How the Pistons will BEAT the BEST !

How the Pistons will BEAT the BEST !

Grand Ross with the rock never stops. Yo, I’m feeling really good today. I got in my run yesterday. Got in a little workout. You know, feeling good. You know what I’m saying? Guns out. You know, summertime love. I’m ready to go outside today. But I want to get on with y’all real quick cuz one of y’all was like, “Hey, man. Are you gonna be consistent or what?” And I was like, “Bro, I thought I was consistent, but maybe I wasn’t as consistent as some people wanted me to be. I ain’t mad at it. You asked for it, you got it. Here it go. But before I start, it’s your man 100 Grand Ross with the rock. Never stop. Smash the like button for me. It’s a little thing, but a big thing. Really helps out the channel. And hit subscribe and the bell for notifications so you get notified the next time I do an interactive live chat. All right, with that, I wanted to bring this smoke today because I think we we’ve been doing our rankings over the past, you know, few weeks or so, right? We’re looking at the Eastern Conference and I think most of us have got the Detroit Pistons as somewhat of a top four seed, five at worst. You know, stuff happens, injuries happen, knock on wood. You know what I mean? Like the Orlando Magic, ah, they might be pretty good this year. So, who knows if they take the leap or the jump. You know, you still got Atlanta on the back end. Indiana’s going to try to get froggy and frisky, but I think for the most part, we got the Pistons as an elite team. as a team that legitimately should be able to be tops in the East and as a result tops in the league. But I wanted to do a breakdown of what that looks like because I know it’s one thing to say like, “Oh, I like our players. I like our pieces. I’m rooting for our team. We should be better. We should be good.” It’s another thing to kind of do a breakdown of what it actually looks like. So, that’s what I want to do today. Let me just start off with listing the teams that I think are top teams. I want to start there because you know not every team is a top team. Not every team is a legitimate contending team and that is what I am defining as the best of the best of the NBA. You have to be a legitimate title contender. Someone who can legitimately state you might be favored to come out of your conference. Now, in the Eastern Conference, it’s a little bit easier to uh to kind of, you know, map that out. The Western Conference is a little bit tougher, but I want to list the teams first, and then we’re going to go through them as to how the Detroit Pistons could beat them, not just in a game, but even in a series. You know, one thing that we should have learned from the playoffs is that an an NBA series really is a game of chess, and it goes from game to game to game. It’s evaluating all of your strengths, all of your weaknesses, the other team’s strengths and weaknesses. How can you negate their strengths, maximizing yours, and minimizing your weaknesses while exploiting theirs? And it goes literally from game to game. Well, I think the Detroit Pistons have about as good of a chance as anyone in a playoff series or even a single game to beat just about anyone in the league. So, that’s what we’re going to go through today. First, let’s start off with the Eastern Conference. What are the legitimate teams that can come out of the East? You know, I think it’s kind of suffice to say the Cleveland Cavaliers did the right thing. They doubled down on a roster that brought them the best record in the Eastern Conference, if not the league. They dominated all year long. You don’t get to the top and dominate and tear it down. Cap be damned. tax be damned. You’re winning. It’s a window. If there’s anything that they learned from the LeBron James era is that that window does not come around often. No matter how many first round picks you get, no matter how many number one picks you get, right? They had Wiggins, they had Kyrie, they had uh who was the bus that never end up playing, right? It uh uh Anthony Bennett, right? You can have a whole bunch of number one picks. It doesn’t mean you’re going to have a chance to win a championship. So when you have that, you’re supposed to double down. And they did. So I think the Cleveland Cavaliers are going to be at the top of the East again. They’re deeper, a little bit more athletic, a little bit more experienced, and I think that they’re going to be right there. They’re going to be a team that we’re going to have to contend with that’s going to be attempting to win a championship all season long. It’s going to be championship or bust. Nothing else. All right. Accolades be damned. The next team that I have as one of the top teams in the East is the New York Knicks. Yes, we could have beat them if we had Jayen Ivy. I completely believe that and we’re going to talk about that. But they also got better. Picked up Jordan uh Crawford. They picked up uh Gersham Yabusle. A Yabusle. I’m not sure if I’m saying it right. They still got PJ Tucker even though he’s old as hell, but he can still come in and do a thing or two for you. Their their young guys are a year older, right? They got uh what’s his name? Um Tyler Cole, another year of experience, right? He’s now fully acclimated to the NBA. What’s good, Sandro? What’s good? You know, they got uh my man Deuce McBride. They got uh uh Ariel Huckporti. I like him. He’s kind of like one of those deep dive names. If you know, you know. He’s a solid dude. Solid dude off the bench. But if you add that to the veterans on this team, the top down Mitchell Robinson, Carl Anthony Towns, OG Josh Hart Bridges who just got that massive extension. Uh you got uh Jaylen Brunson, and then you got of course, you know, Clarkson and guys like that. And I think they still fill out some more of the roster. But it’s to say, you add the young guys with more experience to those veterans who are ready to win right now, it’s going to be a good team. And probably the most significant move is the coach, Mike Brown. Look, he’s coached LeBron. He’s coached Kobe. He’s coached Steph. You can’t really tell him nothing. He’s been to these mountain tops. I want to say that he I want to say he was the coach the first time Cleveland got to the finals with LeBron against the Spurs. I want to say that was him. Being in the finals multiple times with superstar players, it bodess well for being able to go into a locker room and say, “I know what I’m talking about.” Because let’s be clear, ain’t nobody on this Knicks team LeBron, Kobe, or Steph. Nowhere near. Nowhere near. So when he comes in and says, “This is what worked. This is how we got there. These are the pieces we have, and this is the road.” You got to have some level of buy in. What he did in Sacramento major reason why they probably felt like he was the man for the job and his experience. And if also if anything else, let me just do a little side dive right here. There’s a lot you learn in losing, right? Most of y’all know I got a psych background. Um, one of the things that we learned about the brain is that it learns more in loss than it does in success. Those losses hurt and they teach you a lot. Well, Mike Brown has been to the mountaintop and lost. Been in the playoffs and lost. He’s had good teams and lost. He’s learned a lot. He succeeded a lot as well, whether it was Cleveland, LA, Golden State, or Sacramento. I think he’s got a lot of experience to bring to this Knicks team and I think that’s going to be a huge difference maker. So, I think the Knicks are also amongst the best of the league to favorably be considered to come out of their conference. Can’t win without losing light. Like like hitting me with the sky hook. Yeah. Facts. Facts. Facts. Right. The other team that I’m going to say is a dark horse in the East to come out is the Orlando Magic. Look, they’ve taken Cleveland the distance. They’ve taken uh who was the team that they had last Boston the distance. They have felt that pain of coming up short. Guys are injured. They’re not at full strength. Paulo showing that he can elevate his game against anybody. Fron Vagner kind of up and down in the playoffs, but guys are still believing in the culture and what they’re building. I also think that for head coach Mosley, this is a make orb break league. uh um season. It’s a make orb break season for him. He has to show that he can elevate this offense, especially with the addition of Desmond Bane. And when you put all these pieces together now with the healthy Jaylen Suggs, added depth, a more experienced Anthony Black. Uh you’ve got um I want to say who