Detroit Pistons BREAKOUT Candidate Debate for Next Season!

Detroit Pistons BREAKOUT Candidate Debate for Next Season!

you with another one. Boy, we talking about breakout candidates today, my man. It should be fun. I hope y’all are able to join me in this live chat cuz uh I’m here for it. I’m juiced. Uh I got my list together, right? I got all my notes right here. I mean, I ain’t got hella notes. I just It ain’t that complicated, you feel me? Um but I do kind of have uh some thoughts on it, you feel me? Um and I’m excited to talk about it. I hope you are too. So, if you join me, bring your uh best ideas, your thoughts, your uh presumptions, projections, all of it, because we about to get it in. But before I start, invite you to smash the like button. Hit subscribe and the bell for notifications. Share it with your friends, partners in the group chat. Y’all talk about it, too. Uh because I think it’s going to be a good topic. Um and I know smashing the like button seems like a whatever. It’s a little thing, but it’s a big thing. really helps out with the channel, helps out with the direction that we’re going in, and it lets the YouTube algorithm know you want to be notified, right? Oh, you got to hit the bell for that actually, but that you want to be notified that you enjoy doing live interactive chats with me. So, do the do and let’s get it in. Who are the Pistons breakout candidates for the 202526 season? That’s a big question. That’s a big question. And the reason why it’s a big question is because we got like five dudes at least that could be breaking out. We got literally five dudes that could be breaking out. When I say breaking out, I mean taking a considerable jump from what we saw last season to what we will see this coming year. All of our guys are healthy going into this off season. Right. Ivy was already back on the court doing drills. He wasn’t clear for contact. Uh, no. I just didn’t charge my uh other phone. Can you hear me? All right. Thumbs up. Let me know you can hear me. All right. Yeah. Knock on wood for the hell. Yeah. Facts. Facts. Keep Yeah. Keep keep it consistent. Keep it consistent. Got to keep that energy. But it’s to say, we’ve got so many guys going into this off season healthy. That is a Making sure my ears weren’t broken. Why is it too loud? Is it too loud? I think it might be charged. I could probably switch up real quick if you want if it sounds better under the other one. See how long it’ll last. Plug it in real quick. Can you hear me? All right. which is a difference in the voice. All right, carry on. Appreciate you, Joe. So, let me just start with this. When young guys early in their career go into the offseason healthy, you should have full expectation that they’re going to take another step forward. And when I say a step forward, that means getting physically stronger, uh, developing different aspects of their game, uh, being able to spend time with the coaches, putting together an offseason plan to get prepared for the next season’s training camp and the expectations for them as a player within the construct of the team. All that’s to say is that by the time you get to the summertime runs, the Rico Hines, the Drew Leagues, uh, you know, wherever they’re going to be hooping, you should be seeing something different as we saw with Ron Holland. Uh, and even Dennis Jenkins. Um, and even Bo, uh, uh, Bobby Clintman, right? Clintman looked bigger, right? He looked a little bit more physical, did a great job rebounding at 610, right? So, like showed you things. Tou Smith, right? Each of these guys came in looked considerably better than they had in the past and that’s what we expect. Ron Holland actually took he looked like a big jump from what we saw last season to what we saw in the summer league or if you compare last summer league to this summer league he just looked like he took a big step. That is the expectation. But what happens when you got five, six guys that could be taking a big step, right? You have a developmental staff. You got a shooting coach, one of the best shooting coach uh uh coaches out there in in the NBA. You’ve got um a stable organization for the first time, right? A coach that you believe in, a system, a culture, a team identity, right? You’ve got a lot of things boating well for the development of a young player. So, which one is going to have the biggest jump? I’m going to go through my list. Let me know if there’s a a list. Uh, tell us what happened, honey. About what? About what, Joe? About what, Joe? I’m here for all of it. But, as I say, I’mma go through my list. And after I go through my list, I’m going to uh start with who I think is going to have the lowest jump all the way to the person I think is going to have the biggest jump. So, you’re gonna have to stay tuned to kind of get it, but you’ll probably figure it out by the time I get through most of them. I’m just here for the call and response part of the service since it’s Sunday. And hey, you know what? Won’t he do it? Won’t he do it? I I I’ll take a well and amen if you if you appreciate what I’m what I’m spitting out today. So, let’s go through my list. I got number one Kate Cunningham on my list. Then Jay Naivy, Assar Thompson, Jaylen Durren, Ron Holland, and Marcus Sasser. Notable names that you don’t see on this list, Bobby Clemen, Isaiah Stewart, Tou Smith, and of course, the veterans. We don’t have a Chaz Laneir on this list. I only have the guys, these five, actually six, sorry, these six that I truly believe are going to have, and hear me on this, a significant enough role to be able to produce more than what they did last season. So, that negates people like Bobby Clement, who look like up and down in summer league, not necessarily sure what he’s going to do. Ron Holland’s probably sliding into those minutes at the forward position, right? That’ll get dispersed between Isaiah Stewart and Ron Holland, right? But then someone like Marcus Sasser, I think he has an opportunity to carve out a significant role next season. So that’s why he’s on this list. Right now, of course, the veterans that are already 25, 26, 27, 28 are already kind of more solidified in who they are as a player. They can fine-tune some some things, but really they’re just trying to stay sharp. They’re trying to be in shape. They’re trying to be ready to go learn the system, learn learn the team, but