Udonis Haslem says Duncan Robinson can FREE UP Cade Cunningham on the Pistons | NBA Today

Udonis Haslem says Duncan Robinson can FREE UP Cade Cunningham on the Pistons | NBA Today

Well, we’ll see if Mike Brown is ultimately the choice here. But the New York Knicks, we’re hearing getting closer to making that decision of who is their next head coach. Speaking of the East, let’s get to one of the teams that the Knicks knocked out here because after winning their first playoff game for the first time since 2008, the Detroit Pistons, they’re retooling a little bit. They added Caris Levert. They added Paul Reed, sharpshooter Duncan Robinson, UD’s familiar. They all joined the motorcade, who made the AllNBA third team this this season. Now, the Pistons, they were the best, I think, turnaround story in the NBA last year. They continue to lay a foundation around Kade Cunningham. They add some muchneeded shooting to the mix, as you can see with their additions here. Brian, Detroit became the first NBA team in all of league history to triple its win total. Do you think the Pistons will be better than they were last season?
I do. There’s a couple things they’ve got going for him. Number one, Kade Cunningham is still getting better. Absolutely. You say he made third team all NBA, he could make second or first in the future. Two, Jaden Ivy, who missed most of last season with injury. He was just getting going and starting to show his potential as as a high lottery pick. He will be back healthy. And number three, the teams in front of them, some of them unfortunately have had injuries. So, they finished with the six seed last year. The couple of teams in front of them, Indiana who was fourth, Boston who was second, unfortunately Milwaukee was fifth. All of those with the big injuries. There’s some some liquidity there where they can move up. Well, there’s one uh player, one acquisition that UD is incredibly uh excited for is the way that I’m going to say it. You know Duncan Robinson very very well. How do you see him improving this team?
I mean, I’m happy for Dunk. He’s a guy who’s ignitable, but the thing he’s going to do for them mostly is open up Kate Cunningham and other guys. The way defenses react to when Duncan steps on the basketball court, they face guard him. They don’t help side defense. I never understood why offensive shooters couldn’t play defense on another shooter. He’s literally doing the same thing you do, but shooters can’t guard shooters, sir. With Duncan Robinson being on the floor, it’s going to take so much pressure off Kate Cunningham and those other guys. It’s going to free those guys up. Once those guys get free, you’re going to watch Duncan Robinson start knocking down shots. Defense is something Dunk got to work on. He know that. Got to guard somebody Dunk. But offensively, it’s going to help them tremendously.
Well, you said open up open things up for for Cade and that’s ultimately legs what this is all about.
No doubt about it. Listen, they answered the question last year. A lot of teams are are bad, but you don’t know if you’ve got the guy to build everything around. He answered that last year. They have a star. Kate Cunningham is a star. He controls the action. He plays at his own pace. He can beat you physically up because of his size or he can take you outside, beat you that way. Now look, they answered some of the shooting a year ago and look at the difference it made. Remember two years ago they lost 30 games in a row. They go out in the offseason and what do they do? They bring in guys like Tim Hardaway. They bring in Tobias Harris. They bring in Malik Beasley. It completely changed the floor for Kate Cunningham. And now you go out and you add a Duncan Robinson to the mix as well. Kate Cunningham is the real deal. I don’t think anybody in this league is questioning that. Watch out for the Detroit Pistons. This is This has now become one of my favorite teams in the league to watch.
I agree.
We all wondered how they were going to recover from this Malik Beasley story. I mean, and and to me getting Duncan Robinson, he went to Michigan, guys, you know, and he he was this underdog, late bloomer. My favorite story from Duncan Robinson at Michigan. He drove a Jeep around campus and this guy drove an Uber. Like he signed the Jeep up and was an Uber driver. He has that underdog mentality and that’s where Duncan’s come from. You can’t get a better replacement.
He had the same Jeep. He had that same Jeep when he got paid. I
think Did he give you he ever give you an Uber ride?
No, but I totally get that damn Jeep out of here. He got paid.
Well, now he got paid. So maybe maybe there’s an upgrade there. But yeah, I agree. Detroit is going to be a team to watch this year. And that 30 game w losing that many games in a row, it doesn’t not everyone can just turn it around from there mentally. I remember talking to Kate about it on NBA today. The ability to be able to say this stinks and we want to do something about it. Because sometimes you start to go out on the floor and that’s what you expect. And this is a team that came together and was able to turn around and change their identity. And now they really have something to fight for in an Eastern conference that has so many question marks surrounding it. They’re going to be fun to watch this season. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

Udonis Haslem, Tim Legler, Brian Windhorst and Ramona Shelburne join me on NBA Today to react to the Detroit Pistons acquiring Duncan Robinson in a sign-and-trade with the Miami Heat.

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