The NBA Isn’t Talking About It… But Detroit Might Have a Star | Pistons Jack Reacts

The NBA Isn’t Talking About It… But Detroit Might Have a Star | Pistons Jack Reacts

Welcome back to the Pistons Shack YouTube channel. On today’s episode, we’ll review the summer league performance of a future star for the Pistons. We’ll take a look at three positives, an area for improvement, and a few other things. So, let’s get to it. [Music] I want to talk Ron Holland. This episode is dedicated to Ron Holland’s performance at the Summer League. We saw three games from Ron. The Pistons still have four games. uh still have a fourth game on Thursday against Miami and they will have a fifth game uh scheduled on either July 20th or 21st. After their loss today against the Timberwolves uh which they lost by double digits, it significantly hampered or hurt their chances of moving to the semi-final stage. I’d be absolutely shocked. It’s almost impossible it feels like for them to make it. So, in my opinion, I wanted to dedicate today’s show, like I said, to Ron Holland because now that the Pistons are pretty much out of the race for the Summer League Championship, I think they’re going to shut him down. He’s played three games, uh, 29 minutes a night. He’s put up 21 basically 22 points, six rebounds, two assists, four steals. He’s done so on 53% from the field, 47% from deep, and near 80% from the line. Now those are just the raw numbers for Ron. It was in my opinion a successful summer league for him and aside honestly a half the first half today against the Timboss I thought he was far and away the Piston’s best player at Summer League. Even with that um he just had some notable struggles in that half and we’ll talk about that later. But on this episode, we’re going to talk about three major positives from Ron’s play and then we’ll also talk about an area for improvement and I’ll also briefly touch on his role for next season on the team as it is currently structured. So, you know the raw numbers, you know, the Pistons went 2-1. Ron played more minutes than I probably thought, especially today against the Timberwolves. It felt like the Pistons were really going for it um to try and win that to stay 3-0 and move to the semi-finals. Obviously, that didn’t eventuate. But the first positive I want to talk about, it’s an obvious one, but this is a huge, huge deal for Ron, and that’s his three-point shooting. Overall, if he doesn’t play another Summer League game, which I expect, he shot 47% from deep on five attempts. Now, he shot four of five in the first game, two of six in the second game, and one of four in the third game against the Timberwolves. Now, some might say, “Well, Jack, he really only shot it in well in one game there.” But honestly, that overall percentage is still incredibly encouraging. This is a guy who shot in the 20% range uh from three uh in his rookie season, and I’m pretty sure it was very similar in last year’s summer league. This is a guy that has struggled from three. The mechanics have always been like pretty sound with Ron. like whilst he was lumped into the category of of a struggling shooter like Assar, Assar’s mechanics even to this moment have need to be completely redone and it’s more of a robotic shot right now. Ron has always had like a fluid form. Um, so it was always a bit weird that his shot didn’t fall, but it it hadn’t. And to see him come in at summer league only two months removed from NBA basketball and shoot 47% across three games, it’s very encouraging. And like I said, look, I know it trended down across the three games after an excellent start, but overall he hit step backs, he knocked down catch and shoots, he hit a couple in transition, he even hit like a pull up three off the dribble. So like he showed a lot of variety and honestly like he missed a couple of open corner shots that um in both games two and three that I thought were down. Like they looked good. The jumper looks good. He’s obviously confident. Um, we’ve seen him working with Fred Vincent. Um, beat report reporters. The Pistons have captured that. Um, and you know, it’s improving at a rate that I didn’t expect. And I know people be like, Jack, it’s just summer league. Who cares? Well, to be honest, it’s still a three-point line. The players are still playing defense tough out there. And the Timberwolves today were extremely tough and, you know, overpowered the Pistons to be honest. But with that comes strong closeouts. like Ron, he it’s not just like shooting in an open gym. Like a lot of his shots, there was a defender nearby and if they’re wide open, they’re wide open because of good ball movement. And I think it isn’t like too far from the real thing. Um so it’s not like I think it’s a bit different when you just overwhelm and like steal the ball from lesser opponents or you can just overwhelm with athleticism like shooting the ball against defenses at summer league that are trying really hard, players trying to prove themselves and make the NBA. like I think there is real value in that. So that is a huge positive and I’ve spoken about it a lot. So I’m going to move to the the second positive. Um and of course as I’m going through these please comment below what your biggest takeaway from Ron Summer League was. But the second big positive for me was Ron’s finishing and overall improvement on drives. So just some quick numbers here. Ron essentially averaged near nine free throw attempts a game. He got to the line a ton in games one and three. He shot 10 free throws in game three, 13 in game one. Uh he shot 