What Does the FUTURE Look Like for the Detroit Pistons?

What Does the FUTURE Look Like for the Detroit Pistons?

We’re going to be talking about what does the future hold for the Detroit Pistons. You know, this is a interesting topic because there’s a whole lot of narratives. There’s a whole lot of people in the ether in the in the conversations. Some fans who’ve been following since the very beginning and when I say the beginning, at least the beginning of the season. Then there’s fans who’ve been there for a lifetime since Bad Boys Isaiah Thomas and Joe Dumar. Then there’s folks like me who’ve been following probably ever since uh well Joe Dumar, but I was a little young back then. But definitely, you know, by the time Chanty and Rip, Big Ben, Taan, like I remember all those things when they drafted Darko, uh Lindsay Hunter, um the trade that brought in Rasheed Wallace, right? trades that uh sent Chanty out for Allan Iverson, stuff like that. Like I remember all that. Um and then there’s fans out there that who just kind of popped up this season when they started winning and the media started giving them uh love. And so I I wanted to use this video to kind of disseminate between some of these narratives and maybe drop a little knowledge so y’all could kind of like see what the landscape of the league is really like and have a better outlook for what this team might be trying to do this summer. Um let me start off by saying this was a you saw the last live this was a season this was a dream season. This was a beyond anyone’s fantasy type of season. This was a season that folks really could have never really imagined. Um 45 wins, six seed, getting to game six in the playoffs with just as much of a chance to have been um going further in the playoffs, going into the second round. This team could have easily been in the second round right now, but at the same time, this season has been nothing short of a wholesale success. The relative health that they had, the relative uh buy in to JBstaff and what he’s been trying to exude in this team, the foundation, what it means to win. um holding guys accountable, getting that full buy in and understanding of how to win in the NBA. Tan Langden made it clear that this season was about consistency, stability, JB staff held true to that to the very end, even at times what may have felt like to his detriment. um sticking with veteran lineups uh even if they didn’t perform well. But all that’s to say is that it was successful. It was wildly successful. We saw Kate Cunningham’s ascension, second team allNBA, third at the worst. We saw Jaden Ivy have a spectacular first half to the season looking like the clearcut uh 1B decade Cunningham’s 1A and I truly do mean that. Uh Jaden Ivy Decade Cunningham reminds me of Russell Westbrook to Kevin Durant. that type of proximity to being a primary option to being uh someone who could carry the offense, who could lead the team and scoring or have the most gravity and impact in a game. I think Ivy has that potential and that’s kind of what I want to dive into today as well. When we think about the future of this team, we think about the outlook of this team, you have to understand there’s certain advantages that the Detroit Pistons are working with that most teams are not. Most teams that are in the playoffs, are somewhat locked into their roster. They’re locked in. When I say locked in, I’m referring to the last collective bargaining agreement known as the CBA. The CBA is an agreement between the ownership group and the different team owners and the players. Now, unfortunately, the ownership group takes advantage of the players every year. Every agreement, the players are generally losing. The only reason why we had such a jump in the salary cap was because the players union for the first time they grabbed themselves a lawyer. Michelle Roberts I believe it was uh to be head of their union which seems smart. A union that is headed by lawyers who understand law and investments and uh are used to accustomed to running numbers and things of that nature. they tend to have the most insight into bargaining and how to maneuver through it and also how people might try to take advantage of you. And so what she did was she she grabbed the books for a bunch of random organizations in the NBA, the Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves, and others. And she was like, “Let me see your books.” Right? Which they have to disclose if they’re saying that they’re operating at a loss. They have to prove it. And what she discovered is that the NBA owners were hiding billions of dollars, billions. And it was so much so that they had two solutions. Either they could give the money that they were supposed to be giving in this 48, 52, something like that split, 50-50 split, somewhere around there. either they could give it back all at once or they could give it back gradually over time over a set amount of years to reach uh the true split which means that they’ve essentially been stealing money from the players for a long time or they could do it all at once. They agreed overtime. That gap alone in that overtime was what allowed the Golden State Warriors to sign Kevin Durant. That’s how big of a leap it was. How big of a jump? Now, here’s the thing. This recent collective bargaining agreement, the owners got their lick back, right? You going to expose me uh and keep me from cheating y’all? Well, I’m going to get mine’s back. That’s what they did. And so, what they did was they came up uh with a new CBA uh that essentially put what they consider for the first time in the NBA a hard salary cap. meaning they put in this proverbial second apron. Second apron uh penalizes teams for going over the cap and staying over the cap and being over the cap to a certain point. Anything beyond that now hits the second apron, right? So they have a salary cap. They also have a salary floor and then they have a salary cap. Salary floor means you have to pay at least a certain amount uh to the players. You can’t just