Jennings dishes on Josh Smith, Maurice Cheeks, more

SLAM Magazine moderated a conference call recently between Detroit Pistons point guard Brandon Jennings and a player to whom Jennings has been compared, former NBA standout Kenny Anderson.

Jennings, currently rehabbing a ruptured left Achilles, had some interesting observations about the Pistons' release of Josh Smith and his relationship with former Pistons coach Maurice Cheeks, who was fired after 50 games in the 2013014 season.

On the past season: "It first it was hard. Being 5-23, nobody wants that. That was the most difficult time, because since I've been in the league, I've never had a losing record that bad, so I didn't know how to handle it. With Stan (Van Gundy) and his system and the way he likes things, they were definitely different. I had just come from a coach with Mo Cheeks that just gave me the ball and told me to go. It was definitely different, but once we made the move with Josh, I put it on myself, because I felt like it was my time.

Jennings: This is a big year for me

On how Smith's release affected the team: "Well the thing about it was every time I would come off the pick-and-roll, the team would trap me, because the scouting report was to get the ball out of my hands. It was tough at times because I need the ball to make plays and things like that. It was just at a time when our record was bad, so everybody was feeling down. Everybody was like, 'This is not gonna work, we need to do something else.' It was everybody. We were all just like, 'Yo, something's gotta change,' because it's either me or it's Coach or it's—everybody was pointing a finger instead of trying to come together. I feel like once we made that move, I felt like it was in me to just go now. Just go. I feel like once the Josh Smith situation happened it gave everybody else another opportunity. We were able to really do what we wanted to do."

On his relationship with Cheeks: … Mo Cheeks was like a father figure to me because we would talk about more than just basketball. I could text Mo any hour of the day, and even today, I still talk to Mo. I've had some great coaches since I've been in the league."

Note

Pistons center Andre Drummond earned two third-place votes in the 2014-15 All-NBA teams announced today by the league. The teams were voted upon by a panel of 129 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the U.S. and Canada. The first team: LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Marc Gasol, Stephen Curry and James Harden.

Contact Vince Ellis: vellis@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @vincent_ellis56.