5 NBA stars who lost their shine because of analytics

#2 Josh Smith

Smith with the Atlanta Hawks

For the first 9 years of his NBA career with the Atlanta Hawks, Josh Smith was a jack of all trades on offense and a very good defender. Teams in the league saw this and Smith was a valuable free agent. The Detroit Pistons signed him to 4 years, $54 million contract in 2013 and one-year later....they waived him!

In the 2013-2014 season, Smith averaged 16.4 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 3.3 apg, 1.4 spg and 1.4 bpg. They look like good numbers for a starter until you see Smith's efficiency(or lack thereof). He shot 42% from the field, an abysmal 26% from the 3 point range and just 53% from the free throw line. Out of all the players who took at least 15 shots per game, Smith had the lowest True Shooting percentage by far. His plus-minus rating was also negative.

Aside from the heroic performance in Game 6 of the 2015 playoffs against the Clippers which helped the Rockets overcome a 3-1 deficit, Smith's NBA career has been pretty much dead since 2014.

He played for the Sichuan Blue Whales in China, joined the pre-season team for Israel's Maccabi Haifa, and was most recently waived by the New Orleans Pelicans after 3 games.