hoard all all the loot like Donald Sterling used to do and never try to win, right? You’re going to have to spend the money. But then they put a salary cap to say, “Yeah, but this is as far as you can go so that we have parody.” It’s [ __ ] but that’s what they call it, right? Because baseball, bunch of teams are winning. They don’t have a salary cap, right? Hockey, look at basketball, other sports, soccer around the globe, they don’t have salary caps. Ronaldo and them, Messi and them, they’re making $500,000 a year. Brun can only get 50, right? Kind of crazy, right? All that’s to say is they’re making mad loop. Salad cap was a way for them to make even more. The second apron was an additional cap for those team owners who are more dedicated to winning than they were operating within this prescribed uh cap zone. Um they were just like, “Fuck it. We going we going to go for it. We going to go for all of it.” New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers, teams that had a bigger market but also were more known for winning, had a true investment to continue to win. And so what they did in order to mitigate that is to put in the second apron. What the second apron has done is it has forced teams that may have wanted to invest more to stop investing. Plain and simple. Which means that there are a lot of contracts that were given out under the previous regime under the previous collective bargaining agreement that would no longer fit this current collective bargaining agreement. terms of uh constructing a team to try to win a championship. So in other words, there are guys who are making 50 something million dollars a year who under this new collective bargaining agreement may only be getting 30 to 40. Guys like Devin Booker, guys like Carl Anthony Towns, right? Guys who are not they can be the best player on the championship team. guys, guys who are not I can go toe-to-toe with the best of the league and carry a team in the playoffs. Guys who might be all-star level but may not always make the all-star game because you’re not him. You’re not Anthony Edwards. You’re not Luca. You’re not LeBron. You’re not Donovan Mitchell. You’re not these dudes that are undisputed one of them. One of the few. And so those contracts linger out there. Teams are kind of desperate to get out from under them and they can’t wait. Minnesota couldn’t wait to deal Carl Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks. They said, “You’re going all in? Great. Give us some assets.” They didn’t even need a bunch of first round picks because if we’re honest and and let me get to this. I’m explaining the collective bargaining agreement. Then I’m going to get to the draft as well and the value of picks. They recognize that it’s better to have flexibility long term under this new collective bargaining agreement than to go all in and be high above the salary cap paying that second apron additional tax on the salaries that you’re giving out. Especially if you can’t see yourself winning in the short term. What’s good, Mike? The cap might be favoring the smaller market teams, though they’re not. They’re not. They’re not. What’s good, Doug? Yeah, glad you caught me, too, man. Smash the like button, y’all. I definitely appreciate it. Um, but let me explain why it doesn’t help out small market teams because small market teams have always been in the situation where you have to build from the bottom up. You have to have a certain outlook in terms of how you are going to invest in your roster and build your roster. There’s certain uh uh uh there’s certain uh things implemented in the collective bargain agreement that already incentivizes teams to reinvest in the guys that they’ve drafted because fans become attached to them. And so you have early bird rights, things of that nature. You have you have the ability to resign guys who are restricted free agents um going above the percentage of the cap that you’re allowed to give them u based upon what your salary cap situation is like. So, in other words, you can outbid other teams to keep your guys. So, you’re already given incentives. You’re already given advantages. However, the limited salary cap, what that also does is it prevents you from retaining that second and third guy. Let’s say you’re a team like Oklahoma City and let’s say you’re looking at you need to resign Chad Homegrid and Jaylen Williams Jub and you’re already giving a supermax to SGA. But now you have to start thinking about you got two other guys who might end up deserving a supermax. Can you afford them? Can you afford them? And under this new collective bargaining agreement, you probably can only afford to give one a supermax, one additional to the one you’re already giving out. Which means that if you have a great number three, you probably can’t keep him under this new collective bargaining agreement. Now, that’s going to hurt a lot of teams. That’s going to hurt them a lot because they may not have an ownership group or a single owner family, what or what have you, who is willing to pay that tax, especially if they’re not winning championships. So, the collective bargain agreement, this new one with that second apron, hurts small market teams because it limits their ability to truly retain talent. Not the primary guy, maybe not even the secondary guy, but that third guy. Let’s say you drafted extremely well and that third best guy like Oklahoma City’s position, um, like a Cadet Homegrren or Jay Dub. If all three along with SGAA are worth super max, you can’t give all three a supermax. You probably can’t even afford to give all three of them a max contract. And so you end up limited in your flexibility as well. What’s good, King of Judah? Uh it’d be hard to catch you live. Um it might be the difference of the time zone. Yeah, man. I usually get in um on the mornings in the mornings, sometimes in the evenings. It’s random. It’s random, but I definitely appreciate all the love and support. Smash the like button for me, y’all. Definitely appreciate it. Helps the channel. Um, glad