Stan Van Gundy said Sunday night that the future had decisively trumped the present in the pecking order of Pistons priorities. If there was any uncertainty about his commitment to that timeline, he brought emphatic clarity to the equation on Monday morning with the waiving of Josh Smith.

It was, from any perspective, an extraordinary measure. Teams don't generally cut loose players with two-plus years and more than $30 million remaining on their contracts.

But the first third of the Pistons season was an extraordinary experience. No one foresaw 5-23 coming. Smith surely wasn't the sole reason for that record, but it was tough to see a path to a better present with his presence looming over players who are at the core of the future Van Gundy intends to build.

Smith isn't the type to shrink into the background. That was a very large part of what made him a special player in the first place. On a rebuilding team, it's a tough fit.

"Josh is the guy on our team with the highest usage rate. He's taken the most shots. He's a high-assists guy. He's got the ball in his hands a lot," Van Gundy said after the first post-Smith practice. "We would have had to reduce his role offensively. I don't think he would have been happy with that at this point in his career. I don't think it necessarily would have been fair to him. But I think it's something we need to do to try to move on."

Give Van Gundy this much: He didn't dawdle. He never predicted a winning season or a playoff team, but he surely didn't see 5-23 coming, either. He almost surely expected this team, in the Eastern Conference as it exists today, would get to February and the trade deadline still in the running for a playoff berth. When that reality faded fast, Van Gundy acted appropriately.

He first broached the idea with owner Tom Gores, he said, about three weeks ago, targeting this break in the schedule – the Pistons have four days off between games. What made it an option worth considering was the "stretch provision" put into the 2011 collective bargaining agreement that enables the Pistons to spread the hit to their salary cap out over the five seasons after this one. With the cap expected to go up, dramatically in some estimates, the percentage of the cap the Pistons must devote to Smith gets increasingly more palatable.

"We gain an advantage the next two summers and then the three years after that, he sits on our cap – but with the cap going up, I think you're looking at that being a very small percentage of the cap. It helps a great deal," Van Gundy said.

The Pistons now figure to have $30 million, perhaps more, in salary cap space next July – again, a sign of the organization's focus on building a better future. Van Gundy said he expects the Pistons to get better over the course of this season – not by the subtraction of Smith, but by the opportunity other players will now have for personal growth.

"I think this is about a few things," Van Gundy said. "It's, No. 1, making significant improvement, particularly at the defensive end of the floor. No. 2, it's about developing our young core of guys. No. 3, it's about acquiring as many assets and as much flexibility as we can going forward to make the moves."

A few ripple effects of the decision to waive Smith:

The Pistons now have an open roster spot. Van Gundy said there is no particular player they have in mind to fill it. And having the spot gives them the flexibility that a rebuilding team covets. "Maybe find a guy off the waiver wire, a D-League guy, something like that," Van Gundy said. "Or in a trade where you send one guy out and get two guys back. It does give you some flexibility and I think flexibility right now in trying to move things forward is important."

Van Gundy will look at more small-ball lineups. He talked before training camp opened of playing Kyle Singler some at power forward. He said Monday that both Singler and Caron Butler will eventually take turns there. Smith averaged 32 minutes a game. Those won't all be made up by upping the minutes of the two other players who've logged time at power forward, Greg Monroe and Jonas Jerebko. "I don't know which way we'll go as far as the minutes," Van Gundy said. "I think Greg certainly has to pick up more minutes at the four. Jonas will. That may mean Joel (Anthony) picks up more minutes at the five. We will slowly try to get both Kyle and Caron comfortable with playing the four in small-ball lineups like we saw out of (Brooklyn Sunday) night that we really haven't used at all. We've got some options here."

Any time Singler and Butler spend at power forward creates more of an opening for Van Gundy to make use of the combination of Jodie Meeks and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope together. "That's a lineup that, regardless, we will play when we have the opportunity," Van Gundy said. "It's two guys with quickness and energy and give us a little bit more on offense."