Speaker 1: Dwayne Casey, one of my favorite guys. Five years as
Speaker 1: Piston's head coach, almost five hundred career wins in the NBA,
Speaker 1: six playoff appearances, also coached in Japan, head coach in Minnesota,
Speaker 1: helped Dallas win a title in twenty eleven, Toronto's all
Speaker 1: time leader in coaching wins, former Coach of the Year,
Speaker 1: and former Kentucky Wildcat captain as well. And he joins
Speaker 1: us here on Exus and Bros. Dwayne, Happy Monday to you.
Speaker 1: How are you, Matt?
Speaker 2: Great to hear your voice and great to be all
Speaker 2: with you. And you know those all those years that
Speaker 2: you brought back some great memory. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I'd say this to people all the time, and I
Speaker 1: don't say this because you're on here. I've said it
Speaker 1: on this show a number of times. One of the
Speaker 1: things I loved most about you as a coach was
Speaker 1: when I would go to your shoot rounds before calling
Speaker 1: some of your games. I watched how you relented to
Speaker 1: some of your assistants and let them talk to the
Speaker 1: team as well. The person you took the place of
Speaker 1: I wasn't a bit fan of was. It was a
Speaker 1: constant conversation just between him and his players when this
Speaker 1: was you and your staff. Why is that so important
Speaker 1: do you think for any coach at any level in
Speaker 1: any sport.
Speaker 2: Well, for me, I took a play, you know, I
Speaker 2: spent a lot of I used to take my team
Speaker 2: with to the Seattle Seahawks training camp in football wherever
Speaker 2: I was coaching, when I was in Toronto, we had
Speaker 2: our coaching retreat. We would always go to spend a
Speaker 2: day with coach carl there and I watched how the
Speaker 2: football guys did it. I mean they you know, And
Speaker 2: again it comes from trust. You know. I had an
Speaker 2: offensive coordinator defensive coordinator, but yet and steal the bucks
Speaker 2: stopped with me as they do in football, Matt and
Speaker 2: so I sold that that philosophy and it really worked
Speaker 2: out well for us in Minnesota and also too, I
Speaker 2: did the same thing. I stole it from Rick Carlisle
Speaker 2: because he allowed Terry stottson how to do it. In
Speaker 2: Dallas the year we won the champions I was in
Speaker 2: charge of the defense, Terry was in charge of the offense.
Speaker 2: We both we all spent a lot of time together
Speaker 2: understanding what Rick wanted, and we took He gave us
Speaker 2: the leeway, the confidence and the rope to go out
Speaker 2: and run our practice. We put in the game plan,
Speaker 2: we ran the drills we wanted an individual and it
Speaker 2: helped me develop as a coach also. And so when
Speaker 2: I became a head coach again, I didn't do it
Speaker 2: in Minnesota. I was more like you say, Stan was.
Speaker 2: I dictated everything, what time with the bus left, what
Speaker 2: color towels we had, what kind of detergent we had
Speaker 2: in towns. I did it, and it's way too much.
Speaker 2: It's just too much in today's game. But you have
Speaker 2: to have the right assistant coaches that I did that year.
Speaker 2: I did it in Toronto, and so it really really
Speaker 2: empowers the coaches to help the players. And the other
Speaker 2: thing to Matt, players get tired of one voice for
Speaker 2: the entire eighty two games, I promise you. And then
Speaker 2: when you do step in, when you do say something
Speaker 2: in practice and in the games, it really resonates. And
Speaker 2: so that's why I came up with that philosophy.
Speaker 1: What about coaching in the NBA is the most underrated
Speaker 1: part or what we as fans and members of the
Speaker 1: media don't see that might be the most challenging that
Speaker 1: we just don't appreciate as much.
Speaker 2: Well, the biggest thing I think in today's game at
Speaker 2: more probably more so than ten or fifteen years ago.
Speaker 2: Our players are so well informed, so you have to
Speaker 2: get you know, you have to speak to them at
Speaker 2: a different level. You have to give the why before
Speaker 2: you do things, before you get crack the whip and
Speaker 2: yell it's doing my way to the highway. Those days
Speaker 2: are gone and so you have to give the why.
Speaker 2: And that's what JB. Bigger staff is doing a great
Speaker 2: job now with this group. But players are informed. They
Speaker 2: they have their agents, they have the statistics, they know
Speaker 2: understand exactly what other guys are doing in the league,
Speaker 2: what they should be doing, and you have to really
Speaker 2: it's a sell job now as much as anything else.
Speaker 2: You have your rules and your parameters, what you want
Speaker 2: to do as a coach, but yet still you have
Speaker 2: to motivate them to get the buy in, to give
Speaker 2: them the why as much as anything else in today's game.
