What is Kracklakin Hardwin knocks listeners. I am dam Fa Valley coming at you
once more without my damn tabulous co host Adam frommel I am, however,
continuously excited to keep going with our team. Look Ahead train, We're up
to the Detroit Pistons. I'm going to be speaking with Lazarus Jackson. He
is an editor for Detroit bad Boys. He hosts the Detroit bad Boys podcast.
He's also the host of the Pistons Versus Everybody podcast under the Blue Wire
Network. Follow him on Twitter at Last Chance It's at LA z C H
A n C. We recorded this podcast about a week ago. That's how
much of a backlog I have with these episodes we have. Also, if
anyone wants to know the science behind this, I'm trying to make sure if
there are any teams that I'm talking about that could technically do something urgent like
sneaking to the Ben Simmons Sweepstakes. I've left most of them. They will
probably be until the end of this. But if I've spoken with someone and
I think that their team is a little bit of a risk to do something,
I have to get them out there just to make sure the Pistons.
I think we're a risk to do anything. Not much has changed over the
past week. There was the Kig cunning him ankle injury, but he appears
to be fine. This conversation with Las though, was absolutely fantastic. He's
one of my favorite people in the world to talk hoops with. Also just
genuinely a fantastic human being. Has a new sun named Chance. We talk
about him to you get his scouting report before we dive into the Detroit Pistons.
Just want to remind, implore, beg plead everyone to continue rating,
reviewing, and subscribing to us wherever you get your podcasts, whether you use
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you head over to iTunes search Hardwooknox, throw us that fire star rating,
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if this is your first time listening, because you're a huge Pistons fan,
and REYB. You're just a huge Lazarus Jackson fan, which I totally absolutely
support. Lass fantastic, consider throwing us that permanent subscription downloading our episode.
As we discussed the NBA at large, we are pleasantly sub mediocre and in
real in all reality, we aim to be the least sufferable league wide podcast
possible. That's how you how you gotta keep your goals goals realistic. And
that's just where we're at. That's enough of me rambling on it as late
at night as I've recorded this, so I might be a little bit delirious.
Let's get into talking about the Detroit Pistons with Lazarus Jackson. Las,
thank you so much for coming back on the Hardwoo Knox podcast. I believe
this is your fifth appearance, if my spreadsheet is correct, because I try
to make sure I'm not bothering people too many times per year at this point,
as I would say, you know, the first couple of times if
you come back, maybe I tricked you, but it's your fault now that
you've been on so many times. I do endlessly appreciate your time coming on
and talks in Detroit Pistons. But first and foremost, before we get started,
how are you? I am doing extremely well, Dan, thank you
for having me on for the fifth time. I'm I am glad you're not
sick of me at this point. Please love talking hoops with you. I
do really have a pressing question though, do we have an updated scouting report
on Chance? Okay? So Chance Jackson approximately twenty one inches tall, approximately
twelve point seven pounds wingspan is looking a little rough right now, and the
what's his vert? His vert's really poor right now. So I'm thinking he's
gonna be like a past first point guard. But like, we'll see what
he grows into as time goes on. I guess he has a little bit
of time, not two decades, to grow into his NBA body. But
that's true. I'm glad to hear he's on the up and up. We're
gonna get there. I gotta order the like little plastic basketball hoop you put
in every little boy's room. Right Are you gonna let him choose his allegiances
or are you just raising him as a flat out Pistons fan. Oh no,
he's gonna be a Pistons fan. Uh me and my wife. If
my wife is a Michigan fan, I'm a Michigan State fan. And so
like we're gonna try and we're gonna fight over that to see which which she
ends up choosing. But she doesn't care about pro sports, so like I
get all the pro sports. So he's definitely gonna be a Pistons fan.
I guess that's good for you, But it's also like you're inflicting that heartache
on him. It almost feels mean, well, it's like I'm not making
him be a Lions fan, right like their works. All right, that's
a good compromise. The Pistons, though they had an off season, I'm
curious as too before we sort of get into more of the granular nitty gritty
stuff with them, were there any major thoughts, takeaways, themes, et
cetera from their off season that you just are thinking about as we lead into
the regular season. And I did put this in parentheticals when I sending you
the outline, which since the last time you've come on, I've actually shortened
my outlines even though there's still like five hundred words. They used to be
double that. If you can explain my Corey Joseph as a player option,
I will love you and appreciate you forever until the end of time. Troy
Weaver really really values relationship building across the NBA, and that is why the
piss That's why Corey Joseph as a player option. That's why Blake Griffin is
playing in Brooklyn right now on in the Pistons ab if I remember correctly,
thirty nine million dollars worth of dead Blake Griffin money on their cap. That
is why they have approximately four million worth of dead DeAndre Jordan money on their
cap right now. Because Troy Weaver likes doing favors in the hope that,
like those favors come back around. Why is that a good? Is that?
Like? I think it's interesting because like we have been so conditioned over
the last couple we as like consumers of NBA Twitter and like fans, have
been so conditioned to properly appreciate gms who play like the red paper clip game
where you know the thing where you pay you'd like trade a red paper clip
for a pen, You trade the pen for like a frog, and you
trade the frog for another thing and you end up with the house eventually.
It's like we we've really been uh like instructed to like value gms who like
treat every transaction with like a lot of meaning and like get the most out
of out of all the assets available to them. And Troy Weaver like just
does not like play that game. He doesn't care about any of that stuff.
He cares about He's a people person. He cares about the people that
he's he's got on his team, and so like he's he's willing to do
stuff like eat you know, forty million dollars worth of Blake Griffin in order
to get the team he wants. You know, so far, so good.
It's been one year. We'll like, well, we'll see will things
go. I will be the first to tell you you got a little bit
lucky with the plan by getting the number one overall pick. Right like that.
It's like like, yeah, all the plans look great if you just
like get the number one pick in a year when it's a good year to
get the number one pick. But but so far, like things, things
look like they're on the way up. In Detroit, the same amount of
thing surprised me most about out their off season was the say Who trade,
And I'm wondering if that surprised you at all. And I think you were
pretty vocal during the season and I even in the last most recent pod you
recorded about how you don't really see what say who is an expert in And
I think I would have gotten the move more if there was like a next
prospect up type deal. But where those minutes, like is the Trey Lyles
like that was the alternative? It's been framed that way on Twitter you talked
about a little bit. I'm just how did you feel about that decision.
I wasn't surprised or disappointed, especially after the summer league Say who had right?
I think he made like he made like only one three in like four
games and looked to be really improving defensively, But at the same time,
like his offensive role was like he's always just been a guy who cuts into
space and runs down the floor in transition and that's really all you can count
on him to do offensively, And it doesn't seem like that that was enough
for Troy Weaver. It was funny. Troy Weaver had a line during media
Day. The Pistons media day, which was Monday, he said, if
there were ten players on the roster I really liked, I would have stayed
or they would have stayed. So it's like, obviously he's turned over literally
the entire roster Stak, who was the last guy he inherited when he was
hired as GM. He turned over literally the entire roster in a year,
and it's a pillion. It's plainly because he didn't like any of the dudes
on the roster that much. And so it's like, sayku is just another
casualty of not being you know, under Troy Weaver's favor now, like as
your point about like who gets to like replace him though, it is like
very much well taken. It's like, is that Trey Lyles, Like,
God, I hope not. I'm not a big Trey Lyles dude, But
you look at some of the other Tray Lyles dude aside from someone related to
Trey Lyles, though, it was like ty Trey Lyles has a pretty high
opinion of himself from from here, so so yes, but like there are
other you look at the guys they put in on the Two Ways, right,
look like Chris Smith and Jamarco Pickett. It's like Jamarco Pickett. What
Jamarco Pickett did in Summer League is like basically what I think they wanted Sayku
to do. And so it's like, if we can get that guy in
a two way and we don't have to worry about, you know, the
team option on Saku's fourth year, and we can do the Brooklyn Nets a
favor and you know, get four second round picks, which makes up for
the four second round picks we sent out in Luke Nard deal. Like every
everything turns out in the wash, right, And so I was like,
yeah, it's it wasn't surprising, and it wasn't like it wasn't even really
that disappointing, which I guess is disappointing in of itself. I had such
high hopes for Saku when he was initially drafted. Yeah, I think we
could probably go back to a podcast and you and I recorded where you waxed
poetic about say Ku. So it's just it's wild how things can change so
quickly. Their biggest, I guess transaction of the summer was shockingly keeping the
number one pick and drafting Kig Cunningham. I know that that caught everybody off
guard, but going into the season, where are there one any impressions that
you have about his game, maybe after watching him in summer League. I
think my main question is, though, do we have any idea of how
much license he's immediately going to have over Detroit's offense. That's a good question.