they kind of already have who they are. There’s a benchmark. The ceiling is like this. You know what what uh Malik Beasley was able to do last season terms of having a huge jump in in in production. I don’t think we see that from a Duncan Robinson or Isaiah Stewart or Caris Levert or Tobias Harris. I don’t think they will have a big jump in their role to be able to produce more than what we’ve seen in the past. So, I’m not going to be talking about them. All right. Just kind of giving y’all a framework rubric. Understand how I’m evaluating these guys somewhat. All right. Let me start with the guy that I think is going to have a jump. Just not the biggest jump. Just not the biggest jump. I got start with Ron Holland. with Ron Holland. Now, I know a lot of y’all were excited about Ron Holland from Summer League, right? You know, rightfully so. He he took his next steps forward. He looked great. He looked strong. He looked dominant. Um, Joe, man, you killing me. You know, Ryan Holland, he looked great in summer league, but here’s the thing. There’s a big difference between looking great in summer league and being able to contribute to a winning team with expectation, playoff expectation on the main stage. Let me start there. That’s to say that even though he took a step forward, he didn’t necessarily take a big enough step. One, I’ll put it this way. If he was someone who was going to be a part of a starting rotation anytime soon, he probably wouldn’t have been in summer league. That’s just to kind of give you a thought. Secondly, he still has to kind of compete for minutes between Isaiah Stewart, Caris Levert, Duncan Robinson. We know that JB Picker staff loves his veterans and Tobias Harris. And when I say compete for minutes, I’m saying the role that he’s going to have on this team is going to be somewhere in there from the wing to the forward position. Probably I don’t see him playing the two very much. He’ll play that 34 position a lot. And yet Duncan Robinson, Carist, Tobias Harris are all still there to play the 34 position. And you also still got Isaiah Stewart who can play the four alongside Duran. Who knows if we see that experimented with more, especially considering Cleveland Cavaliers, Milwaukee Bucks, Orlando Magic, New York Knicks, teams that play big, right? If Philadelphia ever gets healthy, we’re going to need to go be able to go big against some of those teams or at least experiment with those rosters and those lineups. And so, as a result, Ron Holland is still going to be squeezing into those minutes, which is what I said. I think the big difference that we see from Ron Holland in terms of his outlook and his role is that he’s just going to see more consistent minutes. No more DNPs. He’s going to get at least 10 to 15, maybe 18 minutes a game towards the end of the year, right? But he’s still kind of splitting. He’s still kind of splitting those minutes. And so I think in that minimal role, we’re not going to see as big of a jump. Even though we’re going to see progress, we’re going to see improvement. We’re just not going to see the same type of a jump as these other guys. All right, get to some of these comments before I go on to the next one. Uh, let me see. I think continuing to improve his on ball ability in this next year will be the ticket to a big role in year three cuz honestly, even without the shot, his offball ability is really strong. It is. And it’s crazy that he only had three DMPs entire year. uh one when he was suspended and two uh in the final two games of the playoffs. True. And at the same time, he also had games where he played maybe six, eight minutes in the first half and didn’t play the whole second half, right? Sitting out whole quarters. I don’t think that happens this year. I think we see a steady dose of Ron Holland for a full game. He may even have opportunities if he’s rolling to close out games, which would be a tremendous step forward as well. And if injuries happen, knock on wood, right, they happen. um he’ll have an opportunity to potentially compete for a starting spot because JB Vicker staff may want to keep his veteran bench players entrenched in that role to let them get comfortable in it and say like, “Hey, Caris, Duncan, Stu, you guys are going to be bench players all year. Get used to it.” Um and we’re going to need you in that role big time, especially in the playoffs. Uh, and so he may like if Tobias Harris were gonna go to go down, he may say, “You know what, Ron, let’s give you an opportunity, you know, we we just might come in with the veterans earlier than we normally would if if Tobias was there.” The next person The next person that I have is Marcus Sasser. I’m a big Marcus Sasser stand. I’ve been telling y’all that. Been on it. Been on the train. Been on his hype. telling y’all, he has the potential to look great for us. Great for us. Now, I’m not talking Allen Iverson. I’m not talking Stephen Curry. I am talking about maybe the microwave. I’m talking about, you know, Vinnie Johnson. I’m talking about uh that highlevel bench role player who comes in and absolutely can steal the show. I think Marcus Sassa has steal the show type of ability. I think he has the ability to come into a game and change the landscape of it immediately with his shot creation ability, shooting ability, um an ability to get into the teeth of the defense and break down uh either a zone, whatever the defense is trying to do. I think he could be like JJ Berea, one of those guys who just comes in and he’s just absolutely just man disrupts everything with his scoring ability and all of a sudden now you’re having to guard him, load up on him like you would a starter. I think he’s got that Payton Pritchard, TJ McConnell type of motor. I think he’s a volume scorer, which is something that um I I oftentimes differentiate the difference between someone who can score and someone who is a volume scorer. Can score is generally guys who score within the flow of things. They’re not necessarily comfortable taking 15 to 20 shots a game or even in a game, you know. However, uh Marcus Sasser, that boy is built to score. He’s built to get buckets. He’s built to light it up. That’s just who he is. And so I could see him coming in the game even if he’s on like 15 to 20 minutes in a game. Not even that maybe. What we talking about, brok? Yeah. Yeah. We talking about uh breakout