else did they add to this team? Let’s pull it up real quick. Yeah, they resigned Mo Vagner. Uh they Oh, they resigned Goa Betaz. Um, they still got Jet Howard in the wings. Patristan Dilva looked really good last year. Jace Richardson, I love that draft pickup for them. Uh, and then they still got guys like Noah Penda, another draft pickup. And Tyus Jones. Tyus Jones, underrated free agent acquisition. And they still got Orlando Robinson. They have a lot of depth on this team. And you know what they say, if you want to go deep, you got to have depth. If you want to go deep, you got to have depth. Maybe that’s just my saying, cuz I never heard this before. It just popped out of my brain right now. So, if you quote me, give me props. And I never heard that statement before. If you want to go deep, you got to have depth. All right. And here’s what it is. All right. Pause for some of y’all. So, let me just say this. The Orlando Magic are primed. They’re primed to make a run. They’ve got the offensive pieces. They got the shooting. They got the culture. They got the foundation. They’ve got the team identity. They have the superstars. They have buyin. They have the coaching now. They just need the opportunity. If they get to the playoffs healthy, they are as good as any of the teams. I don’t really see another team in the East, probably including the Detroit Pistons, that I would say is favorable to come out of the East. And so, in that regard, I’m going to jump to the West and then we’re going to do the breakdown of how we beat these teams in the Western Conference. I think at the top you got to start with the champions, Oklahoma City Thunder and then from there you go to the Denver Nuggets obviously, right? Gave them a real run. And then you got to go to the Houston Rockets. Now I’m going through these teams pretty quickly. I think it’s suffice to say that each of these teams got better this off season, right? They they locked up their superstars in OKC somehow or another. a draft. Oh my goodness. Thomas Sorber. I’m like, what the hell, bro? That ain’t that ain’t right. How you going to get a big-time center prospect while you still got Isaiah Hardenstein under contract? You just extended Cadet Homegrren, right? You still got Caruso under contract for the next few years, a bunch of years. SGA Dort under contract. You got Isaiah Joe, Aaron Wiggins, Kenrich Williams, Ushman Deang, Kasem Wallace, Nicole Topic, who was the probably the top guard of last year’s draft, right? Uh you got you got guys like AJ Mitchell who even came in for the finals and balled out one time just for good measure. You know what I mean? Like they got squad, bro. They got squad. They gonna be right back at the top, bro. Um so we’ll see. But the West is also deeper. I don’t think it’s going to be as much of a cakewalk. So, we’ll see how OKC fares. The next one is is the Denver Nuggets. I know. God, they got 15 draft picks, right? But you look at the Denver Nuggets, man. I love what they did. I love what the Denver Nuggets did. Going out and getting Cam Johnson. That move to me was like, “Okay, you’re making the right moves.” Not the big move, not the major move, not the huge splash, but the right move. They needed to move on from Michael Porter Jr. for a while, but they didn’t do it until they knew they were bringing back exactly what they needed, right? Minimal loss, maximal gain, great strategy. I think Cameron Johnson has a big year for them, especially playing alongside Joic now with the healthy Aaron Gordon, Jamal Murray healthy to start the season. I think they have a big year. And then picking up Yonas Valencion, picking him up, I think, was an underrated pickup. massively underrated. He can legitimately come in and play 15 to 20 minutes a game as a backup center and eat. Absolutely eat. And on a veteran team that knows how to play that kind of international style around a a primary center, I think he comes in and he gives Jokic the most rest he’s ever had throughout his career. Ever. JV, former Raptor, former for former Memphis Grizzly, former Pelicans, and lastly, uh, Washington Wizards, which is probably why he wanted to go back overseas, cuz who the hell wants to be over there in Washington? Um, I think he has a great year. Add Christian Brown with with another year of experience as as a starter. You got guys like Julian Strawther, Jaylen Picket, Hunter Tyson who should be absolutely excited that Michael Malone is out of there. I’m gonna be honest. They should be excited that he’s out of there. Look, I’m not saying he’s a bad coach. I’m saying if you’re a young guy who wants playing time and you got this old head coach talking about he don’t want to play you because he don’t trust you and you were a high draft pick and you know you talented, you balling out in practice, but you need to learn somehow. and he’s like, “Ah, actually, I’d rather burn out my starters pulling a Tom Thibido than to try to bring you along the way and then all of a sudden get in the playoffs.” He’s like, “Yeah, probably would have helped to get those extra reps.” Either way, they got a new coach in there. They’re going to have an opportunity to play. You add in Don Holmes, who was out all last year. He was a top pick for them in the last draft as well. And now you got a nice young bench that should be able to help them compete at a high level. On top of that, they also bring back Bruce Brown. Yo, what a pickup. What a pickup. Remember, he was a part of that championship team for the Denver Nuggets. He brings back that championship pedigree. He’s almost like a Christian Brown light, probably a little bit more skilled, but more experienced. He’s older. 28 years old, right? Christian Brown is 24, so he’s got a little age on him. I I almost forgot about Payton Watson as well. This team should be deep, more athletic than they’ve probably ever been. Probably have just as much skill, but more depth of skill than they’ve probably had since their championship season. And I think that when they put it all together, this is another team that’s going to make a run. Let me let me quickly get through some of these comments real quick because this is an interactive live. Uh Mega Hustler, what’s good, bro? Um, I always say Mike Brown’s coaching style is similar to Stan Van Gundy’s. Yes, I I agree. That’s a great synopsis. Mega hustler. I I love my chat. Y’all be I’m going to hold on to that one, especially as the season begins. Uh, always some type of collapse in their teams when it comes to the fourth quarter. You know, I’m gonna be honest with you. You either got the guys or you don’t. Period. some of it. Stan Van Gundy, I think he he had his guys too anxious because he was an anxious type of coach, you know, always always kind of yelling and, you know, on edge. I don’t think Mike Brown is like that. But sometimes you either have the guys or you don’t. You got to have the guys that can compete with those guys or you don’t. Losing to the Golden State Warriors, I’m not faulting him for that, right? It was a more experienced team. That was a young team in the front office. for some reason wanted to go with guys that don’t work together. Zack Lavine and Demar De Rozan. They knew it didn’t work in Chicago and they brought the same thing to Sacramento. It didn’t make a lot of sense especially because they should have went defensive starting Keon Ellis and all that stuff with uh you know Malik Monk off the bench. I I I digress with all that. All this to say is you only got the players that you got. So I don’t really fault him for that. Now I do think that there are adjustments you got to be able to make. You know, you got to have that Doc Rivers Tyron Lou ability to draw up amazing plays coming out of timeouts. You know, being intentional about your timeouts. Uh making sure you keep your challenges challenge at the right time. Make sure your assistant coaches are aware of the minutes and rotations, matchups, and what your schemes are. Like everything has got to be run at a high level. If you don’t have that, if you don’t have a highlevel bench staff, like things are going to fall through the cracks and you’ll get exposed in the moment, which sometimes happens. But coaches grow and learn. Let’s be real. There’s only probably three or four elite coaches still in the NBA. Between Rick Carile, Tyron Lou, Eric Spolstra, that’s probably it, bro. That’s probably it. The rest of them are still going to have to learn. He got some good coaches, but I wouldn’t say that the OKC coach is elite. He had to figure it out, too. He was getting out coached by Rick Carlile the whole finals. He just outlasted. His