you were able to catch me. If you watch my videos to the end, I usually tell you to put a certain icon if you comment on the video, and I’ll go back and look for that icon, and I’ll make sure to respond to you. Um, if you comment, if you missed the live, Doug McMenan, um, have to get my two cents in, even though you shot me down a few weeks back. What’s good? I I believe if the Pistons took Tennessee’s uh masak in the second round, problems like Brunson would be minimized. If I’m honest with you, bro, I think Jayden Ivy’s return minimizes Jaylen Brunson’s impact already. Imagine if you have a 65, uber athletic, physical, strong, 69 wingspan, quick twitch, lead guard to be your point of attack. And then you have Assar Thompson and Kate Cunningham as your additional wings. Brunson does not get off. Brunson is in hell. That type of athleticism and length on the perimeter and size would completely nullify a lot of what Brunson does. Now Brunson’s going to be Brunson. I think he’s he’s a dynamic player. He’s he’s he’s a fantastic player. He’s an all-star allNBA. He’s a leader. He’s a winner. He was a flopper, too, but he seemed to correct that after the first couple games. Um I don’t think he’s going, you know, completely neutralize him, but I think Ivy’s return alone is going to create major problems, major problems for them. Mike, um I’m not saying you’re wrong, but the Yankees, Red Sox, and now the Dodgers have spent their way to the World Series. That’s very true. And look at teams who have won the World Series over the past 10 years. Plenty of small market teams. Plenty. It’s not about how much you spend. It’s how you spend and where you spend with a clear outlook and also a whole lot of luck when it comes to injuries, when it comes to the right matchups, lineups, right styles, make fights, the right opponents leading your way to a championship. That’s how the Warriors got their first championship. Bunch of injuries to everyone that they faced all the way through the championship. even when they got to the uh NBA finals. Cleveland was without uh Kevin Love and they were without Kyrie Irving after the first game, right? So, there’s a lot of luck. There’s a lot of luck as well. Um so, a lot of teams, a lot of smaller market teams have an opportunity to get there. You just have to be intentional. You have to be consistent. You have to be smart. And most owners in the NBA uh don’t operate smart. They operate basically like playing with a toy. They throw it around, fling it around, and fans are along for the ride. Um, King of Judah, do you think that uh Melo invitation to Kade is necessary? I say no. Melo hasn’t done anything in the NBA, two different positions. Um, so what uh can he help with outside of shooting? Melo can help with creating a a far more compact um offensive arsenal. One of the things that made Melo extremely effective is it didn’t take him much to get into high quality shots. It didn’t take he there wasn’t a lot of extra extra added motions to it. Um and I’m going to get into the draft in a little bit and the value of draft picks next. Uh but let me just say Carmelo Anthony, he is a master at getting into quality shots, high quality shots with very little effort. He’s going to get to his spot on the block. He’s going to face you up. He knows how to hold that pivot. He works that pivot. If you watch, he has like this pivot package where he uh gives you the jab, pull up, jab, jab, go, jab, go, jab, cross, go, jab, cross, step back. Right? It’s very compact. It’s easy for him to get into his shot. As we saw in this playoff series, Cade works a lot to get to his shot. a lot. I mean, incredibly hard to get to his shots. It didn’t matter who you put on Melo. Melo got to his shot extremely well. If he was trying to get all the way to the rim, if he was trying to get a pull up, if he was trying to get to a certain spot on the floor, to the elbow, to the block, he got there. One dribble, two at the most. It takes Cade sometimes three, four, five, six dribbles to get to his spots. Melo can definitely help with that. Um, Ray Floyd, can we afford Ivy and Duran? I really hope so. Uh, facts. Ivy would have eight, especially in transition. And Ivy draws fouls. That and of itself could have won us a series. Facts. Now, let me get into I want to get into the draft and then I’m going to get into where I want to steer this when it comes to this roster formation and moving forward. Um, this draft uh is is a solid draft. There’s there’s there’s always talent there. There’s always talent in the draft. The value of the draft, depending upon where you are in your franchise, is you can bring in young talent that you can build into your future. But here’s the thing to keep in mind is timelines. Not everybody uh is on the same timeline. If you’re in the playoffs, you’re not in the timeline to develop someone who might take two, three, four, five years, right? Which is usually like guys like who are underdeveloped big men, um, guys who are very athletic but maybe very skinny, don’t have definable skills, um, and are still developing physically and in their understanding of the game. If you’re in the playoffs, you don’t have time for those guys. If you’re in the playoffs, you need guys who are ready to come in and contribute now. They need to have an elite skill that can transfer immediately into the NBA that you can plug in immediately. Even if it’s in a bench role, which is highly valuable. It’s highly valuable. If you have a rookie in a bench role in the playoffs who is contributing, that saves you a lot of money. We just talked about the salary cap and the new CBA in that second apron. So, that’s a high value player. However, most of those guys who are young with definable skill to contribute at a high level are selected in the lottery. So, if you’re in the playoffs, you’re not going to get that guy. So, most of the time, you’re going to end up with someone like an older player who’s ready to contribute now, but maybe doesn’t have the same ceiling, meaning top potential