Josh Smith benched after verbal exchange with Stan Van Gundy

While Smith did not play a single minute in the fourth quarter during Wednesday night's loss to the Phoenix Suns, it might not be for all the right reasons:

Josh Smith and SVG have an verbal exchange. #Pistons

— Vincent Ellis (@Vincent_Ellis56) November 20, 2014

Seems to be over the defensive coverage. #Pistons

— Vincent Ellis (@Vincent_Ellis56) November 20, 2014

And just to be clear: the verbal exchange was nothing compared to Bynum and Cheeks last season. Or any of the stuff with Kuester.

— Vincent Ellis (@Vincent_Ellis56) November 20, 2014

The Bynum-Cheeks and Player-Kuester verbal exchanges were reportedly really bad, so it's good we've separated this Smith-Van Gundy exchange from the ugly past. Maybe they were just talking and it was worth noting because they couldn't seem to control the volume of their voices.

Whatever exchange Smith-Van Gundy had -- MLIVE called it a "jawing session" -- it was a constructive one, because Smith did not play a single minute after it. The only concern is that they patch things up and Smith goes back to shooting and playing too much.

Now your thoughts.