Detroit Pistons BELIEVE in Jaden Ivey & Marcus Sasser, do you?!

Detroit Pistons BELIEVE in Jaden Ivey & Marcus Sasser, do you?!

Hey, we are back. It is wake up chat family. If you haven’t got an opportunity to smash that like button. Hey KG, you got you got the stick mic over there. Yeah, I do. We’re going to just satisfy that like button. Oh, we got to satisfy. We got to talk a little bit about the Pistons. We got a little bit of news about Dennis Shruder as well. Hey, so let’s satisfy that like button. We’ll talk about the Pistons a little bit. Talk about what else might be available to them in free agency. I really feel like they’re just going to run this thing back right now as is. So, let’s go and hear this, man. I got you. I I can’t hear the tunes right now, but you know, I I’ll try and do my best. Hey, hey, you know, we in there. You know, it’s a bit of builtup frustration this morning. And sometimes you just you need to release, man. So, just go ahead and hit that like button. You know, just slightly tap it. You know, if you got to go a little harder, that’s okay. We we invite all types of of love. So, equal love, man, amongst the managers and the players. I feel like this is like a civil war, man. Right. like the coaches on one side, the players on another. Golly. But shout out to the Detroit Pistons. Uh historic leap last year, but there’s a lot of fans who do not believe they’ve done enough to bolster um and to take advantage bolster uh effectively what they did last year, the success they’ve already had, the foundation that they’ve built that they’ve poured uh as well as being able to take advantage of a wide openen east is what some people believe. I don’t think that it’s as wide open as people think. I think that some of the other teams have done some interesting moves to try and pull themselves off of the all kind of just dysfunctional list. With the Pistons though, one of the things we want to see them do is try and bring back one of these vets from last year and right now they wound up with none of them. So continuity and consistency is going to have to come from this young core. But one interesting thing here as it relates to the Dennis Shruder news, we were hoping to be able to get him back as a backup ball handler via Cody Davis. Uh, shout out to our guy Cody Davis, friend of the show, part of the extended family of the Woo crew. He is the Detroit News Pistons beat writer. He says, uh, via Dennis Schroeder to be a starting point guard in the NBA, you can’t ask for more. In Sacramento, Dennis Schroeder cherishes what he couldn’t have in Detroit. So, I believe even more so than money, the sticking point for Shooter going to Sacramento was opportunity that they offered him. So, now we talking about pivot, pivot, pivot for one, Mr. Tan Langden. That’s where when I look at this off seasonason and what they’ve done, I’m like, you know what, he did quite well for himself. I don’t know if they knew Jenna Schroers going into the offseason looking for a starting job. I don’t know if they believe that cuz that man signed that contract before the Detroit Pistons or allegedly before the Pistons and and the and the Kings were even able to consummate that that sign and trade deal. So, as I’m looking at what the Pistons got available to them right now, uh, the off seasonason of pivot, that’s where I still continue to be firm about the B+ that I give them, and I am looking forward to the combination of Caris Levert and Jay Nivy being able to pick up the slack of guys like Dennis Shruder and Malik Beasley. Is it going to look exactly the same? No. But I am looking forward to this team actually being better as it relates to facilitation, ball rotation, hitting the cutters a little bit better, hitting your athletic players on the back on on the baseline, man. Uh, but I wanted to get your take on it as well, Flannel, KG, and the rest of the cast and the crew. Dennis Schroeder spurned Detroit effectively because he wanted to start. I’m not mad at him. Get your bag. Get your starting position. Uh, but I do believe that the Pistons would have been much better off if they could have brought one Mr. Dennis Shruder back. KG. Yeah. No, I I totally agree. And, you know, Shruder it it’s a loss. Like I think most the majority of Pistons fans did want to see Shruder back, but he was never going to get the opportunity that he was seeking here. So, I’m not necessarily mad with that. And then when you look at Shruder’s history, that’s kind of been a story on him. He’s always wanted these big opportunities. I’m not mad at him for it. Um, you know, as long as you can be able to leverage yourself and get the bag, that’s fine. But, um, I think the Pistons will be fine. And we don’t know what this iteration of the Pistons will be. We don’t know what they’ll look like. But I am confident that there is a chance they could possibly be better than the previous version because once again, you didn’t lose much. Yes, you did lose something, but I’m not worried as a fan. Uh, Tan Langden was able to pivot pretty well and was able to replace some of the things that we lost. Um, and we shouldn’t receive too much like fall off from that. Um, it’s all about what can they add at this point to maybe take this team to another level. But as of right now, as a fan, at least speaking from my perspective, I’m not I’m I’m fine. I’m I’m chilling, too, man. I’m fine. I’m chilling with it, too, because