candidates. We just did Ron Holland. We on Marcus Sasser. I can see Marcus Sassa even in limited minutes coming in and absolutely lighting it up. I’m talking about eight points in a quarter, 10 points and a half. All of a sudden, fourth quarter, beginning of the fourth quarter, and all of a sudden he he gets two threes, three threes in a row, you know, like like he’s an explosive scoreer. I think that’s probably the best way to characterize him. I think he has that more than has that in him. And I think that this year, now that they’re not asking him to be Dennis Schroeder, now that they’re not asking him to be this facilitating guard, you can let Caris Levert handle that or Jaden Ivy or Assar Thompson or Kade Cunningham and he can come in and just be him, which is a dog on defense at the point of attack and someone who can absolutely fill it up. Go back and watch his highlights last year. I I I dare you to find a shot that didn’t look like it was going in the moment it released his fingertips. Immediately it looked like it was going in immediately because he’s just that type of score. Excuse me. He’s built for it. He’s built for it. The next person I want to go over is probably going to be and this is a tough one because we got Cade, Ivy, Assar, and Dur. The next person I think that’s going to have a considerable breakout, but maybe not as much as the rest. I think it’s going to be Jaylen Dur. I think it’s going to be Jaylen Dur. Yeah, I think so. I’m going backwards on my list. Start with Ron Holland, then Marcus Sasser. I’m going with Jaylen Duran. Here’s why. I think he’s going to improve. At least he’s going to have a jump. He’s going to be consistent. I think what we saw from last year in the second half of the season and the playoffs, I think that’s what we see all year long, 16- 12, 14- 10, 18 and 11, maybe a block or two, an assist or two. really strong numbers looking like Jared Allen type of numbers. Maybe not in the 20s as much, but he’s going to get double digits. You’re not going to be seeing games where it only takes three to four shots and he ends a game two or four, three or four, stuff like that. I think he’s he’s going to be strong and consistent. And that’s going to be his biggest jump. He’s going to be Ivaka Zubach type of level. not as many touches uh offensively that is, but he’s going to get six to eight shots a game, but he’s going to do his biggest damage through the consistency of playing time. Now, here’s the thing. The reason why he’s not going to take the biggest jump is because he’s still splitting minutes for Isaiah Stewart. Isaiah Stewart, who still is one of the best rim protecting big men in the league, one of the best uh reserve centers in the league, uh has an emerging growing three-point shooting ability that JB and the staff finally let him start taking again late in the second half of the year. And you began to also see an emerging offensive skill set where he’s attacking his his mismatch or his uh his matchup more aggressively. Whether it’s racing down the court trying to pin a smaller guard behind them and posting them up and getting the pass ahead. Whether it’s attacking guys like Evan Mobley off the bounce and getting to the rim. Whether it’s playing a little pick and pop game, whatever it is, Isaiah Stewart has a growing offensive game. And considering his impact, who he is for us culturally, I think Jayen Jaylen Duran’s minutes stays kind of where they’ve been at splitting with Isaiah Stewart, getting 24 to 28 minutes a game. I don’t see the 30 plus minutes a game to really have that great of a jump, but I do think he improves. And the improvement, like I said, is going to be through the consistency. That’s going to be a beautiful thing to see because let’s remember the horror show that the beginning of the season last year was when it comes to Jaylen Dur. That was a horror show. It was terrible. We were like, “Dude, is this dude even want to be here, man? He’s not playing defense. He looks hung over from the previous year. Like, he don’t know what this is. Come on, man. We need more out of you. We need more.” And then he admitted and said, “Hey, you know what? I need to do better. I need to do better.” He held himself accountable and turned in one hell of a second half of the year. Well, I think he starts from the beginning that way. We lean less heavily on Isaiah Stewart, but he still only gets about 24 to 26, 28 minutes a game at the most because Isaiah Stewart is so good. So, that’s where I’ve got at the bottom three out of the six. I’ve got Ron Holland. We’ll have he’ll improve, but his role will be small. And so, we’re not going to see the big jump that we might expect from a breakout candidate. Marcus Sasser is next. He’s going to look good. Explosive score off the bench. Dog on defense at the point of attack. Excellent shooter, floor spacer. Think he could be big time for us, right? He’s going to get hot quickly like a Lou Williams, but he’s still in a minimal role. And that’s because this next guy is going to have a hell of a year. But before I get into him, if you haven’t smashed the like button already, please smash the like button. It’s a little thing, but a big thing. Helps the channel out tremendously. And I appreciate all of y’all who are joining me today on a Sunday morning. God bless your hearts. Um, and hit subscribe and the bell for notifications so you get notified as soon as I launch so you can be here from the beginning in case you missed the Ron Holland conversation. the Marcus Sasser conversation and then just now the Jaylen Duran conversation. All right, with that said, let me check these comments real quick because I do encourage you to comment. I appreciate them. Uh let me see. Ron could be shooting 38% from uh from three on five attempts a game right now and he’d still probably be in the year 2 Trey Murphy kind of role because the on ball ability is the ticket. I can see that. I can see that. Uh, but here’s the thing. He He’s also still learning the game. He’s figuring it out. That’s where he’s at. He’s figuring it out still. As I said, if you’re still in summer league, you’re not necessarily look to to be a leader for a playoff team. And leaders are generally guys that the coach can depend upon who understand what to do, when to do it, and have somewhat of an organizational expectation. I think Ron has a growing organizational