BOSTON – In the hours after a loss to the Brooklyn Nets, Stan Van Gundy sent Josh Smith a text message: "You haven't done anything wrong, but need you to stop by my office in the morning."

Van Gundy awaited him in the Detroit Pistons' practice facility and soon Smith began to listen to the franchise's president and coach lay out the franchise's predicament with him, the reasons it would've been unfair to bench Smith and limit his minutes, the reasons Van Gundy believed he owed Smith better for how professional he had been in their time together.

For a moment, Smith would wonder: "Where's this going?" and soon the words tumbled out of Van Gundy's mouth: "We're going to waive you, Josh."

With three years and $27 million left on his contract, Smith confesses now: "I was shocked." He knew Detroit had discussed trades, knew that that frontline of Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond was unworkable, but Josh Smith never expected to shake Van Gundy's hand and leave the gymnasium a free agent that morning.

View photos The Rockets' Josh Smith returns to face his former team tonight. (Getty Images) More

His family was incensed and Josh understood it. His family has forever taken the criticism harder than him. Better than everyone else, they know him. They watch and listen to everything about him, the way loved ones do, and his father, Pete, warned Josh: "You're going to get scrutinized … It's going to make you look bad," and with the world barking louder and louder, trashing his character and dismissing his considerable talent, Josh Smith told his father simply: "I don’t care."

In every way, the Pistons' act was liberating. Josh Smith had true free agency now, an ability to choose a team based on fit and comfort and winning, not on salary cap space. He let it go, let it all go. For everyone trying to turn Smith into a punchline, he understood the truth: Contenders would want him, and Smith could play a part for a winner again. It's happening for the Houston Rockets now, Smith fitting so perfectly with his quirky co-stars and coach who's commanded his respect and cooperation.

Smith returns to play the Pistons in Auburn Hills tonight, and he's playing his best basketball in years. The Rockets haven't imploded with Smith. They've thrived with him. The idea of a contract extension this summer appeals to him, because the roster is talented and deep, his role's increasingly defined and most of all: "I'm comfortable here," Smith told Yahoo Sports.

They've accepted everything about Josh Smith, and that means everything to him. He's been a rim protector and a rebounder, a defender and driver. Give us your three-pointers, the Rockets told him. He's making them, too. Now, everything's quieter. The Rockets, and the winning, give him a platform for people to talk about everything he does so well, not his flaws.

People came for Smith in ways that confounded him, the ferocity and vitriol for so-called crimes on basketball that felt like the force of something else, something worse. "You know, I'm not a guy walking around with DUIs on my record, or bar fights," Smith told Yahoo Sports. "I think they expect that out of me. I mean, I understand criticism comes with this, but … I feel sometimes like I did something harmful to somebody’s kid.

"I have thick skin. But when analysts talk, including NBA analysts who played the game, they act like they didn't have any flaws in their game. They played perfect, and no one criticized their game."

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