I’m looking forward to what the Pistons can do. Uh we going to continue to have this be a refrain next trade deadline to next off season. And I am wondering how much they’re able to play up the value now of these young players. There’s a lot of belief in Marcus Sasser, too. I want to be able to get your take on that one because right now, it looks like the Pistons are a team that’s going to have to get a lot more from within than actually going out there. So, they did like the nip and tuck similar we said of the Tigers. Um, but are we going to be able to get that same type of leap to the next level? The expectation is Detroit Pistons second round next year bare minimum. And Marcus Sasser is is a player that I I really like. Um, to me, he does deserve a role on this team. He comes in, he’s been a spark player for this Pistons team unequivocally. Um, but he has when when he’s out there, he’s a defensive liability at times. Um, and his ball handling abilities are still, you know, they can use some work. They can use some refinement. I don’t think he’s the worst ball handler and distributor in the world, but it’s definitely something that he can work on, but we all know the offense is there. His step back three is is pretty damn good uh for being a bench level player in the NBA. So, if they want to give Sasser a shot, I’m not mad at it, but they will have to find some ways to supplement that defensively because that will create a problem as we get deeper into the season and maybe rolling into playoff time. But the book is still out on him. He still has a lot to prove and I’m looking forward to him if he does get that opportunity to go out there and show what he can do. Yeah. And with Marcus Sasser, I I’m hoping that the lineup is one that puts him in a position to play to his strengths. I He doesn’t need the moonlight as a point guard. I believe that his best facilitation, it comes off of his ability to score, his ability to attract an extra defender because he can score at all three levels. Uh, but JB Smooth, you’re somebody who haven’t been able to get necessarily the voice of reason. Your take on this Detroit Pistons off season right now. I do believe that a lot of what the Pistons are going to do to are going to have to do and depend on to take that next step up. It’s about the internal growth. This is what the Pistons are saying. This whether we agree with how it went or not, this is the plan that they’re uh taking. How you feeling about the Pistons being able to uh reach those expectations? I mean, this is the plan that the Pistons are taking as you said as well, too. So, I think we still need to give Tjan just a little bit of time to get things straightened out and organized as well, too. I hate the fact that, you know, we couldn’t keep Dennis Schroer, but, you know, that’s fine, too. We will find something else as well. But, I think this still needs a little bit more time to develop, and obviously these young players that we have right now are going to grow. Kade is going to have to take step up and take that leader role and just, you know, kind of delegate everything out to everyone else on the team as well, too. But I still think that there’s a lot of potential in all the players that we have right now. It’s just finding a way to get everyone to jail properly into this next season. So give it a little bit of time. Give Trajan a little bit of leeway and look for another big. And by God, please get rid of Tobias Harris. You never going to live that one down. I will not. I see Weezy D3 in the chat, too. He says, “There you go, Kool-Aid. That’s the first good thing I heard you say about SAS.” No, bro. Look, I’ve been a Marcus Sasser fan for a long time, and I’m going to go back try and find the episode where the pre-draft press conference, we basically called the Marcus Sasser pick and was in the press conference, talked to uh Troy Weaver about it, and he was like, “Bro, like, y’all got my office bug?” Because we understood his trends from his previous days with OKC that he’s going to trade back up into this first round. And we had already seen him do that with the Pistons. What did he wind up doing? Trade it back up into the first round to take Marcus Sasser because of everything that he brings. The problem is the Pistons have been searching for a backup point guard and facilitator. That’s not necessarily SAS. SAS is a combo guard who will go out there and straight up light you up. But I believe when Sasser has to think too much or think beyond what his natural skill set is, that’s where I believe Sasser gets into some trouble. And when you already got a player like KG said defensively, they might try to pick on him, that means that he has to be that much more positively efficient on the offensive side of the ball. And that’s where I believe when he’s able to just kind of dribble, drive, uh, crisscross, hit that step back three, get to the rack, and then facilitate based off of that movement. That’s where I think that we see the best Marcus Sasser. We need to find out if he’s more than just an energy player. And I don’t mean that in a disrespectful way. A lot of teams need those type of players. But this is a bigger role for him. If he were to assume this role, this would be a big role for him. Uh, you know, essentially being that go-to distributor when Kad’s on the bench. So that that it’s just questions that need to be answered with him. But he does have