expectation and excitement about him, but they’re not necessarily putting a lot of that um responsibility on him for getting us into the playoffs. I don’t think he’s ready for that yet. So, I actually like how they’re developing him, not putting a lot on him, letting him come along slowly. I think it’s going to bode extremely well for his long-term success on this team. So, he’s going to have a smaller role. That’s a great point, though. Uh let me see. Yes, Hunter Sasser. Let’s go, boy. You know I’m talking about him. Sandro. Sandro. Uh, what’s good, man? Um, Joe B, I reckon it’s going to be Ivy fourth. And you right, bro. You right. You right. Look, Jayen Ivy is going to have a hell of a year. He’s going to have a hell of a year because I think what we saw in the first half of last season, especially towards like December, was no fluke. Was no fluke. um what he was able to do with the ball in his hands, getting out in transition, what he was able to do in terms of shooting consistently. Um I think he’s going to be absolutely turning it up and what that’s going to look like. I’m going to give you a general stat line. 22 points, four rebounds, three assists, really good efficiency, but more than anything, the highlights and his taking over for stretches of the game, looking like at times our best player. That’s what we’re going to see. We don’t need him to do everything. we’ve got too many other guys who can contribute in so many other ways. So his jump is not necessarily going to be this great statistical leap where now it’s five rebounds, six assists, you know, all these. He’s just going to be highly efficient. He’s going to have a scoring jump from I think what was that 17 18 points per game, but then it’s going to be consistent, reliable. It’s going to be a real threat. We’re going to see the threat with Cade. We’re going to see teams having to choose between the two of them, right? Getting it wrong and focusing on Kade. And then Ivy hits him for two threes, gets to the free throw line for a couple free throws, drops off a dime to Duran, has a dunk in transition. All of a sudden, we’re like, whoa, look at this dude over here. And it completely shifts the defense. Completely shifts that attention. All of a sudden, now Kate Cunningham is getting wide open threes on the weak side wing because now they’re worried about Ivy. That’s what we’re going to see from Ivy. The more you limit uh a role player role player role players role, the better they get at that specific role. Sometimes. Yeah, sometimes. Sometimes. But I’ll say this from uh Jay Nivy. He’s itching to get back out there. He’s itching to get back out there and prove he’s everything that he was beginning to emerge and show he can be. He’s a He’s a prideful athlete in a good way, right? Not the prideful uncoachable, but the prideful like I have something to prove to myself. I believe in my game as he should. Mega Hustler was good. I would like to see Dannis Jenkins and Sasser back court off the bench. I don’t think we’re going to see it anytime soon unless injury happens. If I’m honest, not much. Um, what’s good project? There’s not much we don’t agree on. Facts. We’re talking about the squad. Always have since I’ve been following you. Yes, sir. Educating me on players around the league. Excellent knowledge. I appreciate you, bro. I appreciate you. Truly do appreciate you. Thank you for joining me on this Sunday morning. Right. Let me just say this about Ivy. I’m a big fan of his game. There’s some aspects I didn’t like. the turnovers, the mishandling, but I’m recognizing that it’s it’s part for the course. That’s how you get better. He’s not the first guard to go through turnover issues, but I think the the corner that he’s turning, the corner that he’s turning is maturing in his game, who he is, having some organizational stability, coaching stability. He’s going into next season for the first time in his career with the same coach that he had the previous year. I think he cements himself as that number two. As I have said many times, he’s not Robin. He’s Iron Man next to Captain America. All right, that’s who he is. He’s Thor. He’s probably closer to Thor. I probably give him a Thor. All right, I probably say Iron Man is more Sar Thompson. All right, but he’s not just some number two. He’s someone who can lead. He’s someone that you can rely upon to take you to that next level. And so when I see Jay Nivy, I don’t think he’ll have as huge of a jump statistically, right? Um maybe only improve by three to four points per game from last year, but what we see is the consistency. What we see is the explosive scoring. What we see is a more uh embedded chemistry between him and Cade that they can score off of each other, working off of each other to be better, to play at a high level. And so that’s the jump I see from Ivy. That’s why I have him at number four. But I think it solidifies next season. We see solidified. We’re not talking about who who Cade Cunningham’s running mate is. We’re not talking about, oh, we need to get him uh some help offensive. We’re not talking about that no more after next year. Probably by the time we get to November, we’re gonna be like, oh, yep. See, that’s what we thought. Yep. There goes Ivy. Yep. Yep. That’s what he does. He’s out there doing his thing. We’re good. All right. Let me get some of these comments and then I’m going to go to number two on my list. You can probably guess it. Probably guess it. Ivy needs to take that Jordan approach uh to scoring five to seven points a quarter, make a couple baskets, get to the foul line in the first quarter. Actually, I’m gonna be honest with you. I actually think that’s what Kade needs to do. I might be giving away my number two. Might be giving it away. Um I think he will just affect winning more and be more of a winning player than before. I agree too. I agree too. Um, I think to a major extent last season the team in general was figuring out how to win. They were all trying to figure out how to win. And without Assar Thompson, that defensive ace, they didn’t necessarily have a good enough defense in the first half of the season to really compete. on top of the fact that they had a front-loaded competitive season last year. And a lot of people forget that when they’re evaluating Jay Nivy and his onoff numbers or winning numbers and all these different things, uh