I don't think he's going to be I don't think he's going to be
the guy like out of the gate. I think it takes like thirty thirty
five games, right, It's it's definitely gonna happen eventually. But like Jeremy
Grant again, like Troy Weavers, like handpicked dude from high school with Victor
Oladipo in the DMV area, like, I think Jeremy Grant is still going
to be like the number one optional in this team for the first thirty games
and then as kid gets more comfortable as the team uh, you know,
probably doesn't win that much and gets okay with losing in the in the service
of throwing things at Kade and like seeing what sticks and seeing what he's able
to accomplish and not able to accomplish. Same thing for a lot of the
other young dudes on the roster, I think like they enter like a timeshare
a one A one B situation, and I think that'll be good for both
guys. Like you you put this in the outline, right, but like
Jeremy Grant really kind of wore down as a primary guy as the year went
on after a really strong start, and so I think having another another guy
who can operate as a primary ball handler in Kaide will will be good for
Jeremy Kade. It's so funny, man, Kade makes everybody's life so much
easier, just like by the simple fact of existing. It was so apparent,
like so many times last year, the Pistons just see like another dude
who could get a bucket, and Kade can do that, and you can
also like get other guys buckets, which is like a miracle. They've been
like praying for a dude like that for so long and so like, yeah,
it's it's gonna be It's gonna be great. The thing that really,
the thing that's like stood out to me though about Kade and what the team
has been saying and what other people have been saying about him, is like
his his maturity. Right, everybody thinks of him as like this really like
well grounded twenty world. He just turned twenty, and so like that is
what I'm really interested to see because you see a lot of like young dudes,
they come into the league. They you know, they were the best
player in their state, they were the best pet player in their conference.
You know, they were a top five pick, and then you hit the
NBA and all of a sudden, like you're the you know, two hundred
and twentieth best player in the league. And a lot of guys that's like
that's a big shock for them. For Kaide is like I think because of
his maturity, he's more equipped to handle and like process that shock than other
rookies you might see. And I think that's gonna be that's gonna be huge
for him, especially as we get down like the game, you know,
sixty two against Sacramento on the third night, or the like the third game
of a six six game road trip out West, and you're just like I'm
tired, I want to go home, but like kids kids got them into
was like no, like we're gonna bring it tonight. And like that's the
thing that I think, like really impresses me the most about him. The
other thing that I liked and so much of so many of my impressions of
kids just based off summer league, because I only go like shin deep into
the draft, was you sort of mentioned how maybe he won't or he won't
have that primary role for almost half the season or as he grows into it.
I think in some cases there could be certain players where if you come
in, they might have a tough time kind of adapting to not being that
alpha. And it felt like his game could be I don't want to go
as far as plug and play, but like it felt like he wouldn't have
that much of an issue not being the guy for points. He was stepping
into catching shoot jumpers and that felt like second nature, or it looked like
second nature to him. And then even I'm just wondering, like maybe Detroit
doesn't necessarily have the requisite other passers around him, but if they got him
moving off the ball even more like ducking in for you know, in open
lanes, especially since they have so many more shooters on the roster, it
just feels like he could have a really big impact as someone offensively, as
someone who is not you're a primary ball handler. Yeah, and like in
that same vein right uh per summer league, it doesn't look like he'll be
rock bottom terrible on defense either, which is also like a really big reason
why rookie struggle in the NBA. They're like constantly getting cooked and that's hard
on your mental But it seems like Kade, you know, is involved and
engaged and then like communicating on the defensive end in a way that we like
don't typically see from rookies. And so I also think like that that's that's
just like one more thing that like elevates the floor on him. He so
well, I mean, let's go to German grants that you mentioned him already.
Do you think this roster is just now better students to maximize him.
I guess you mentioned that he'll enter being the number one option again, and
he look he I destroyed him for taking the same money that the Pistons were
offering him in search of a large role, because I just assumed that he
didn't have like more layer or the ability to really broaden his offensive skill set,
and to his credit, he did, like even though he faded down
the stretch of the season. I don't think we ever envisioned him taking or
I never envision him taking as many pull up jumpers or working in isolation as
much and it just you know, sort of working. And but now you
have Kade next to him, maybe if Killian Hayes is fully healthy, it
does feel like they've opened up the floor around him. And so I don't
know whether it's reasonable to expect him to replicate what he did last year,
but it does feel like when this roster really comes together, if it's mid
season and Kade is in his bag, that if he's able to be nudged
down to like the number two for points, that this could be a big
year for him, or that could be the role for which he's actually best
suited. No, yeah, that makes a lot of sense to me.
Jeremy was so impressive last years as a score as a guy who got to
the line as much as he did. That was the thing that really really
drove the point home for me, as he was getting the line like seven
eight times a game, which is just like something we hadn't had in Detroit
out of a primary ball hindler in a long time. But at the same
time, Jeremy Grant was most efficient and more more confident when the Pistons had
Blake Griffin and when teams were inexplicably still like double teaming Blake like he was
Blake right when when Blake left, when Derrick Rose left, or when Blake
left and Derrick Rose was traded. I should I should be more honest.
Just theres so much of the creation burden night in and night out fell on
Jeremy's shoulders, and he he has talked openly about how that was like a
really that was a really hard burden for him to carry and something he had
never done before in his NBA careers, and like, so you know,
despite being a seven year VET an eight year VET now, it was like
he was like living in an entirely different NBA experience than what he was used
to. And so I I am also hopeful that like ka Kade is able
to like unshow or some of that burden for him, I'm hopeful that Killian
is able to unshortle some of that will We'll see if that ends up happening.
But at the same time, like I think Jeremy, like, we
we still have like layers to see, we still got to peel back some
more layers on, like the Jeremy grant onion right, if he can,
if he can maintain the production. He was showing off earlier in the year,
getting the free throw line as much. I think with Kade there's a
chance he can be you can get better percentages from three out of him.
He was much better as a catch and shoot three point shooter than an off
the dribble three point shooter, and so you can you can get him more
catch and shoot looks with Kade, and like that will make him more efficient.
It was like, yeah, I think, and he really and the
amount of energy he had to expand an offense really impacted his defense. He
was a good defensive player earlier in the year and that kind of that kind
of waned as the season went on, and so you would like to see
him be able to engage on both ends meaningfully, like throughout the entirety of
the season. But like then again, if the Pistons are bad, if
the Pistons are you know, fifteen and thirty after forty five games, like
I doubt you see Jeremy Grant like finish out the year. And just like
he didn't really finish out the year last year. You mentioned Killy and Hayes
I aside from like the gather step three he hit against the Knicks in Vegas
or whatever that was. Twitter was not kind to him very summer league.
They were not really kind him during the regular season. I actually wrote something
very miniature about Killy and Hayes in the offseason, and just watching him,
I still like him. Like it feels like when he gets into the lane
that defenses react and I just it feels like there's a better decision maker,
better shooter, just better player in there than what we've seen. How do
you feel, what are you looking to see from him in year two?
Just what are your general you know, the thoughts on him after what you
saw last year, which, by the way, it was a rookie season
that was derailed a large part of it by his right hip issue. Yeah,
I remain optimistic on Killian, but I do think it's good that Kate
is here because Kate is a better prospect than Killian, and so you don't
necessarily have to worry if Killian doesn't work. It's not crippling in the way
it would be if you picked fifth this year and ended up with like,
uh who went fifth that Barnes. Yeah, if you ended up with like
Jonathan Kamiga, Right, it's not nearly as crippling to the team is as
ending up with kid. But like with that said, the thing people always
like wonder is like if Kade and Killian will fit together. It was really
funny to me in Vegas is like again, I'm watching I'm watching these Vegas
games like in isolation, like not on social media, like not really seeing
what people are saying. It's like I just got like chance in my lap
and like I got the game on and like that's how I'm trying to process
all this stuff. So like when I look at what other people said later,
it's like a lot of people so I looked at like Mike Schmidts and
like san Vissini for example, were like all up in arms that like Killian
had the ball too much, Kade like wasn't initiating the offense enough, and
that like that was like that was what like what makes Kaide special is his
ability to create shots for others. He didn't get the chance to do that
with Killian dribbling the air out of the ball, and like the Pistons are
gonna have to bench Killian Hayes eventually, which was like not like Killian statistically
didn't have a great summer League so like I can't say, like that's completely
wrong, but like what I noticed was that Killian was the only guy in
Vegas who made an effort to make Kade's life any easier, right, Like
the Pistons didn't really have any amazing like pick and roll partners for kaideh.
