Should The Detroit Pistons Trade For Jordan Poole? | Can Ron Holland And Ausar Thompson Start?

Should The Detroit Pistons Trade For Jordan Poole? | Can Ron Holland And Ausar Thompson Start?

should the Detroit Pistons have any interest in Washington Wizards guard Jordan Pool after it appears he will be on the trade market we’ll talk about that and break down why it could make some sense in today’s episode of Locked on Pistons podcast let’s go you are Locked on Pistons your daily Detroit Pistons podcast part of the Locked Onet your team every day what’s the deal welcome back to another episode of the Locked On Pistons podcast per usual I’m your host Cuckoo Hill you can find me over on Twitter Cookah Hill i want to thank you guys for making Lockdown Pistons your first listener every single day we’re free and available on all your podcast platforms if you haven’t already head to the YouTube channel at Lockdown Pistons hit that subscribe button or leave us a fivestar review on whatever podcast type you’re listening to this on this is another great way to support the podcast and today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time download the Game Time app create an account and use code locked in NBA for $20 off your first purchase head to the description down below for the substack and for the playback we’ve been watching some Tigers games over on the playback if you want to join us for some Tigers games we watched the last Finals game we’ll be watching the rest of the finals series as well over on Playback so if you want to watch the games together come join us over on Playback also Substack I got uh more reviews and film breakdowns coming to you guys they’ve been taking a lot longer as of late once the season ends I’ve been diving into a lot of films so it’s not been as quick as I maybe would like these to be getting out but they’re good quality i think you guys will really enjoy it but in today’s episode we’ll be discussing later on can Assar Thompson and Ron Holland potentially start for the Detroit Pistons as soon as next year now I also want to give my thoughts even later on further on to the podcast I should say about my overall thoughts heading into free agency and why I’m so interested to see what actually happens how they how the Pistons play out the draft and the week heading into the draft i’ll tell you guys what I mean by that coming up but this is trade season we are in the middle of trade season the finals are first of all I can’t believe the OKC Thunder are down 2-1 but um I still think they’re going to win in six either way my point is this time this is when you hear all the trade rumors going on for all the other teams that are no longer in the playoffs there are no longer that are not in the finals you’re going to hear all about this heading up to the NBA draft and Sean Sharenia has said this is maybe going to be the most hectic active offseason he can remember in the trade market and it’s going to be even more hectic than he’s ever remembered heading into the NBA draft and on NBA draft night so because of this you’re seeing a lot of players names float out there i’ve seen the Pistons attached to Sam Hower of the Boston Celtics i’ve seen the Pistons name now all of a sudden I’ve seen so many people talk about the Pistons and Kevin Durant Kevin O’Connor ESPN Fox Sports like I’m seeing all kinds of people talk about KD potentially going to the Pistons i’ve seen multiple trade scenarios where the Pistons are involved in going after somebody it feels like a lot of people believe the Pistons shouldn’t make a move in the market in the trade market to try to take this next step another player that rumors were coming out yesterday sounds like could be on the move is Jordan P and now I’ve got a bunch of question I’ve got a bunch of DMs hey C do you think the Pistons should go after Jordan P so we’ll talk about it today give a background on Jordan Pool he is in the middle of a 4-year contract he has two more years left he got this upcoming year left at $31.8 million and he has a year after that at $34 million and he will be an unrestricted free agent this upcoming season he turns 26 he’s currently 25 but will turn 26 going into this season he’s a two-year contract basically left then you have to pay him that is 20% of the cap each of the next two years he will be 20% of the cap if you were to trade for him i want to start with the positives about Jordan Pool and why I believe he is a pretty good basketball player there’s a lot of uh there there was a lot of you know after what happened with Draymond and and him being traded to Washington and all that he did he got a really bad rep and he he really got you know bad PR people really just started to decided he just wasn’t good anymore and his first year in Washington did not help him he got labeled an unserious player which he probably was um and just didn’t have a good year in Washington his first year he shot 41% from the field 32% from deep didn’t have a good year it was his worst season since the second season in Golden State back in 2020 2021 however I don’t feel like people really understand that he had a really good year this past year for Washington talking with some Oh hold on we just got Sham’s update you know I’ll play it live for you guys right here actually you know I don’t know if I actually can due to copyright can I play it live i I’ll listen to it later seams has an update for Katie it’s like 50 seconds long it just came out anyways my point is um Jordan Pull had a