a skill set that says he can succeed in this role. I just got to see it first. That’s all. And I see this 4112. He says Sasser and Clinton are the two guys who will need to make a stride uh and get into this rotation. And that’s interesting because Bobby Clement is a guy that Treasure Langden again unprovoked brought up and talked about at the uh Chaz Laneir introductory press conference a couple days ago. That’s a player that he has, you know, high hopes for. If we look at his game from summer league to what he’s done in the G-League, I I definitely expect this guy to enter the rotation at some point in time, but I don’t know how much we should be depending on a Bobby Clintman to be our backup for or stretching big man. I don’t even think that Bobby Clintman is necessarily going to be in the rotation to start off the season. I do believe that Marcus Sasser is going to get every opportunity to be that backup combo guard. Bobby Clintman is one that I don’t know is going to get that deal, but I see a D again. He says Clintman is a big man. It’s going to be interesting to see because they gave him the full four-year guarantee uh guaranteed deal for uh a second round pick. So, they definitely want to see this guy hit the rotation soon. And I see throwing three. Shout out Sasser Holland and Clinton. So, there’s a lot of people who do believe we’re going to get something some type of contribution, some type of step up from some of these guys uh off the bench. For me, I’m looking for the step up to come from the guys along the starting lineup. I don’t think that there’s any four that they could have gone out there and reasonably brought in that was going to make any of a bigger difference than what K Cunningham, Assar Thompson, and Jaylen Duran. Uh, and Jaden Ivy, whatever he can bring can do next season. And that’s where I’m excited about Jaden Ivy and Isaiah Stewart. KJ, I wanted to pick your brain about this. What are reasonable expectations for a guy like Jaden Ivy entering next season? Because for me personally, they’re saying he’s going to enter camp healthy. They said he’s going to he’s he’s going to have full camp to be able to get right for this Detroit Pistons season. You saw the changes that he made to his game and the improvements that he made last year. I’m expecting a Jaden Ivy that by trade by trade deadline by All-Star break, you’re seeing a guy who’s averaging back to at least that 174 and four. And I do expect the three-point the outside shooting efficiency to still be there. Yeah, I that’s the biggest question here because I I really feel like Jaden Ivy made so many improvements over this last season before he got hurt. Um, you know, we talked about the efficiency at the basket. He got better at that. His defense, it it took a step up. His three-point shot definitely took a step up and he he looked like he was getting more comfortable being that secondary ball handler, being able to handle the offense when Kade, you know, when they would stagger the minutes. and he was somebody that was able to go out there and actually win you a couple games uh over this this last season in the clutch. Um so I think he’s coming back and I love the Pistons decision to, you know, kind of, you know, make sure that he was healthy and not play him in the playoffs because honestly I felt like he maybe could have played in the playoffs, but they didn’t want to push it. So you’re giving him a whole off seasonason to get healthy, get right. He’s coming in with no restrictions. He can go out there and play the style of basketball that we know him to play. very athletic, very aggressive, likes to push the pace. And I think that fits well with, you know, the biggest question with with Ivy was can he fit with Kade for a long time. And when JB Bicker staff came in the door, he kind of put that question to rest. And in a small sample size last year, I would say you saw way more positive from the Cade and and Ivy pairing on the floor than you saw negative. So, I just think they need to keep feeding into that. um he was second on this team last year in scoring. So, I don’t expect that to go anywhere, I would hope that would go up. Um if he can push maybe toward getting toward 20 points a game, I think that’s that’s super beneficial to this Pistons team and to K Cunningham. Uh so, I I think that he can come in, he can hit the ground running, and at a bare minimum, he should be able to do what he did last year, be second on the team in scoring, provide uh you know, another presence beside uh besides Kate Cunningham. And in certain clutch situations, you might get the ball and you might be the one that’s that’s trying to close the game. So, I’m not mad at Ask the ACG in the chat. I want to know what the fans think to the chat family. What’s your guys’ confidence level in Jaden Ivy? Because, you know, we all talk about free agent pickup. Treasure Langden literally said that Jaden Ivy is the free agent pickup. I know that that wasn’t necessarily something that a lot of fans wanted to hear. There’s a lot of people believe that Jayen Ivy could be trade bait. Uh, but it seems like there’s a lot of belief in who he can be because you saw the improvements. You look at ACG. I Ivy should come back and he thinks he can put up 18 points, six assists, and 40% from behind the arc. Hey, we saw him take this leap last year. Yeah. And if you look at some of the stretches that he had before he got