Expectations For The Detroit Pistons? Ku Khahil Joins The Show

Expectations For The Detroit Pistons? Ku Khahil Joins The Show

Hey guys, welcome to Pistons Talk podcast. Hope you guys are having a great Friday night. I am joined by the host of Lockdown Pistons, Cookah Hill. I’m glad we could finally get you on the podcast. I feel like I’ve been trying to get you on for a year, but man, thank you so much for your time today. Yeah, I I’m Look, I’m a busy person. I I’m sorry about it. It is what it is. Um, you know, the podcast over in lockdown takes up a lot of time. So, I’m glad that I fin you know, I was finally able to come on and hope to have some fun today. Yeah, man. It’s all good. It’s just like um I I did like a roundt podcast and I invited like a bunch of content creators and I got so much hate comments. So, like why didn’t you invite coup? I’m like it’s the weekend. I didn’t want to bother him. I was just like it’s all good. But man, I’m so happy. I’m so happy I was able to get you on. Uh, anytime I do have a guest, um, I let them plug and promote themselves. I know you do a lot, um, with Locked On and other things, but, uh, tell the people where they can find your work. Yeah, you can find me obviously over on Locked On Pistons, whatever podcast platform uh, you listen to any of your podcasts on. You can also find it o obviously over on YouTube. You guys can subscribe to my Substack where during the season we’ll have daily content. It’ll be written content, film breakdowns. Summer has been a little bit slow, I won’t lie, but during the season you guys can go back to last year. a lot of stuff every single day for you guys. So, subscribe over there, it’s cuckill.substack.com or the piston kudos. Or if you want to join us for live watch parties during the season, the playback room. You can find us over on playback at watch pistons. Um, and then I’m sure I’ll probably have some other things I I’ll tweet about. You can follow me on Twitter to keep up with anything else I end up doing. So, I have everything you mentioned link in the description. Uh, the playback room. Appreciate you. Um, the substack. Yeah, everything. Uh, I don’t I don’t think I found your YouTube channel cuz I know you do like um breakdowns. I couldn’t find that. But everything else um I was able to link in the description below if you guys want to go uh watch Coup, support coup, because he’s one of the best um Detroit Pistons content creators and podcasters in the space that we do have. Um this is going to be a fun show, man. Uh that there’s a lot to talk about even though it is offseason. Got to get creative in August. I always say, “Oh, trust me. I know we were talking about it on your podcast uh yesterday and definitely check that out if you guys haven’t already. Uh but I want to know like what are your expectations for this upcoming season with the Detroit Pistons? So, my expectations for the team is kind of like um I’ve kind of aligned myself with what I believe Trejan Langden’s expectations for this season are. And he’s talked a lot about being patient and just wanting answers and to don’t know about these guys yet before you can do X, before you can do this, that whatever. So, to me, I my read on how Traan’s looking at this season has been just, you know, if they get a lot of wins, great. If it maybe stay the same as last year, then it is what it is. if they take a step back is what it is because he’s kind of looking at it just I just want answers about whether this core fits together. Do I need to move on from somebody? Do we extend this guy? You know, he just kind of wants answers and however he gets them. He’ll be cool with this. So that’s kind of where I’ve reserved myself to to where I just hope they get answers. No injuries, not another year. Like it’s crazy cuz like we’re in year what year four of Ivy and Duran and it feels like that we haven’t really gotten much of a sample size with Kade, Ivy, and Duran, let alone Kade, Ivy, Assar, Durren. So just no injuries, get a real answer or get a real sample size on what those guys can do. And I my expectation is I hope they make a decision on that by the deadline that whatever their answers they’re getting, it’s an answer they can feel comfortable about by the deadline heading into the off seasonason. So whether it’s, you know, um they feel good about Ivy and Dur, they want to extend them in the next offseason, they don’t do it this year, do that. If it’s okay, we feel like we need something else, then maybe move off of somebody. Just get some answers about how you feel about this young quarter. So I’m just hoping no injuries, you get a good sample size. As far as win loss, um I kind of mentioned this a little bit yesterday. I think that I got three teams in the East that I’d just put above the Pistons right now. I’d put Atlanta or not Atlanta, um Cleveland, uh New York, and then Orlando I’d have as the top three teams in the East. And I have the Pistons and the Knicks or the Pistons and the Hawks, my goodness, fighting for that fourth seed um in the Eastern Conference. If they can get between four and five, I think that’s a good year. Even if they end up at six, but have a very good first round series or even win a first round series, I think that’s fine, too. Um, but I think at the very bare minimum, it’s no playin, just the playin should not be an option. Um, and then a very good first round series that at least goes seven games. Um, and maybe a playoff series win. So, that’s where I’m at with this team going to next year as of right now. It’s so funny. I’ve I’ve asked everyone this question and every answer has been the same. I had someone up here saying if they don’t win 50 plus games, it’s a failure. And it kind of like took me back. I was like, “Man, we had a 14- win season a couple seasons ago, and people are coming up here and saying like if they don’t win 50 games, the season is considered a failure.” It kind of shows you like how fast you can get back on track in the NBA. Yeah. I mean, look, the Pistons had a really successful season this past year, and I understand why some fans could just look right at the roster and be like, “Well, they had a good year last year, and now you’re just putting Jay Ivy into the fold and you get another year of these guys improving, so why wouldn’t they increase in win loss?” So, and that certainly