really good year this past year and talking with people around Washington talking to some people that cover Washington I’ve been told that his leadership stepped up another level he became more mature this past year and people really liked him in the locker room and in the organization this past year he averaged 20 points a game 43% from the field 38% from deep on 9.1 attempts people are going to look I’ve seen already some people look at the field goal percentage say oh 43% what’s up with that more than 50% of his shots are from three that’s why you should no longer look at field goal percentage you should be looking at true shooting percentage which measures efficiency and measures out that kind of stuff which this past year he had a 59.1 true shooting percentage it’s the highest since the first year or the year they won the championship in Golden State for of the past five years Jordan Pool has been at a 58 59.8 8 58 59.1 true shooting percentage his only down year was the first year in Washington so it seems like that year in Washington was the outlier in these years and what we saw from him last year is more in line with the player he is last year he was one of the best pull-up shooters in the entire NBA of any player that take at least two three point or two pull-up three-pointers a game he shot 39.1% he finished one two three four fifth in the NBA if you go players to take at least three pull-ups three pull-up threes a game he’s third in the NBA he took 5.03s a game pull up threes a game the only people that come close to that type of value is Anthony Edwards and Tyresese Hallebert you got Steph Luca and Dame those are the names he’s around and he shot higher percents than all of them this past year he was one of the very best pull-up shooters in the entire NBA this past year and when you consider volume he he has a strong argument for number one he was extremely efficient this past year he was lethal as an outside shooter he was lethal as a pull-up shooter and this past year he shot 51% on twos which was better than he was this past year uh or the year before uh with the the Washington Wizards so now after describing the type of player or going into how he played really well this past year for Washington he’s a much better player than maybe some casuals think he is because of the PR and the image that was built around him because of what happened with Draymond now we actually answer the question should the Detroit Pistons sign or go after Jordan P i probably don’t believe so reason number one uh defense he’s not a very good defender he’s not a good defender at all um he’s going to be a weak he’s going to be a weak defender at all stages of his career and I don’t know if the Pistons want to trade for something like that do I think he’s better than Jane Ivy right now i do but he’s also a few years older and he’s also you could you could convince yourself that Jane Ivy could become better defensively there’s no convincing you can do with Jordan Pool he is what he is defensively he’s not going to get much better that is what it is and the other aspect of this is that you probably would have to trade Ivy for Jordan P and I don’t think the Pistons would want to do that also you’d have to pro you’d want to come to an extension I believe for Jordan Pool if you trade for him you don’t want to have a guy that only has one year left on his contract if you’re going to trade an asset like that so you probably would want to come to an extension and do the Pistons feel comfortable extending a guy like Jordan Pool not sure about that so I I don’t know if you I wouldn’t be going after Jordan Pool um I’m ears are open really for me if I was the GM I would have my ears open for any trade out there i I wouldn’t you know say no to anything i would call talk have conversations and if it’s something I like then we would engage i’m not just hanging up the phone on everybody um but while I think Jordan P’s a very underrated player at this point now um because he’s in Washington and because of everything we talked about earlier and while I think he’s a really good basketball player I’m not sure if he really is the the person the Pistons should go after do I think he fit fits next to Cade i do i think the Pistons desperately need a guy that has some kind of uh some some kind of shot creation which Jordan Pool does some isolation ability which Jordan Pool does pull-up shooting which J uh Jordan Pool does some halfcourt scoring which Jordan Pool does i do think he fits next to K and he can play off of him and catch and shoot so I do think he fits well with Cade but I don’t know if the Pistons really want to give up an asset like Jane Ivy for him i don’t think I don’t know if that would be the smartest thing in the world also don’t know if they want to extend him after they trade for him and also defensively if because of how bad he is defensively some teams may just be completely out on him and say “We just can’t build a winning team with him on the squad because he’s just not ever going to be a good defender.” So let me know comment section down below or over on Twitter Cookahill would you guys be interested in Jordan P do you think the Pistons should be interested in going after him after a pretty good year in Washington again let me know comment section down below or over on Twitter Cookahill coming up should the Detroit Pistons consider starting Ron Ansar Thompson as soon as next year we’ll talk about that coming up this episode is brought to you by Game Time there’s