to either be a long-term starter or to be um let’s say even a franchise player. You’re not going to get those guys generally after the lottery into the second round. Now, you can find a Nicola Joic every once in a while. You can find a Giannis. You can find, you know, a a guy that maybe was overlooked, people thought too much about, or just kind of popped without um people seeing them coming. And so those guys can be found. And and if you find them, kudos to you. However, most of the time you’re going to find someone who is able to be like a uh Tai Jerome, Payton Pritchard, even though Pton Pritchard got drafted. Well, I think he did stay for a few years at Oregon. Um, but it’s to say generally those guys are who you find, highlevel contributors, right? TJ McConnell’s um those guys. Um, and they’re extremely important. So, when you think about the draft, not having a first round pick is okay. Um, because you’re not in the timeline to develop guys. Who we draft in the second round is also going to matter because like I said, having someone who can contribute in the playoffs, who’s ready to contribute in the playoffs, and is under a rookie deal, that’s extremely valuable. Now, the value of ongoing picks. If you can trade for somebody like a Jabari Smith Jr. who is young, who fits your team’s timeline and fills a position of need moving forward in the playoffs, those guys, if you’re a playoff team, are worth multiple first round picks, even if they’re not all stars or all NBA performers, because your first round picks don’t have as much value. Many times, you’re drafting late in the first round. Anyhow, because you’re in the playoffs, it’s not necessarily going to benefit you as much as it would, let’s say, a lottery team who’s getting somebody with a higher ceiling. So, if they can go out and get a Jabari Smith Jr., I would match up contracts. I would go with Fonteo, maybe sign a trade one of their shooters like Malik Beasley or Tim Hardway Jr. Um, and then throw in, let’s say, one to two first round picks to go get Jabari Smith Jr., I would totally do that. I don’t know if I would give up Tobias Harris. I don’t know if I would give up Tobias Harris. Tobias Harris is a He is the not just the consmate veteran. He is the Derek Fischer to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Uh Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, um and James Harden. He’s that guy that makes everything else run smoothly. Run smoothly. He’s that leadership. He’s that direction. He’s the guy who keeps things balanced and moving forward. He knows what to do at the right time. He always is a positive force on the court. I don’t know if I’d be quick to give him up. Even for a Jabari Smith Jr., all that’s to say is um those first round picks, if I’m the Pistons, I’d be willing to move off from them to bring in the right player. The right player. And I already described Devin Booker is not the right player because of the contracts situation alone. His contract is bloated under this new CBA. He’s going to be making more than Kade Cunningham. It’s not worth it for us. Their their skill their skill sets also overlap and are redundant and they would take the ball out of each other’s hands in positions that you wouldn’t want to. But more than anything, the contract. Let me get to some of these comments and then I want to get into this roster. Uh oh, y’all got mad comments today. All right, I might not be able to grab all these comments. Uh let me see if if y’all give me a super chat, I’ll for sure grab your comment. But yeah. All right. Yeah, there’s a whole lot of great conversation in here. Uh Sports Times, it’s good to see you, man. The Galant, what’s good? Salute, sir. Pisses fan, what’s good with you, man. Um, let let me just say this. When I look at this roster, and I said this even last season, I said everything this team needs to turn things around is already on the roster. The guys who are going to be a part of moving this team forward to become a championship team is already on this roster. Jaden Ivy, Kade Cunningham, Sarah Thompson, Jaylen Duran. I liked Marcus Sasser as well. I still do. And then you have Ron Holland, Isaiah Stewart. I even like Bobby Clinton. But if I’m honest with you, when it comes to Bobby Clintman, I am still trying to figure out if he is a is he a 34 or a 43. And I want to explain that a 34 is somebody like Tari E. A 43 is somebody like Jabari Smith Jr. A 34 is someone like Assara Thompson. A 4-3 is someone like Tobias Harris. The major difference is are you naturally perimeter oriented who has the ability to also defend at the power forward position or are you a 4-3 someone who is generally best on the interior and then goes to the perimeter. Doug McMen, what’s good man? Hey, please define for folks how valuable Ivy can be lifting this team to the next level to the level we need. Man, that is a fantastic question. Fantastic question. Let me let me be 100% clear with y’all. Uh Jaden Ivy, and I said this at the very beginning, has the potential to be to Kade Cunningham what Russell Westbrook was to Kevin Durant. A yin and yang, a fire and ice. On some nights, on some nights, Jaden Ivy next season will look like the best player on the court. I would say at least 25 to 30% of the time next season, Jaden Ivy will look like the best player on the court, especially as the season goes on. I will say that again. At least about 25 to 30% of the time next season, Jaden Ivy will look like the best player on the court for the Detroit Pistons. He is not a number two. He is 1B. Do we do we understand Kate Cunningham is probably more talented in terms of his feel for the game? um is he has a more diverse skill set. He impacts the game uh in greater ways, in more ways. In scoring, I think that they’re very close. In gravity, they’re very close. Gravity meaning uh drawing the focus of the defense and Cade is also a better rebounder and facilitator and probably a better defender at this point. However, Jaden Ivy will look like the best player on the court in at