could happen. Maybe they get more wins than last year. Maybe they do get to the fourth seed. Heck, maybe even they challenge for the third se. I mean, all that’s possible. It’s just hard to It It’s hard to predict development. Like, we don’t know how much better these guys are going to look. We just It’s hard to predict that kind of thing. And I’ve said this over and over on the podcast as well is that every season has every season is different. Every season plays out differently. Different things make things go different ways. So, I I’ve mentioned on the podcast that the Pistons were a great defensive team after January last year, but maybe things, you know, just because they were great last year after January defensively doesn’t mean they’re, you know, they’re starting off from April, you know, 15th, whatever the season ended and now they’re just going like that. No, every year is a brand new year and you have different challenges that come up. So, kind of just got to wait and see what happens. You have to really, really hope on development and that’s what this team is really banking on. And when you do that, it’s just hard for one person to predict that when you’re really just banking on your season being internal development. Oh, 100%. It’s It’s honestly just kind of crazy when you kind of just look at how far they came like last season and then we have conversations about like, you know, top five 50 wins. Uh I told you yesterday I want a a playoff series win. like um I I think we all have kind of like different um I guess expectations for this team, but man, I’m excited. I think we’re 54 days away until the season starts. So, I mean, I can’t wait, man. It it’s it it’s coming really fast. Even training camp does training camp, preseason something. We need like I need some hope. I need some hope over here, man. I mean, maybe I’ll go down the rabbit hole. I I saw some of the guy some of the Pistons. Um, they’re out in San Diego, California playing pickup right now. Maybe I’ll post some of those videos and get suck them back in with some summer workout videos like I do every year. I still remember posting that Duran video. People getting pissed off like I’m not falling for this again, which is not uh I I I wanted to kind of transition into the next topic and I’ve talked about this quite a bit. I don’t know if you’ve kind of do uh dove into kind of just the power forward depth on this team. Are you concerned with the lack of power forward depth um outside of Tobias errors started? Yeah, I it’s it going into the offseason it was my biggest point of improvement. I thought they absolutely needed to get whether it was a backup for or even their starting for the future. I think whenever the Pistons make their big move or whenever they make their, you know, their trade, I think it should be for that forward position. That’s really where they’re lacking. They need to first they need to get there for the future eventually. And two, I know earlier, knock on wood, I I said that you you want great health. And this past year, I know that, you know, Ivy went down January, but you did have some pretty good health look outside of Ivy. K didn’t go down, Assar didn’t go down when she came back. Duran didn’t go down. Tobias, like these guys, Malik, THJ, like all of these guys were really healthy, majority of your rotation. So, I say that to bring up like if Tobias, knock on wood, you know, gets dinged up, misses a game here and there. I just don’t know where they really go for that. Um, I know Assar filled in in some games this past year when Tobias happened to miss a game or two. Um, I just don’t view Assar as a full-time four. And obviously, you don’t need him to be a full-time four for him to fill in, whatever. I get that. Um, but I I think what they’re doing and actually the other thing that should be considered is that Tobias is getting older and him taking a step back. Um, maybe not a large step back, but him just, you know, slowly declining isn’t out of the question for guys who get 33 plus years old. Not saying it’s going to happen, but I feel like that’s kind of something you have to consider in the offseason. So, that’s I do agree. I think the four positions their biggest weakness right now. However, I’ve mentioned this that I I think the reason why Trejan went to the offseason, didn’t really do anything at the four position was because I think they want to get Ron a lot more minutes and they want Assar to be able to play with Ron some minutes and I the best way to do that is have them just both split to four minutes. So, you give Assar and Ron three minutes and they get both four minutes. So, now you can fit a way to get them both Ron 25 plus minutes and Assar 30 minutes. You can play, I don’t know, Assar 18 at the three and then Ron 14 at the three and then 10 for Duncan or whatever and then at the back of four position you split like 10 10 or something like something like that basically to where now you both guys are able to get the minutes that they need. So that’s the reason I believe they didn’t address the back of four and I guess that makes sense. Um but eventually they are going to need to get their four of the future. Um, and just some depth there in case like anything happens because right now they really are just at the bare minimum at that position. I was really worried about it and I kind of like go back to last season when Tobias had that calf strain and it’s like we couldn’t rebound the basketball when he wasn’t on the floor and I was kind of concerned in that way. So I was going into the season like oh maybe they’ll go for uh PJ Washington but that didn’t happen. Maybe they do a Trey Lyles reunion. That really hasn’t happened yet but you know still have a roster spot. You never know. Uh but I did mention what you brought up of having Assar at the four and Ron at the four and I got the pitchforks. Uh I did it on I believe uh the pin down with uh Blake and Wes over there. I got the pitchforks because they’re like no way you can’t have those guys out there that can’t shoot. But I mean I could see those guys being your three and four of the future. What do you think about that? I think that they This is You want to talk about pitchforks? I’ll get the pitchforks out. we’ll bring them bring them to the podcast. I I I think of Ron and Assar as their two and three