defensive uh uh efficiency or win shares, all that stuff. Keep in mind, we had a front-loaded competitive season, meaning that we had the majority of our 50 plus win season teams, those teams that had that outlook, playoff, uh, NBA championship, conference finals teams at their healthiest early in the season. So, we were playing dominant teams early when they were fresh, no injuries, ready to go, and we were still competitive in those games, but we were not able to pull him out, especially without Assar Thompson. Oh, one second. Yeah, you at the door. All right, come up. Okay. All right, mommy. Text me again. All right. Kid life. Love it. All right. Where was I at? Ah, yes. Um, no Lost it. Ah, It is what it is. All right. Let me get to my number two. Let me get to my number two. Um, oh, let me read this comment real quick. Joe B, hopefully I sees all these combo guards getting hosed on the C. Yeah. and traded and realize uh he needs to take a defensive jump to get contracts and his position um in this league going forward. Yes, he does. Yes, he does. I think he started to do that last year, but I think we need to see him bought in bought into that. We need to see him fully bought in to being a point of attack uh defender who’s absolutely disruptive. If he does that, I think we have absolutely no problem. Absolutely no problem giving him that extension he wants. Absolutely no problem, you know. Um, but he has to be bought in. He has to show that he can be not just a good point of attack defender, but a great one. A great one. And why not? What else are we here to do but be great? I know Ivy wants to be great. be great, but do it on both ends, bro. We need that because if Ivy becomes a great two-way guard, if he becomes like absolutely shut down, you know, creating havoc, if he does that, yes, with his physical profile, athleticism, there’s actually no reason he can’t be a good defender. If he can become that for us, if he can become our Andrew Nimhard level defender, if he can become that guy, that Luin’s Dort level defender next to SGA, next to Cade, his value goes through the roof. Goes through the roof. And when you partner him next to uh Assar Thompson doing that now, it’s absolutely terrifying. this comment real quick. Uh Ji jumping three to four points would be him breaking out the same way Kade broke out. Uh it’s just proving what we knew. 22 point per game player. Um yes. Yep. Yeah. I agree. I agree. I think that that three to four point jump is going to be tremendous for us. Tremendous. But more than anything, it’s going to be consistent. That’s a big theme. But my number two, let’s get into it. It’s Cade Cunningham. I think he has the second biggest jump. Remember last year he already put up big numbers. He already put up big numbers. Let’s go pull him up just so we can read it off just so folks can know, you know, just, you know, just to refresh it. Just to refresh it. Kade Cunningham last year, 23 years old, put up 26 points, six rebounds, nine assists, 266 and nine. Damn. Took about 20 almost pretty much 21 field goal attempts a game. It’s kind of a lot, but he shot 47% from the field, which is great, right? Then he shot 35% from three. which was great on six attempts. And he shot over 50% from two, which is a great jump, right? His effective field goal percentage went up. But here’s some other numbers for you. Of course, over 80% from the free throw line. The six rebounds and the nine assists were revelations. Now, he still had four and a half turnovers. That was a bit concerning, but I’ll say this. with more help on the team and JB Bigger Staff having an opportunity to shift him away from a heliocentric offense. I think there’s going to be the opportunity for Kay to almost take a step back. I think he gets his points. I think he gets his 25 to 30 points a game. I think we see more rebounding, maybe less assists, and also less turnovers. I think his overall plus minus box score shoots up. Hang on one second. This is my little one. Hey, are you here? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Buzz. Uh, buzz up. All right. I’m on a call. Okay. All right. Hurry up. Oh, she got her hair done. She got her hair done. She got purple for Anyways, I’m dad life. Anyways, uh yeah, I think Kade takes a jump in his ability to be effective in moments. Almost like the comment that Let me see who had the comment about playing like Jordan. Yeah. Yeah. Maurice Shaw. Yes. Yeah. one right there. I think that’s what Kade needs to do. I like to say that’s what Kade needs to do. If he can get to the point where he is effectively scoring six points a quarter, at least six points. That’s his That’s his baseline. Get you six in a quarter. That’s how you know that you’re being aggressive enough. That’s how you know that you’re uh focused and locked in and then just close out games. Be that closer. But here’s the thing. If this offense is really running how it could how it can potentially telling you right now, he’s not going to need to do as much. He is not going to need to do as much. I if I’m honest with you, I think Jay Niv is a more explosive scorer than JDub from Oklahoma City. That speed and explosiveness, he has ability to put up points in bunches in a way that very few players can, especially if he buys in on defense. And then you add Assar, Duran, Sasser, Yo, yo, buzz. Buzz up, mommy. Oh, it’s not working. Ah, okay. I’m coming down real quick. Y’all gonna have to hang on. All right, just give me uh 30 seconds. I’ll be right back. All right, let’s see if folks are still here. My bad, y’all. Ah, buzzer. It wasn’t working. Appreciate you, Brick. All right, so Cade efficiency. He’s got more help. Can he use it? That’s the real That’s the real question. Can he actually use the help that he has? Will he actually be committed to it? Getting off the ball. I think that’s something that we talked about a lot last season that many times he looked best when he was playing off the ball, right? Wasn’t trying to do the heliocentric thing, forcing the ball, trying to make every play, deferring to guys like Dennis Schroeder, letting him set him up, let Assar Thompson run that point forward position, even just passing the ball ahead uh and and allowing us to get out uh in transition. Like these are all things that we’ve been kind of like waiting and begging for Kay to do more. And I think this this upcoming