least 25 to 30% of the games next season. That was a great question about Jaden Ivy. Um, his value, his value alone, I’m I’m going be honest with you. From this point forward, let me be 100% clear. From this point forward, having one of the two, Jaden Ivy or Kade Cunningham on the court, let’s say the other one is out injured, knock on wood, with at least one of those two, they will be an over 40 win team every year. Let me be clear about that. The Detroit Pistons will win over 40 plus games in a season with at least having either Ivy or Kate Cunningham on the roster. If at least one of them are healthy, this is a 40- win team with everyone else healthy. If you get decimated by injuries, there’s nothing you can do. It doesn’t matter who you have. But with one of those guys, that means you have two superstars, two star to superstar level players. With both of those guys, with both of those guys, you have a 50 plus win team. You have a top three seated team with both of those guys healthy. Let me be clear about that. With Ivy and Cade, the Detroit Pistons are a top three seed in the Eastern Conference, 50 plus win team. That’s how good both of them are going to be together. You heard it first here. I’ve been saying it since last season. That’s how good they are. I do not think Ivy will get Jaylen Green money. His injury hurt him big time. Big time. Hurt him tremendously. And the thing is, uh, Houston does not have someone who’s better than him yet. So, he got something closer to what Kade is getting. Even though he’s not Cade, but if you don’t have a Cade, you have to keep the guy who’s close to Kade. You got to pay him. That’s why Jaylen Green got that money. Ivy will not get anywhere close to uh Jaylen Green’s money. He hasn’t he hasn’t been he hasn’t had the opportunity to perform at that level to demand that. Um Oh, you feel bad for Jaylen Green? Yeah. I mean, he’s been in a lot of slander. Um he’s from NorCal where I’m in. Uh I’m in the Bay, but he’s he’s from the Central Valley, like 45 minutes from here, 30 minutes from here. Um I feel bad for for all the slander. I I I felt bad for how they developed him. They should have kept John Wall around to teach him the ropes of how to win in the NBA. So, he’s he’s delayed in his development even though his talent has developed. So, he’s not as consistent when it comes to winning situations. But, I think he’s going to continue to get better. He’s a hard worker. He’s got a great work ethic um and good head on his shoulders. Al say, these Detroit Pistons are in for a bright future, which brings me to this roster formation. They do not need to in any way, shape, or form force the issue with this roster. They do not need to force the issue. What they need to do is double down on the roster. I think right now they should be able to sign, resign, extend the u current contracts of Jayen Ivy and Jaylen Duran for under2 million a year each. Neither has proven to be valued over that considering their production and their health. Ivy would have been close. If he had played this full season, I think he would have been close to demanding 30 plus million, close to that Jaylen Green contract money, but he didn’t. He didn’t. Duran should be just around 20 million. I believe so as well. His underperformance, and I won’t call it underperformance because I have a different bar for him. I’ve seen his flashes. I’ve seen his potential. Jaylen Duran can be Damonte Sabonis. Jaylen Duran can be Alper and Shenu. He’s still only 21 years old. And he has not shown up consistently as that level of player. Game six was the first time we saw that guy. 20 plus points, over 10 rebounds, block shots. Yes, Ivy will definitely overperform his contract and so will Jaylen Duran. And that is why they need to reinvest in this roster. In this roster immediately, the moment that they have the ability, they need to be on the phone with Jaylen Duran and Jaden Ivy’s people. Say, “Let’s get this done.” Hey, Jaylen Durren, you haven’t been the epitome of health. You did a great job this season staying healthy, but in the past, generally, you were getting injured. Let me look at his uh and pull it up. Jaylen Dur in the past, his previous seasons, he played 67 games, 61 games last year and then 78 this year. Has at no point averaged over 30 minutes per game. Last year was the closest at 29. This year was only 26. So generally he misses close to 20 games a year. I would be in his ear and say, “Look, why risk potentially getting hurt next year and not getting paid and hurting yourself?” Kind of like how Jaden Ivy got hurt this year, right? You can’t always foresee it. Lock in your money now, which is wise in the long term. Maybe build in some incentives. If you become an all-star or all NBA, you can get to different, you know, bonuses. If you average a double double, things that are within your control, make it lucrative for them. But otherwise, if I’m Detroit, I’m trying to get him for around 20 million a year, which is a good contract considering his production this season relative to what other guys are getting, right? He hasn’t quite quite reached the range of, let’s say, a Jared Allen. He hasn’t been that productive. He hasn’t been an all-star. So you look at somebody like Jared Allen who’s getting 20 million a year and was extended to get 28, 30, and 32, right? That extension came on the back end of making multiple all-star teams. So Jared Allen went from 20 million a year to then getting 28. I think Jaylen Dur is definitely a 20 million a year big man. And that’s a great deal for us. And over the course of his contract, I believe he will outperform it. I believe he will make all-star teams. I believe he will be one of the elite bigs in the Eastern Conference. Wouldn’t be shocked if he makes a jump next year and is right there with a Jared Allen. Is right there with a I’m not going to put him on Paulo’s level, but he’s, you know, a Chris Porzingis. Um, he’s not the scorer Carl Anthony Towns is in terms of shooting, but I think he’ll be more effective. Zubot. Zubot