of the future. I don’t think either of them are fours. Uh so I think that like three years two three years down the line that will be the Pistons wings of the future. They will be two the two and three. Um but in the short term I Yeah, I I mean I don’t really see I don’t see what’s wrong with having them play. I mean I let me take that back. I do understand where that could come into concern with them both being backup fours because I don’t think either of them are really Ron did put up like 10 pounds of muscle though so maybe he’s getting ready to do it um full-time no I I I don’t think they’re full-time fours but yeah I definitely think I mean I wrote about this over on my substack I was hearing earlier in the offseason that there’s some in the front office that really want to see minutes of Ron and Assar and are hoping that Ron develops enough of a shot to where they can get those minutes at you know together on the floor and to see how that works. Um, they did get a very small sample size of it last year. The net rating is great, but again, it’s very small sample size where you don’t really know was it garbage time when a lot of those minutes came in, how much of it was actually in the, you know, the the course of a game. So, I think they want to see some of those minutes and I think that will be the way they find it out. Yeah, it’s interesting. Um, you know, Ron is a two. I I kind of think when you look at his archetype, he’s more of like a two three build. Um, and as more of like a three four build. So, I I could see that. never really know what happens with contract extensions, but I won’t say number 23’s name because I don’t want to start a rally uh because I know how they are. But I mean, yeah, that’s interesting, man. I I just kind of think they’re a little bit uh I wouldn’t say like weak at that position, but I am concerned that, you know, bigger teams could definitely take advantage of them this year. Yeah, I mean, they’re going to have to I mean, that’s why I wanted them to go after Santiama. I think he would have been really good for them. Um, but I I think they are comfortable. It seems like they’re comfortable going into the season with this four room and just having Ron and Sar split the minutes. But 100% the next move, whether it’s a signing or trade, has to be for that four position. Like they have to get that figured out because again, Tobias is getting older. And by the way, he’s on a one-year contract now. Like there’s only one year left. It’s not like he’s here forever. So they got to figure something out whether it’s at the deadline this year or immediately after this season. I’m hoping Tobias takes that Al H Orford role and he’s just your P backup power forward off the bench. Yeah, I can definitely see that. And maybe they can uh go after someone I keep seeing people saying go after Lori. Man, that contract that contract’s way too big. He I don’t think I I I feel like he’s a he’s a stylistic fit, but you are committing a lot to him to do it. And I think that in order for Utah to move off of him, you might have to give up, you know, you know, value that maybe you would rather not give up value for. I don’t hate the fit. I actually think the fit’s good. It’s just the contract plus with how much you would have to actually give up for him is up in the air. Yeah. I mean, he’s going crazy over and at like 40 points in 20 minutes today. I’m like, bro, what the hell, man? Like, yeah, if Utah does trade him, they probably will get a hefty return because Danny A is uh the GM, right? So, I know we talked about Malik Beasley on your podcast yesterday, but there was some news actually reported by Mark Stein and I I’ll read a quote real quick for you guys. Says, “Sources say that Beasley will ultimately be seeking a deal north of the veterans minimum and would figure to command that.” So, I want to ask you this, coup, the Pistons are allowed to pay him around $7 million. Um, do you think that they should offer him that $7 million contract and for him to be the last roster spot on this team? I I have brought up my concerns with bringing Malik back and it’s not about Malik himself. It’s not about him as a player. I having him in the locker room is, you know, he was great in the locker room. The teammates love him. He loves the team. Like all that stuff and he’s a good fit on the floor. Obviously, my only concern with bringing Malik back, and I mentioned this yesterday when we talked about this, is that you brought in you signed Duncan with Duncan believing that he was basically going to fill the Malik role. And then you signed Caris believing he was going to play, I’m sure, like 20 plus minutes, whatever. And then you bring Ivy back who’s taken up a lot of the minutes that Malik played last year. Again, you put all of that together, a lot of guys taking up a ton of minutes. So, if you then bring Malik back, because right now they have a nineman rotation. You bring Malik back, you have a 10-man rotation of a lot of guys, Ivy, Caris, Duncan, and Malik that need minutes around the same positions. They sound like they want to get Jay and Ivy a lot of backup backup point guard minutes. Well, if you bring Malik back, that’s basically done because now you got to move Caris to gain those backup point guard minutes or he’s not going to really get any minutes then. So then your rotation would look like Caris taking up the backup point guard minutes. That’s all of his minutes. And then you would split Malik and Duncan at the two and then Duncan. It just I feel like my only concern is one of the things that Traan talked about last year was that the locker room had no drama. It had no complaints. Everyone knew what their role was, accepted what their role was, was happy in their role, and just wanted to thrive in their role. And that was one of the main reasons why the locker room was so great, and they had a great season. I agree with that. So, my only concern is if you do bring Malik back, does that raise the the potential problem of maybe a veteran that signed here believing that they were going to get x amount of minutes were in November, December, and it’s like, okay, like if I knew I was only going to be playing 18 minutes a game, like I probably would have just went this place or would have went that place. And does that start to ruffle some feathers? Do they start