Speaker 2: With young people in general, I would say I would
Speaker 2: say it's the same thing in football. I would say
Speaker 2: the same thing in baseball. You know, you have to
Speaker 2: really sell the guys on the why first and.
Speaker 1: Be a coach of the year between Casey joiners here
Speaker 1: on Exis and Bros.
Speaker 3: I loved the hire of JB.
Speaker 1: Bickerstaff because I thought track record wise, who he is
Speaker 1: is part of making younger players better advances their game
Speaker 1: and their careers. What have you noticed most that's impressed
Speaker 1: you about how he's gone about his business in his
Speaker 1: first year as the Pistons bench boss.
Speaker 2: I can't say enough of good things about jab the
Speaker 2: way he's a great communicator. I mean, I'm from Kentucky,
Speaker 2: I have a Kentucky accent, Kentucky ways, But Jabek he
Speaker 2: can relate to any player. He's a great communicator. He
Speaker 2: does a great job of enunciating of what he's trying
Speaker 2: to do and say. And he has a great philosophy
Speaker 2: coaching wise, and again he empowers his coaches also and
Speaker 2: so but again, the biggest difference he's done is he's
Speaker 2: sold the defensive end of the floor. I think Trajan
Speaker 2: went out and got some really, really good offensive players
Speaker 2: and it fits today's game. And I want to repeat
Speaker 2: that they put up together a roster that fits today's game.
Speaker 2: Today's game is an offensive game. You better keep the
Speaker 2: scoreboard moving. But also too, JB has sold the guys
Speaker 2: and they bought in to his defensive philosophy. And so
Speaker 2: you got Tobias, got Elie Beasley, you got Tim Hardaway Jr.
Speaker 2: You surrounded them around kid who is really coming to
Speaker 2: his own but now. But on the other end, JB
Speaker 2: has them playing defense. He has them protecting the plant,
Speaker 2: the pain. He's gotten Isaiah Stewart to buy into the
Speaker 2: five position. He's got JD. Durham playing playing protecting the rim,
Speaker 2: protecting the pain. So that's the biggest difference that I've seen.
Speaker 2: But again it starts with Trajan bringing the right players
Speaker 2: in for the cook in the kitchen, and JB has
Speaker 2: got them together, brought them together, got the buy in
Speaker 2: on the defensive end. And really, if you do that
Speaker 2: the offensive part, if you have offensive players, it will
Speaker 2: take care of it, Zep. And that's what has come
Speaker 2: together for this group.
Speaker 1: I love the balance that what Trajan Langdon has done
Speaker 1: is put together a roster that I've I give him
Speaker 1: a lot of credit all season long. I love the
Speaker 1: balance that you have of really good pros who've been
Speaker 1: around a while, experienced an awful lot, and helping the
Speaker 1: coaching staff nurture some of the younger pros. Not necessarily rookies,
Speaker 1: but younger pros who haven't experienced the same type of
Speaker 1: success and now they're reaping the rewards. Kate Cunningham a
Speaker 1: lot gets mentioned of him, and for good reason. He
Speaker 1: didn't have a great shooting night yesterday, but he had
Speaker 1: the double double. The thing that I liked most was
Speaker 1: he only had three turnovers, and I think that's really
Speaker 1: important for a guy who handles the basketball as much
Speaker 1: as he does. I have given him a lot of
Speaker 1: credit for scoring, but the turnovers had concerned me. He's
Speaker 1: taking care of the ball a little bit better. Where
Speaker 1: has his game grown the most?
Speaker 3: Do you think.
Speaker 2: I would say? One thing I was telling someone earlier
Speaker 2: this morning. The game has slowed down for him, and
Speaker 2: that's the most important thing. And as much as we
Speaker 2: were upset about his injury, which we all hurt about it,
Speaker 2: it helped him mentally to think the game and see
Speaker 2: the game a little bit slower. And like you said,
Speaker 2: the turnover issue that I think that's part of the
Speaker 2: usage he has. He's handling the ball a lot, He's
Speaker 2: going to turn over some, but just making sure he
Speaker 2: keeps that under control is huge. But his athletic talent
Speaker 2: his basketball IQ is off the charge mat to start with,
Speaker 2: and when he has the game, he's thinking the game.
Speaker 2: The game has become slower. He sees plays before they happen.
Speaker 2: He sees his pocket passes. Teams have tried to double
Speaker 2: team him to get the ball out of his hand.