They eventually, like Luca Garza was entered into the starting lineup, and like
that partnership worked well, but it took him two games to figure that out
too, out of the like he only played three games, right, And
so what I saw was like killing is the dude, like getting Kaide open,
catch and shoot triples, right, Killing is the dude in the New
York game, like getting the offensive rebound, kicking it to a wide open
Kaide in the corner, and Kaide is like knocking down his like seventh or
eight three, right, And so I think we talked about like with Kaide,
his ability to make his teammates better, but also like the ability for
like what he needs is other people to make things easy on him, especially
like as he goes into the league for the first time. And I think
I think Killian can do that. You you think about like kid gets compared
to Luca don Chech a lot, right, you got compared a lot to
Luca Dante in the pre draft process. Luca is a better player than Kaide.
He's a better prospect than Kade at that age. But what and like
Luke is all NBA MVP candidate, like ridiculous player. But you think about
what Dallas has been looking for next to Luca for a long time, and
it's another guard who can take some of the ball handling duties out of his
hands so he doesn't have to do it for forty eight minutes. Right.
They've they've gone through like Jalen Bronson, Seth Curry, Trey Burke, our
old friend Delon Wright. They drafted Tyrell Terry, like they've they've been looking
for a dude to like take the ball out of Luca's hands so that Luca
has like more energy to do stuff like when it counts. Like I think
Killian can be that type of player four Kaide, And I think having that
type of player around at the outset of his career makes Kade a better player
now and in the future. I like it. The optimism. I still
believe in him. And I was gonna, you know, i'd ask you
about to fit me outline. So I'm glad that you think that there's like
a pathway actually making it work. And I think it look if if Kaide
is going to play the way he didn't, I'm real legal at least kind
of have the moments where he was shooting off the catch the way he did.
I don't know if you would call it seamless, but it does feel
like this shouldn't be an overcomplicated fit. And it's not like Jeremy Grant isn't
used to working without the ball either, So you're not really trying to sandwich
three guys with overlapping proclivities together. Right. It's like okay, like you
ask, like any NBA coach, It's like, okay, I have a
six five playmaker and I have a six seven playmaker, Like how do I
make those guys like work together? And the coaches like staring that you blankly,
like you, what are you talking about? Like those guys should fit
together? Just fine? It's like, yeah, they should. Well,
it just remains to be seen if Killian like can put the ball in the
basket more often. He did shoot upon returning from his right hip issue forty
seven point four percent from ten to fourteen feet. That is what I'm latching
onto. And if you want to know why I was scrolling through the data,
I was writing something about him and I needed to cherry pick something positive
for him from the semi perimeter, and that's what I ended up with.
He gets to that area quite nicely as well. I feel like I would
have I've probably said it's already ten times. I'll say ten times more.
But among the things that surprised me with the Pistons, and so many things
surprised me about them last year, I found them pleasantly watchable and I thought
they were going to be awful. We'll get Toysia Steward in a second.
I mean they were top ten and crunch time minutes played before the All Star
break. They weren't winning, but they were in more competitive games than people
were crediting them for. Sadique Bay might have been the biggest surprise to me.
Just a much quicker decision maker on offense, and there were more more
ball skills. They're not where I would be like, Okay, let's put
him in isolation again and again, but he just has some like spins and
misdirections and no, it's not always clean, but I just never viewed him
as that type of player. And he seems so willing to get up threes
on offense, just like there was real volume there. Do you think the
Pistons were gonna try and plumb more of his offensive depth or does the addition
of Kaide and a healthy Killion kind of shoehorn him into more of that accessory
duty. Now, I think they'll try. You kind of have to try,
right. They tried it a little bit in Vegas in Summer League.
It didn't go amazingly, it went fine. I go back and forth on
that, by the because I alway like Desmond Baine in Memphis getting to run
all these pick and rolls. I'm like, they need to try that.
But then I'm like, all right, well, look at the rest of
the summer league roster. This is why Desmond Baine is running all these pick
and rolls. Right, It's like it's like, if there's anything there,
if there's any there there at all, Right, that makes Sadique a much
more valuable player if he can shoulder even like a little bit of creation stuff
from from Kaide, from Jeremy, from Killian. That's so that's so useful
that you want to see if you can do it or not. And ultimately
I don't think there will be like a ton of that stuff this year.
Physically, sadiqu is more of like a bullyball like kind of bull you over,
post you up, like spin around you and one type of guy rather
than like a guy who's gonna like, uh, move on the catch,
like take two dribbles and kind of like glide to the rim and finish over
somebody. So like physically is like a little bit limited in what he can
do as far as like an off ball guy. But like we see,
we've seen like not amazing NBA athletes still end up being like good creation guys.
I'm thinking of like Chris Middleton and like Dmarda rozen through pure like skill
and touch, and I think Sadiq has an opportunity to get to like some
of that stuff. I don't. I like Sadiq a lot. I don't
think the I don't think the addition of like Kaide like puts any kind of
like limit on his game. I think he's just gonna do like what he's
asked to do and like what he thinks the team needs to do for him,
for what the team needs of him in order to win, and for
now that's going to involve like a lot of like catch and shoot threes,
But like I hope it's an area of his game he ends up developing,
just because, like like I said, if there's any there there, it's
so valuable. But yeah, Sadike's really good. Are they going to test
him? And I know they have Jeremy Grant here, and I also know
he was a rookie of that season, So I'm not I'm trying not to
read it, but are they going to test him a little bit more defensively?
Because I was just kind of surprised, like when you look at a
lot of the matchup stuff he did last year, I didn't feel like he
was baptized by fire or throwing to the wolves as often as I thought that
he would. On a team like Detroit, they put him in position to
succeed a lot like He's not like some like on ball stopper, he has
trouble with like smaller quicker dudes, And so I think, how you get
the most out of him on that end as you continue that, I could
him put him on bigger wings and maybe the answer could even be like sliding
him up to four and seeing like him use that leverage, that like strength
of that athleticism, like against guys cutting the basket against some like bigger wings.
As a rebounder, he was like he was an okay rebounder, not
an amazing rebounder, but he like he's a he does. He has great
rebounding technique, but like so often he was on the perimeter and not able
to use it. So I think that there's a chance you see him like
slide up in some lineups and get better, get better use out of like
his skills on defense. That way, when we recorded this podcast last season
or before last season, I'm pretty sure I dumped all over Isaiah Stewart.
I just was not high on him as an NBA prospect. He moved so
well on defense, he impressed the hell out of me. They experimented with
him taking shots from from three pistons. Fans in Hardwood Knox's YouTube section have
claimed that he is going to be an All Star one day. Is he
going to start this year following the departure of Mason Plumley, And what are
you sort of looking to see from him this season as a sophomore. So
to be fair, to you. I was also not super impressed with the
Isaiah Stewart selection, and he just like immediately like outstripped all of my expectations
for him. And so like, yeah, do I think he's gonna be
an All Star someday? Like probably? Not, You're gonna go with probably
and just stop. It was like, does that make me a bad Pistons
fan if I think that? Like the I was just there. It's always
surprises me, like even in YouTube comment sections who people cape for, and
it was just I thought we were high on Isaiah Stewart in the middle of
the season, but it turns out we we weren't high enough. Well,
it's like if you ask Pistons fans right, like, they've got the have
you seen the have you seen the Creation of Isaiah Stewart? So you know
the you know, the the Da Vinci photo the creation of Man, right,
the picture of like God reaching out touching Adam and Adam like reaching out
touching God. Yeah, so they've made that with Isaiah Stewart and Ben Wallace.