hurt, the assist numbers were actually starting to take a jump. Yeah. One of the most underrated aspects that I like about Ivy playing in the lineup with Cade is that for some reason they got a good chemistry on Cage’s relocation threes. So if Kade gets blitz at the top of the key, Jay Nivy gets the rock. Jay Nivy got really, really good and in control at diving downhill, driving into the paint, either finishing or what would he do sometimes, you know, you hit that little Steve Nash, you run right underneath the basket and you keep your dribble and he would find Cade for that three-pointer. If you look at Kad’s catch and shoot three-point numbers, you look at K’s three-point percentages, some of his best three-point stretches did come while playing with a Jaden Ivy. To me, that shows that Jay Ivy is continuing to learn. Jay is continuing to develop, and that’s where I’m hoping that the injury is something that could be completely behind him. Luckily, it was one of those situations where they stayed clean break. Yeah, they were able to go and get this thing fixed up similar to Aiden Hutcherson situation. And I do believe that we’re going to see Jayden Ivy who I’ve continued to put in a category above Jaylen Jordan and Assar Thompson. So if I believe we may see those guys step toward towards stardom, I definitely believe in Jaden Ivy the player and what he could be here in Detroit. Yeah, he’s right on the cusp. He’s right there. There’s not a lot of big changes that he needs to make. He just needs to continue doing what he’s doing. And I’m glad that you brought up uh Kade’s three-point, you know, being better with with Jaden Ivy on the floor because, you know, you spoke to this a lot last year and I got to give you credit. When Kade is able to move off ball, that’s a whole different like type of Kate Cunningham when he can just focus on affecting defenses, going out there and doing what you do best, using your body, getting to the paint, you know, stretching the floor as well. like there when Jay Nivy’s on the floor that relieves Kate Cunningham to just freely move around the basketball court and I think that you know when Jay Nivey comes back that that could play into maybe Kade’s three-point percentages being a little bit better but that is an area in which he needs to improve um if the Pistons want to take that next step. I I was just about to ask you what area of it do you want to see him take that leap in next year? And I do believe it’s in the facilitation even more to me I think it’s No, no, no. With J. Yeah, I was going to say with Ivy, I was going to say with Ivy, what do you want to see him improve on next year? Because we’re talking about a back court at one point in time that we thought had potential co-stars, not even Batman Robbins. There are some people now who they believe now that his injury has happened that he’s going to be a Robin. I I don’t I believe if his facilitation takes a step forward, that’s going to naturally feed into who he is as a player, as a scorer. I believe that if he can get those assists up a couple like we saw in the chat, there’s some people in the chat who are bullish on this thing. I think it was ACG. I do believe we see the best version of Jay Knight. If your starting two guard can go out there and become a facilitator as well, knowing the type of facilitator Cade is, and you uh line him up with a whole bunch of shooters on their team, that that’s only going to benefit the Pistons, man. So, I do agree that’s probably the biggest area he needs to work on is is being a better distributor of the basketball, especially with his driving ability and the way he can draw defenses in, getting to the basket practically at will. Um, it would behoove him to, yes, be a better distributor and be able to go out there and move the ball around. But I think I would like to see him score more as well, man. I think he just needs to continue to be aggressive when he gets his opportunities. I would even call, you know, certain sets around Jaden Ivy um, and his style of play. I would like to see that a lot more cuz I want to see him hit that 20 point a game threshold cuz I think he could get there. Oo, I think there What do you think them stats are from next year? Cuz I do believe that the bare minimum is right back to where he was. I would love to know that Jay Ivy is a 25 and five player. Oh, yeah. I don’t know. I don’t know if he there yet. 174 and four last year. Yeah. On high percentage, high volume from behind the arc. That’s a big jump though to 25. No, no. 20 points, five rebounds. Okay. Yeah. I’m like, what? 205? Let me Let me do that. I I wouldn’t I would say Hold on. KG parked up all he looked at me like be. Yeah. I’m like 25. Um, no. I I think he can get to I I don’t need to see a huge leap. Uh 19 and a half points a game and maybe get those assist numbers up a little bit. I think he’s fine. You said he was 17 four and four. Yeah. Yeah. Uh I would take 19 uh six and and five. I feel like he’s going to land like 196 and four. Okay. That’s what I I do. You you look at the opportunities he’s going to have next year though, they’re way up. We’re looking at Jay Ivy who if you’re talking about him being the secondary ball handler when Cage’s on the court as well as who do he say who did Traers say is going to be filling the Dennis Shruder role. Yeah, we were helping we were hoping he would say Sass and Levert and some of these other