to, you know, is it not as close to the locker room any like that’s my only concern. However, I say all that to say, yeah, I would throw it I would throw the $7 million. Like, I would I say all that to say just because, you know, you got a last roster spot. Who one, who else are you gonna get that’s better than Malik for $7 million? I like that’s just a great value contract. So, yes, I would offer him the contract. And then if if that were to become a problem, if something like that were to happen, even if it doesn’t become a problem, honestly, at the deadline, you have Malik, you have Caris, you have Duncan Robinson, you have these mid-level contracts on shortterm uh on short-term contracts, you have a lot of tradable stuff that you can do now. So, if at the deadline, Traan’s like, “Okay, I want to make my move.” You don’t have to trade Stew like they would have had to do last year to match contracts. You don’t have to trade Tobias like you would have had to do last year to match contracts. Now you could maybe throw Duncan and Carris into a deal with a pick or whatever. And now you have Malik on the floor on the roster and he can just come in and fill whoever you trade, whatever. So I I I don’t feel like it’s as big of a home run automatic as some people are making out to be. I do think that that part I mentioned earlier should be considered or at least thought about, but it’s not it’s not enough of a big deal to where I would say, “Oh yeah, you shouldn’t sign him.” like definitely throw him the one year $7 million deal, he takes it, then you just kind of figure that out along the way. I just think that should be brought up as something that could come up down the line. Yeah, Devon, you’re crazy, man. Oh, man. Um, I’m not going to call him the nickname you gave Duncan Robinson, but he wanted to know, do you think that Duncan Robinson would crash out if he brought Malik back? No, I I don’t I don’t think Dunkey would crash out, but I do think I do think it’s possible that veterans, you know, would be like I don’t I don’t think any of the vets they brought in are maybe actually I don’t know. I don’t think any of them are like crash in the locker room, but I think maybe they wouldn’t be as happy or it wouldn’t be as enthusiastic with their role if they did get their minutes cut, whatever. But like I said, I would still offer him the contract and be like, we’ll deal with it later then. Yeah, same here. I I like it’s honest. It would be a good problem to have that many like great shooters on your roster. And obviously it’s a a coaching thing. Like we could look at rotations and kind of guess what JB may do. Uh because when you start like getting into small forward minutes with Duncan, then it kind of takes away from Ron. And obviously you want Ron to be in the rotation because he was a big piece of uh helping the second unit push the pace. And then it’s like maybe there’s some nights Duncan just doesn’t play and Malik plays or maybe you just ride the hot hand. Um I mean I I feel like it’s such a a great problem to have because if you had Duncan Robinson and Malik Beasley on your team, that’s a whole lot of firepower and that’s a whole lot of three-point shooting that I don’t think the Pistons have had. Shoot, man. Probably I don’t think they’ve had two lethal three-point shooters like that in my lifetime. Is I can’t think of it. No, I mean, I’m sure someone in the comment section that’s older than me would probably just Maybe maybe Wayne, did they have Wayne Ellington with Luke? Was Luke on the team still when they had Wayne? Yeah, I think so. Maybe that like, you know, but they don’t get it up as the same type of volume as as these guys do. Yeah. No, not at all. Wayne Ellington was like Blake Blake Griffin’s like favorite target every curl or was crazy, bro. He’d be averaging like freaking 25 a game with Wayne on the floor. It was it was insane, man. I actually saw him not too long ago walking to Birmingham and I was really surprised. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, dude. Like I bumped into Ronnie McGrder last year, which apparently he still has a house here. Uh Reggie Jackson was this year a couple of weeks ago, which someone texted me like, “What’s Reggie doing here?” Apparently he still lives here. It’s kind of crazy. I’ve I’ve heard that a lot of the athletes and coaches I know SVG still has a house here. Um yeah, I’ve heard that a lot of the coaches and players once they move here, a lot of them like it here, especially like in the obviously up in the rich areas, they love it there and they keep their house and they a lot of them stay here. So I I I’m not shocked to hear that. Yeah. I would like go uh on lunch breaks um at Woodward Sports and you would kind of just see um like athletes down there. Like I I remember when Jared Goff got to town and he had 10 security guards around him in Birmingham because he thought it was Detroit. But I mean that’s another story for another day, man. Crazy, man. I’ve never seen that many security guards in Birmingham. There’s no need for that. There’s there’s no need for that type of security in Birmingham, bro. It’s not not It’s not that deep. That was his first year when he got traded. He I think he just heard stories about Michigan and Detroit and he was like, “I gotta bring bodyguards with me.” Ridiculous. This should be a fun question because I feel like we’re going to have different answers. Uh, which player do you think is going to make the biggest jump this upcoming season? Assara Thompson. I think he’s going to be a top 50 player this year. I think he’s going to be fantastic. I think his defense for a full year will be one of the best in the entire league now. Um, I think his impact will be felt even more so now that he will be able to play 30 minutes a game um, for the full year. Uh, and I think that his offense will improve to a point where they can trust him now with the ball in his hands and let him be a secondary playmaker and let him be um someone who runs some weak side action and maybe split up some of the ball handling responsibilities amongst him, Ivy, and Kade. So, I think Assar is going to have a really really good year. Um, and I I think he’s going to break out this year. I think Amen had his breakout last year. I think Assar will have his this year. I can’t say I’m really surprised at