That's what Pistons fans think of Isaiah Stewart, right, Like they think
like this is this is twenty twenty. Ben Wallace just like beaten dudes up
blocking shots around the room and shooting threes. Ben Wallace with threes, that's
Isaiah Stewart. Pistons fans love Isaiah Stewart. Man. Do I think Isaiah
Stewart's Ben Walls the threes? I don't. I'm encouraged that Ben Wallas is
like apparently hanging around the team and like willing to mentor Isaiah. That's really
cool. He was at he was at training camp today. It's like,
and he's going to be around more often. It's like, that's dope.
Is not mentoring him. That's how good Isaiah Stewart might be. But like,
the thing I want from Isaiah in year two is to be more assertive
offensively, Like don't want him to score like twenty points at night? No,
But do I want him to take like nine shots at night instead of
six? Like yeah, you saw late in the season they started using him
as like a pick and pop threat more us like any anybody like national who
is like wait, what like Isaiah Stewart was shooting threes? Like go watch
the late season game against Dallas, right, uh, Chris stops perzingis Boba
Marianovitch Dwight Pile, Like none of those guys wanted to like leave the paint
and guard Isaiah Stewart on the perimeter. And he hit like three threes and
people were like losing their minds on Twitter. But the thing with Isaiah that
you saw as the as they started doing that more was that if his like
footwork wasn't absolutely pristine, like he wouldn't shoot right even if he was wide
open, if he wasn't able to get if he hadn't done it the way
he'd repped it out in practice, he like couldn't do it, And like
what I wanted him, what I want from him is like see him like
try to do it even if it's not like completely perfect, He's got to
let it fly a little bit more. I mean, I think a majority
of the three they were coming from above the break too, So that's and
I guess those are like the typical pick and pop situations. But if he's
gonna be able to up the volume, but even if it's if he stays
around the thirty three percent or whatever it was, and it's just more volume,
that does a lot to open up the floor. Still at the center
position. I think that's a number where defense is opposing centers would be forced
to guard him. Yeah, and like that, and the Pistons have really
prioritize shooting this offensive, this shooting this off season in a way that they
hope opens up like driving lanes for Kaden Killian. Again, guys who are
like good NBA athletes but not elite level NBA athletes, but like even even
like Caden Killian can get to the rim and score if you're big, has
to leave the paint to worry about Isaiah Stewart on the pick and pop.
Right. The other thing about Isaiah Stewart two, and this was the thing
I thought I was gonna be lowest on is he feels like I know,
people, you know, we seem like the block highlights, but he just
covers or can cover so much ground in the pick and roll where he's a
real deterrent. Like it's not just shot blocking, it's like he's kind of
mucking up possessions before they ever reached the rim and just becomes like this functional
rim protector through that way. And so I looked this up and I'm sure
it's a stat that you might already know. And if you don't, maybe
you hate it, but he or the excuse me, Pistons opponents took five
point two percentage five point two percent fewer of their shots came at the rim.
With Isaiah Stewart on the floor, that's the second highest mark among everyone
who logged at least one thousand minutes last year, and only Rudy Gobert was
in front of him. So the opponent frequency with which they attempted shots at
the room drop by five point two point two percent. With Stewart on the
floor and watching it, it's like, no, I don't think he's the
next Rudy Gobert, but watching the way he can kind of play on defensive,
which is something I clearly just never saw before. You know, he
actually took the floor for the for the NBA. That feels like accurate that
he was impacting the game in that type of way. Yeah, I didn't
know that exact statistic like that. That's me stammering through it probably didn't help.
But no, no, no, no, no, I get you.
But you're you're right in that, like because he's not like six ten,
or because he's not like seven feet tall and he doesn't have like an
eight foot wingspan or whatever. It's people don't think of Isaiah Stewart as like
a rim protector or an amazing defender. But he does have a really like
wide wingspan for his height. I believe he's he's he's listed at six nine,
and I think his wingspan is like seven to four, so he's got
like a plus six or seven wingspan. And his hands are huge and real
strong, and so like you could see you could see times whereas like if
he if he gets his hands, if he's like swiping on the as he's
like swiping as he retreats on the pick and roll, like that makes an
impact on guards because they're like, oh crap, Like he could definitely like
bust up this. He could definitely bust up me trying to snake this pick
and roll, And so they have to have to take that into account so
that that statistic does not surprise me. It surprises me like it's at that
level, but like, yeah, I would have believed it. Also,
like Mason Plumley was not an amazing m protector for the Pistons last year,
they might have something to do with it as well. I Mean, Mason
Plumbley is just not a good room protector in general, I don't think apologies
if you're answered this already, but I'm assuming I really sign Kelly Olynick,
but getting rid of Mason Plumly, I would think sort of implies that Stewart
will start if his ankle is good. And do you expect him Olyn to
log time together? Yeah, yes, I expect Stewart to start, if
not immediately, then like eventually, like within the first if not like game
one, within the first ten games, right, And Dwayne Casey did say
during media day that he expects that there will be some Canadian Beef stew lineups
available for the Pistons. They will play a Link and Stewart together. I'm
I'm interested to see how those lineups go. I hope they choose not to
lean on those lineups just because, like, those are really the only two
centers on the roster. I don't think Luca Garza is ready to play in
the NBA like right now, and like I don't want to play tray Lyles
at five under any circumstance, and so putting both of your centers on the
floor at the same time doesn't sound like an amazing move to me, But
I get why they want to do it. Just to see if Isaiah Stewart
can cover four is basically shoe warning three players together just because the Pistons have
so many, just like odds, and ends to tie up who's more important
to this team sabingly Josh Jackson or Hamadudayalo. And as I mentioned in the
outline, I try to admit when I just don't have a feel for anything
or a player, if I really just don't know something, and maybe I
haven't watched enough of hammadud Yallo, I do not understand what he brings offensively
just in general. So if you can explain that to me, well,
no, you were right, you had it right in the outline. It's
rim. Pressure just doesn't look it doesn't aesthetically please me. I guess that
that's totally fair. But the athletic dimension that Hami offers in the half court
is something that the Pistons like don't have elsewhere on the roster. Right,
Like Jeremy Grant is probably the only other guy who can like bend a defense
like that in the half court, like simply because like he's driving and Jeremy
Grant draws a lot more defensive attention than Hamadu Yalu does for Obvia's reasons.
If like, because like I do think Hommy is the most important out of
those three dudes. If I think like there was a real chance at the
Pistons ended up with like Evan Mobley instead of Kay Cunningham, I think there's
a real chance Hommedy Homedyo could have been like the day one starter at shooting
Guard. And like Troy Weaver obviously likes him, liked him in Oklahoma City
enough to take him, liked him enough in Detroit to trade for him at
a relatively low cost, so he caught on in Toronto. That's right,
that was a that was believe. Yeah, I like spe speed was nice.
It would have been. It would have been nice to have a guy
who made threes as much as f did. Uh two years ago, not
last year? Last year he was he was terrible, So you understand why
they made the trade. But yeah, Hommy's so athletic and nobody can and
if he gets like any sort of advantage in the half court, nobody can
stay in front of him. And between Kate and Killian, you have guys
who create advantages for their teammates for a living. And so the thought process
there is just like you know, run a pick and roll slud passatami.
On the week side, he's got like an advantage. He drives to the
basket and just like creates pressure that like otherwise wouldn't exist. I like Josh
Jackson. I like Josh Jackson a lot. I love Josh Jackson college.
He still should have been a spartan. He talked openly at media day about
how like important and cool it was for him to be back home to be
playing for the Detroit Pistons, something he like thought about since he was a
kid. And so like, I think it's really cool that Josh Jackson's on
the team, and I hope he stays around. But at this point,
it's pretty clear that like he's just a guy, right like the the league
below league average three point percentage over the last four year. It's just like
that just pigeonholes him into being like just a guy. Territory and savings savings
really interesting. Saban had a really good summer league when uh, like Killian
did not and so like, and there there were there were spots last year
where Saban played like really well against like legitimate NBA competition and so like you
could be forgiven for being like, like why did they resign Corey Joseph when
like saving Lee is standing right there. But I think that they think that
Saban's like not quite ready for prime time or just yet. The shot is
a work in progress. You saw you saw in Vegas he was like trying
a bunch of like off the dribble threes. They didn't always go in.