season, I think he steps into that like big time. Like big time. I think he fully steps into uh utilizing his team. And I don’t think that that’s a big jump for him. But I do think that one I think we will see it’s going to move him into MVP conversation. Not because he’s scoring more and he blows everyone away because he’s averaging over 30 points a game. That’s that’s not necessarily what it’s going to be. It’s going to be that this team is a top three seed almost the whole year that they’re beating and competing against teams who are absolutely dominant, right? They’re they’re they’re beating the Magic, going toe-to-toe or beating Cleveland and New York. Uh going toe-to-toe and beating Denver, right? Um Oklahoma City, right? like and he is the man that’s stirring that pot that he plays that SGA role where he’s setting guys up or he’s allowing the defense to focus on him making it easier on others. He is closing out games in big game moments for us. That’s how Kade takes that jump and he just looks like one of the best players in the league, right? he just looks the part and I think that that’s something that uh that’s what his jump is going to look like, but it’s not going to be the statistical one. If anything, hopefully you see the turnovers take a drop, but I think we also see the assists drop. Maybe down to like seven, six or seven, probably seven, cuz he’s just such an effective passer. But also with the ball out of his hands more, he’ll have less opportunity. Um, but that leads me to my number one breakout candidate for the Detroit Pistons, and that is none other than Assar Thompson. Starting off last year, he had blood clots, you know, and we’re all grateful uh that he was able to recover from that because that is something that has taken players out of the game. You know, Chris Bosch had to retire after blood clots. Alonzo Morning, you know, maybe it’s something about Miami, I don’t know, but he had blood clots and then uh he had to retire and then he came back, right? Um shucks. Now think about it. The Thompson Twins were in Florida at uh overtime elite. Maybe some in the water in Florida. Who knows? I don’t know. All this to say is that blood clots have ended guy’s career. So considering that he was able to make it back was already a huge feat, right? Yeah. Wimby’s hopefully looking Yeah, he’s coming back healthy, too. Yeah, I know. I know. And so, you know, it’s it’s great to be able to see these young guys still be able to come back uh and compete um you know, beyond those diagnosis. Yeah. And medical advancements facts. But it’s to say that he wasn’t able to work on his game all off season. he wasn’t able to uh get with the team in training camp, get adjusted to JB Bigger Staff’s system uh expectations. The coach staff was admittedly JB said, “Look, we really don’t have expectations for him yet.” Kind of just putting him out there and seeing what he can do, right? And so, and then with the whole Ivy injury coupled with that, it was like, “Okay, what do we do?” You know, let’s let’s just see. And so, he had very little expectation. And then when he came into the year last season, when he finally got on the court, he had such a menace restriction, allowing himself to get his win back. I mean, he was breathing heavy. You can see times he’s just hands on his hips. He’s like flying up and down the court for just one or two up and downs and then after two minutes of a game, he’s back out. And he comes back in three minutes and then he’s back out, right? Ends the game with eight minutes, right? It might look great for that stretch, but he was on a tight minutes restriction early on. through the month of January and then it wasn’t until February after the All-Star break uh going into March that you see this steady incline of his minutes and we saw these great flashes and by the time that we got to uh uh the playoffs, he was playing in some of his best form. But let’s be clear about this. His stat line last season, and this is where I think we’re going to see, this is why I think we’re going to see the biggest jump at only 22 years old. It says here that he averaged 22 minutes per game. I would gather the majority of those minutes were late in the season. Were late in the season. But even then, shooting 53% from the field, he averaged. Let me pull it up here. 10 points, five rebounds, 2.3 assists. 10 points, five rebounds, 2.3 assists. Then when you look at what he did in the playoffs, and this is where I kind of want to cement what I think that we’re going to see. Go right here. Let’s pull up uh stats. Advanced stats. Let me see. It should have playoffs here. Ah, here we go. Playoffs. In 22 and a half minutes per game, he gave you 11 and a half points, a block, a steal, an assist, five rebounds, shot 58% from the free throw line. Now, here’s the thing. It may not sound like that big of a showing in the playoffs, but it’s not just what you scored, it was how you scored. It wasn’t just what your stat line was, it was how you got it. Assar Thompson was playing in a front court against Carl Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson and Josh Hart and OG Anobi. Probably one of the best front courts in the NBA. Physical. They were stronger. They were taller. Significantly taller. And he was absolutely able to not just hold his own, but at times look dominant. Look like an enigma. Like, what the hell do we do with this guy? If he’s in the dunker spot, quick catch, and he’s already off his feet. You can’t even recover in time. Transition, he’s a blur. Defense, shutting you down at the top of the key. deflections, steals, loose balls. And of course, a lot of his minutes also got affected by his foul trouble in the first two or three games of that series because referees are still realizing just how good of a defender he is and that Brunson was essentially trying to hunt him desperately to get him off the floor. With that experience, I think he goes into next season. One, he’s getting the benefit of the doubt from referees. He looks like all NBA defense. First team all defense. Period. Period. Move everyone over. Assar Thompson is going to look like first team all defense. Secondly, and I’ve said this many times before, I think he puts it all together next year. And I’m not talking about adding, shooting, uh, you know, knocking down threes and stuff like I’m just talking about the things