) July 1, 2013
After Josh Smith's meeting w/ Detroit GM Joe Dumars, source close to Smith tells Y!: "Good, productive talks. Intriguing to say the least."
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 1, 2013
Hawks free agent F Josh Smith had a "productive meeting" with the Pistons for over five hours, a source told Yahoo!, but no offer was made.
— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) July 1, 2013
Already both sides have lined up meetings with others -- Dumars is going to meet with Andre Iguodala and Smith has meetings scheduled with the Houston Rockets and Atlanta Hawks.
The Rockets are reported to have a plan in place to lure both Dwight Howard and his good friend Smith to the Rockets to make a "big three" with James Harden.
Detroit Bad Boys will bring you more as this story develops.