nothing like the NBA playoffs nothing like the NBA Finals the intensity the buzzer beaters the 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again create an account and redeem code LLC keba for $20 off download the Game Time app today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed with Game Time so I want to thank you guys again make locked on Pistons your first listen of every single day we are free and available on all your podcast platforms if you haven’t already head to the YouTube channel at Lockdown Pistons hit that subscribe button or leave us a fivestar review on whatever podcast platform you’re listening to us on that’s another great way to support the podcast later on we will be discussing my thoughts heading into free agency my thoughts heading into the draft and why this is a really interesting time for the Detroit Pistons i’ll explain what I mean later make sure you guys check out the description down below for the substack and for the playback um but let’s go ahead and get into this segment so Assar Thompson and Ron Holland is it possible that these guys could start together as soon as next year the reason why I bring this up as a topic the reason why I want to talk about this at least a little bit is I feel like if it’s not as soon as next year I feel like that is the vision of this front office and that is the vision of this team moving forward i think in a few years maybe not and we’ll talk about maybe it could happen next year but I do think at some point within the next three to four years their plan is Ron Highland and Assar Thompson will be starting next to each other one of them develops a three-point shot and with their defense and their size and their athleticism on the wings that’s what they want as their starting guys on their starting wings moving forward i think that is the plan can they play as soon as next year though well we got a a decent small sample size with both of them on the floor this past year and with in the small sample size it actually was pretty impressive in 148 minutes not again very small sample size for an entire entire season not not very very much sample but in that limited sample 14.23 23 net rating offensive rating of 115.1 defensive rating of 100.9 obviously everyone expected their defense to be amazing if you have both of those guys on the floor and it absolutely was it dominated they just suffocated people i can’t imagine let’s just remove offensively for the moment just let’s just remove the offensive concerns which we’ll get to defensively Ron Highland and Assar Thompson on the floor i’m not sure how many more teams how many teams there are a few like OKC has crazy like five good defenders at all times but I don’t know how many teams would have that type of length athleticism and physicality on the defensive end on the perimeter than the Pistons would with an Assar Thompson Ron Holland led wing tandem i think that would be lethal defensively the Detroit Pistons make their money in transition in fast break situations and I’m almost 100% sure I am willing to bet a large amount of money that the reason why the offensive rating is high with these two guys on the floor is because they’re forcing a ton of turnovers and they are getting out in transition a ton with both those guys on the floor they are running a lot they’re getting easy baskets they’re getting dunks they’re getting alioops uh they’re get even after maybe even made baskets they’re running defensive rebounds they’re running those two guys they they there’s not going to be many teams that can match up with their athleticism and deal with them in transition i mean when they’re both on the floor which is why I believe this this tandem was surprisingly good this past year in limited amount of sample now let’s get over to the offensive side of the floor this is this is kind of going to get into my the thoughts with the final segment that I have when it comes to free agency is that I do believe that this this tandem is what Traion believes in long term i believe that that’s what they plan on having their wing tandem be in a few years that’s that is the long-term vision and thinking about that remember we’ve talked about this a few times on the podcast recently why are the Pistons linked to so many stretch fives why do they keep getting linked to these stretch fives why does Mark Stein come out and say the Pistons have interest in trying to acquire a stretch five somehow whether it be a Miles Turner again that Mark Stein report it wasn’t like I said this at the time I wasn’t interested in the fact he said Miles Turner and Nazri whatever because he went on to say it’s going to be hard for them to even try to get those guys the part of that report that I was most interested in is when he said when they were talking about how the Pistons have interest in trying to get a stretch five simply that idea simply having that those thoughts simply wanting that is what I’m more uh interested in what what you know cons not concerns me interests me the most about that why would they want that why why is it that they you know they have Jaylen Duran who many people think played really well after January and had a good uh playoffs for a 21-year-old they have Isaiah Stewart who a lot of people believe is one of the best backup bigs in the entire NBA so if you have that why are they linked to stretch fives and you know after multiple episodes of trying to decide whether it’s just agents talking it up whether to believe it what does it mean i think