77% from the free throw line like I mentioned. Honestly, he shot nine of 10 in g the third game, three of three in game two. It was really only that first game where was eight of 13 that brought that percentage down. Um, and on top of getting to the line and just being a, you know, an absolute nightmare at times for teams to keep out of the paint, he had some really creative and tough finishes. Um, he had a really nice euro into a reverse like kind of up and under in game two against the Rockets. And then in today’s game or yesterday’s game against Timbus, he had a really tough Euro type floater off the backboard which looked like a bit of a fluky shot, but you know, like it’s still a tough shot. Like Ron um he made it and that was in transition. He also had another tough finish where he got all the way into the paint under the rim, absorbed contact, went up, banked it off the glass. Like they both some might say were lucky shots, but in my opinion, like it’s all part of improved balance. He’s in his handle’s improving. I would say it’s still an area that that needs growth, but um you know last season, especially at summer league, like if we’re doing a year-on-year improvement, like Ron would drive into the paint often it felt like without a plan. The only plan was I’m one of the athletic guys in the court. I’m going to try and just shoot over you or dunk on you. And um that can work at times, especially at summer league. But um I felt like overall he was much more in control. Um, and just like he still had some moments and and this is where that first half against the Tim Wolfs where he rushed and he tried to force things and didn’t let it come to him. But honestly, for the most part, I thought he showed great strides there. Um, in two of the games he shot 50% or more from the field. In game two, he shot like five of 13, but I think a lot of that was to do with the two of six from three. So, I kind of thought like overall he showed strides there. He even in my opinion showed some really nice like passing improvement off drives which um was encouraging. And then the third thing and this is like a bit of a generalization and not exactly like a one specific thing but I just felt like for the most part he just looked too good for summer league. Like I know the turnovers were there, but there was like NBA moves he was pulling off where I felt like, you know, wrong could have been shut down after game one. I’m very happy he played three games, but I I just felt like I think too good’s probably the wrong the wrong term, but I just felt like he came in and he showed you pretty much everything you want to see from a top five pick. Um, in terms of he had he dropped 28 points, 15 points, 22. He did it on pretty good to great efficiency like I mentioned. Um he came in overwhelmed on defense, averaged four steals. He had six steals in the third game, three a piece in the first two. Like just overwhelming on defense. He hustled. Um I’m sure he had his fair share of mistakes, had some fouls that were questionable, but like I just feel like he came in and like you saw a much different player from 12 months ago. you saw a player that in my opinion they could have packed it in after game one after he had 28 11 three steals all that but um you know we we’ve seen Jaden Ivy come back in year two Jaylen Dan come back in year two and to be honest like they played like two games but I don’t think they had a performance in either of their summer league second summer league showings like Ron did uh especially in that game one where he was just everywhere. Um, so I think that was a big tick because the last thing we want, and I’m sure some Pistons fans feeling that about some other players on the summer league roster, but the last thing we want is to be like, “Oh man, I’m not like Ron.” He had like one good game out of the three, but you know, he kind of just did it because he’s getting the minutes. Like to me, it felt like it was like pretty legit and a lot of what he was doing, whilst he might not do it in year two on a playoff team like the Pistons, you can see it being replicated. in maybe year three or four and and flashes throughout his second year like the way he got to the rim, the way he hit a step back three, like you can see that becoming a part of his game at the pro level at the NBA during the regular season. And uh I think that’s a big tick for me. Big area for improvement is whilst I sat I praised his decision- making on drives, there was still far too many turnovers. 15 turnovers across three games, seven in that third game against the Timberwolves. And the Timber were probably the first team the Pistons played that had as many NBA players on the roster. They also were a physical tough team. Like lots of size, fair bit of athleticism like and they and especially in that first half, Ron was sort of struggling to deal with it. Terrence Shannon Jr. you could tell, was taking it personally to guard Ron. Ron found it hard to get the ball on offense, get the shots within the flow. And honestly, the whole team struggled, but you could see Ron start to force it. lost the ball in a couple of drives. Um so you just like it was kind of I don’t want to narrow in too much on that first half, but um it kind of just when you have 15 turnovers, the awareness has to be just better. It’s just an area for improvement. Um and you know, I still like some of the passes he made in across all three games, especially games one and two. I liked some lobs he threw in the first quarter. Game one, I loved a couple of passes he made off