guys outlasted. Tyrus Hallebertton, blue attire, Torres Achilles. They were looking like they might have lost that game, right? So, when you think about Mike Brown, he’s still better than average and he’s more experienced than the majority of coaches out there. If you’re trying to win a championship, that’s the guy. Just want to respond to that comment. Uh let me see. Uh it’s a smart move and that’s what makes it good. Yep. I think Michael Porter Jr. uh not get many injuries many times. They would have been so much better. It’s true. It’s just reality is he was injuryprone. And thing is he doesn’t play defense too. And some of that stuff is on him, right? Play better defense. um yeah, lock in more on the boards and stuff like that. There’s there’s little things that he could have adjusted personalitywise, but it is what it is. Um he was always going to be somewhat limited. He has he has high hips, doesn’t really get too low to the ground, minimizes his ability to uh get to the rim off the bounce, could improve some of his postgame, stuff like that. But I still think Cam Johnson is a better replacement because of the cost as well. Uh Mike was amazing, but damn, he cost the Nuggets one two chips. Uh because the young guys did not m possibly possibly who you got the best bench in the league. I’mma do that next video. Next video, Sandro. Um you think is the biggest uh what if in the NBA player? These are all great qu uh questions. These are all great questions, but I want to stick to the topic for today. How do the Pistons beat the best in the NBA? How do we beat the best? Let me finish up with the Western Conference, who I think are the best. I think we got to go with the Houston Rockets next. It’s between Houston and Minnesota, but I think that they’re both in a similar spot. They are in a similar place. Uh Houston, of course, the addition of Kevin Durant. Uh Amen Thompson, who’s going to be starting from day one. Uh who’s the best? We need to have uh example. Um I mean, I’m already listening. Uh uh who who are the best teams in the NBA right now? Cleveland, New York, Denver, OKC, Houston, Minnesota. These are all legitimate teams to come out of their conferences. Oh, and Orlando Magic as well. Um, when it comes to the Houston Rockets, I think starting Amen Thompson from the beginning is going to pay huge dividends. I think having Kevin Durant, Alan Shangon, Jabari Smith Jr. locked in for the extension. Tari E, bring back Aaron Holiday, extended Fred Van Vleet. Bring back Jon Tate with Joshua Aoji. Uh, really good depth there in terms of toughness, physicality to play that style. Kavon Harris, not a lot of folks know about him. He’s a tough guard, man. Really physical. I like his style of play. Dorian Finny Smith is a great addition with Clint Capella. Bring back Steven Adams and resign OG vet Jeff Green. This is a team that’s set and primed to make a run. Still got Reed Shepard. We’ll see if they can bring him in as a shooter, but this is a team that’s going to grind you. It’s going to grind you defensively. And then they got their closer in Kevin Durant. And Fred Van Vleet can close as well. And if you have him as a secondary closer, that’s dope. and Amen Thompson is going to create havoc constantly breaking down the defense and you’re gonna have to really uh figure out how you’re going to deal with that type of dynamic between Kevin Durant and Amen Thompson. You still got Shenon. Uh that’s just a really talented team. They were the number two seed last year. I don’t know if they get to the number two seed this year. Who knows? But they’ll be top three, four, and they’ll have a good a chance as any to get out of the West chairs in the back of the balcony. I need those. Oh, okay. Um, but now something else that I want to also keep in mind is the uh Minnesota Timberwolves. Look, this is a team, I’ll be honest with you, that they are a point guard away from making a finals appearance. I don’t think they could do it with Mike Connley as their starting point guard. And if I’m honest with you, I think that there’s a good chance there’s a trade that takes place and they go out and get a starting level point guard. Now, I don’t know if it’s going to be somebody like um h let me see, you got Anthony Black, who I think is a good option for them to go after. You got guys like LaMelo Ball probably worn out his welcome in Charlotte. I think culturally they just want something different. You got you got a lot of talented guards, point guards around the NBA that I think they’re going to be able to target throughout the course of the season. Trade deadline approaches. Minnesota should have an opportunity. They should have a real opportunity to be able to say, “Yo, if we go out and get the guy that we want, this could be a team that turns on its head at the trade deadline and makes a real run. Like a real one, like a real run. A real run.” Uh, and they would be as dangerous as any. We’ll see what they do, but they’re primed for it. Julius Randall, Dante Devenenzo, they should have bounceback seasons. Especially Randall, now that he’s secured, got his extension, he should be able to start off the season much in how he played throughout the playoffs. He should look really good potentially all NBA level again, especially next to Anthony Edwards, who’s going to draw most the attention. I think they’ll figure out how to play off each other. And then you get to the bench, you know, you still got uh let me just go through. I mean, Rudy Goar is going to be solid. Of course, he’s gonna do what he does. Jaden McDaniels in that starting lineup, but the bench of Devenzo, Rob Dillingham, Terrence Shannon Jr., I think these guys all contribute at a high level. Nas Reed um is going to be nice, too. And yo, shout out to Yan Baring Gear. This is a guy I’m gonna be honest with you, bro. Underrated draft pick offseason acquisition. I don’t know how they got him. similar to Thomas Sorber with OKC. I think he’s a guy that you’re going to see in minimal minutes, get somewhere like 8 to 10 minutes a game, but when you see him, you’re going to see flashes. You’re going to see flashes that make you go like, “Whoa, I didn’t know he could do that. I didn’t know he looked that good, that springy, that athletic, that good of timing.” And being a French center, young French center. I think he’s only what, 18 years old. Yeah, he’s 18 years old, right? One of the youngest players in the NBA, getting to learn from one of the most dominant defensive centers ever to play in the NBA. And you have to give Rudy Goar that, right? You can’t take that away from him just because you don’t like what he’s able to do or unable to do on offense. Being able to learn from him, I think it bolds well for his long-term success. And when you think about his metrics, Yan Bering, um, let me just let me just pull it up for y’all. His measurements were absolutely fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. Pull it up here. That was last year’s. Boom. All right, here we go. Center position. He measured in at 6’11 without shoes. Without shoes. So he’s easily somewhere around 7 foot 7 foot1 in sneakers. You add to that a 74 and a half wingspan. 235 lbs right now. No, sorry. At draft, at the draft, he was 235 lbs. That’s really good. What that tells you is he’s not coming in as the bean pole at 210 pounds and you’re hoping he could put on weight. He already has a significant amount of weight. For some reason, these these international bigs, even if they come in kind of slim and athletic, they put on weight a whole lot easier than some of these others. I don’t know why. I don’t know why. Uh but all that’s to say is I think he’s going to fill out. I think he probably starts the season somewhere around 240 pounds, 245 pounds at 7 feet, right? And that’s really good. That’s a really good starting place. Not too light, not too heavy. All that’s to say is that throughout the course of the year, he’s going to add significant depth to this team. Behind Naz Reed, they really didn’t have another big that they could really count on coming in off the bench. And now you have a young, athletic, springy center who’s going to be able to do what he does. You add him in with the rest of this team, Terrence, Shannon, they’ve got a lot of talent. They should be right there. And I know this part is going long. I You know what? Hey, freak it. I’m talking my talk, shooting my It is what it is. Outside of that, I think you got to give some love. Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers. Look, we don’t know if they’re gonna do it. Who knows? Dark horses like Memphis Grizzlies, they’re incredibly deep in the West. I went over that in the last video. All that’s to say is I think the Detroit Pistons have a chance against any of them. And I want to go through them one at a time. But let me start with this. The Detroit Pistons, I’m going to be doing this review of what the team looks like next year. And I’m going to do another video later on as to what their style of play and the different things that we need to see change and adjust uh so that the offense has a little bit more bite and a little bit more chew on it and it’s not just this very oversimplified dribble handoff or Kate Cunningham, right? Which is kind of in an oversimplified way of describing what the offense looked like last year. Um I appreciate that. Appreciate that, Sandro. Um what was that? Six straight wins uh on Denver Nuggets. Fa to crash out the Nuggets. Don’t beat them in the same Yeah, I got you. I got you. Let me just say this. Uh he hope Luca comes out killing. Yeah, Sports Times. I I I get you there. I think he’s going to be in the best shape of his life playing with LeBron who was his hero, right? Like he wasn’t a Jordan fan. He wasn’t a Kobe fan. He was a LeBron fan. He already came out with that. when you see the 40-year-old looking better than you, you know, kind of does something to you. LeBron probably gave given the blueprint, too. Like, look, bro, why not? Why not make the most of this, bro? Why not? Why not take advantage of every opportunity you have in life because you’re only going to get a few more years of this, right? So, it is what it is. I think LeBron comes in and he looks great. Uh, let me say this. the Detroit Pistons, their style of play. Last year, I said with Assar Thompson, one of the things we were going to see was a supercharged transition style of play. And when I say supercharged, I mean completely 100% was going to become a top five, top 10 transition offense in the league. And I said, especially if they have Ivy and Assar, I think it completely catapults their outlook. And that’s what we saw even without Ivy in transition. They were absolutely lethal. I think that finally comes to fruition, the full potential of this transition offense. I think it becomes top five. I think it goes and becomes top five. And that needs to be something that JB Bicker Staff really locks in on that he says to himself, “Yo, I I’m going to be determined to allow this to take us to the heights that we need to get to. What I mean by that is, you know, as you learn throughout the course of a season, as you grow as a team, as you develop, you are going to have to have some growing pains. But when you’re able to get easy buckets in transition, that allows you to kind of bully those growing pains, right? The lack of execution, the lack of knowing what to do in certain situations, right? the lack of potential shooting or somebody has a cold spell and they’re not knocking down shots. When you can get out in transition and score easily, you can make up for your deficiencies offensively that may come and go based upon who you’re playing. You go up against another great defense, you’re not going to be able to score as well in the half court. But if you can rely on your transition game to create easy shot opportunities, you can still bully that offense and get to that 100 points, 110 points that you’re going to need to potentially come out on top. That has to be a fundamental feature and it has to be something that they’re committed to, which means that guys like Kate Cunningham have to let go of the ball. I’ll say it again, Kade Cunningham has to let go of the ball. Too many times he gets the ball in transition and he holds on to it. It sticks in his hands. He needs to become more like Tyrese Hallebertton and let that thing go like Lonzo Ball. Let it go. Get it up the court to Ivy or Assar immediately early and then trust that either he’s going to get it back or they’re going to score easily because they’re so athletic, so explosive. one or two dribbles, even if there’s defenders in front of them, they’ll have an opportunity to get to the rim or to trail each other’s misses. You add in Ron Holland, you add in uh Jaylen Duran trailing, you add in some of these other guys, they should be as good in transition as any team, if not one of the best transition teams. And so, it’s a huge part of their offense. Then you look at their defensive potential. bringing Ron Holland off the bench, even Marcus Sasser as a as a dog point of attack defender off the bench, Isaiah Stewart, and you bring in guys like Caris Levert and Duncan Robinson. Caris who understands JB’s principles on defense has good length. Duncan Robinson coming out of the Miami Heat culture, he’s going to be in the right place. This is a team that should be elite, absolutely elite defensively, right? We should be looking at a top 10 defense. That is my outlook for this team. And if they buy into that, that they’re going to be a top 10 defense, I think it allows you to be able to see how they pave that road to a number three seed, number four at worst, right? Great defense, great in transition. They score easily, potentially blowing you out the water, which was much of the recipe of Oklahoma City, an elite defense that could turn you over and create opportunities for them on offense. on the other end allowed them to put space between themselves and other teams at any moment. Two, three turnovers in a row, a couple of buckets in a row and all of a sudden a four-point lead is now at 16. Knock down a couple threes, now it’s at 20 and it’s a blowout. Can they sustain a lead? We’ll see. Those are part of the growing pains, but this is how they consistently get there, right? how they keep pushing that that edge until they figure out, oh, this is how we just blow you out the water. Great defense, great in transition, and then we execute offensively knowing what to do at the right time. That is the growing pain. That is the journey for this team this season. Great defense, great in transition, figuring out what to do when because they have the talent. Kade Cunningham is every bit MVP candidate level all NBA first team second team talent level as any other player. SGA he’s right there. Anthony Edwards right there with them. The next part is they have to unlock offensively all the pieces. And this is the JB Baker staff task at hand. How do you unlock all the pieces? How do you have your best five, your most talented five be able to all close out together? And this is probably one of the biggest deficiencies from the best teams in the Eastern Conference. And I would say the the top two, Cleveland and New York. Their best, most talented five don’t necessarily always look that great together. And mainly it’s on the defensive end, whether it’s Jaylen Brunson and Carl Anthony Towns, whether it’s uh uh Darius Garland and uh Donovan Mitchell, they don’t always look great together on the defensive end. They as much as they give you a pop on offense, they also create and present a liability on defense and that makes them vulnerable. JB bigger staff is gonna have to figure out how do I have my best five which I think by the end of the season should be hopefully everything goes right. Cade Ivy, Assar, Ron Holland, and Jaylen Duran. Can those five look great on the court together? How do you maximize that style of play with them? Right? Can you get Ron Holland in a weak side corner knocking down consistent threes at a high clip? Can he become one of those 50% corner three guys this year? Highly efficient from that spot. Can you get Assar Thompson in that dunker spot? Jaylen Duran in the post or high post dribble handoffs facilitating between Cade and Ivy who can work off the ball. all the dribble handoffs turning into pick and rolls, pick and pops, penetrate, get downhill, find a dump off or shoot her in the opposite corner. Can they maximize that type of action with that five? I know they’re going to be able to do it with Tobias Harris. He’s extremely efficient. I know they’re going to be able to make it look really good with Caris Levert, especially Duncan Robinson, right? These guys, Isaiah Stewart, even these guys are great. But they’re not your most talented. What you want to see from your head coach is he can maximize your best talent. Your best talent. If he can do that this year, they are going to be well on their way to potentially having a run in the playoffs this year. Not just round one, maybe not even just round two. They might be knocking on the door for round three. There’s a lot of growing pains to go through those rounds as we’ve seen with Orlando and even Cleveland and New York. But if they