He had like the game against the Lakers, he was like firing away and
they were hitting and that opened up everything and you saw why, Like you
saw why he's trying him right, because if people have to jump out on
screens on him, he's gonna yam on somebody. But at the same time,
like that's something that needs to be developed over the core to like another
season in the G League. And so I don't think. I don't think
Saban plays like a major role for the Pistons this year, but they liked
him enough to sign him to like a real NBA contract. He's no longer
on a two way, and I do think that they think of him as
like a very important developmental piece for them moving forward. I think I might
like him the best of these three, to be honest with you, just
looking at that, I mean, that's wrong. If he could finish better
around the rim, because he does put that rim pressure and he got to
them when I was looking, he got to the line at a higher clip,
and I thought, so, if he can, you know, turn
into just like a like an operable three point shooter where you can count on
him for more than one attemphs per thirty six minutes, he would just intrigue
me a lot more Like as I told you, I either him out on
Habit or Viallo or I don't even know who he is, I guess,
and then I would agree with you that Josh Jackson feels like just a guy.
I guess. Their roster though, when you look at sort of the
front court depth that is built to get a little weird, Like do we
see Josh Jackson play like some real minutes of the four this year? Just
they run out of actual bigs pretty quickly quickly. Yeah, I mean,
I think he said in the past he doesn't want to do that. I
don't know if that matters or not, but I don't think it's something that
like he feels comfortable doing, and I don't think the team will will ask
that of him. But I think it's something he could do in a pinch.
But yeah, yeah, now, And the other thing about Saban was
is his playmaking. Right with with as hard and as fast as he drives,
he's still able to like use pace. He really impressed me with the
way that he was like able to leverage the threat of his speed and like
playmate for others. And he did that in the NBA and he did that
in Summer League and so like, there's there's a lot to like with Saban
Lea, You're not wrong to think like he might be the most intriguing out
of those guys. Is just like my so James Edwards, the third at
the Athletic, the the beat writer for the Pistons for the athlet he is
a he's I don't know. He would not say he's a big fan of
Hommy Dudiallo because you're not allowed to be fans of anybody for the team you
cover. But he thinks Hommy has like a real path to start him if
he ever gets the shot together. And it's it is kind of easy,
it's easier to see like, but if you have Sabin and Tommy, like
two guys who can't who are not known for their ability to shoot. But
if, if, and if they both ever learned to shoot, you you
do kind of see how Hommy will be better than Saban. Yes, so
much of what Hommy could be just feels too theoretical. And since Saban he's
been in the league not as long, I just tend to favor him.
And there's also I still think he feels like it's weird, not weird.
It was an awesome wraparound pass to to Beef stew in one game. Like
he said, he's driving so hard and there can be defensive overreaction, but
the fact that he's able to make a play like that, that's like one
of the like the flash Bowl moments that I remember of watching from him.
This, in my question, just combined players to cover as much ground as
possible. Here. Who intrigues you more for the Pistons long term among Luka
Garza, Cassius Stanley or Jamarco Pickett. Uh those none of those answers are
correct. The answer is Chris Smith. Chris Smith is the answer we were
looking for. Christmas is the kid out of UCLA undrafted free agent they have
on a two way. He tours ACL in January, but Prior to that,
people had first round grades on Chris Smith six nine wing, rapidly improving
three point shooter. Wasn't was getting asked to do like a little bit more
with the ball in his hands. And I thought like that with with positive
returns so far in college, like prior to the injury, and so I
think there's a ton of upside there with Chris Smith. And I'm really curious
to see what he looks like. He's not ready yet when he spoke to
him media day, like, he's still he's still in rehab will or he's
still rehabbing the injury. Sorry that that sounds way worse than it actually is.
But so he tore the a c L in January, which means you'll
probably see him back for the cruise in like January sometime. Yeah, I
think I'm really intrigued by Chris Smith. I'm also probably the only Pistons person
you could have invited on the podcast that would not say Luca Garza. Uh,
Pistons fans super duper love them some. Luca Garza and Luca Garza,
you know, made second team all All Vegas. What do you call the
Summer League All NBA teams? All rookie teams. I don't know. I
think it's just all summer league teams. I don't I don't think it's anything
fancy, and clearly that honor is telltale of what's going to happen next.
Is very productive offensively and still limited defensively in a way that gives me huge,
huge pause for a big man having any kind of success at the NBA
level. But because he's a big man who strokes threes, and his fiery
and his dad is really active on Twitter, like Pistons fans, no seriously,
like Pistons fans have been really engaging with with Luca Garza's dad on Twitter.
It's awesome. But like Pistons fans love the guy, and so you
know, I'm willing. I'm willing to see what he's got, but I
just remain like I've seen I've seen players like Luca Garza fail in the NBA
so often that like, I don't know if Luca gars is like that one
in a million dude, but I'm totally willing to give him the chance though,
Like he works his butt off. You know. The summer league thing
was he lost thirty pounds in preparation for playing in the NBA to you know,
cover more ground, and it kind of seemed like there's sometimes it was
like working, but like again at summer league, and like when you get
to actual NBA competition, even actual like bench players in the NBA are much
much better than the competition you face in summer league, and so like,
I just remained doubtful. So if you're just like squeezing together like all the
dudes the Pistons have in the two ways, and the guy that took in
the second round, Chris Smith, is the one with the most upside for
me? What is the lowdown on Isaiah Livers? Do they he has two
guaranteed years? I believe? Am I wrong? And so do they just
really trust that once he's healthy his shooting is going to translate? I think?
So? Yeah, he was. He was an elite level college catch
and shoot three point shooter, and so like I think there's there's a huge
potential for like a thoroughly unremarkable ten year and be a career for right,
Isaiah Livers has enormous Tony Snell energy. Oh except maybe he'll actually shoot it.
If feels like Tony Snell is solo volume that well, yeah, nah,
yeah, no, that's true. Yeah, except yeah, he'll he'll
actually shoot it. We've reached the cookie cutter portion of the podcast, which
are the staple questions I ask on every single preview. I know this,
this is a question that's always loaded because things will change this and goes on.
But leading into the year, who would you build as the player most
likely to get traded from this team before the deadline? See, this question
is cookie cutter for most teams, right, because most teams like have a
dude who's underperformed for a while that fans expect to be gone. The Pistons
have traded everybody and it brought in a whole new roster over the last twelve
months, and so like, I don't know, man, a lot of
these dudes could get traded. I think if you if you look at the
roster, the guy that makes the most sense to me is Frank Jackson,
a guy who haven't really talked about yet, however long we are into the
podcast, but who had a really good season for the Pistons last year in
a different role than I think he was billed at he was billed as previously
in his career. He turned himself like he was build as a point guard,
right, They tried him as a point guard. That didn't work,
so he turned himself into a Langston Galloway clone and that worked much much better
for Frank and for the Pistons. He only makes three million dollars a year.
Lots of teams could use a Linkston Galloway clone for three million dollars a
year, and so like, yeah, you could definitely see Frank getting traded
and like nothing nothing like nothing being bad about that. Just like you know,
Hommy's playing over him, Kaid's playing over him. Uh, you know,
Killian and Kaden and Cojo are all in the back court and just like
Frank's not getting any minutes and another team could use the scoring, right,
Like, nothing wrong with Frank is just like it's NBA business. Yeah,
I mean they're they're like not really built for a trade there. Their highest
paid player is Blake Griffin's dead money, and then they're their fifth highest paid
players Killian Hayes at five point six million. I would have went with Josh
Jackson just because of the expiring contract and maybe he has an outlier season from
three or continues to show a little bit more discipline on defense, and if
they don't view him as like a long term keeper with this team, when
you have Kade, when you have to deep bay and again he's entering free
agency, do you so do you not necessarily want to pay him? And
then of course Jeremy Grant, as I mentioned, so I just they he
would be my default. But I do think you're right now sort of parsing
through this team. There's not like an obvious answer. There might be one
of the few teams that where this is the case. Yeah, I will
so let's okay, we'll pause, Let's go off script a little bit.