one of the reasons why they could be interested in a stretch five is because they want to play Assar and Ron next year i think that could be a possibility now maybe this is all offseason fluff maybe this is all just random rumors maybe this is all just agents talking but if the Pistons are interested and actually have interest in acquiring stretch fives it could make sense that it’s because they want to play Ron and Assar together because offensively you cannot play Ron Sar and Jaylen Durren you have three non-shooters on the floor it’s just not going to happen it doesn’t matter how good defensively they are you cannot play all three of those guys together and think your half court offense is going to survive you are basic basically asking K Cunningham to make wine out of water it’s it’s going to be it’s going to be absolutely impossible for him to do anything he’s gonna be operating in a box the entire time but just like you can play Assar and Duran together you can get away with playing Assar and Ron together if you have a stretch five that’s spacing a big out to the perimeter you could get away with that and Ron they are expecting him to develop somewhat as a three-point shooter he’s much closer than Assar is so maybe Ron enters in this year with like a 32 33% three-point percentage which you would take to be honest for this year if you acquire stretch big now all of a sudden you can play your two hectic crazy defensive wings together you can now play your two um hyper athletic transition demons together and really just squeeze teams defensively and throw a different look at them on the offensive end of the floor you have Ron who’s a really good slasher within the half court you have Assar who’s a really good passer processor if he improves his handle going into the next year maybe he takes up some of that secondary creation that’s now where my mind is going my mind is now going that if the Pistons actually go and get a stretch five which we’ll talk about a little bit later uh in in the third segment if the Pistons actually do want to get one of those players I think it’s possible it’s because they want to play Assar and Ron together and know that they if they if they can if they want them to play together they have to have a legit stretch five not a guy that shoots two threes a game at the five not a guy that oh yeah every now and then he hits one a guy that has a legitimate floor spacer that has gravity that pulls guys out of the paint so you can play a guy two a twoman tandem like Assar and Ron together and could it happen next year to answer that question it all depends on if they actually get that get that center if they don’t it won’t be next year but I fully believe that Sar and Run will be starting together within the next three years and if they do get a stretch big it will happen next year i think it could happen next year i won’t say it will but I think it could happen next year so let me know comment section down below or over on Twitter Cuckoo Hill would you guys want to see Ron and Sar start next to each other do you guys think it’s it’s so enticing to where you would go out to get a stretch five just so you could make it happen where you guys stand with those two guys playing together at some point let me know comment section down below or over on Twitter Cuckoo yo coming up i have a lot of thoughts about the Pistons heading into this free agency heading into their draft that I’m really confused and interested about and we’re going to get some answers soon well I’ll tell you guys what I mean coming up 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outdoor selection that’s w afir.com wayfair every style every home at wayfair.com so I want to thank you guys again make locked on Pistons your first listen of every single day we are free and available on all your podcast platforms if you haven’t already head to the YouTube channel at Locked on Pistons hit that subscribe button or leave us a fivestar review on whatever podcast platform you’re listening to us on that’s another great way to support the podcast head to the description down below substack playback you know you guys know all that good stuff all right so I am I have so much interest in what’s going on going into the free agency going on at in free agency because and and what’s going on into the draft for the Pistons point of view simply because there’s a lot of conflicting reports and if certain reports are true it means some something else has to happen like for example the Pistons have been linked to Jake Laravia they’ve been linked recently to Santi Alama they’ve been le linked repeatedly to Nas Reed they’ve been linked to Miles Turner and all of those guys save maybe Jake Laravia all of those guys the Pistons simply won’t be able to get because they don’t have the cap space we’ve talked about this on the podcast before the Pistons are probably going to operate as an overthe cap team which means they have that $14 million exception they can use which they will use it seems like on Malik Beasley after that they don’t have cap space to go sign guys all they will have is that $5 million exception and the bird rights to resign Dennis Rutder and Tim Hardway Jr so they can’t get those guys but they just can’t unless they’re planning on doing something I I don’t want to say drastic but doing something that we’re not expecting that creates cap space or creates room for them to go get the guys they want unless they are actively considering doing a signin trade that involves