that. And I think a lot of people nationally are uh really riding the Assar Thompson trade and like really like I don’t know how many Zack Low podcasts I’ve listened to where it Sar Thompson Cup. Yeah. He’s been he’s loved him. He’s been talking about him non-stop. Yeah. Um KOC like it’s it’s kind of crazy just like uh with the Asar hype. But I get it like the type of season that he had with no training camp and he conditioned himself on the fly and like the defense went from kind of middle of the pack to top 10 uh when he was out there. So um I’m going to be really interested to see if they let him play poinar because I thought last year when JB experimented with that I loved it man. I love the transition buckets because they just couldn’t stay stay in front of him whatsoever. Yeah, I look the the the point guard assa game against OKC and the point guard assa game against Philly was some of the most fun I’ve had watching all year. It was he’s just an instant paint touch. His handle has to improve, but he you can’t stay in front of him and he’s such a good processor, such a good playmaker that once he does get to the paint, he’s able to make the read quickly. I I think he’s going to have a tremendous season. Yeah, I I think I would have the same answer. I think my 1B, I think I told you yesterday, is Ron Holland. Um, I just kind of believe I believe in the jump shot. I I think his processing got a lot better in in the summer league. And you touched on it yesterday, like he’s so mature for a secondyear player. Like, you don’t see a lot of secondyear players tell you, “Hey, I’m watching film. Watching film on Kate.” Like, you don’t really see that too often. Um, to me, I I think he’s just scratching the surface. I think he can have a really good sophomore campaign. Yeah, I I had Ron number two on my list of guys to break out this year. I think Ron, if he can shoot anywhere close to how he was in in summer league, if his jump shots improved at all, I think that’s going to be huge for him. But even last year as a rookie, he was one of the best finishers as a rookie in the league. Like he was a tremendous finisher, great touch with either hand within five feet of the rim. I think they want to give him some more usage off the bench. I think he’ll start to get a little bit more, you know, leeway to be that scorer off the bench. Um, I really really like what Ron’s doing. I think he’s going to be My only push back is that he is young. So, like he’s really young. So, yeah, maybe it doesn’t happen this year. Is because I think it could happen this year, but I don’t want to put that expectation on him because he’s like he’s such a raw prospect to where I I could definitely see and understand that maybe it takes till year three for him to really explode out the gates, but I I could see it happening this year. He’s that like I’m really hiring Ron as well. Yeah. some of the just the layup packages that he had in his rookie season. Like I would have I’d have to rewind it and said, “No way that went in.” Like no way that went in. Like the mo the Milwaukee game um where he I think he scored like 20s something points, man. He was just in his bag like hitting threes getting to the rim. Like it’s that game crazy that game in the second half of the season against the Pelicans. Um he I think he had like 30 points in that game and like 15 and a quarter. Like he was going crazy in that game, especially the first half. uh his finishing with either hand is just incredible. Yeah, it’s I that’s why I was so high on him and like the the draft process. Like I never understood why people had him like 10. I was just like I know the G-League Ignite was a rough watch you guys. I know they lost just as much as the Pistons did, but I mean him and Matas were like really high on my board from what I remember doing like you know pre-draft stuff. I I remember I didn’t even like I don’t think I did any kind of scouting on Ron pre-draft because I I didn’t hear his name brought up at all. Like I still remember being at the pre-draft room when they called them um after because after you draft the after they draft them, they get him up on a phone call um and they interview him and have everyone there like kind of, you know, do their reporting, whatever. And I remember them asking like, “Hey, did you work out with the business at all?” He’s like, “Absolutely not.” And then they were like, “Were you expecting to go to Detroit?” He’s like, “No, I’m really shocked right now.” So like he had no idea that he was coming to Detroit and even Traan came out and said when he came in after drafting was like yeah we didn’t have much you know we weren’t really expecting him to be here so we just didn’t you know we just really didn’t do a lot of uh pre-draft interviews with him. So I didn’t hear nothing about it beforehand. So I just didn’t even scout him. I like I didn’t have a video for him pre-draft. That’s probably a mistake by me. But that’s like how like it just didn’t seem like he was even an option. So but I’m happy they got him. I’m I really like Ron. Can you guys Can you hear me? Am I still here? Or did Anthony Fuse Am I Is it just me? Oh, it is just me. All right. You know what’s what’s up everybody? Uh I guess I’ll take over the podcast from here. I’ll answer some questions. How about that? Any questions? I can see the comments. So, any questions you guys have, just go ahead and throw some questions. I’ll hold it down. I’ll hold it down till Anthony gets back. Let’s see if there’s any questions already asked. I’m going let me let him know. Uh holding it down till you get back. All right. Yeah, I see. I I I I I I’ll try my best to hold it down for him. All right. So, Pistons fans ask, “Do you feel the Pistons will add more emotion to the offense for Jay Ivy? How will needing to do that for Duncan Robinson make it easier and harder for the Pistons to do unlock non-shooters?” So, I do think there’ll be more movement offense. I think Duncan is a is a better movement player than even Malik was. Uh Malik when he would get top locked um and come around for DHO, he’s kind of just spotting up. He kind of just wants to get to the three. So if they top lock him, it kind of, you know, they kind of threw a wrench to the offense. Duncan just keeps running. Duncan just keeps going. He just if you top lock, he’s back cutting and then