can maximize that five on the court together, when those five are on the court together, what do their numbers look like? What do their numbers look like? Those are the probably the three main aspects of what I’m going to be focusing on. So, how do they beat these teams? The first step is defensive versatility and size. They should have the type of team that can pretty much switch just about everything. And what that does is it creates a a major problem for most teams because it takes away a lot of your actions. It prevents them from being able to get into certain sets, pick and rolls. You can’t necessarily find mismatches. It’s harder to exploit a defense that has considerable size across the line from point guard all the way through center. Now, they may not have height at center, but they got physicality, toughness, length, athleticism, footwork, buyin. And so even with Jaylen Duran and Isaiah Stewart coming in behind him, when you have Assar, when you have Tobias, when you have Cade, Ivy, Ron, Duncan, Stew, when you have all these guys, Caris, who can switch up and down the line, who know where to be, who have a potential high level of buyin to a defensive scheme, you’re going to see they will have a high ability to disrupt most of these teams offense, even at the point of attack. Look, I’ll be real with you. Jayen Ivy has an opportunity opportunity to become a highle two-way guard in this league, an extremely highlevel two-way guard. If he buys into being the point of attack defender, and you have Assar Thompson and Cade Cunningham alongside of you, it is going to be hell for most teams to figure out how to attack that. It just is. Figuring out who to go at in that situation is going to be extremely stressful. Jaylen Brunson is 6’1, 6’2 on a good day. Ivy is 6’5, 10 times the athlete, 69 wingspan, right? Fast twitch. If he learns to stay down and just put a hand up and contest, it’s nothing but hard shots for Brunson, for Donovan Mitchell, for Darius Garland, for Jaylen Suggs, Desmond Bane. The best guards, perimeter players of the top teams are going to have a horrible time trying to figure out how do they break through the perimeter defense of the Detroit Pistons. What’s good, D-Dubs? What’s good, man? get some of these comments really quick. Uh, see, yeah, excited to see Ivy and Assar next year, Sports Times, especially in transition. I think it’s going to be um NBA jam guys dunking, deciding not to dunk, to throw it up to another guy for a dunk, throw it up to another guy for alleyoop, alleyoop, alleyoop dunk. Like, it’s going to be crazy. It’s going to be crazy. you add in Ron Ron Ron Holland to that. Um, it’s gonna be nuts, bro. It’s gonna be nuts. It’s gonna be nuts. Uh, yeah. So, definitely looking forward to seeing them in transition. Should the Pistons be more of an offensive or a defensive-minded team just or just balance always defense first? Defense will take you further and along the way make sure you can maximize your offense and they have the talent to do it on both ends. Can JB Bigger Staff put it together? That would be the major question. I’ve always been wanting to see a Detroit Pistons versus Cleveland Cavaliers uh playoff matchup. I think we might get it this year. I think we might get it this year. I can’t wait to go at them boys. I think that would be so dope. JB Big Staff gets his revenge. Interdivisional rivalry. Let’s go. Let’s take him out. It would also be a great learning curve to also have to go through Indiana. If we if we could do like a Indiana Cleveland New York or Indiana, New York, Cleveland playoff run, that would be amazing just for what we would learn and the level of competitiveness, the intensity and then you begin to develop some real rivalries too. Um, let me see. Uh K need to make sure he does not become Jaylen Brunson. Pistons of Cook. Yep. Got to get the ball out of his hands. He’s got too much talent around him. Uh they need to be top five. Uh realistically, which teams are going to be higher seed than the Pistons? I mean, I think we’re going to be a top three, four seed by the end of the season, but our defense is going to take us there, bro. The vets do that to they hold on to the ball too long. True. So many times that Assar was trying to push the pace and get up the court for other team get set up. So annoying sometimes. I feel you sports times and the vets do but this is where JB thicker staff has to create that culture that identity from training camp early on. He has to get that buy in. Let’s play unselfishly which is I would say he already has established an unselfish style of play on this team and he also has a lot of unselfish players. I don’t think that he has too many guys who are kind of like, “Oh, I gotta get mine, right?” Um, and I would say most players are not like that, but there are some players, you know, who kind of have that, you know, label on them that they’re bit of a black hole. Uh, even though I actually kind of want Jaden Ivy to be a black hole this year. I wouldn’t mind him having four assists, five rebounds, and average 23 points a game. I can I can see that going down, but JB Bigger Staff has to establish that. Broadick. Yo, what’s good, Brick? It’s good to see you, man. Fact that the Pistons are steady growing and their collective mentality is why we’ll be the team pushing all the expected top five or more experienced teams. Yep. Uh been before team. Yeah. Yeah, I got you. I got you. And there’s going to be a lot that’s going to be on JB Picker staff’s uh mantle to say how do we develop the right culture and the outlook for this team to take those next steps. Um Sandra was good. I think the Piston should be like the Nuggets uh and only one thing in my opinion and that’s make it so that the bench takes you to the last five minutes close games and then you put the starting five in there and cook. Yeah. But you got to have the bench to do it. And I think they finally do. Do they have the coach to instill that type of a mindset? We’ll see. I think we will see. Um I’m looking forward to it though. I think we see a Detroit Pistons begin to utilize their bench more, trust the younger players more, and that means trusting Ron Holland more. Um potentially even Bobby Clement. I think they’re talented enough to win without relying on the veterans so heavily. But at the same time, even if they do rely on the veterans heavily, they still have Caris Duncan Stew who should be excellent for them. And Marcus Sasser, who you know is one of those unfairly getting bench splintered type of players. Um, I think all those guys can come in and contribute. So that’s nine deep. You add in Ron Holland, you add in a Bobby Clinton, you add in a Chazineir. If one of those guys pops and becomes an extremely reliable, highlevel bench role player, all of a sudden now you have one of the deepest teams in the league. But great points as always. I’m get to a couple more and then I want to continue with the uh with the live. Um, let me see what’s good. Dubs come here to say quickly uh that a few people truly know and love the game of basketball and Kevin KD’s in your top five greatest players of all time. One of the best players ever. You know, I mean, uh, appreciate that. Let me just say this. There’s a lot of great players when you know the game of basketball. There’s been a lot. There’s been a lot. You got Dr. Julius Irvin, the the doctor, right? You got Wil, you got Bill, you got Bird, you got Magic, of course, Cap, Kareem, right? You got the dream, right? You got so many guys, man. Not to mention the King, LeBron, you got Mr. Air Jordan, his air himself, Mike, you know what I mean? It’s like there’s a lot. So for KD to get up in there, you know, you’re gonna have to trudge through, you know, you got Steph as well. You got a lot of great players. A lot of great players, but he is one as well. No shade at all. Um, oh, Glaz, I got to respect it. Yes. Yes. Uh, let me see some of these other man. Uh, okay. Let me let me uh let me get to the rest of this. When it comes to beating, I’m kind of going to lump them a little bit just for the sake of time. How the Detroit Pistons beat the Pistons, even the Magic, the Cavs, it’s going to be about their ability to shut down other teams back court on the perimeter. And when I say shut down, I mean making it hell. Making it hell. When you have so much positional size, this is a real advantage that really I can’t think of another team who has this level of positional size and the ability to defend across the board. Across the board, yes, it gets a little light on the interior, but I don’t know if there’s any team who has the interior play