is also a good um outlook for him. Zubot is getting uh let me see. Um and once again y’all, if you want me to pay attention to your comment because there’s a whole bunch of comments in the chat. Uh send me a super chat. Um and I and I’ll stop and uh pivot. Uh but Ivaka Zubach, damn Zubach is getting 11 this year. 18, 19, and 20 over the next three years. Is Jayen Duran better than Zubach this year? No. No. What’s good, Doug? Big fan of yours. Um, you know that facts. Torian Prince is a free agent. Do you like him? Uh, over Tim Martway Jr. Also, my last take is to get a bench shot blocker uh to team with Stu. Thanks for your analysis, cuz you make sense. Yeah, appreciate you, man. Appreciate you, man. Appreciate all the love and support. Um, you know, I like Tory and Prince because he’s been on winning teams, Lakers, Milwaukee Bucks. He’s been on some good teams. And I also like the direction that Tory and Prince pushes us in, which is getting bigger on the perimeter. I don’t know if there are elite shot blockers or even good shot blockers available to either trade for or even to draft. there actually is a player in the draft that I want to point us to. Um, but I don’t think that that’s going to be available to us uh this off season. What I would say is that’s why I bring up Jabari Smith Jr. and Jabari Walker from Portland is you can find a forward, a power forward, one of those guys who can every once in a while switch over to the center position. They’re athletic. They’re extremely mobile. Um, versatile skill set. Maybe not an all-star, but when you plug them next to a star, they look great. Clink Capella is a free agent. I would not bring in Clink Capella. No. No. First of all, Clinkapella is not signing anywhere to be a third string center. Unless we’re planning to play Isaiah Stewart at the power forward. I would not expect Clinkapella to come in to be another Paul Reed. But I do think that you can bring in somebody like Jabari Walker, who’s also an unrestricted free agent from Portland. You should be able to get him for cheap. You just uh need to give him a guaranteed at least a three-year deal. I think he would more than be willing to come over for that. Smash the like button for me, y’all. Um Torian Prince, getting back to the super chat comment. Um Torian Prince gives you size on the perimeter at 67. He has good length. um he can contain even though he’s a bit older. He is a bit older. Uh he also can shoot the ball lights out. I prefer size on the perimeter for this team than trying to get size on the interior because I believe in Jaylen Durren. I even believe in Isaiah Stewart. And if that’s going to be your center rotation, that four spot is essential. that four spot you have to have mobility and size. You can’t have an undersized power forward. You can’t have a Draymond Green 66 guy, 67 guy. You need 69, 610, 611 at that power forward position long term, which is why I like Jabari Smith Jr., which is why I like Jabari Walker. It’s also why I’m still interested in Bobby Clinton. Smash that like button for me, y’all. It helps out the channel. Um, I really have a lot of love for Bobby Clement. I really want to see what he becomes. If you saw him in summer league, I think that that is real. I think what he did in summer league is real. I think with a full off season of health, working on his game, getting stronger, he’s only going to show you a better version of that. And that type of a power forward at 610 over seven foot wingspan. Yes, he gets distracted and lost on defense. He does gets caught staring at the ball, gets backed a lot. Um he’s not a necessarily a highlevel rebounder. He’ll get you four to six. He’s not necessarily a 8 to 12, but that’s okay because Duran and Stew are 8 to 12 type of centers. What they do need is his length, his shooting, his passing, his passing, and his ability to get out in transition. Isaiah Stewart and Jayen Durren are never going to be uh Derek Lively type of centers who just run up and down the court and can beat uh the defense down the court for uh threes. I mean, not not for threes, but for easy dunks. They’re never going to be that guy. They’re going to be trail bigs, which means you need the rest of your team to have speed to play with speed. Bobby Clement can play with speed. Bobby Clement can get out in transition. He can get out in transition and make a good pass, make a good decision. playing overseas I think really helped him playing in Australia. Um playing with seasoned veterans and having to play that international game coming from um Switzerland, right? Coming from uh international play as a young man, right? Those things helped his development of his basketball IQ. And I think next season he’ll have a chance to prove uh if he is our long-term power forward option which will be more valuable for us to find in him because the cost will also allow us to retain everyone else. And I’m going to wrap up this video in a little bit. So if you want to if you want me to comment on a chat shoot me a super chat so that I can uh pivot quickly. Otherwise we’re going to kind of wrap up. I may not get to everything in the chat. Y’all got a great conversation going on there. I love that. Um, and keep chopping it up there for sure. Bobby Clement is a great passer. He’s got a lot of glue guy skills, and that’s what I love about him. When when I talk about a glue guy is somebody who doesn’t necessarily demand a lot of touches. He doesn’t need to score a lot in order to make a major impact. Bobby Clintman on the floor demands defensive attention to the perimeter. You’re going to have to space out. You cannot have two bigs focused on collapsing on Cade. Ivy, Assar, or Jaylen Durren. That makes him the perfect glue guy. Jabari Smith Jr. can do that as well. He’ll just cost a lot more. He’ll cost a whole lot more. Um, one thing I love about uh what Troy Weaver and now Trean Langden have done through the draft is they’ve brought in highlevel talent. High level talent that could potentially be your future core. Make no mistake