Speaker 2: He has done a great job of burning them, seeing
Speaker 2: his outlets, seeing the pocket pass, and guys are making
Speaker 2: plays out But he's allowed the game to come to him,
Speaker 2: and now his talents can come over, can take over.
Speaker 2: His shooting has improved with sets up everything. His three
Speaker 2: point shooting is outside shooting has gotten better, which sets
Speaker 2: up his drives. And now what if you notice in
Speaker 2: the game Matt, You know he had recognizes quickly whether
Speaker 2: he has a mismatch showing him. He backs him down,
Speaker 2: gets to his sweet spot with his left or his
Speaker 2: right hand, and can finish in traffic. So watching him
Speaker 2: t play down, it's like a surgeon. You know. He
Speaker 2: cuts guys up, cuts teams up. They double team him,
Speaker 2: he passed it, they put a smaller guy on him,
Speaker 2: he takes him down. So there's a method to the
Speaker 2: madness the way he approached the game. And I'm so
Speaker 2: proud to see how he's bounced back from this major surgery.
Speaker 2: He had the other coaches around the league when I
Speaker 2: talked to him, they all have fallen in love with him.
Speaker 2: That's why he made the All Star team, which is great.
Speaker 2: But now, like you said, he needs to continue to
Speaker 2: work on the turnovers, keep those down, keep leading the
Speaker 2: team to winning, and contribute to winning, which he like
Speaker 2: you said, he didn't shoot the ball well yesterday, but
Speaker 2: he did pass the ball well and he contributed to winning.
Speaker 2: So JAB has him in a great place, great rhythm,
Speaker 2: and like you said, just keep thinking about how he
Speaker 2: can turn over because again he's going to turn it over,
Speaker 2: but you don't want that number to jump up to
Speaker 2: another level where you're the team.
Speaker 3: He's such a gifted passer.
Speaker 1: And the thing I like about him, and I know
Speaker 1: this doesn't always matter to people, I love his spirit,
Speaker 1: He loves the sport. He has embraced Detroit just as
Speaker 1: much as the city has embraced him. I love everything
Speaker 1: that he stands for, and I think the city of
Speaker 1: Detroit is really lucky to have him as a face
Speaker 1: of one of their franchises.
Speaker 3: When when we.
Speaker 1: Talk about you know, making, you know, the serious leap
Speaker 1: that Detroit has made and they're taking on Atlanta tonight
Speaker 1: at Little Caesars Arena. There is a confidence, there's a
Speaker 1: sense of aura about this team right now. Where do
Speaker 1: you notice that most? Like in what aspect of the
Speaker 1: game do you notice their confidence is higher than perhaps
Speaker 1: it's it's been in a long time.
Speaker 2: And I talked to JB about this a few days ago.
Speaker 2: You know, you know, when you go through a rebuild,
Speaker 2: it's tough. I mean, we all understand and and we've
Speaker 2: seen it. I tasted it, we've gone through it. So
Speaker 2: now at that time when you jump out to a
Speaker 2: lead and then a team tries to fight back, you know,
Speaker 2: you play young players, so oh here we go again,
Speaker 2: and you can just see that lead develop and you
Speaker 2: try to motivate them, you try to get but they've
Speaker 2: never been there before. They don't have the experience. They
Speaker 2: don't if you have a group of young players like
Speaker 2: we tried to go through a rebuild with, but now
Speaker 2: with the older players, with Malik Beasley, with Tobias with
Speaker 2: Tim Hardaway. As soon as something you know, we get down,
Speaker 2: which by the way, we don't want it, you don't
Speaker 2: want to do, but it happens, they bounce back, they
Speaker 2: continue to fight, They continue to fight through it. They
Speaker 2: find different ways to fight through adversity. And that's one
Speaker 2: thing that this team has done and they're doing now,
Speaker 2: and that's the vibe they have. They believe, Okay, no
Speaker 2: matter what the number is, how many points they're down,
Speaker 2: they believe. And also too, with Tobias experience and with
Speaker 2: Malik's experience and with Tim's experience, they've been through it before.
Speaker 2: They know how to get back into the game. Where
Speaker 2: if you have a young team the way we've had
Speaker 2: a couple of years, they don't know what they don't know,
Speaker 2: and so the first thing to do they turn within,
Speaker 2: they start trying to make plays on their own instead
Speaker 2: of trusting and believing in each other. And this team
Speaker 2: is doing a great job of believing and trusting each
Speaker 2: other even when at verstity hits, which is going to
Speaker 2: happen in this league. But they've done a great job
Speaker 2: of fighting through things like that. And kudos to JB
Speaker 2: for building that type of culture and atmosphere for the players.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and doing it so quickly. It's been fun to
Speaker 1: watch it really has. I'd be remiss if I didn't
Speaker 1: ask you about the shocking over the weekend trade that
Speaker 1: saw Luka Doncvich go from Dallas to LA and exchange
Speaker 1: for Anthony Davis and other players, and before you answer,
Speaker 1: would I would say this. I understand how we get
Speaker 1: caught up in offense, but to me, I would much
Speaker 1: rather have a player who is really good at both
Speaker 1: ends of the floor rather than great at one end
Speaker 1: of the floor.