that could beat the Pistons in a series, right? Unless Philadelphia, you know, and we’re not even counting them, but let’s say they finally get healthy and you got Paul George and Joel Embiid healthy for a playoff run. Okay, that might be a team that could beat you inside out. But most of these teams are trying to beat you outside in at the perimeter, at the point of attack. And we saw last season in the playoffs with with uh Assar Thompson on Brunson, he made it hell. and he forced them to have to pass to Mikuel Bridges and OG Anobi. The problem was we had Tim Hardaway Jr. and and Malik Beasley trying to contain. Now we’ve upgraded. We’ve upgraded. We got Ivy back along with Assar, along with Ron Holland and Duncan Robinson, Caris. Now all of a sudden they can’t get those easy baskets at the rim. They can’t simply attack a weak matchup. uh a cone on defense as those guys were respectfully. They were great for us offensively, but defensively that’s what it was. They can’t necessarily go that route. And so when you have your team set up in that way where you have perimeter defense that can contain or even shut down, turn over, pressure, slow down the pace of the game, uh styy a team’s ability to get into their offensive flow to get into transition opportunities because you have so many athletes with so much length, high motor locked in defensively. And I’m talking about Cade, Ivy Assar, Ron Holland. These guys are going to present a real problem come playoffs. Jaylen Suggs, Desmond Bane, what do you do? That offense is going to get real stagnant against a team like the Pistons. Against a team like the Pistons. And even when you look at some place, and I’m get to Denver, OKC, Denver is more of an anomaly because they can beat you going inside out. with Nicole Joic. That is probably the one team I would be like, damn, I don’t know. Even at our best, if everything goes right, they can still beat us if healthy. I think they beat OKC if Aaron Gordon doesn’t get hurt. I’m just saying. So, when you think about the Piston strategy for getting through the East, beating just about anybody in the East, it starts with their perimeter defense. It starts with their ability to contain on the perimeter to switch constantly along the perimeter and their positional size. When you’re bringing in Duncan Robinson at 68, Caris at 67, both guys, veterans who are bought in defensively who know how to execute schemes, you have the ability to present a considerable considerable issue for most teams. And it forces them to have to change strategy because there’s no more straight line drives. There’s no more um hunt the the weaker option. And on top of that, with Assar Thompson, you have probably one of the best help defenders in the NBA. His ability to dig in as a help defender one pass away and strip a ball handler. His ability to rotate weakside shot blocker. his ability to read passing lanes, his fast twitch, quick twitch, uh fast hands, uh he’s like a bigger Dyson Daniels. Um he gets just about everywhere and he’s so disruptive. And when you’re trying to playm make against size against size Kate Cunningham, Jaden Ivy, Ron Holland, Caris Severt, Duncan Robinson, and you’re trying to make a pass over the top, trying to make a pass around length. If you’re trying to make a pass, ball faking, and you got this pressure in your face, you end up in a position where you’re taking more risks with your passes, which create more opportunities for guys like Ron Holland, Jaden Ivy, or Sar Thompson, Kade Cunningham to find that passing lane. And after a tip or a looping pass that gives you an extra second, there’s going to be a lot of steals. And I think that that translates all the way through the playoffs. All the way through the playoffs. The next aspect of it is they’re going to be able to control and dominate on the boards. Now, look, these other top teams are going to be strong rebounding teams, but there’s absolutely no reason why the Detroit Pistons should not also be a strong rebounding team because they not only have one of the best rebounders in the league, I think, and Jaylen Duran and then off the bench with Isaiah Stewart, but you also have positional defenders. Tobias Harris showed he can rebound at a high level in the playoffs, but then you also have rebounding from your guard and wing a rotation. Ron Holland, Assar Thompson, especially Kate Cunningham, and even Jaden Ivy, these guys rebound. And that ability to control the boards allows you to control the pace of the game. It allows you to minimize second shot opportunities from other teams. Though I will say one of the things that we will have to emphasize is rebounding from the perimeter because our interior is not as big as some of these other teams. We look at the New York Knicks, Mitchell Robinson at 72, Carl Anthony Towns at 7 feet. You look at Cleveland 611. Um uh uh what’s his name? Um Jared Allen, right? 7 feet. Evan Mobley, guys with length. Even Orlando 610. Wendell Carter Jr. with about a 75 wingspan, which is similar to Jaylen Dur. And Duran’s more athletic, but you got a 610 Paulo Ban Carol and 610 France Vagner. They’re going to have size also, but we can rebound with them, but we’re going to have to in order to stay in these games because it’s going to be a chess match. It’s going to be a lot of adjustments and you can’t give up second shot opportunities to these teams because most of them are just going to put the ball right back in the hoop. Either open three or tipping it back in, right, and get those second chance opportunities. despite great defense on the perimeter. So, you have to close out the play. The last aspect of it is I think we’re going to have a closer in Kade Cunningham for the first time. We’re not going to have a guy who’s having to carry us the whole game and close. You got other guys who can bring you through the course of the game. Ivy, Duran, Assar, Ron, Duncan, Caris, right? Marcus Sasser, right? These guys who can buoy your offense for segments of the game so Cade can score within the flow and then at the end he can close. So he’s going to be able to go toe-to-toe with the Brunsons, with the Donovan Mitchells, with Apollo Beneros. And it’s necessary, especially if you want to get through your conference playoffs. And we may have to do a a round two of this um discussion uh because it’s getting a little bit long. But it’s okay. It’s okay. All that to say is with the improved offense, we now have a closer who doesn’t have to carry us throughout the full course of the game, which should allow for the Detroit Pistons to finish games better. It should allow for them to put teams away instead of those close losses. like against the Charlotte Hornets early last year. Now those are close wins. Those are winning by five instead of losing by two. Winning by six or seven because now it’s a free throw game and we knock down our free throws instead of trying to win by one, two or three. Right? That’s that margin of difference when you have a closer to carry you throughout the full game in regular season. The next part is this is a team that should be able to have a secondary takeover player. You know, in the same way that Oklahoma City was able to lean on JDub when SJA was getting bottled up or couldn’t get going, same way that Denver has Jamal Murray when Joic is struggling or not. Same way Carl Anthony Towns when Jaylen Brunson. The same way you have Darius Garland when Donovan Mitchell was struggling, which is kind of the reason why they lost in the second round because they didn’t have him or he was still hurt with the toe injury. is to say that now having Jaden Ivy, a legitimate 20 plus point per game scorer playing alongside of Cade is going to allow this team to have a dual threat where teams are going to constantly be offbalance because between those two either can take over the game, either can close the game and both of them play off each each other extremely well. They may have some of the best but potential potential chemistry. That’s probably if I had to have an example, it’s probably closest to I don’t want to say JDub and SGA, but probably close to that. explosive scoring, athleticism, speed, ability to get downhill, collapse the defense, and make the right play. Now, I don’t know if Jaden Ivy, I have to see him in the playoffs. He’s never been a player who reads the game at that high of a level. But I would say this, I would say this. If he settles into that offguard versus lead guard position and Assar Thompson can grow into his point forward abilities, I think this creates a nice little triumphant that unlocks one another. Almost like uh Draymond