Pistons' Tom Gores: No hesitation to waive Josh Smith

The Detroit Pistons' 12-3 stretch since the waiving of Josh Smith is the first sustained success of owner Tom Gores' tenure, who completed the purchase in April 2011.

He was seated court side at the Palace tonight to witness one of the hottest teams in the NBA and it happened to be his team.

He spoke briefly with reporters at halftime of the game against the Orlando Magic and said there wasn't any hesitation to basically pay Smith not to play for the Pistons.

He described a monthlong process where he and Pistons president and coach Stan Van Gundy discussed all options going forward as the team was mired in a 5-23 start.

Since it was a collaborative effort, the decision was simple.

"There really wasn't (any trepidation)," Gores said. "When you have a good process and have good communication, when you get to the end of the decision -- it's not like, 'called me to make the call' – there really was not."

The Pistons waived Smith, but still have to pay him the remainder of the $13.5 million he is due to make this season and the remaining $27 million he is owed the next two season.

The team used the stretch provision, a mechanism of the collective bargaining agreement, so they will pay Smith $5.4 million per year for five years following this season. It will give the Pistons cap relief the next two off-seasons, but it's still admitting an expensive mistake since Smith was a bad fit.

Smith has since signed the Rockets.

But the move has allowed others to shine like Brandon Jennings and Greg Monroe.

"Josh is a great talent, but we had so many other great talents on the team that we really needed the ball to be in their hands," Gores said. "As much as lot of people think that the decision was made overnight, really it was made over a good month and a half."

Meeks still not 100%: Shooting guard Jodie Meeks said he is still finding his legs after missing the first 22 games of the season because of a back injury.

"I don't feel like I'm 100% to where I want to be," Meeks said. "I'm in pretty good shape — good enough to help the team out and be effective.

"I still don't feel like I'm all the way there to where I was last year, but it'll just take some time to be myself."

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