we’ve already seen him do, whether it’s scoring in transition, straight line drives, attacking a defender, right? Even if they don’t close out all the way, if they don’t close out, they leave too big of a gap, that gives you runway to attack that space with one dribble. And now you can do a quick euro and step around someone. Right. This is the reason why guys like Demar De Rozan, despite not being great three-point shooters, guys still have to close out all the way because they know how to in one dribble completely close that gap. So now it’s like they’re attacking you at full speed from only 15 feet out because you didn’t close out all the way. So you have to close out, but even then they can get around you. I think we see Assar Thompson attack more off the bounce. I think he also gets more point forward opportunities bringing the ball up in transition after getting a defensive rebound playmaking or facilitating setting up our offense. I think we also see Assar Thompson eat more just playing with Kade and Ivy because those guys are going to draw so much attention offensively getting downhill to the basket that he’s going to be able to get a lot of dump offs from the dunker spot and from cutting off the ball from the weak side wing. Not to mention open threes in the corner. I think he gets a lot more high quality looks that are going to be consistent and we’re gonna see him begin to increase that scoring average. I think he’s going to end up somewhere around 14 to 16 points per game consistently. What we see is probably a lot of what we saw from Amen Thompson last year. But it’s not just on the offensive side, it’s also on the defensive side. what he’s going to be able to do with a full season, full training camp, knowing the expectations in the system, having chemistry built with his teammates, I think we see his defense go to a whole other level. And not just because he’s going to be stronger, he’s going to get the benefit of the whistle uh with the referees, but also because his teammates are going to know more how to support him and to utilize him as this free floating enigma defensive player that can block the shot, that can deflect the pass, that can steal um or or dig down uh when the guy’s attacking the basket and he’s the help defender. can get that steel uh helping off the ball. He can hedge and quickly recover. He can switch constantly throughout that almost one through five. His teammates will know how to use him so that they can maximize his gifts out there. And so what we begin to see is his impact on the game. I think next season he will have the biggest plus minus on the team. He will have the biggest differential from when he is on the court and when he’s not because the plays that he can make will absolutely be absurd. Expect to see more highlight blocks, steals, ripping the ball handler, getting out in transition. You know, they should be doing things like jumping ball handlers. If you if you’re Ivy and you see a SAR next to you, I’m easily opening up and funneling them towards Assar. And then if they hesitate for a moment, him and Assar should just jump the ball handler. Do a Andrew Nimhard and Aaron Nmith type of deal and just get on him. They’re going to create more turnovers. They’re going to get out in transition more. And I think he becomes an absolute headache problem in the league. Assara Thompson is my number one candidate for a breakout year for the Detroit Pistons. If I had to throw out a stat line, I’d probably say it’s going to be somewhere in the realm of 14, six, and four. really good efficiency somewhere around close to I would say four stocks per game that’s steals and blocks combined that’s what we see from Assar Thompson now it may not sound amazing but amongst that 14 points per game you’re going to have games of 20 you’re gonna have games of 13 and 12 also But what you’re going to see is someone who is con contributing far more consistently than we’ve ever seen. All those highlight plays, you go back and you watch his highlights from last season, the different things he was able to do. All of a sudden, all those highlights become streamlined. you talked about last time creating a shot profile that he understands where to expect his shots and what shots to look for and how to master those shots whether it’s finishing around the rim when he gets a smaller player on them. Frank Nitty Yeah. Yeah. 14 points, seven rebounds, four assists, two steals, one and a half blocks, first team all defense. I love it. Frank Nitty, you you and me. Yo, we in the same place, bro. I think all those highlight plays, uh, what we saw him do, attacking the rim, um, finishing, uh, over guys, uh, spins, uh, euro steps, all these different things, posting up guys like Jaylen Brunson. I think we see all that every single game. And we begin to look at him like, man, I wonder if he could do more. I wonder if he could do more. And there’s going to be some games we’re going to see him do more. We’re probably I’m I’m if I had to throw it out there, I’d probably say we’re going to see at least anywhere between five to 10 20 point games. We’re going to see 5 to 10 over 20 point games. He’s going to have some lower games, too. Um he has to be the point. Uh you know, I don’t think he’s going to be the point, but he’s going to play point forward, Bryant. That’s for sure. He’s going to play point forward um plenty of times, especially when he gets rebounds. when he gets that rebound. Ivy K, Duran, they should already be taking off. Ron Holland, Caris, just take off. Assar’s got it. Assaar’s got it. And I think that that’s what we see this year. Um, but yeah, that’s my list. My number one breakout candidate, Assar Thompson. Number two, Kade Cunningham. Number three, Jay Nivy. Number four, Jaylen Duran. Number five, Marcus Sasser. at number six, Ron Holland. We’ll see. Training camp should be coming up soon enough. Um, I said I’m going to do another evaluation uh on this team going into the not necessarily into the training camp. I’ll probably do some stuff between now and training camp, but after training camp is when I’m going to do my prognosis of what I think uh the next season is going to look like in terms of wins. Are they a over 50 win team? We’re going to talk about it. I would like actually I did this last year. I think what I’m going to do is uh what this team should look like this season. I’ve