A lot of people ask about, like, what's the possibility of the Pistons
trading Jeremy Grant because they see that Jeremy Grant will be thirty, you know,
when this Pistons team is slated to be really, really good, and
they think, like, okay, well you trade Jeremy Grant for immediate help
or like more draft picks, more darts to throw. And again, we
gotta go back all the way back to the beginning of the podcast. That's
not Troy Weaver's m O, right, The Troy Weaver is not a guy
who's going to trade the guy he's known since high school for you know,
the fifteenth overall pick, like just to have the fifteenth overall pick. He
like really values, he really values like what Jeremy Grant like brings in terms
of like uh as as as an example to other young dudes of what you
can accomplish in the NBA if you just like work your tail off right,
like you can point to Jeremy like, point to like process Jeremy Grant right
and like where he is now, and like you, like I said this
last year, it's like if like that's what you you point to Jeremy Grant
every day in practice and say like Saku, like if you work your butt
off, like you could be this dude in like six years, but like
you have to put the sweat equity in. And it's like now you you
point to you, point to you, point to kid right and say like
hey, like if you work your butt off, like you can improve as
much as Jeremy Grant did in his like six years. And if you do
that with like where you're starting right now, like who knows what type of
flare you could be, right and so like, yeah, I don't think.
I don't think Jeremy grant is going anywhere. Stop asking. You didn't
didn't ask yelling, I ask other people, stop asking. I will say
this. So when it comes to wings that can be more plug and play,
I'm sort of of the mind that even if they don't necessarily align with
your timeline, you keep them anyway because they can be a part of whatever
ecosystem that you build. And Jeremy Graham is, you know, looking at
this two things. Here is one, he clearly isn't impacting or making enough
a positive impact to stop you from getting a high lottery pick. We saw
that last year. And you can always shut him down if the pistons are
not good or great, but like if he or something this year, and
he's already the second thing is he's already kind of making a paygrade where he's
not going to get more than that when his contract is up to me,
because that'll be his age thirty one season. He'll be playing off of I
think or whatever. And so if you have to pay him similar or if
you can just pay him to come back and be part of a better team
and he doesn't necessarily disrupt the dynamic, or he proves that he could fit
with some of the young guys you are already trying to build around. I'm
all for that. Whereas if we go, let's use use as an example.
I would trade Christian would if I were them, because I think that
his values at an all time high. Yes, he can certainly play with
anyone on offense, but they're just they seem a little bit further away,
and because didn't give you enough defensively, and you have, like all these
other guys to think about. So it's a little bit when I look at
bigs, it's a little bit different. But Jeremy Grant I flamed him joining
the Pistons last year. So this is not me taking a fig through that.
But I think that thought process one, and people get too caught up
in it. I mean it impacted Shay Gilder's Alexander to some extent over the
right before the draft, who was like, oh, should they trade him
because he's about to get paid? Like, no, Shay gilts, Alexander's
fucking twenty two years old, Like he is your timeline, and no,
Jeremy Grant's not your timeline. But he's so plugin player, just so easy
to fit in whatever version of the Pistons that you're building, unless he asked
for out, unless you're bowled over buy an offer, and he also wants
to go to that team, because, as you said, Troy rivers the
order for so long. I just don't view that as anything that needs to
be urgent or even even really considered, even though I do think in some
cases there are players where that might be a valid thing to ask or consider.
I so you brought up Shay so, and now I want to ask
you a question. Can I like turn the tables on you? Dan?
Yeah? Please? Would you have done Shay and six for one Shay and
six for one Josh Giddy one at six for reasons I still can't explain.
Yeah, you don't not Josh Giddy the sixth overall pick. Let's just let's
go with that instead of Josh Kiddy. I mean, maybe you draft cominga
in that spot. It's that's tough. First of all, I would be
shocked if the Thunder actually offered that to me. I don't necessarily care about
having to pay Shaye right away if you were the Pistons in that scenario,
But that also doesn't fur if you're making that. But I don't know,
would you would you have I don't. I don't. I don't think I
would have. I would have taken the mystery box with Kade. But it's
it's pretty close. Where did you land on that? I've would have also
not done it. I would have also taken the mystery box. I think
there's a I think there's a very good chance that Shade and Kade end up.
It's like roughly equitable players, right, Like, uh, you,
there's a there's a world where like Shay is like the seventeenth best player in
the league, Kaid's like the fourteenth best player in the league, and like
everybody's happy with that result. And like you talked about the contract timeline was
not us not perfectly in alignment, but you they could have made that work.
I wasn't really worried about that. For me, the deal breaker was
the fact that like they had the sixth pick and not like the third pick.
Right if it was like Shay and Evan Mobley for Kade, like now,
that's like that's a way harder decision, right. I think Evan Mobley
is a really intriguing prospect to play him. I so I talked to the
Chasetown guys like very often and like they're you know, enthused about the season
as everybody, but like even they are just like, man, like what
what are we gonna do with like Lori Marketing, and like Jared Allen and
like Evan Mobley. He was like together, like what is those three with
Kevin Love? And there you go. I think I think everyone is just
kind of pretending Kevin Love isn't there anymore. He I don't know if he
saw him on media day, he looked like he aged fifteen years over the
past season, Like he just looks exhausted, Like why am I stone in
Cleveland? I knew it was bad when like Jerry Colangelo said, like yeah,
like we love Kevin and he's been a big part of like what we've
been like doing for the Olympics for the last six years, but like he
can't come to Tokyo, Like oh oh no, oh no, this is
bad. Did you say about that on the shop? No, what did
you say? Uh? Well, it actually wasn't him. He was on
an episode and Wanda Sykes was on the episode, and so she said,
here, I'll say it, and she stares into the camera and says,
fuck Jerry, it was so funny. You need to look up that clip
or ill dmu it it was hysterical. Yeah, I gotta I gotta find
that it's you know, I wasn't as high on Evan Mobile as the consensus,
but if we're talking if it was Jalen Green sugs or mobile that you
could have paired with a Shay, it does definitely make the decision in theory
a lot harder. And it's so weird. It might have been a trade
that I hated for both sides, where it feels like you're giving up a
potential All Star plus the number six pick for the mystery Box. But then
I'm looking at the Pistons and like they're just so early into their rebuild,
but the thunder alsos early into the rebuild. It's I think it's an offer
that at least would have had It made you think if you're Detroit, but
I think at this point I just would have went with the mystery Box.
And also if I was kind of the thunder I would have just been uneasy.
You've assembled all these picks and I guess you're disappointed that you missed out
on the Rockets pick this year, and then we're sixth overall, But to
give up Shay and number that's just so much. The other thing for me
was, like you think about like Kaid would have been a marketing bonanza for
the Thunder, right, like low cool Kid went to Okay State. That's
all of a sudden, he's like the he's the States like basketball player,
Like that would have been that had been really good for them from a marketing
perspective. That's a great point as well. That's a I do think it
probably would have been closed. That is I stuttered. I thought, I
thought. I thought about this like hard for like forty eight hours. It
was a yeah, you've been mad had they done it? Not mad?
But no, I needed to do like before. I needed before, like
when it came up as a possibility, I needed to do a deeper dive
on Shay because I am not ashamed to say I did not watch much of
the Oklahoma City Thunder this past season, and so I knew he was good
because I knew people people I respected would not shut up about how good he
was. But I hadn't like seen him play, and like I didn't know
like just how good he had gotten in the in the ways that he has,
and like I would not have been disappointed to add shake yillo just Alexander
to the Detroit Pistons, even at his post rookie max number, Like that
is a that is a really talented, very high upside, very high character
NBA player who just like who much like Kade, could fit in a multitude
of circumstances and team environments and so like, Yeah, it shays good enough
that I wouldn't have been mad if they like, if they made they pulled
the trigger on that. Yeah, they was. Look, and I think
I've reiterated this that like a zillion times, but ninety percent of his shots
went unassisted last year and the efficiency he put up on those anyway, and
then you just look at the talent that was around him most the year,
mind melting. I think one of the other reasons maybe you don't do it,
and I know you get access to the medicals, but it clearly wasn't
just and maybe it was the thunder shutting him down just because, but he
ended up not playing with Canada this year because of that plant or fascia injury,
and so like is that like those are always kind of fickle and you
have to at least consider that when you're weighing a trade like this as well.
No, for sure. Now I'm going to turn the tables back to
you to ask you question, what's this team's single biggest weakness right now,
Whether it's a player archetype specific position, or a functional void, anything along
those lines. So it's interesting, right, because this team is bad.