Speaker 3: I could be in the minority there.
Speaker 1: I think Luka Doncics is is an incredibly gifted offensive player.
Speaker 1: I think he absolutely stinks on the defensive side of
Speaker 1: the ball. With that said, I have never seen in sports,
Speaker 1: not just basketball, where two high level, big name players
Speaker 1: are traded for one another.
Speaker 3: What was your reaction when you saw.
Speaker 2: It, Well, it was the same thing, you know you
Speaker 2: And the other thing that jumped out, Matt was the
Speaker 2: fact that you know, usually when those type of traits
Speaker 2: happened somewhere in there, it leaked out, which is one
Speaker 2: of my pet thieves. It leaks out and gets out,
Speaker 2: and now you have an unhappy player. It's going through
Speaker 2: the locker room in Dallas, is going through the locker
Speaker 2: room in LA. But kudos to Nico and also to
Speaker 2: Rob Blinka, and it didn't get out. It kept it
Speaker 2: between those two. The owners didn't leak it out, so
Speaker 2: it really stayed with them, and I think that was
Speaker 2: the most surprising thing to our league. It didn't leak out.
Speaker 2: And again I think, you know, it's a good thing
Speaker 2: for LA because now they have a young superstar that's
Speaker 2: twenty five years old. Again, they'll have to add defense
Speaker 2: around him. As you said, you said it beautifully, but
Speaker 2: also too Dallas will be it's another good fit for Kyrie.
Speaker 2: You have a shot blocker, a great defensive player, and
Speaker 2: an inside score with Anthony Davis, who also, by the way,
Speaker 2: as a Kentucky guy. But I like him, but again
Speaker 2: he's he's a but again maybe another change of scenery
Speaker 2: for him will will help both teams. But again I
Speaker 2: was shocked. I was surprised more so that it didn't
Speaker 2: leak out and it came out in left field with
Speaker 2: two super players. And if you don't remember Matt when
Speaker 2: I was in Dallas, so it might have happened right
Speaker 2: before I got there. They were almost traded Dirk Nabiscuit
Speaker 2: Kobe time between the Dallas and but it leaked out,
Speaker 2: it got out, you know, Kobe was unhappy in La
Speaker 2: and so Mark almost pulled the trigger. It almost happened,
Speaker 2: it didn't, but it was a big trade. It would
Speaker 2: have been sort of the same magnitude at that time
Speaker 2: as this trade between Luca and Anthony, so big trade.
Speaker 2: The proof will be in the pudding and see if
Speaker 2: it works out and go between the two and that.
Speaker 2: Before I finished, I want to, you know, say this.
Speaker 2: I hope our fans understand and see the growth of
Speaker 2: this team. As you mentioned, I think they do as
Speaker 2: a great vibe in the arena. It's time to come
Speaker 2: out and support them. I know we've had some hard
Speaker 2: times though the last few years, but this team represents
Speaker 2: Detroit and I think it's a great time for them
Speaker 2: to come out and support them. We've taken them through
Speaker 2: some bad times. Now let's get on that bandwagon now
Speaker 2: and come up. We have a great homestand coming up,
Speaker 2: and I think it's a great time to come out
Speaker 2: and support them and be a part of the team.
Speaker 3: Amen to all that.
Speaker 1: We talk Pistons quite a bit here on this program
Speaker 1: throughout the state of Michigan, constantly promoting not just Kate Coneham,
Speaker 1: but some of the other really good players on this team,
Speaker 1: and I give full marks to Trajan Langdon, who I
Speaker 1: really really like and I thought was a perfect fit,
Speaker 1: but more so JB. Bickerstaff. I think he's a really good,
Speaker 1: strong coach. I would like to see him talk to
Speaker 1: the media just before, you know, during shoot around and stuff.
Speaker 1: But I can't have everything I want. I can't have
Speaker 1: Dwayne Casey all the time, but I really wish I could.
Speaker 1: It's great to visit with you. Thanks for joining us,
Speaker 1: always a pleasure, and all the best to you and
Speaker 1: your family.
Speaker 2: All right, Duane, thank you so much. Man. I'll see
Speaker 2: you down the road, buddy.