Pistons coach Mo Cheeks encouraged Josh Smith to get ball in post more
By Mike Dyce
The Detroit Pistons made a big splash signing Josh Smith away from the Atlanta Hawks this past offseason. He hadn’t necessarily been struggling with the Pistons, but head coach Maurice Cheeks approached him about tweaking his game a bit. The message was to get the ball in the post more.
“We talked about it,” Cheeks said, via MLive, “putting the ball in his hands a little bit more and trying to get him off the perimeter … to try and get him on the block a little bit more. Just give him a little more opportunity scoring wise
“I went to him. We just talked about what we can do to get him better, get him better shots, get him more comfortable on the block. It was a two-way conversation, what I could do to make him better because him better makes us better.
“I just looked at his numbers in Atlanta and figured out what I could do to get him better shots.”
So far it seems to have worked, he has back to back 30 points games against the Portland Trail Blazers and Indiana Pacers, two of the league’s best teams.
“I’m trying … to find my groove on the team,” Smith said. “I just have to go out and play my game and hopefully everybody else will adjust.”