the drive. So there’s improvement there. But overall, like if the shot’s real, the next big improvement for Ron to go from like a really, you know, three and Dish like wing who can average 15 a night to a more like, oh wow, we might have fringe allstar guy here. It’s going to be the awareness. It’s going to be the playmaking. It’s going to be being able to make decisions in traffic, especially when the heat’s there defensively and to and he’s he’s got a little bit to grow there. But that’s why I think he’s in a really good spot with the Pistons because he’s they’re not in a rush to need that from him. So, um that would be my big area for improvement. In terms of like Ron’s role for next season, um there’s been a lot of chatter about like, oh, he can play back up four minutes. Um I think with how the roster looks right now, he’ll definitely be playing back up four minutes. Um as well as um minutes at the three for sure. Um backing up Assar there as well. Um, I know Duncan Robinson needs minutes in those areas, too. But I think there’s at least, you know, around 15 to 20 minutes per night for Ron. And if he’s having a really good game, like we saw last year, JB will ride with him. If he’s having one of those games where he’s rushing and just doesn’t seem within the flow, I think JB will cut back his minutes here and there. But, um, I’m really excited for Ron. I truly believe in the jumper. I don’t want fans thinking he’s going to shoot 40% from three this season. I think he could. I’m not going to completely rule that out, but I think if Ron can get to a really successful number for him three-point percentage wise would be like if he can get to 32 33% on around three to four attempts a night, I think that’s a huge improvement and that’s that is the type of progression that should give you real confidence he’s going to figure out that three-point shot and be able to knock him down when defended. Um, so if he can do that then and then add a little bit more muscle to that frame, you never know. He could be that fourman of the future. Um, I I love Rom um and you know, Assar, but one of them has to learn to shoot for them to stay on this team together long term in my opinion. Like because I don’t think either are going to be a bust or just like a bench player. I think they’re both got potential to be starters clearly on playoff teams, but one of them has to learn to shoot and I think it’s going to be Ron. Um, so, um, that’s it’s super encouraging to see him doing the summer league. Let’s see if he can get to 33% in the regular season this season or better. Maybe you might think I’m setting the bar low, but I think 33% on three to four attempts is a really really huge improvement for him. Um, but I’m super excited. Like just you you tie in like Ron’s always been like a scorer. Like you go back to the start of his season with the G- League Knight all the way back in like September 2023. like he was projected to be the number one or number two pick and obviously the season with the Ignite that team was a disaster. Obviously he contributes a little bit to that but he still put up like 22 a night. Um I know the efficiency wasn’t great but he’s a scorer like he’s got the mindset of like I’m going to go get 20 a night or more. Right. So you combine that with the defense with the improved shot and if he can keep working on his play uh handle and play making like we discussed as an air for improvement like there’s every chance he can be the best player in the 2024 class like Alex Sar you know like if we talk about some of the guys taken ahead of him like Zachary Rishet is is definitely ahead of Ron right now but there’s something to Ron’s game that if he can like put it together. He’s got that star potential and that’s why he had such a high pedigree um in that 2024 class. So, I’m really excited about him. Like you look at like Reed Shepard for example, pick three. Reed Shepard could be, you know, he was a like I don’t like Ron’s ceiling is just so much higher than Reed because of the size, because of the defense if you can figure out the shot. But Reed’s probably got well it probably doesn’t you probably can’t even say he has a higher floor right now. But you saw those two go headto-head a couple of nights ago and uh Ron was going to have an amazing game. You just see the value of the size and athleticism and if he’s knocking down the three. So, um that’s going to do it for today’s show. Am I crazy to think he could be the best player in the 2024 draft class? Am I crazy to think Ron’s a little bit slept on? Let me know. Maybe I’m just a homer, but I’m super excited and um whilst I don’t think he’ll play another game, I think this has been a huge success for Ron. Um so, let me know your thoughts on his summer league. What did you love? What do you think it needs to be improved? Love all the comments, all the new subscribers. Appreciate you all. But until tomorrow for our next video, as always, go piston. [Music]

Ron Holland has officially arrived.

The Pistons’ rookie showed flashes of stardom at Summer League — in today’s video, I break down 3 big positives from his performance, 1 key area of growth, and how his role with Detroit could evolve this season.

Let’s talk about Detroit’s future star — and why Ron Holland could be the most slept-on rookie in the league. 💪

In this episode:
🔹 3 things Ron Holland did exceptionally well
🔹 1 area he needs to improve before the season
🔹 What his rookie-year role could look like in Detroit
🔹 Why fans should be excited

#RonHolland #Pistons #NBA #SummerLeague #PistonsJack