people he eventually said Levert but we played the clip on the show yesterday and for 30 seconds of the 48 for 35 of the 48 seconds it was all about Jayen Ivy. Yeah. you know, being this free agent pickup, being this great addition to the starting lineup, and being able to be the backup facilitator. Like, he’s going to be amazing because we we just came from a coach who didn’t know what to do with this man. No, that’s a fact. At all. Like, it literally buried him on the bench and now we got one at the very least that’s understanding how to put him in his best possible position to succeed. And I do believe that it helped Sasser. You look at Sasser down the stretch and the type of development, the developments that he took, the steps he took forward in the second half of the season when they were able to rest Cade more. Sasser took some some leaps forward too. Figure something out with these guards. It was a small sample size though and his role even still with him improving last year was to just come in and score. Just come in, provide a source of three-point scoring for us um when we need to rest some of our other bench guys and our starters. So, I just need to see him what he’s going to look like fulltime in that role. Um, but overall, I agree with everything that you’re saying and um I JB Bicker staff will have these guys in the best position. So, um and we know that that Ivy and K their minutes are going to need to be staggered at some points. So, with Jaden Ivy, you know, him bringing him up, he’s going to be huge for that second unit as well. So, like you said, if he can improve in that ball handling department, that not only bodess well for the starters, but also the bench because he’s going to be out there a lot of those minutes with the bench as well and and you know, being that primary facilitator for them. So, yeah. And I see some people in the chat as well, Maurice Shaw, he’s I don’t think that he’s too pleased with the offseason. He said, uh, I guess we’re going to give up four first and Holland next year to get a power forward. One of the cool things is this. the Pistons can just sit back and wait to see who is disgruntled, who needs to make a move, who needs to free themselves up, right? Who’s who’s approaching this apron and they need to be underneath it cuz they want to be able to approach this next draft season with complete flexibility. That’s where that trade exception that the Pistons have right now, the 14.2 $2 million trading sub. That’s where that comes in handy because now you can actually say, you know what, we’ll take the whole contract from you and it and we’ll just throw you some seconds or down the road first. It’s not going to take four first and any of our young players for the Pistons to be able to play that type of role in a transaction. And when you look at what like Trey Jen’s decision-m has been this off seasonason, you do kind of wonder if part of that is, okay, I want to save some money because with the second tax apron, it’s going to be real hard to have a lot of Max players on your team, man. And we got contracts still yet to come up. I mean, Jaden Ivy, Jaylen Durren, um Assar Thompson, these are players that we are going to have to figure out what we want to do with them in a short amount of time. We only got maybe another year at most um for a couple of those guys. So, with the second tax apron being what it is, it’s going to be harder to retain a lot of those max contracts. A lot of teams are only going to have one or two max players on their team total. Um, and the rest is going to be filled with role players or, you know, aging veterans and things of that nature. So, you wonder how much of that played into Tan’s decision-m because you do want to maybe hold on to some money um with these extensions possibly coming up. Hey, intern Haley’s holding things down in the sound booth. got sports knowledge, too. What you trying to drop on us about this Pistons? I just want to see if the group census is like, we’re sad that Schroeders’s not going to be with us, but it’s okay. Like, I feel like the Pistons should prioritize their minutes on Cunningham, Ivy, Sasser, and dare I say, Schroeder could get in the way of that rotation. Yeah. Um, and I feel like Schroeder is meant to be on a win now team and the Pistons are still developing their roster, you know, and I and you look at the contract that he got too. And what did uh Trejan say? We not necessarily trying to hamper anything. Exactly. That might be more true to what you’re saying there because you know Shooter wants to start. Shooter wants to bag. Shooter wanted the years. I’m sure that there was something the Pistons could have worked out but he would have been on the bench. Yeah, he’s not starting over Kade. He’s definitely not going to start over a Jaden Ivy who I know they got some high hopes for. JB Brickstaff came in and restored that order right away. We didn’t have to wait. There wasn’t no like, hey, is there any controversy here? Well, you know, everybody’s going to get a chance, but we really like Jayen Ivy. Like, that’s literally what he was like, there’s no controversy to start off this training camp like it was the prior one. But I I I think you’re right. There is still an aspect of team building. Traan’s telling us this. They didn’t make the splash. Yeah. And when you look at a Schroer, it’s like that is the type of piece that you’re like, yo, if we’re ready to go