Green, Stephen Curry, and Klay Thompson, how they unlocked one another. Steph needs another highlevel shooter next to him. And I mean great shooter next to him to open things up. He also needs a facilitator, right? If you have Kate and Ivy with Assar unlocking their scoring potential by alleviating their need to be ball dominant, you now present an opportunity where you have two dominant scorers in Ivy and Cade who can minimize the amount of energy and effort they put out there while maximizing their ability to keep the defense off balance because they’re constantly worried about either getting high quality shots which can easily snowball into a run. So, I think that that’s one of the key factors. Having that secondary highle score next to Cade in Jaden Ivy, I think is going to allow this offense to be unlocked all the more. The last aspect of it is going to be Assar Thompson. What’s good, Frank Niti? When I see Assar Thompson, I see Amen Thompson. And what I mean by that is I’m saying I see what he’s going to be able to do. I can take frameworks of what Amond Thompson did last season. He wasn’t the primary guard, right? That was Fred. He’s kind of playing in the midst of everyone else. Alprin Shangon, Dylan Brooks, Jabari Smith Jr., Tari E. He’s kind of filling in and he’s just making plays constantly. And by the time April rolled around, he was invaluable. And by the time the first round of playoffs, he was their best player. I think Assar Thompson can have a similar type of impact. I don’t think he’ll become the best player, but his impact will prove why we’re so high on him. if he is able to maximize his talent next season, come in and be that guy that’s very disruptive on defense, first team all defense while being a highle playmaker facilitator who can get downhill in transition to the rim, make plays off the ball, make other people better. I think yes, I do think Assar Thompson’s ceiling is higher than Ivy. I think he does more things though. what Ivy does great in terms of scoring probably has the potential impact to be an all-star level, which is something that is still profound in its own right. So, it’s like it’s it’s it’s kind of apples and oranges, two totally different players, which is actually a good thing. You don’t want players who overlap. Um, otherwise it’s kind of redundant and then you have areas where you need to improve and you don’t have the guy for it or you have to go out and trade and find that guy. I think the Pistons have just about everyone they need, especially if Bobby Clintman continues to evolve and and and progress next season. But when I see this team, if Assara Thompson can become that utility highlevel utility player, that Andre Iguadala, that Shaun Marian Matrix, right, that Draymond Green, that guy who does so many things for you, his plus minus is going to be off the charts. When he’s on the court, everything looks better, runs better. If he becomes that for this team, it adds a dimension that I think many teams are going to be really kind of hamstrung. What do we do with this? Where do we go from here? How do we contain this? How do we figure this out? How do we how do we prevent this team? Because remember, they’re still playing high level defense, locking you up on the perimeter, creating turnovers, getting out in transition from rebounding. Assar and Ivy, Ron Holland on the perimeter, flying up and down the court, getting easy baskets. They’re still having Kate Cunningham as the closer, right? You still have Jaden Ivy now potentially able to be the best player on the court, right? And take over games and close games, right? So now you’re picking your poison there. All right. I haven’t gotten to Jaylen During yet. still have Duncan Robinson coming and lightening you up like Malik Beasley was and Tim Martway Jr. was last season, but he’s 68 and can defend better. Still got Carris Levert doing his thing. Isaiah Stewart beef stew our culture setter right coming in off the bench knocking down threes, blocking shots, challenging at the rim, rebounding, making good passes, attacking his mismatch. You want adding this physicality. All of this is taking place and then now you got to deal with Assar Thompson. What the hell? What the hell? This team has the opportunity to be a juggernaut. This team has an opportunity to be a juggernaut. Yeah, I don’t think Duncan Robinson gamles. I don’t think he gamles. They have opportunity to be a team that is absolutely a problem for the league in terms of figuring them out. OKC, I don’t think they were as hard to figure out as much as they were able to hit you with waves of defense that teams did not have an answer for. And that kind of brings me to the Western Conference. I’m going continue to talk about the Pistons, but let’s get to the Western Conference. Oklahoma City’s main advantage was on defense. their ability to defend you with waves of perimeter defense, whether it’s Kase Wallace, Alex Caruso, Luin’s Dort, uh Jayd Dub, SGA, their ability to completely smother you and pressure you was also dependent upon most of these guys, most of these teams not having depth at the guard position. Most teams don’t have a lot of guards to go to, which is why Indiana was able to sustain themselves because you had Tyresese Hallebertton and TJ McConnell and Andrew Nimhard, right? You got three highlevel high processing guards who can get you into your offense, who can create, attack, uh, a closeout, get into the seams, right? high level ball handlers who can also process the floor at a high level. I think between Assar and Cade, Caris, then Ivy, Sasser, you’re going to have enough. Now, that may be a question mark still because we still have not seen Ivy in those high pressure situations have to process. We know he can get his shot off, which is kind of what I just want him to do. Just go get a bucket, my boy. Just go get a bucket, my G. Yeah, I don’t need you to try to make the right look. And in the playoffs, yes, you’re going to have to learn some You’re going to have some growing pains, but a tough shot for Ivy is not necessarily all tough shots are not created the same. Ivy’s ability to elevate with his shooting touch, his speed, his physicality. He may come back even stronger next year likely. He’s going to be able to create his own shot extremely well. And when you have other guys, you can’t help off. When you got Kade over there, when you got Duncan Robinson over there, let’s say you got Isaiah Stewart out there spacing at the center position, Tobias Harris, it’s going to be really hard for guys to load up on Jaden Ivy. And I think that he gets to his shot very easily. I think he might become just as good of a closer as Cade because he doesn’t have to do as many, you know, turns and shakes and moves. Though, I think that is a point where Kade is going to improve, becoming an MVP candidate where he’s going to simplify that and go knows exactly what he wants to go to at the end of games, at the end of the shot clock to get his shot off, to get a high percentage shot right where he wants it, right around that free throw line. Allah SGA. But I think that the challenge that OKC brings is something that they’re going to have to learn against. They’re going to have to figure it out. I think Orlando is going to have ability to bring some of that defense, too. But having Desmond Bane on the court always means that you’re going to have somewhat of a of a liability out there that you can target, especially in a playoff game. And if you could get Desmond Bane, even on an Assar Thompson, that’s a blowby. Jaden Ivy, it’s a blowby. Kate Cunningham, it’s a blowby. And considering he’s their best shooter that they need to provide spacing offensively, you’re going to be able to take advantage of that. Same with Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell, Jaylen Brunson. You can take advantage of those back courts. OKC is going to be a little bit different. Now, on the other side of it, yeah, they played a smart zone. On the other side of it, you have the Denver Nuggets. And with Nicole Joic on the interior, I think he presents a major problem because his passing opens up things for the rest of his teammates. Now, I do think we still match up well, but the size that they present with Cam Johnson and Aaron Gordon along with Jamal Murray and Christian Brown, I think they’re going to be able to handle our pressure and perimeter defense. We will have an opportunity to slow down to Jamal Murray, especially in his one-on-one attack, but that pick and roll is going to be deadly against us. And I would say OKC and Denver are probably one of probably the only two