he’s rotating around to the other side of the floor. Run a DHL on the weak side. Like he just keeps keeps on moving and I think that will be great for the Pistons. the fact they have someone who will be open, someone with more size, better finisher around the basket that Duncan is, um, for some back door cuts with a guy like Jaylen Duran, I think that would be great for the Pistons offense. Duncan’s also a bit of an underrated playmaker as well in DHO’s and in those situations. So, I do think we’ll see even more of that this year for Duncan. And as far as like with Ivy and the offense, I I have a few clips I I I wanted to break down on my PC right now from like earlier in the year. Kade had like three or four movement threes earlier in the year because they let Ivy run the show and then Kade would come running around a pin down and take a three or, you know, come off a DHO and hit a three. Like there was a lot of times where earlier in the year Kate actually did get to do some offball action. So, I think that’s something they’ll try to sprinkle in to where Kade doesn’t have to be at the top of the floor, you know, facing a set defense every single time that he is instead allowed to, you know, have some offball movement, maybe even just stay in a corner and catch and shoot some possessions. So, I think that’s something that, you know, could change offensively for the Pistons next year. Um, all right, another question. What do you think Stu’s future on the team is? I think Stu is going to be here for a long time. Um, last year I was a little bit murky on his future uh because he was the only tradable contract with some with with money on it that you could match. So, if the Pistons wanted to make a trade, he was really going to have to be in any trade just because he was the only one that had any kind of salary matching with it. Um, but now that they are starting to get some of those mid-level contracts, I don’t think they have to consider using him in a trade. I think Stu, as long as they don’t have to include him in a deal for like a superstar, I think he’ll be here for a very long time. Anony’s back. Man, I told you before we went on like I might lose the internet cuz T-Mobile’s always on their Dog, you’re good. You’re good. I don’t even care if that’s like a future sponsorship. Like, T-Mobile. Straight up, man. Like, honestly, every week. Yeah, I do need new Wi-Fi. They’re trying to strong arm me. They’re trying to strong army that pay 70 bucks a month. I feel it. Um, I don’t even remember what we’re talking about. I think we were talking about um just how how good Ron is and it might take a year, but I do agree with you on that. Right. So, I have one more topic. Um don’t know what you you were talking about, but um I was just answering questions from the from the chat. All right. Cool. Cool. Um this should be a fun one. Might be a little bit of pessimistic on my end, but uh what’s your biggest concern with this team this year? Um, I would say my biggest, again, this is going to get the pitchforks out. My biggest concern with the team is that they bank too much on internal development with their set forward this year. That that’s my biggest concern because they didn’t really do anything this offseason. I know they brought in Carris and Duncan, but that’s kind of like um I wouldn’t say those are like big moves at all. Like those are kind of just like neutral moves. Um, they’re banking everything. They’re banking any kind of step forward next year coming from all the young guys whether it’s, you know, Kay taking another jump towards MVP or Duran taking a huge leap defensively or Assara learning this uh how to contribute even more offensively or Ivy becoming the scorer that everyone wants him to be. Like all of their eggs are in the basket of if we’re going to be better next year, it’s only going to be because our young guys took a step forward. And I know that happened this past year. Um and obviously it worked out for him. My concern is is that I just don’t know. My my my big and I’m not saying it won’t happen. I’m just saying if I my biggest concern is that because you just don’t see very often like teams have like this linear development. Does every year after year every single young guy takes steps forward. Sometimes it’s one, sometimes it’s two guys, maybe some guy takes a step back and then takes a step forward the next year. So, um, as far as like win loss and like actually making a jump this year and winning a playoff series, my biggest concern is that maybe they put too much on the plate of only the young guys, um, being the reason why they take a step forward. That’s a good one. I haven’t kind of thought up it uh, that way. Mine was a little bit more uh, like team oriented. Uh, the two I had were turnovers and fouling because I think those were two things last year that like, you know, Kate has two fouls early on, Dur has two fouls early on. Um, I think those are the two where I’m I’m most concerned because I I still feel like they’re going to turn the ball over. Like I don’t think they’re just going to be absolved from turnovers. Hopefully it’s not 1920 a game like they were averaging like really early on in the season, but um I don’t know, man. There there’s so many things with this team that I am concerned. I’m concerned about size as well, especially in the front court where, you know, you go up against like a sevenfooter. Like if you got cat Mitchell Robinson one night, like that’s something that I I think that um will definitely be a challenge for them. Yeah, I think their size has improved and like I kind of mentioned this yesterday on the podcast with you, like their size is good at certain positions and then it’s just not, you know, where you’d like it to be at other positions. Like they got bigger from Caris to or Dennis to Caris. They got bigger from Malik to Duncan. Um you’re going to have more minutes of Assar Ron. You have a big point guard in K. So like you have size like in the back court now and you have some decent size at the three position as well. It’s like the four. Yes, Josh just commented like like the the guys who guard Giannis, you just have nobody basically. Like I know nobody can guard Giannis anyways, but like your best bet at guarding Giannis is just put your five on him and it’s just not, you know, they don’t that’s not a recipe