alluded to it a lot throughout my previous videos, but I want to do a whole video on what I think this team should look like. Like, and when I’m talking about what it should look like, I’m talking about um its overall scheme on offense and defense, its overall style of play. what we can expect to see because sometimes if it looks different than what we’ve been expecting, we think that something’s wrong or we see them working out the kinks to do something different and we don’t realize what they’re trying to do and then we go like, “Ah, this offense looks terrible. The defense looks terrible.” It’s like actually they’re trying to work some things out, but you have a general idea of what you’re seeing out there on the court. I think I want to do a video on that probably next. So, maybe like tomorrow morning I’ll do that video. Uh, but it’s to say those are my breakout candidates. I’m excited about him. Really excited about him because when you put it all together, right, when you put it all together, what this starting lineup can do and recognize also some of the lower stat lines. You know, K’s probably going to average 25, six and seven, right? A little bit less than what he did last year. Ivy’s going to average about 20 to 22 points per game. Um, you know, four rebounds, three assists type of deal. uh Assar Duran. I mean Duran is probably going to be somewhere around like 15 points, 10 11 rebounds, uh one and a half blocks, stuff like that, right? Those stats don’t blow you out the water. But cumulatively, cumulatively with Tobias Harris, Caris Levert, Duncan Robinson, Marcus Sasser, Ron Holland, Isaiah Stewart, all of a sudden we’re going to be like, whoa, this team is just good. and they’re beating teams because as a team they’re just better as a team, not just one guy that they’re depending upon, but collectively playing together. And like I keep saying, that is the challenge for JB Bigger Staff. How do you adjust this offense? How do you adjust your style of play that you’re no longer centering everything around Kate? You You don’t need to and you shouldn’t. You shouldn’t. especially for his long-term success. Frank Nitty, yo, if Ivy averaged 20 plus, that would be great. I’m expecting more like 18. Well, I mean, keep in mind last season he was already at. Put up real quick. He was already at 18 17.6. He was already averaging 17.6 points per game. And that’s with the rough start to the season, with the lack of chemistry with Kade, with the new offensive system on the JB Picker staff, with being in a new role right now. No longer, you know, the old coach regime and stuff, you know, coming off the bench and all that. He’s now officially in his role. He understands what’s expected of him. He’s working out with the team all off season. To expect only a point4% Uh, jump. Nah, it’s going to be at least three to four points per game. Let me see. Your number one uh is not Stewart. You don’t know. Oh, man. You know, Isaiah Stewart, he’s going to be huge for us. He is going to be huge for us. Make no mistake about that. And I think he deserves his own video, too. You know, I’m gonna write that idea down. Isaiah Stewart needs because I think he’s kind of been lost in a lot of this. He’s been lost in a lot of this. Um, let me see what the Pistons look like next year, look like next season. That’s how I remember the ideas that y’all be giving me. uh scheme style of play and we’re going to do Isaiah Stewart love because he’s still our culture setter. He’s still our culture setter. He’s still the guy who stirs the pot. Like as much as Cade is amazing, without Isaiah Stewart, we don’t have this culture, defense, hard hat. Look, I I love Kade. He’s a great guy. Great guy. Um, but he’s a little, you know, I don’t I wouldn’t call him the like I think he’s got some great leadership aspects of him, but I don’t think he has that personality. He’s not he’s not a big personality where guys just kind of gravitate towards him and whatever he kind of says. He doesn’t have that Shaq personality. Doesn’t have the Dwight Howard personality who deserves more respect on his career. Um he doesn’t have the Kobe Bryant personality. Uh he has a strong personality but just not that. Isaiah Stewart. Isaiah Stewart is just that dude that when he walks in, you’re you’re just happy he’s on your team that you don’t have to get screened by him. You don’t have to see him at the rim. You don’t have to see him trying to box you out for a rebound. one of those dudes back in the day, man. If you ever played pickup and there was a big burly dude who wasn’t wearing his shirt and just none but beef and sweat and you’re just like, “Please don’t box me out, bro. I don’t even want that rebound like that. It ain’t even ain’t even that deep, bro. Just leave. Just Hey, man.” And then and still box you out. You be like, “Come on, bro. Damn. Now I got your sweat all on me, bro.” You know? Yo, that’s Isaiah Stewart. That’s Isaiah Stewart. No, nobody really wants a piece of him. They don’t. They’re just like, “Hey, it is what it is, bro. It is what it is.” You know, there’s a few guys who might want that smoke, but in general, hell no. He’s gonna be a big part of this team, and he deserves some love. So, I’m going to do a video on him. I got my ideas down. Um, appreciate all y’all joining me on a Sunday morning. Y’all, uh, also, man, y’all are some real ones. I had to go down, let my daughter in because the little thing wasn’t working and y’all were patient, stayed with me, you know, um, through that little one minute and a half intermission, whatever. But yo, I appreciate y’all. Y’all are hella dope. Um, smash the like button for me. Hit subscribe and the bell for notifications. Smashing the like button really is a little thing, but it’s a big thing. It really helps out with the channel. Um, so I hope y’all appreciated this live. I look forward to seeing you more in the future. Try to be consistent because somebody asked me to be consistent. So, I’m g try to do that too as well. But yeah, I’m loving this more and more. This community is dope. Hella dope. I’m looking forward to seeing y’all more. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday. Hopefully, it’s sunshining where you at? Sun’s finally came out here in the bay. I’m going to enjoy it with my kid today. Y’all have a good one. Be blessed. Stay safe. And I’m going get at you next.