and contend right now, you probably bring him back for the continuity uh aspect. He is a vet. He’s played in those high pressure situations. Uh and you know what, if when you’re in that situation, space be darned as it relates to the development and the growth of those young players. But the Pistons find themselves in an area where I think Anton Ellie, she’s correct. they get the ability to build towards the next steps, but also make sure they got the space for these young players to develop and grow because they got to make a decision. You got Sasser, you have uh Ivy, and you have Duran who are all up for contracts this year. Not like it was last year where they could have extended them. I’m talking about if you don’t do something this year, they are gone. They’re going to walk for nothing. That’s a fact. Hey, that’s that’s where we’re at right now with these guys. And so, I do agree with her on that one. you want to know what you have. Sasser showed, I believe, enough in that sample size that they were probably comfortable letting Shooter walk. Yeah, they’ll probably give him at least Sasser the opportunity to prove himself um because of the improvements that he’s made. And no, Haley was cooking with that. Um it it’s just Shruder was such a great addition for this team midseason, but we all knew that it wasn’t a long-term piece. We all knew that he wasn’t going to be one of the building blocks um on a a you know, Eastern Conference contending Pistons team. Uh it’s just unfortunate. Maybe, you know, we could have had him for another couple years because it’s hard to find three and D guards in this league. And that’s something that Shruder provided in spades. He’s somebody that could go out there, get a bucket, but he can also play on the other end. So they they’re going to have to find a way to supplement that. Make no mistake like what Shruder brought to the table defensively that that changes everything. and that, you know, kind of went into decisions uh that Tan had to make um on the floor. But I think they’ll be able to recoup and play better defense as a team, but it’s still yet to be seen how bad that Shruder, you know, not resigning with the Pistons. How bad would that hurt the Pistons going into next year? Yeah, I see three and three. He believes, he says, “We are ready to contend with what we have right now, Kool-Aid.” And you know, Trejan Lightning said this, they are ready to compete. He does believe that this team as currently constructed is ready to compete. Absolutely. He believes that their contingent that’s going to be sped up by who? The young players just like last year. This was sped up because these guys took the next step. And then he said it changed things for us and now all of a sudden during this next season and I I really wanted them to be able to bring back at least one or two of those vets from last year. Obviously we know they had the deal on the table for Beasley. Tanjan spoke to that and he said that he was disappointed because they were excited to have Malik Beasley back. Absolutely. They were absolutely excited and I have him a part of what you got going on right now. more shooters the better. That’s where I’m at with this thing. But what do you think, man? Where do you see the Tigers of the Tigers, the Pistons at next year? Because I I’m looking at what some of these teams in the East have done, but I am going to be bullish and say this team, the expectation and where they’re going to land is hosting the playoff series last next year. Come on, man. I think the Pistons could be a top four seed, and I I have not relented from that. I thought they could have been a top four seed this past season. You know, [ __ ] just didn’t shake out at the end. But overall, and it’s funny cuz I was going to ask this in the Swisser brick yesterday. Do you think that the Pistons can make the second round as presently constructed? I do. And I I think that absolutely they can. Made it last year with injuries to Ivy and Stewart. Thank you. And no Beasley effectively. Thank you. And if if they can maintain health throughout the year, I really think that the addition of Duncan Robinson and Caris LeVert, it could look different than what this previous iteration of the Pistons looked like. And it could be for their benefit. Um because Duncan Robinson, somebody we know, he’s a movement shooter. Um he’s not somebody that’s going to take as many bold shots like Beasley would take when he was in rhythm. He gets him more in line with the offense. I was talking to Anson about it the other day and I do agree with that that sentiment. Levert Caris Levert can be a a solid um player offensively, of course, defensively. He gives you something. It’s not like he’s just going out there and he’s a turn style. He gives you something. But um I think he’s better than Simone Fonteio or he can even be a better scorer than a Dennis Shruder. So I I think the Pistons are are sitting in good position to still uh move out of the first round next year. I I still do. And I see you uh Pistons have a point guard in summer league from Tennessee. Yeah, it was the point guard that played with Chaz Laneir. He’s excited about the opportunity to play. That’s another thing. How what’s Chaz Laneir’s role on this thing cuz he is a specialist. I’m going to ask about him right after this though. One more from uh Dad with Tourette’s. I guess this last 30 minutes is up a play with y’all today. A 