about it. The core of the Detroit Pistons is on par with anyone else, with any other team out there. This core is as talented as the Oklahoma City Thunder, as the Minnesota Timberwolves, as the uh shoot, Orlando Magic. They have as good a young core and future as anyone else. Cade Ivy, Assar Duran, Isaiah Stewart, Bobby Clintman, Ron Holland, but I didn’t even get a chance to really dive into as much, and then Marcus Sasser. The reason why I like Tory and Prince also for this team is because it allows Ron Holland to shift to the two. I would love to see him next season play as a backup offg guard, not because he’s a great shooter. I think he’ll he’ll he’ll shoot well enough. I think he’ll get to around league average 33 to 35%. He’s gonna he’s going to get close on more attempts, probably closer to three to five attempts next season. I think his three-point shot is going to come around, especially with uh Troy Vincent. Um the shooting coach that they brought in. I think he takes a jump as well. Uh okay, one last one. Doug, what’s good? Uh JB’s impact going ahead. Coach of the year. I think he is coach of the year. I don’t think he’ll win it. And I’m not mad at that because I feel like there’s like a curse on coach of the year candidates. They always get fired. But if he doesn’t win it this year, he’ll win it next year as they take a big jump hopefully. But let me say this about JB Bigger Staff and his ongoing impact. You cannot understate what it means to have buyin from your guys, from your core, from your talent. I mean, just think about the lack of buying that JB had from uh uh Donovan Mitchell last year. The lack of buying the Memphis Grizzlies coach had from the front office this year, right? The lack of buying Mike Woodson was able to get from his star player De’arren Fox, right? the lack of buyin uh of um or Mike Benhoer when it came to uh Bradley Beal, right? Not having buyin from your star players, from your core unit can be absolutely devastating to a coach. The fact that he has buyin tells me everything. Secondly, people have to remember coaches grow just like players. Coaches grow just like players. Now, some coaches who are kind of more long long in the tooth um who’ve been around for a long time sometimes have a hard time pivoting like a Tom Thibido. He’s always going to be a guy who overplays his starters. He’s always going to be a guy who leans towards defense over offense. He’s always going to be a guy who struggles with creating offensive schemes that truly maximize the talent on his roster. He’s always going to be that guy. He’s pretty much is who he is. But a younger coach like Emma Udoka, like um what’s his name in Boston? Uh like JB Bicker Staff, like uh Tyron Lou is an enigma. He’s probably he he’s by far the best coach in the NBA, but you see coaches who can’t pivot, like a Steve Kerr, right? Who can’t learn new uh skills. Um yeah, it’s I’m totally I love having you on here, Doug. Um, I’m I’m gonna be doing these videos. There’s a whole lot of topics I want to cover. Uh, JB Bigger Staf is a coach who can grow with this team. Undoubtedly, he can grow with this team. And many times I’ve had to give him the benefit of the doubt even when I don’t understand the move. A lot of people uh didn’t understand why he took out Assar Thompson and started doing offensive defensive substitutions with him in the last four minutes of the game. I was because I was watching the game after it. that play. So, I saw all the comments, so I was looking for it because I watched the game multiple times before I even make a a video on it. Um, and what I noticed was Tim Hardway Jr. was contributing at a high level. He was knocking down shots. Um, he was making good decisions. He was rebounding. Um, and so he was playing well. So, the offensive defensive substitution, I think, for him, was trying to unlock Kate Cunningham, who was struggling in the fourth quarter. So, when you have your star player struggling, you’re trying to unlock him. even if it’s at the cost of the guy who’s probably been keeping you in the game. Now, that’s a hard decision to make. It is. But if you’re thinking, hey, you know what? I’m going to get him back in the next opportunity. I’m going to give him a quick rest, play this guy, and kind of work it off like that, I get it. You also had Dennis Schroeder out there who’ been giving you major minutes and was a huge contributor. And you’re probably betting Kate Cunningham makes those two left-hand layups in the fourth quarter. Jaylen Durren makes that lob, that little tip-in lob, right? Those six points alone, you win this game. You’re forcing game seven, right? You’re not you’re not foreseeing the turnovers. You’re not foreseeing some of these other factors. Um Assar Thompson was playing great defense and he was able to get him in there. You know, it’s easy in retrospect to be like, that’s a bad decision, but I’ i’ve shared with you guys before. I I used to coach, you know, for for about 15 plus years professionally. Um I got paid to coach, travel to Europe, uh with traveling teams, um college, you know, community college basketball, which is basically a bunch of division one players who don’t have grades. Um high school travel teams, all that stuff. What I’ll say is there’s a whole lot more that goes into making a decision than sometimes we often give coaches credit for. You know guys injury history. You know your guys when they are hurt and they’re trying to play through it. You know timing. Sometimes you overthink it. That’s true too. Sometimes you uh go a little bit too far and and you’re you go so far in the rabbit hole thinking about a situation that you forget the obvious stuff. That’s very true. Um but the reality is there’s a whole lot more that goes into it. So, it’s not as simple as good decision, bad decision. Um, I saw that comment about the inbounding. You know, you don’t you don’t bet that you’re going to have a hard time inbounding the ball. The reality is it’s a young team having to decide who’s going to inbound the ball. To