They should they should have a lot of weaknesses, but the the structural like
archetype weakness, I think they are just completely missing. And I've been yelling
about for for like the entire offseason. They are missing a vertical lob threat,
right. They are missing a rim running shop blocker type of guy Stewart.
We talked about Stuart as a rim protector, but he does that with
like verticality and positioning and strength and like hands and wingspan. He can catch
lobs, but he's not alb threat. Teams teams aren't like. Teams aren't
treating him like he's like lobs of de DeAndre Jordan, right, and the
Pistons like really made an emphasis on opening up the lane for kid and killing
him this year by adding a bunch of shooting. I think like they I
don't know, I don't want to say they like overcorrected, but they're missing
like one guy who makes teams like wonder about like what what the like one
guy who make makes the help defend or crash from the week side in order
to cut off the lob to open up the corner three right as opposed to
just like playing five out all the time. It was personally just tragic for
me on Draft night when the Pistons didn't take Jericho Sims after that picture of
him at the Pro day or like he's putting his elbows and his like face
above the rim on dunks, and like then in Vegas he just like did
that a couple more times, and it's like, I'm like that would be
really fun, man, like just killing him, just like throwing that guy
lobs kid, just like throwing that guy lobs like that would have been fun.
And the Pistons don't have a guy like that on the roster and they
kind of need one. Like that's not like that's as a weakness. They
definitely don't have that. So you're saying it's not Kelly Olynick. Noah,
Yeah, Kelly Olynick, not Bounty, not Bounty, And I guess it's
they just actively decided that they would rather because most of those guys who can
do that are also not going to space the floor, and it seems like
they've paced up placed a premium on just opening up the floor and the half
court. Yeah yeah, And like I'm and to be fair, I don't
think it's hard to find that type of guy, right Like I don't know
where JaVale McGee is right now, but like you could bring in JaVale McGee
relatively easily easily and like do that for you in Phoenix right now? So
maybe not are they do they believe in Jaylen Smith or now? I think
they have to now because Darius arch Is it's out for the year probably with
his ACL injury, and John Smith had some nice moments during Summer league is
as well, But they did so they gave Javan McGee more than half their
mid level for some reason. I got it and also didn't understand it.
But yeah, he is on an NBA team that I think actually needs him
at this point. They gave you. Wow. See, Okay, this
is this is the thing with like, uh, with pregnancy into parenthood.
It's like I am hyper focused on the Pistons, but like I don't know
anything that happened anywhere else JaVale McGee's and Phoenix Cool. I did not know
that happened. Hey, I didn't bring you on to talk about the Suns
anyway. So you're you're golden in my book. Yeah, but you can
find a G League type right like you can find a U. You can
find another Tyler Cook right somewhere to fill that role. They just like don't
have it right now, and it kind of irks me. Hey, Bis
Maciambo is still floating around somewhere out there. Can he still jump? He
can't catch? That's the thing, right, Like, in order to be
allowed threat, you have to be able to catch the ball. Yeah,
it's like he has stone hands that are also based in Chris Go. It's
not just one, it's it's both both. Yeah, So what's this is.
I don't want to troll them and say, let's assume that they're trying
to win a game. No, no, no, I actually put that
in my response. It's like, I like that you assume that the Pistons
are going to be playing crunch time situations. Look like I said, they
were ten thin crunch time minutes played before the All Star break last year,
they were three and fifteen in those situations, but they were top ten.
So let's say they're trying to win it's a close game, what should be
their go to crunch time lineup? I think the most balanced lineup they can
put on the floor to try and win a game is Kaid Sadiq, Jeremy
Stewart olink right. I think that makes me sad because Killian's not involved in
that lineup, But like I think, if you're actually trying to win games,
like I don't know if he does that for you right now, I'm
hopeful that, like after twenty five games, like Killian is in that lineup
over a link. But if you're trying to win right now, you it's
Kadet point guard surrounded by a bunch of shooting and Isaiah Stewart out there for
defense. I think that's probably correct. What is there a quirky outside the
box, out of left field lineup that you would like to see him try?
So, Dwayne Casey like never ran any Jeremy Grant at center lineups,
which makes a lot of sense. It's like, Okay, Jeremy is taking
on this huge offensive load for us, let's also ask him to play center,
Like, no, you don't want to do that, but something like
Killian Hamadou Kaide, Sadik Jeremy, like that would be that'd be really fun
to watch for like two minutes, right, just like get up and down
the floor. Jeremy is like kind of playing center. Everybody's just like gang
rebounding and we're just like we're just going right, Like that would be fun.
It would never happen, right, ay, I think Jeremy, Yeah,
Jeremy's the only vet in that lineup, and Dwayne Casey wants like pretty
much at least like two vets on the floor at all times and be like,
Jeremy Grant's never playing center for this team, but it'd be fun.
Well, to be fair, they do run out of biggs pretty quickly,
so maybe they'll be forced to put Like look, what if Kelly Olenick or
Isaiah Stewart or Trey Lass has to miss a game. Luca Guard's a baby.
Oh yeah, that's right. You basically you basically had mine. So
I had Jeremy Grant, Sadique bay Hamadudiallo, even though I don't understand him,
Kaide and Josh Jackson sort of let's go all wings and put Jeremy Grant
at the five and I'm always a sucker for you know, you can call
the small ball lineups or just five out lineups with all wings, so that
would be the one that's eerily close to yours. I would just like to
see them try it, Like you said, for short bursts. I remembered
you had a proclivity for all wing lineups. I remembered that about you sucker
for them even when they don't work, which is a lot. Wait,
so how do you feel about the Knicks rolling out like the all point guard
lineup. I'm fine with it. Look Kimba, Derek Miles, Quentin Grimes
and who else? One more point guard is now? Alfred Payton's not in
New York anymore. Wow, Alfred Payton's also in Phoenix. I apologize to
the Timeline guys for not knowing anything about their team right now. But did
you mention quickly? No, there you go quickly? Yes? Perfect five
point guards? How about four point guards in RJ? Because I'm very concerned
that r J is not going to get the on ball reps that I think
he needs to reach his peak in the NBA. When you have Kemba Rose
randall, you know, Alec Burke's, Evan Fornier, etc. So the
answer to that is to put him at center. Definitely, I get it.
Yes, let's let's try it. No, look, I don't think
this is the Knicks podcast. I just don't think we're talking enough about that.
The Knicks completely got rid of their best printer defender and Reggie Bullock leaned
so far into shock creation, and a lot of people thought their defense was
lucky to begin with. When you look at opponent three point percentage and all
of a sudden you look at the roster. RJ. Barrett has to I
would assume defend the toughest perimeter assignments. Now it's just who else are you
throwing at them? Evanfornier, I hope not. Yeah, No, that's
that's not good. H Randall made strides as a defender, but I don't
know if he's the guy you'd like want guarding the zach Lavine's of the world
either in crunch time. Yeah, that's kind of tough. Actually, now
that this is a Knicks po podcast, speaking of lob threats, what do
you want from Mitchell Robinson? Hey, he doesn't look like he'd be healthy
to start the season, so what are you willing to offer? I got
uh, we got nothing, man. That's the thing, right, Like
we when the you know, going back to the trade question, it's like,
I don't know, man, we got like some we got some stuff
we can't trade. We can't trade a first round pick because we owe a
pick to Houston. Basically like until they're a playoff team, they owe that
pick to Houston. The protections on these picks, man, they seem to
be going so much further out than they used to. They're just all protected
for the maximum of seven years or whatever it is. Yeah, and it's
like every everything turns into seconds eventually, and then like you know, if
you protected out to twenty twenty eight, because like you don't even have a
job in twenty twenty eight, who cares. Let's do this, right,
that's probably the thought process behind it. It's like Daryl Morey given that extension
to Eric Gordon, like I'm clearly not going to be here. You guys
just made me pray for Russell Westbrook. But yeah, Mitchell Mitchell Robinson,
maybe not at like the two eighty he said he was in that video.
If he's like two sixty and said at two eighty but Mitchell Robinson is a
guy as a jumpy jump guy. I have my eye on if the Pistons,
dude, decide to go in that direction, I will say, I
don't know if you do like Josh Jackson for Mitchell Robinson, but I would,
Yeah, I'm sure you would. I would not like it solo.