3 to1 assist to turnover ratio and shoots over league average from three. What’s everyone’s issue with Sasser as backup point guard getting 22 minutes? Given 22 minutes, I don’t have a problem with him playing. It’s just we I believe we saw the best of Sasser when we when he was actually out there with another point guard too. He was coming off the bench and playing minutes with Cade or playing minutes with a shrruder. That’s a fact. Playing minutes with Beasley and Tim Hardway Jr. too who are also guys who are going to facilitate to a degree. I So I want him playing the minutes. I think he’s earned that with the short uh you know stint that we saw the sample size post uh trade deadline. But I want to see Marcus Sasser play. I want to see him get the minutes and opportunity to prove he could be a good combo guard because like I said that 3 to1 assists it’s not because he’s out there hunting assists. It’s because he’s so dynamic of a guard and of a ball handler and he can get to his spots and he he has that secondary instinctual facilitation. That’s why I say don’t put him out there and just yeah it’s natural. Don’t put him out there and say now go run point guard. That’s a that’s a skill set. That’s what make Kunningham so special. But what makes Sasser special is the fact that he’ll do you from three and then guess what? He pump fcking. Y’all are all itchy. They’re not like that necessarily with Kade. So it’s like play him to his strengths. I would rather whoever the backup facilitator is hit Sasser. Sasser’s catch and shoot three-pointer is going to be better than a lot of other people on the team. That’s a fact. It just I don’t know. I like I like him in a role where his combo guard where facilitation or scoring is something that can be maximized. No, I I totally agree. That’s where Sasser has flourished. I would much rather have him in that role and not take full responsibility of being the distributor, you know, for that second unit. But if they decide that, I trust JB Bicker staff, too. He’s the one seeing him every day. 100%. And you brought Chaz Lir. And I’m going to group in another three-point shooter here cuz Big Dan Davis says, “What role does Duncan Robinson have on his Piston squad?” We’ve talked already about Caris Avert. So, I’m going to talk about Duncan Robinson. We can talk about Chazir as well. Duncan Robinson when we went and dug through the numbers, there were certain things that I knew about him that I was like, “Okay, we can benefit from this.” But when you looked at his freaking assist percentage compared to even the Malik Beasley’s, it’s like, you know what, we got a a player who I know is going to make the extra pass that’s going to swing and if he’s not on, he’s not going to just keep shooting. People say shoot or shoot. That’s the ones that don’t necessarily understand a pump fake, one dribble, boom, hit the cutter, right? Duncan Robinson actually understands that. So if the shot’s not working, he can hit the three off movement, which I love that. You look at the what the Pistons have done. All their shooters, movement shooters, yes. Catcher, shoot shooters, yes. Pick and pop shooters, yes. They got a lot of guys that can do a lot. And Duncan Robinson, when he gets the ball in the intermediate, is where I think it’s even more. I believe guys like Jaylen Duran, they’re going to see an improvement. Guys like Paul Reed, they’re going to see a benefit from having a player like a Duncan Robinson. Yeah. Uh because he does make the intermediate pass. He can make the drop pass. So, aside from the three-point shooting, I am looking forward to them being active on the offensive side of the ball as it relates to making the extra swing pass or finding the cutters. Yeah, for everybody that’s upset that we lost Malik Beasley, I’m upset, too. Um, let me introduce you to white Malik Beasley cuz Hey, you got plenty of smile, I know it’s real. But that’s that’s what he is. They are the same archetype of player I’ve been screaming at ever since he was signed. You did not lose much um by swapping out Malik Beasley for Duncan Robinson. And in some ways Duncan Robinson can be better than Malik Beasley. And one of those points, like you said, is being having better vision uh than than Malik Beasley would have at times. Sometimes he would get tunnel vision um when he’s trying to get his basket to go and he doesn’t look for the extra pass. Duncan Robinson can do that. Um he is also somebody that can put the ball on the floor. He is also somebody that’s going to be kind of a liability on defense. Malik Beasley wasn’t a great defender either. Um, so I I think that with getting Duncan Robinson, is he as prolific as a shooter as a Malik Beasley over this past season? No. But he’s right up there. I mean, he’s the alltime leading point. He’s not as prolific. I agree with that. He But he is as reliable. The percentages are what they are. He still shoots high volume. was like going out there like I’m hitting seven threes a game which is inc how much you do this per game. That’s huge. But can they replace that? Yes. When you look at the three-point shooters they have the minutes that these guys are going to get. The Pistons are still as a team I believe you’re going to look at them at the end of the year and say as a team they still have a similar amount of three-pointers made as last year. If not probably a better chance to have a hire. They lost a Jaden Ivy