me, I would have had Tobias Harris, but the problem is with Tobias Harris, he also brings Carl Anthony Towns, you know, um, and so you don’t want a sevenfooter on a 69 guy inbounding the ball. Kate Cunningham is your best passer. I get why you’re having him imbaling the ball, even if he is notorious for making bad decisions. Um, so that’s that’s a conundrum that is is hard to remedy. I think he can have better out-of-bound plays that can free guys up. Sure. You know, you look in the book of Doc Rivers and Tyron Lou and these veteran coaches, they are masters of the inbound plays. If they’re inbounding the ball, they’re not worried about turnovers. they’re they’re going to get a bucket almost every single time, right? That’s why I think this off seasonason, what’s going to be imperative to get back to Doug’s uh super chat comment um is they’re going to need to go and get themselves a veteran coach to get on the bench next to JB. I like Mike Brown who just left um uh uh Sacramento. Great on defense in terms of defensive X and O’s and schemes. did a great job with the Warriors in their championship days. Um, did a solid great job really turning around the Sacramento Kings. I think he would be great on the bench. Uh, Mike Bddenhoer h not as much. He is a veteran that’s out there. I like Sam Cassell, but you got to steal him away from the Clippers, which is going to be hard to do. He’s in a great situation there. Then you also got guys like um, you know, you got the other coaches that I mentioned, the one from Memphis. you might be able to bring him in. Uh, but that’s the guy who stole JB’s coaching job in Memphis. So, I don’t know if I’d bring him in. Um, but Luke Walton definitely needs to be upgraded. He’s not a good coach. He’s not. I saw him with the Golden State Warriors. Saw him with the Los Angeles Lakers. Not good at developing guys, not good at getting buy in or schemes. Doesn’t really bring the team together. That’s not necessarily the guy you want as your number two. Um, and we saw when JB would get tossed out of a game, Luke Walden was a dud. He he he didn’t do anything for them. He just rolled out the game plan. So, they need to upgrade that. But, yeah, I like Tory and Prince. I like going big on the perimeter, especially off the bench. Ron Holland at the two bring in or draft. And I’m going to get into the draft more later. We’re going to talk about who they could potentially select with that second round high second round pick. It’s a great position to pick. Um, but I’m excited about this team. I’m excited about their future, the prospects of what they can potentially do. I think they’re going to have a great off season. Expect the big jump for this team not to be in free agency, not to be in even the draft. It’s going to be in the internal development. Um, the summer league team, I expect them to be monsters. They should win uh the summer league championship for Las Vegas. Marcus Sasser, uh Ron Holland at the two, maybe even Assar Thompson at the three, um those guys are going to be showing off their shooting. Uh Bobby Clintman at the four, Tou Smith at the five. That lineup alone should be terrifying, folks. Um they should ball out. That’s the squad that I’m that I’m looking for. Uh, and even if Assar Thompson decides not to play, which I I don’t think he needs to. Ivy might play for one or two games, but I want to see Sasser. I want to see if he can turn into Dennis Schroeder. Can he become Dennis Schroeder for us? I want to see him dominate this off seasonason. I want to see him in pickup runs. I want to see him in the Rico Hines run. I want to see this roster. Matter of fact, I don’t even want this roster to be playing in the smaller summer leagues. Oh, Dennis. Ah, Dennis Jenkins, he he’s he’s not an NBA player, bro. He’s not an NBA player. He’s uh he’s a lead guard. He could be a good shot maker. I think if he goes overseas to Europe, he becomes like Mike James, potential MVP out there. He could be a monster out there. Um, what’s good sports times? Appreciate the super chat. Thanks for the live, man. These are fun. They are fun, bro. They are fun. Um, I don’t think Danny Shenis is an NBA player. He could be on our summer league squad, though. Uh, what was I saying? Um, yeah. Uh, oh yeah. Yeah. Can’t wait for Rico Hind, too. I want to see this young core that’s going to be in summer league. Sasser, Holland, Bobby Clintman, Tou Smith. Those four for sure. I want to see them in Rico Hines run. I want to see them in other spaces just as a unit building chemistry. I want to see Kade, Ivy, Assaar, and Duran running in Rico Hines run. Get you two units out there. Get out there and ball out. Build your chemistry and go forward uh as a team that knows who each other is out there. And then when the Las Vegas summer league come, make sure you’re out there supporting your guys. Get in workouts with them because they’re going to be a part of your core. Sasser, Holland, Bobby Clintman, Tollu Smith, and then have those guys um love that Kade IVSR during Rico Hines video facts. And then have those guys play in Vegas and ball out. That’s That’s what I want to see. That’s what I want to see. But hey, I gotta hop off. I got things to do today. Had a lot of fun with y’all. Appreciate all the love. Um, if you made it through to the end of the video and you want to leave a comment after it posts, put a little basketball icon. Um, and then put Detroit basketball. Any comment that’s posted on this video, uh, I will make sure to get back to and respond to. if you have a basketball and Detroit basketball uh listed at the front. With that, it’s your man 100 Grand Ross with the Rock Never Stops. Hope you enjoyed the video. Smash the like button for me. It helps out the channel. Hit subscribe and the bell for notifications. Share the video with your partners. Have your own little group chat conversation about it. We get at y’all next time. I’ll be posting at least uh two to three at least two to three live feeds a week. So, it’s great to see y’all. I’mma get at y’all. Peace.