The Pistons Pulse: Season Player Predictions!
Hello and welcome to your go to Detroit Pistons podcast, The Pistons Pulse, co-hosted by me, Bryce Simon. of Motor City Hoops, a former D1 hooper and current teacher, husband, and father of three amazing kids. And I’m Mari Sano for the second Pistons beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. And of course, we’re always blessed to be joined by our producer Wes Davenport. If you are not listening to Wes and Blake Silverman over on the pin down on the Detroit Bad Boys YouTube channel, you absolutely should be obviously reading our guy O2 over on the Detroit Free Press and my Motor City Hoop substack where you can subscribe for free. Lot of great content coming from all of those places all off seasonason long. But really now as we are simply a month away O2 from real NBA basketball coming back. But you, my friend, have been offseason O. So if you guys haven’t been around last couple weeks, we had some fun episodes. I interviewed my old coach, Jeff Jones. We had Slam and Jam to talk about the Western Conference. But as we near 200 episodes for the Pistons Ful Pulse O2 is back from a muchdeserved vacation. I appreciate that. I appreciate you guys for holding down the fort in my absence. Uh, I would like the people to know that I didn’t do anything of note uh during my my two week break. Uh, I mostly just played a lot of college football. Uh, I did see some friends like for a weekend and uh, upstate New York and like a cabin type deal. So, that was cool. But beyond that, I’ve just been chilling like offseason. Those just been riding his bike and and playing video games and now he’s back. So exciting, man. I’m excited to be back. Like it’s like I was just saying before we started like it’s like when a player visits like two weeks of action and you know and then they might shoot five for 14 when they come back. Like I’m I’m trying to avoid a five for 14 performance this episode. So we’ll see what literally no vacation stories, no fun adventure, eating like you didn’t go on so like even Wes did a triathlon while you were gone. Like you you got nothing to top that. I kicked it with friends. I kicked it with family. Uh beyond that, like nothing crazy. I usually try to go on a a trip uh like every year. Like last year I went to San Diego. The year before that I did Montreal. This like this year like I was just like I was just like I want to stay home. Like I don’t want to do anything. Uh you know like I don’t know what it was. Like I maybe the season going like a month longer. I was just like I’m good on like I’m just good on on on travel for a little bit and Detroit’s a good place to be in the summer. So like I I didn’t get fumbled or anything. I was pretty happy. All right, I can live with it. Who Who did you build a dynasty out with on college football? I I mostly just do head-to-head. I’m a head-to-head guy. Like I get bored playing a computer. Like I like the the adrenaline rush and and dopamine hit of like beating actual people. Uh and I just hit Heisman. Uh like I’m an ultimate team guy. Like I don’t spend any money though. Like I like they have all these ways to to to monetize it. But I’m not going to go off on too much of a tangent, but there are people who just spend all their money on cards and and I still beat them. So that’s like that’s what I did and it feels good. Wes asked me in the chat, “Is it is it worth the price?” Uh, probably. Like I’ve already I’ve already got my money’s worth. So I’ll just go and say yeah, it’s worth the price. And I like college football a lot more than Madden, too. So did you play any other games? So was there any Madden 2K from from earlier this year? Anything like that? You pretty much put a Madden uh just so I could play a couple buddies of mine and this the first Madden I’ve gotten in like a long time. But uh you know I also played a little bit of Death Stranding too. Uh I don’t like we don’t have to get into that. Like I don’t even I don’t I don’t know what you just said. So I don’t I I don’t even know how I would describe that one to you. Uh but if you know, you know. But no, it’s mostly been college football. All right. Very good. I know we got the Lions starting this Sunday. NFL starts up. College football has started up a big weekend. But like I said, we we are truly a month away from the NBA season. We have started an annual tradition here at the Pistons Pulse of doing a stats prediction for not every player on the roster. I think today we’ll really get into the nine guys that we believe will be consistent rotation players, win healthy. Obviously, the Malik Beasley thing is out there. As O2 said, if they end up signing Malik Beasley or maybe Wes said it, we will have a reaction episode and we will hash all of these things out. But as of right now, he is not. So we are going to look at Cade Cunningham, Jaden Navia, Sar Thompson, Tobias Harris, Jaylen Duran, Caris LeVert, Duncan Robinson, Ron Holland, and Isaiah Stewart with a little bit of talk about Chaz Laneir and Javvante Green. So, if you have not done this before, Amari and I will each give our stats predictions for the player. Wes will then average those. Wes, if he has his, he can add his predictions into that average as well. And then he will give