I will say that we get a question every third mail bag here whether Mitchell
Robinson can be better than Rudy Gobert. Just to give you a sense of
where Knicks fans are at with Mitchell Robinson. Too bad, he's stuck behind
time Gibson Y. Yeah, and if he's not healthy to start the season,
Hids might just bury him. In general, the Pistons, though their
current win total is set at twenty three point five, are you taking me
over the under on that? And where do you see them stacking up in
the East in general? So I would take the over on that. That
number is like roughly what they would have won last year, and that's even
taking into account the fact that they tanked super hard for the last fifteen games
of the year. First off, the reason how we go over is because
I don't think they tank as hard as they did last year, like they
might sit Jeremy. I doubt they said like Kade for fifteen games, right
in order to assure a bad draft pick. That that doesn't seem like what
they want to do. Second, like, I think Kid's gonna be Katee
is worth some bump in win total, right, maybe not. You know,
I'm thinking they win like thirty games, But I don't that they win
like twenty three games either. But they're still gonna be really bad in the
conference. They're still gonna be like thirteenth or fourteenth in the conference. They're
probably better than the Magic probably. I think you could probably say definitely do
the Magic have a maybe jail and subs, But if they have a top
two hundred player on their roster right now, is Jonathan Isaac healthy? I
don't care about Jonathan Isaac? That's fair. Yeah, I like what the
Magic are doing. They are not gonna be good, neither are the Pistons,
but like the Magic are like really gonna They seem to be like in
the same tier as the Cleveland Orlando Detroit area right now, and I could
see them being better than both of those teams. To be honest with you,
I know Cleveland might have more talent, but their roster just confuses the
shit out of me. Yeah, I think Cleveland is like pretty clearly better
than Detroit because like, again I'm just ignoring Kevin Love entirely. Kevin Love
doesn't play for the Cleveland Cavaliers. It's an illusion. They have enough front
core problem size it is, but they have enough talent they haven't. Like
their young talent is more established and more productive than the Pistons current young talent,
and so, like, I think it's pretty clear that they're going to
be better. So that basically like just leaves Orlando, and I think they're
probably better than Orlando. They get they get a chance to see pretty early
on. I think they play Orlando in like the first ten games, and
so like that might be that might be like the one of the like three
wins they get in the first three weeks of this season. Yeah. Look,
the other thing is they were the worst team the East last year while
winning at a twenty three win pace, And so do you really think that
this team is let's say, a full win worse than they were last season?
No, I mean, like we we talked about that. You talked
about the crunch time stats and how they were playing a lot of close games
and losing like I don't think they play like. I think they play fewer
close games, if that makes me sense. But I also think they win
more often, that makes sense. Yeah, And I think I'm gonna hit
the over with them too. I'm going to give them the one hundred percent
vaccinated bump here, Yes, literal competitive advantage to be one hundred percent vaccinated.
Yeah, I mean, if you're gonna have certain people in Brooklyn potentially
missing every single home game or what have you, And just in general,
I just don't think that this team should be worse than last season. As
you said, they apply won't sit kaide. I do notice as I'm going
through like my spreadsheet, as I mark like everyone's selected, I'm gonna need
to start picking some unders. I've been very optimistic about every team's betting line
apparently that I've covered so far. U Chicago, what's the over under on
Chicago? Actually? Do not have theirs pulled up? And I'm gonna tell
you right now, I'm beting the under on them. I don't yeah that
team. I think they end up good, but that's that's gonna take some
time before stuff works out and they their best perimeter defender is a second year
player who's also hurt right now. So yeah, that's that that's gonna take
some time. Chicago is they're under is set as of this recording forty two
point five and they yeah, And there was also a report that stated they
want to put the ball in Lonzo hands. Is like, put the ball
in Lonzo's hands more. And I don't know that the solution would ever be
to make a Lonzo a primary ball handler. But you also have Damar and
Levigne on that team, and so that just sort of obfu skates the pecking
order even further if that's your actual plan. Yeah, under under, So
yeah, I have one under is there, But I'm going over with the
Pistons. That just seems really low. Maybe I'll just be dead wrong.
There Is there anything I didn't ask anything, or anyone I didn't ask you
about with regards to the teams that you think needs to be covered? No,
I think I think we covered basically everything. I think the thing I
want to like end the podcast with is that like Troy Weaver has built a
really Detroit team. Uh, they are going to be entertaining to watch,
but not flashy. They're not gonna win a lot. When they do,
it's going to be because they execute on the principles of shooting and defense that
they established for themselves at the beginning of the year. They are going to
be slow. They're not going to get out in transition. They were twenty
third and paced last year even with Kaide. I don't think that gets like
I don't think they get above like fifteenth and pace and like that's like my
wildest dreams. They're like a top team in pace. But they will they
will make you execute every single night. If you come into Detroit being like,
oh, they're the fourteenth team in the Eastern Conference, like we got
this, like, you will get jumped on, right. And I think
that fans like really understand and like that about this team. They really like
the competitiveness that they show night and night out. It's really easy for young
teams to get kind of like bad juju around them because of all the losing.
I think that the team is like full of a bunch of like we
talked about this like cage mentality earlier. I think the team is full of
a bunch of guys who like aren't going to like kill themselves are Sorry,
that's that's terrible phrasing. They're not going to beat themselves up because like they're
on like a five game losing streak, they're gonna play just as hard,
you know, at the you know, after a five game losing streak as
they are after like a three game winning streak. Right, Like, the
team is not going to have like a ton of like ups and downs.
They're going to bring it every night. And I think that that's undervalued in
the regular season as far as like what you think of a of a team
in terms of like wins and losses. But like, this team is gonna
get out talented most nights, but they're not going to get out worked most
nights. And I think that's what that's what fans really like to see.
In Detroit. I am anticipating them have any shot down killing and Hayes because
he's helping them win too many games, So bullish I am on the twenty
two Detroit Pistons. Although, man, when you look at them, and
maybe this is an easy question, are we just as I mean Kaka him
as their second leading scorer behind Jeremy Grant. Yes, the fact that I
don't know who their second leading score was last year. That wasn't Blake.
Like off the top of my head, I can tell you it requires me
a little bit, was it Mason? It was Josh Jackson. See yeah,
no, yeah, kids, kid's gonna be the guy. Kid's gonna
be a guy, the guy very quickly in Detroit. So like, yes,
I think we Kaid's gonna be a huge part of the pecking order,
a huge part of the offense, and that's gonna make real, real impacts
for them. Josh Jackson, I would not have guessed that. Yeah,
and Sadik Bay I believe was right at Yes, Sadik would have been my
next guest. Yeah, Las, this was great. Mentioned this at the
top of the intro where everyone could follow you, But can you let our
listeners know to bookend of this where they can find you and your work.
Of course, thank you again for having me on Dan, I truly appreciate
it. Thank you for letting me ask you some questions and needle you about
the Knicks a little bit. People could follow me on Twitter at last Chance
that's at la z c h a n C. I host two podcasts about
the Pistons. The Detroit Bad Boys Come Out podcast and the Pistons Versus Everybody
podcast. The Detroit Bad Boys podcast is going right now. Pistons Versus Everybody
still in traction. I'm still working out the fatherhood stuff, still lining up
guests and everything, but like that will also be back when the season starts.
And so thank you for everybody that supported me, like as I took
a very long hiatus to be a dad for seven weeks. How dare you?
Also, I'm noticing that, look, you had chance and you're in
your handle way before you had an actual chance. Is this? Is this
a coincidence? Was this planned for years? Chance is my middle name?
Well, that would do it, yes, And so I was very fortunate
the wife acquiesced to using my middle name as his first name, and like
that that was a big win in the In the last Jackson like headspace,
Well, I think Chance is a fantastic name I also for Obviously, the
Detroit Bad Boys podcast is great, but you do solo pods a lot on
the Pistons Versus Everybody podcast, and they are fantastic. Because someone who does
solo mailbacks here from time to time. It's not easy to just talk on
your own for an hour and you do a great job and I'm able to
listen to the entire episode, so kudos to you for being able to lock
it down or hold it down even when you're by yourself on that podcast.
Thank you, dam I appreciate that those are were gritting out of you.
See. Yeah, they're exhausting, but as you know by now, I
will be passing you again in the future, and just once more. I
can't rediate enough. I appreciate you giving me so much of your time and
this was fantastic as always, and I'll be talking to you soon. Sounds great.