for success. So the Pist guy out there, a guy like Julius Randall, they don’t have like a guy that guards those like bigger forwards. Now you can try to put, you know, stew on them, but then who’s guarding the five? Like it’s, you know, they don’t have like a bigger four. Um, especially outside Tobias. I know Tobias did a, you know, the best job he possibly could of, you know, guarding Cat in the playoffs, but I think that kind of speaks to where the Pistons are at positionally sized is that they felt like Tobias was their best option for Carnanthony Towns. Like um so yeah, I I definitely think their size at the four position especially um is is pretty weak right now. Yeah, I mean I know Stu played four uh last year under Monty, but you know, kind of being a backup five, I think is more of his natural fit. Um and I mean he he did his best. I mean I I still feel if he was healthy in that Knicks series, they’d probably win. I don’t know about you, but I mean um not saying he’s a Giannis stopper, but I always felt like he did a pretty good job of guarding Giannis until he threw him to the ground and just kind of lost his school. Outside of that, man, like he’s done a pretty good job of just being a switchbl defender. Yeah. No, Steu was an incredible switch defender. It’s just again, like I said, so like if you put usually what they did, I think I saw it even last year, like what they would do is put uh Stew on Giannis and then you put Tobias on Brooke and Brooke is not Cat. Brooke is much bigger, taller, longer, like he’s stronger. He’s gonna be physical at the glass. He’s gonna get boards. Like it’s you it’s tough to do that when you don’t have especially when you go up against a team with another big guy next to him. It’s kind of the same thing like if you put Stew on Julius Randall then you have Tobias on Rudy Gobear and Rudy Goar won’t post fade you to death but he will get offensive rebounds. So it’s just like that’s the kind of the problem they run into when they when they do that because they just don’t have another option for um unless they wanted to try to go to Stu Duran minutes which we just didn’t really get a lot of this past year for I think good reason. offensively it’s just not very good. Um so yeah, I think they again I that goes back to the your question about the power forward position. They need to get some depth there uh eventually. Yeah, I I don’t know if it’s Trajan is playing the waiting game. Maybe someone gets waved from camp that they’re not expecting. Um but I always feel like he he’s so meticulous and just patient with everything to the point where I think it actually annoys the fan base how patient this man is. Yeah, I I said this like a few podcasts ago. I was like some people are probably liking the fact that he’s so patient. I can already see that there’s some fans that may be like, “We’re tired of patience. How long we’re gonna have to hear about patience.” So like, but that’s like his favorite thing. That’s his favorite word. He constantly mentions he’s patient, patient, patient, patient. So, we’ll see if it pays off. I don’t know. This fan base has been getting told patient since like the the co season. I don’t know. I don’t know how much longer they’re going to stay patient. I was in fifth grade. Oh man. Yeah, I did get a question from actually a subscriber of yours and he wanted me to ask you this question. So, this is from Ary. So, shout out to you, Ary. Said, “I was wondering if you guys could talk about the defense matchups with other playoff teams and one thing in particular, Duncan Robinson, do you think he could buy into Detroit’s defense under JB Bigger Staff?” So with Duncan, I’ll say he played for Eric Spolstra. It’s not like he’s coming over from playing for like a rebuilding team. If he had struggles defensively with Eric Spolstra, I don’t think it’s just a matter of play for a better defensive coach and all of a sudden he’ll be a good defender. He played for Spolra. If Spo couldn’t get great defense out of him or good defense out of him, I don’t know if JB can work that magic. What you hope is that and I do think Duncan gives effort. He’s just not a good He’s just not a good defender. So, I think that probably will rear its head in the playoffs. Um, I don’t think the Pistons are a like like they’re not I I wouldn’t call them a contender. Like I don’t think they’re contending for Eastern Conference Finals this year. I don’t think they’re contending for the finals or anything. So, I don’t think it’s going to come up as a in a big way to where it’s like that uh pressing of a of a problem for Duncan. Um, but like even in this first round series against the Knicks, like you saw the problem with like TH and Malik on the floor. Like the net rating with those two on the floor together was horrible because they were just so bad defensively. So like could it come up in the playoffs 100%. I don’t know if it’s going to be a big enough issue to where we should really, you know, I I don’t want to say care, but like think it’s going to be like the reason why they win or lose in the playoffs. But um I think I I think outside of that they do have good matchups defensively to go to in the playoffs. Like they have a big point guard in Cade who is one of the better rim protectors as a guard. Then you got Assar. You got another year of Ron. You theoretically could put a lineup out there that no one is smaller than 66. Like you could put a lineup in the playoffs of Cade, Ron, Assar, Tobias Stew, like and you could run that as a defensive lineup and that’s pretty good. So, like I think they have options to go to if they need to go play more defense. They have options to go to. I’m not too concerned about um the the versatility in which they have defensively come playoffs. Yeah. I mean, even in that event, they could hide Duncan Robinson, too. If he’s really that bad of a defender, I don’t know if he’s going to be giving up charges like Tim Hardway Jr. did. I don’t know. I don’t know about that. I mean, at least with THJ, he could get a charge. it seemed like every other game and you get a possession that way. But I mean, right, that was just kind of t the THJ experience like, you know, he might go nuclear one night or he might give you like six points and fans crash out over it. Um, right. I think Duncan’s a little bit more consistent as a as a