teams I would say in a playoff series. I just don’t think we can beat. I don’t think we have it yet. And I’m only going on based on what we’ve seen, not projected, you know, Jaylen Duran adding a three-point shot, stuff like that. But those are the only two teams I wouldn’t say that we can beat. But now, yeah, that’s the Nugget size. But now, when you look at, let’s say, Minnesota or Houston. Minnesota and Houston, I think we could bottle them up. I think we can bottle them up. Team Savant, what’s good, my man? Eugene Perty, yo, what’s good, man? Exactly. Just let Ivy off the leash. I think that’s what they need to do. Simplify shot package and say be aggressive. Go for it. Go for it. Um, and then you also have uh, yeah, our future starting lineup, KJ, Ji, Holland, Assar, Duran. I can completely see that. I can completely see that. I don’t know if it’s this year, but I do think that that five finds an opportunity to try to close together at some point in time. What’s good, man? And I want to see it. And that speaks to what I said earlier. JB Biggerstaff has to figure out a way to unlock his most talented five players. Can they play together? Well, when that when those five are on the court together, it is a plus for their team. That’s the real challenge. That’s the real challenge for JB. And getting them used to letting go of the ball in transition. Stop one guy bringing it up. Pass it up ahead. Get it to Assar. Trust your teammates. Jay Ivy. Let them get out in transition. Trust that you’ll get the ball back. When you look at Minnesota and you look at Houston, those are two damn good teams. Two damn good teams. And it would be a dog fight against either of them in a playoff series. How we beat either of those teams is going to be by likely somebody elevating that we didn’t foresee. Somebody stepping it up that we didn’t see coming. And I know Connley’s like 167 at this point. We’re gonna need somebody to elevate their game in the playoffs to beat those level of teams because the the advantage that those teams have is their experience in the playoffs. They know what to do when, how to get through certain moments, what they can get away with, what they can’t, right? Like we saw Assar Thompson’s learning curve on the defensive end, how to defend a high level score like Jaylen Brunson, earning the respect of the officials to get away with certain stuff, to be able to pressure in certain ways, the level of physicality, not getting into foul trouble. Like all those learning curves, they’ve already established. They’ve already established. They’ll know exactly what to do and we’re still figuring it out. How you turn the tables on that type of team is you give them something that they haven’t planned for. Maybe it’s a Ron Holland breakout series. Maybe it’s Marcus Sasser playing looking like JJ Berea for the Dallas Mavericks in those in those playoffs where they ran through the Los Angeles Lakers, ran through the Miami Heat. They ran through Oklahoma City Thunder, right? They ran through great teams, all-time great teams. JJ Berea was a major part of that. He came in off the bench as a huge major spark plug who they just did not have an answer for. Marcus Sasser has the ability to be that for this team. A guy who just comes in and gets buckets. Assara will be better. Uh he will get a better whistle next year. Facts. Facts. I think Assar Thompson’s first team all defense next year. I think that’s without saying for me. um he’s just he’s just a great player. A great player that I look forward to seeing out there. Um and what he looks like in year three is kind of exciting. Kind of exciting. Um I’ll probably do a video on that later on, too. Uh but I’m excited to see what Assar Thompson looks like in year three. Full off seasonason, healthy, getting his strength back, getting his timing, his rhythm. We talked about that in the last video. uh and just coming in and being great. Some of these other comments real quick. Crazy to let Caruso and Lud Dor get away with so much. Yeah, facts. And I think Assar gets that respect next year. And he becomes a devastating defender next year. Like devastating, devastating. Um, I think he’s somebody we can deploy on Apollo Ben Carroll, on a Jaylen Brown, on a Jaylen Brunson, on a even a Donovan Mitchell. Um, put him on SGA, Jamal Murray, uh, Stephen Curry, even Luca, right? And just say, “You got him. Yeah, we’ll help from time to time, but you got him. I think he’ll do a great job.” Absolutely great job. But in order to beat teams like Houston and Minnesota, somebody will need to step up. Somebody will need to step up and have a breakout series. And my breakout candidates, I think it’s somewhere between Ron Holland and Marcus Sasser. Like I think we know what Ivy is going to do. We know what Assar is going to do based upon what we saw throughout last season. But the true breakout candidates, well, it could also be during and that’s a wild card. Actually, that’s that might be a great topic for next season. Let me write it down. I think that would be a fun topic to talk about. Who are the Pistons breakout candidates? because I think this team has so much potential for improvement uh between Kade Cunningham, Ivy, Assar, uh Duran, Holland, shoot, and even Sasser. I think any of those guys can be breakouts. Any of them. Um, and one of those guys breaking out in a playoff series could be the difference between progressing from the second round into the conference finals or not. One of those guys coming out of nowhere to present a challenge that other teams just don’t have an answer for. And now all of a sudden it’s like, “Okay, let’s go. Let’s go. We got this.” I think we can see that next year. I think that’s how we would get through a series against a Minnesota or a Houston because those teams have a distinct advantage over us. And then there’s the honorable mentions, Golden State Warriors, the Los Angeles Lakers. I think against those teams, we can just outright beat. I think Orlando we can outright beat. I don’t think they have advantages where they need to to beat us. Whether it’s the depth of perimeter defense, whether it is the interior scoring that has significant size and playmaking. I don’t think they have the excuse me h excuse me. I don’t think that they have the they do have good positional size to match up against us, but I don’t know if they have the rest. I don’t think I just don’t think that they have enough. I don’t think I don’t think that they have enough to beat us. Period. Period. But I think that’s where I want to end it for today. Appreciate all y’all jumping on this live with me. Um, it takes a lot out of you to do 80 minutes of talking. Damn. Damn, that’s a lot of talking I feel like I’m all talked out. Appreciate y’all jumping on with me, man. Sandro, as always, Sports Times, Eugene, it’s good to see you again, man. Um, uh, who else is up in the chat with me today? Team Sant, always, always good to see you in here, man. Uh, Brick, thank you for coming through. Frank Niti, as always, as always. Yeah, I definitely think that we gonna use Duncan Robinson as Spo did. He’s gonna get a lot of reps in that Tim Hardaway Junior Malik Beasley role. Um, coming off those those those dribble handoff screens, shooting, letting it go. He’s going to be dynamic for us for sure. Um, he’s definitely going to add some pop to our offense. Um, who else was up in here with me today? I think that’s just about it that I see in the comments section. Oh, dubs as well. Appreciate you too coming through, man. It’s been dope. It’s been dope. It’s your man 100 Grand Ross for the rock never stops. Um, man, I felt like today my mouth didn’t stop. Woo. Got out some energy, bro. Uh, I appreciate y’all being on this with me. Who do you think gives us probably our biggest challenge in the playoffs in the Eastern Conference? Um, let me know in the comments section. Oh, you’ll be out in the bay soon. Hey, hit me, bro. Hit me, bro. Mad stuff to get into. Joe B, it’s good to see you, man. Good to see you as well. Um, y’all hilarious. Y’all hilarious. All right, I’mma get at y’all, man. Um, I’mma get at y’all. Y’all are dope. Uh, I should try to be on tomorrow morning. I would like to talk about our breakout candidates for for next year. So maybe that’s what I do tomorrow morning. Probably be on a little bit earlier though. All right. Um yo, I’m get at y’all next time. Smash the like button for me. Hit subscribe and the bell for notifications. Definitely get at me in the comment section after I post because you know we continue the conversation there. Always respond to y’all’s comments. Get at y’all next time. Peace.