last year and now you’re gaining Jayen Ivy, a couple nice shooters and people who want to make the extra pass, who want to find the extra shooter, who want to find the cutter, who want to throw the lob. I like that about these guys. And Duncan Robinson has been somebody that we’ve seen it in the playoffs as well. Um, so coming down the stretch, no offense to Beasley, you know, I don’t, you know, of course we would have liked him to catch the ball, but he could have had a better first round series. I think we all as Pistons fans would agree with that. Duncan Robinson is somebody that we’ve seen do it um in a playoff situation. He can hit big shots when it matters. So um that’s what I’m looking for from him. Come in and hit big shots. You’re going to be relied upon to be um the majority source of three-point scoring for this team. I need you to just come in, be efficient, and play within the flow of the offense. I think we’ll be fine 100%. And uh one more from Randle Smalls before we get to everybody’s favorite segment. He says, “What do you guys think? uh the three guys we got could be better than the three we let go. It’s tough. Shruder is a starting caliber point guard, but it’s also a notion of it as it relates to fit. We don’t need a starting caliber point guard, right? So, the three guys, you know, the the Chaz Lir, Duncan Robinson, Caris Avert, uh joining this team, I do I’m I like the fits of what these players could be. Obviously, you got to wait for Chaz because he’s a second round pick. He’s a rookie. He had a first round grade. Um, and he is one of your specialists. You just want to wait and see. The other two guys, I do believe that you’re going to see similar, if not better. One of the the the characteristics that Trejan Langon harped on, why they went and locked these guys up in particular and why they even pivoted away from maybe a Malik Monk size. Yeah. They said we are bigger. You look at what we had last year out of the out of out of Tim Tim Hardaway and and and Malik Beasley and Dennis Shruder. You look at the vets who brought in this year, they are bigger. and he said Caris can defend the one through the three and in a pinch he can switch off to your bigger uh stretch floor stretching bigs like so that to me Tan believes we got better defensively. He does believe we got a little bit better as it relates to facilitation and he thinks we got more versatile players who can do things at all three levels a little bit more efficiently than the guys who left. I I think so too and this is why I was totally on board especially with the Caris Levert signing and you know not saying he’s the greatest player ever or anything like that but I totally agree they got bigger and that’s a big key for this Pistons team because you’re you’re continuing to make your strength stronger. Um, we all know this calling card for this team is defense. And with them just getting bigger size-wise, that’s only gonna help play them being a even better uh defensive team than what we even saw last year, which is crazy cuz they already like a top 10 defensive team. Yeah, bro. So, how better how much better can they get? I’m looking for the lob connections to go up. Who led the league in dunks? Who was leading in lob connections? I’m looking forward to actually that improving. I I I can’t wait, man. Dante 151 with 499 super chase. KG don’t tell that to Easy because he still thinks Beasley is better than Duncan Robertson. He says easy they they Duncan Robertson. He says easy they are the same player but yet Robinson help generally. No, they really are. And you can make the argument that one is better than the other. I would lean toward Beasley technically being better than Duncan Robinson. But you playing semantics at this point. They are literally the same archetype of player. I don’t think we need to, you know, if they had have went out and and gave up Malik Beasley and got somebody that’s shooting like 32% from three, then I would have some questions. But he is a high, you know, volume, high efficiency three-point shooter. I’m not I’m I’m cool. Like, but shout out Easy, man. We all know Ezy’s opinions could be a little little on the the Wilders side. And I see Dto straight up. He says facts. JB JB, what are you saying in the chat? Let me see. I You know what? I can guess. You’re not covering no sports today. It’s all snack raps for you. Right. Right. But no chill with JB Smooth in the chat. I heard someone said the snack rap is back. Snack rap. Hey, they never gave up on their favorite menu. Shout out to JB Smooth, man. Never gave up. Goodness gracious. Never lost. How you feeling over there, bro? Before we go say what up though to some friends and give everybody their favorite segment. Hungry. What? Dead ass. Who we got to say hi to, brother? Uh

Rod Beard (Detroit News) and Brandon @DetroitKoolAid Dent (Woodward Sports Network) join WAKE UP WOODWARD to discuss the Detroit Pistons at the NBA Trade Deadline. Like , Subscribe and leave your comment below!

Via Wake Up Woodward featuring Matt Broder (credentialed WSN Lions+Tigers Reporter), Brandon @DetroitKoolAid Dent (credentialed WSN Pistons reporter), KG on sounds, JB in the TD booth and Flannel Sam

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Woodward Sports Pistons beat reporter Brandon @detroitkoolaid1585 Dent and Detroit News assistant sports editor Rod Beard.

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