scorer, but like I haven’t really thought about like him being kind of just like picked on defensively because he’s probably going to be a bench player and just kind of play it with like a six-man role. But um I feel like fans are just like we’re already making the playoff like we’re already projecting conversations like six months down the line and kind of shows you like how everything is just we talked about it earlier how like people’s expectations have just like kind of like skyrocketed, right? No. Yeah. I mean, I I understand it, too. You have a really good year after all the years they’ve had struggling. You have a good year with a a lot of young guys that you expect to get better. I I understand why fans are expecting a big year. So, I want to end the podcast with a trivia question. I want to see uh if you can get this. All right. Okay. Who is the last Detroit Piston to sign a one-day contract to retire a Piston? All right. So, I think I low-key think I know the answer, but so the the answer I have in my head is not one of the stars. Like, the answer I have in my head is one of their role players from like 2010. Um, I don’t think Chanty signed a one-year contract. I think he was already here. He sign he had already signed a year contract. He played his final year here. Ben, I know played his final year here. came back. Rasheed, I don’t think came back to retire. Rip might have signed a contract to retire, but I don’t think so. I think he retired with the Bulls. Um, it was a one-day contract, not a one-year contract. Yeah, I I I’m I’m saying I think these guys signed one years. Okay. Ta I don’t think I don’t think he signed back because I don’t think he ended on good terms with the Pistons when he retired. No. Um, my answer I Is it Max Seiel? It is Jason. I thought so. Yes. I swear to God, I remember him signing with the I remember getting the news update when I was a kid that he signed with the Pistons. I thought it was him. Only the only other person I thought maybe it could have been was Rip when he retired. I didn’t know if he signed a one day to come back and retire, but I didn’t think so. Yeah, Jason Maxel. I was uh listening to old podcast of uh Vinnie Goodwill and I was just like, man, I don’t even remember that happening. I I think I was just so tuned out like after they traded Chanty, my Phantom kind of died a little bit. Uh it really did, man. Like I I still remember seeing that AI um trade uh in high school and crashing out. I remember I the chanty trade has a a very I remember exactly when it happened. I was in fourth grade and I remember getting off the bus running home and my stepdad at the time he’s standing outside the house as I’m walking down the hallway screams out was traded. I immediately spent the rest of the time running home crying. I saw the news update on the TV. Eight-year-old, nine-year-old crew was crying in front of the TV thinking it was wrong. It was I remember it very vividly. Yeah. And they still sell Allen Iverson jerseys in the team shop. By the way, I’m not gonna lie to you. Look, listen. I’ll This is my This is my hot take. I Iverson didn’t play that well, but he looked icy in a Piston uniform. Like the the gear and the jersey looked fire. I’m not going to lie. He looked he looked cold in the jersey. He just didn’t play that great. But he looked cold. Yeah. Uh Dwayne, we were 4-0 before that trade. Yeah, it it literally made no sense. Like if you’re gonna make that type of trade, do it before the season. But yeah, my fandom died a little bit and then we kind of had like the the 2010s with like Greg Monroe and then like Andre Drummond getting hyped up for like Brandon Knight. I was like, “Ah, maybe he’ll be the next, you know, great Kentucky guard and then he get posterized by DeAndre Jordan. He never retired.” I I that was my core fandom of Pistons. I grew up during the 2010s. That’s when I started watching every single game. So yeah, that’s how I uh that’s how I got to grow up on the Pistons. Oh man, I I grew up on the tail end of Grand Hill and then when I was like 12, 13, they won the championship in like um 04. So that was kind of cool to experience like you know being fifth sixth grade of them winning a championship and then I realized Yeah, that was special because then I had to go through like the Andre Drummond years and the Greg Monroe years and like tail end of the Joe Darro is just like so bad. Yeah, it was not very good. Yeah. One of my buddies was like, “You remember when we drafted Payton SA after he got that block against Michigan?” I was like, “Yeah, don’t even don’t even piss me off today.” SA and Drummer were very close. I remember that. Yeah, for sure. Um, but I appreciate you coming on, man. I know it’s it was kind of like last minute, but I want to give you the floor again to plug and promote yourself for the that the people that are watching right now, right? Um, you guys can follow me over on Twitter, Cookill. You can find the podcast Locked on Pistons, whatever podcast platform and on YouTube um at Locked on Pistons. You can find my Substack while I have daily content for you guys uh during the season. Whether it be rim breakdowns or film breakdowns, you guys can find that at cuckill.substack.com or the Piston. Kudos. Um and the playback room will be starting up when the season starts back up for a live Piston watch party. So you guys can find that watch Pistons over on playback. But appreciate you having me on, man. It was a lot of fun. It it it was a lot of fun. definitely have to do it again sometime soon. But if you guys do want to follow Coup and all his work, all the links are live in the description. So just click on the link and it’ll take it to Lockdown Pistons, his Twitter, uh Substack, the playback room. Appreciate all, you know, 400 of you guys being in here uh with us on a Friday night and it’s like Labor Day weekend. You guys are sickos. Love it. See you guys next week. Take care. Peace. [Music] more. [Music]

Today, Anthony will be joined by Locked On Pistons Host Ku Khahil to discuss expectations for the Detroit Pistons and much more. #detroitpistons #detroitbasketball #nba

Ku’s Twitter:
https://x.com/KuKhahil

Locked On Pistons Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/@LockedOnPistons

Substack:
https://kukhahil.substack.com/

Playback:
https://www.playback.tv/watchpistons