us what we call the Pistons pulse stats predictions for each player. Um, some guys we do points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, percent, like all of it. some guys, you know, I’ll be honest, like Duncan Robinson, I think I only did points and maybe something to do with threes, so we’ll see how it goes. But O2, are you ready to do this? Go ahead and make our stats predictions for the 2526 Detroit Pistons. Cool. Uh, let’s go ahead and lead off of K Cunningham, right? Like that’s probably the big name that we’re actually gonna go reverse. Wes wants us to reverse bottom to the top. Wes wants us to keep those known commodities um like Kade Cunningham for the end. We’re actually going to start with the vets. Um O2. So Maurice asked, “Is this live or recorded?” No, we are live, guys. O2 is off his off season. I’m around. Um some people that watch Game Theory, we’ve been doing recorded live. Like we record and then play it as a live. Um but that’s cuz Sam is on vacation. We are 100% live. So, if you’re here watching live, drop your stats, predictions in the chat as well. So, we’re going to start actually with Tobias Harris O2. We’re going to start with the Vets. And this one’s interesting because this is probably going to be my biggest drop in production for the Detroit Pistons from last year. So, pulling up Tobias Harris’s numbers last season for Detroit in the regular season. And of course, this is a regular season prediction. Average 13.7 on 48 3586, just under six rebounds, just over two assists, a steal, a little bit under a block in almost 32 minutes a night 02. My stats prediction for Tobias Harris is down to 10 points per game, one and a half assists, five rebounds on 4836. And my thing here is I think this is the obvious usage goes down, minutes go down, points per game go down as these numbers had to drop for somebody. Me, you, and Wes talked about this earlier today. And if I think Ron Holland’s going to score more, Assar is going to score more, Jaden Ivy’s going to score more, somebody has to take less usage. And for me, that guy ended up being Tobias Harris. So I also have a dip for Tobias Harris. Not quite as dramatic as yours, but same line of thinking as far as like the shots have to be taken away from someone, right? And there are a lot of shots cleared out obviously by Malik Beasley. Uh, but you know, Sony Feeko had a consistent role all season too. And there’s, you know, and there are some shot attempts vacated by him too. Uh, you know, some of which I’m sure will go to Ron. But you still have to kind of pull downward. And for Tobias, I had 12 points, five rebounds, two assists. Yeah. uh 1.5 stocks like 46 36 overall. Uh pretty similar to last season. Uh it’s just more so to me. Not necessarily a production decrease, but just fewer minutes. I think he averaged like 31 to 32 last season and I could see that being trimmed to like 28 or so. And like maybe with that uh the shot profile changes a little bit. Although like I just feel like he’ll probably just bring too much from a spacing standpoint, especially at the four to uh you know be phased out too much. But like I could see them trim this Minutes down a little bit. So that’s what I thought about today. And to be honest, like I had him at 12. So I know Maurice, you know, said, “Wow, I, you know, I don’t think he’s calling me out. He’s just saying, you know, I think Maurice was was surprised that my numbers were that low.” I just didn’t know who else to take points per game from. And I did start thinking about it a little bit, O2, cuz I’m like, well, he’s going to get a lot of he’s going to get a lot of good looks, right? Like he should get a lot of good looks. I just wonder at what point on the floor is he like what option is he in the starting lineup 02? You know what I mean? Like Kade is number one, Ji was number two. Are they going to put more of an emphasis on getting Tobias shots than they will Jaylen Dur and Assar Thompson? Maybe. But I don’t think he’s going to be involved in as many actions as those guys because they’re going to be playing twoman games with Kade all the time. And then in a second unit, you’re either staggering Ji to the second unit or it’s Caris or again I think a lot of this comes down to a Ron Holland taking a step forward and we’ll get to him later in the episode. So I don’t love this and this isn’t an indictment of Tobias as much as I just if other guys progress and take step forward I think this will be the natural organic progression in terms of what his role is going to be. Yeah, I still think he probably ends up being a pretty heavy fourth quarter minute guy. Uh, you know, just with them still being a tad younger and like I think they like what Tobias brings. I mean, we we saw what he, you know, brought in the playoffs just from a stability and playmaking standpoint in those moments, especially as you know, I think his shot picked up a bit as last season went on. So, I guess that’s what’s curious for me is like if he still ends up being a guy who’s closing games, then he’s still probably generating close to the shot attempts he got last season. So, uh, you know, it’s it’s tough to say exactly, you know, the extent that that will be cut back, but I still think Tobias probably still has