sending out some guys that maybe we aren’t expecting again maybe all of it maybe all of this is just agent making up stuff and trying to start rumors maybe that is the case but the Pistons have been linked to way too many guys and to be honest if you go back and listen if you go back to listen to Trajan’s exit press uh press conference and then you go and read what Tom Gors had to say it’s not that it says two different things it just seems like Gors had a little bit more emphasis on a certain aspect traan said that he you know he doesn’t want to get too fast he doesn’t want you know do anything drastic but he always wants to take moves that will make the team better if there’s a move out there that will make this team better he will make it but he also wants to be patient make the right moves that’s what he basically said then Tom Gors came out and said is that they know that this year was a success they are very happy but they are not done and they will be very aggressive he used those those words they will be very aggressive in improving this team this off season to take another step moving forward so are they actually going to be you know uh just run it back are they actually just going to be super safe and not make many moves or is it possible that these reports are true and the Pistons are or have a level of interest in making moves that maybe free up cap space so they can go get these guys maybe they don’t bring back the guys that we think they’re bringing back maybe they don’t actually bring back Shruder maybe they don’t actually bring back THA maybe they use the MLE on someone else and not Malip Beasley maybe they make trades maybe they actually do trades too i feel like the Pistons are one of the teams this off seasonason that we truly don’t know what they’re going to do i feel like every other team or not every other but most teams you have an idea of what their plan is what they’re wanting to do how they will go about that plan etc etc the Pistons at this point as of June 12th I truly have no idea which route they’re going to go in and how they’re going to do it because if they bring back Malik Beasley the only way they can make any upgrades any upgrades is going to be in trades and if they actually aren’t interested in some of these guys that’s going to require giving up some guys that maybe we like maybe they do just run it back maybe all this was fluff and when when Tom Gore said “We’re going to be ultraaggressive in trying to make this team better moving forward.” Maybe that was just fan or you know what do they call it uh not coach speak but fan service lip service maybe that’s all it was to get fans you know feeling like oh yeah they’re you know we can believe in it blah blah not saying fans would be mad if they didn’t be aggressive but it sounds like maybe maybe that could just be lip service where he’s trying to hype everybody up or maybe he was telling the truth i truly don’t know i have no clue which way they’re going to go all I know is is that they’re linked to a bunch of guys in free agency in which they have no cap space so I don’t know how they’re going to be able to do it like they don’t have cap space to get these guys they keep getting linked to so either they actually have interest in these guys and there’s a plan to create this cap space that we don’t know about all of these every single report that comes out with the pistons linked to somebody is a lie and I find it hard to believe that every single report’s a lie also Mark Stein is very reputable he’s very credible when he says something it he he is a good source and he has said numerous times that the Pistons have interest in the stretch five and they have interest in improving the team this off seasonason so if he’s saying that I find it hard to believe that every report is a lie so I’m I’m super interested to see what actually happens especially once these NBA finals end because it sounds like as soon as the NBA finals end that’s when the dominoes are going to start falling and we’ll see if the Pistons get involved in anything so let me know comment section down below or over on Twitter Cookah Hill where do you guys stand with all this what do you guys think the Pistons are actually going to do do you believe any of the reports where are you guys standing with all this let me know comment section down below or over on Twitter Cuckoo Hill that’s all I’ve got for you guys today thank you guys make locked on Pistons your first list of every single day fun on all your podcast platforms hit that subscribe button to the YouTube channel leave us a fivestar review whatever podcast platform you’re listening to us on and until next time I’ll see you guys later stay safe out there until next time peace out everybody

Could Jordan Poole be Detroit-bound? Host Ku Khahil analyzes the potential trade, weighing Poole’s improved leadership against fit concerns. The discussion shifts to an intriguing prospect: Ausar Thompson and Ron Holland starting together. Ku explores their defensive impact and transition offense, predicting their future roles. The episode concludes with a deep dive into the Pistons’ offseason strategy, dissecting conflicting reports about free agency targets and owner Tom Gores’ aggressive stance on team improvement.

Tune in for expert insights on the Detroit Pistons’ roster moves and how they could reshape the team’s future in the NBA.

SUBSTACK: kukhahil.substack.com

PLAYBACK: playback.tv/watchpistons

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