a little too much juice as a scored, especially as a outside flacer for them to trim too much more than, you know, maybe three or four minutes fewer than last season. I think what would be interesting is I think it comes down to his three-point percentage a lot. Like what I think a lot of his attempts are going to be threes. I don’t think we’re getting a lot of iso Tobias Harris. You know, assuming health, right? Like we’re assuming these nine guys stay healthy. In the playoffs, he averaged 16 a game. He was the second leading scoreer in the playoffs and he shot 44% from three. So listen, I I don’t love this. I I just had to trim points somewhere and I struggled to go anywhere other than Tobias. Our Pistons Pulse stat line average from all three of us lands Tobias at 10.7 points, five rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.5 stocks. So, Westside about seven points per game. Yeah. And Maurice says, “I just expect more from the starting power forward.” I don’t disagree. It’s just like again, I think if you’re going to prioritize Assar, Ron, Ji, etc., I think he’s the guy that the usage is going to go down and I think eventually my hope is Tobias just gets signed to a few more years and he does transition into the backup four and they find that starting four whether it’s a star or Ron or somebody like that. So let’s talk the new guys and we’re going to start with Caris Levert. obviously not on the Detroit Pistons last year. He split split his time between the Cavs and the Hawks. Combined with those two teams in 64 games, he averaged 12 points in 25 minutes on 47 371. Three rebounds, three and a half assists, low turnovers, didn’t hit a stop uh a steal or block per game. My stats prediction for Caris Lever O2. 10 points per game, three and a half assists, three rebounds on 4435 from the from the field. So that’s a touch below his career average in terms of points. I’m not sure what the minute load ends up looking like. Could be bigger numbers if they actually only play this nineman lineup. Where do you end up on Caris Levert? Okay. So, I’m actually a little bit higher on Caris as a scorer. And looking at my numbers now, I feel like I kind of cheated a little bit because I really have a lot of guys average within a couple points of each other. Uh, which Yeah. No, I what I have I have some of the same to be honest with you, Amari. You know, and I think that that’s how it could end up breaking down, but I’ve car points, uh, three assists, three rebounds, 44 overall, and then 36% from three. Yep. And like I just think he’s so much of a Swiss Army knife. uh like especially like a guy that’s like 66 67 and could play in any lineup. Uh like like I could see him being a guy who, you know, could potentially close some games for you as well, especially if he has the hot hand going. You know, I think he’ll handle a lot of secondary playmaking. Uh you know, depending on how much they put Ji on ball versus off. Uh, you know, a lot of that comes down to it p his his shooting as well because if Ji’s going to shoot 41% from three, then you know, maybe you do want to put the ball in Caris’s hands and and uh, you know, take Ji off a little bit more. But like I just I just see his role being really important to the team and like just because he’s a scorer like I could see him cracking double digits and being around the same points per game as Tobias even though he’ll probably come off the bench obviously. Yeah. No, I I think he’s going to play a huge role for this team. Um, I I could see him scoring more if there are any injuries or if a Jaden Ivy doesn’t end up being the scorer that I think he needs to show to be this year or Holland doesn’t take a step forward or something like that. Our Pistons pull statline prediction lands him at 11 points per game, three rebounds, three assists. West had him at 11, so we split the difference there between that. I think three rebounds, three assists seems about reasonable for Caris Levert. Not going to be a whole lot of rebounds to go around as we’ll talk throughout the episode. I think the assist I think kind of what he is as a playmaker is interesting to me. O2, right? Because we all know what Kade Cunningham is. What I’m fascinated is is who kind of takes the lead in terms of playmaking when Kate Cunningham’s off the floor. Is it Ji? Is it Caris Lever? Is it Assar? Is it Ron Holland? Is it truly a combination of all of those guys in some capacity? I think that’s one of the biggest things I’m interested to see is who is kind of that primary creator, initiator, playmaker when Kade is off the floor this year. I think there’s an argument to made be made that Caris does quite a bit of that. Yeah. And that will be something to watch. Uh we talked to Traentian about it in July and you know he he he basically said Ji is kind of their you know quote unquote free agent big free agent signing and you know he’ll handle a lot of that backup point guard duty uh obviously with his shoulder now in Sacramento and and that’s the role Ji was in uh before the injury obviously and he’s shown that he can produce at that level but I still view him more as like combo guard than like a guy that you want pounding the ball every single possession and I don’t mean that in a negative sense at all. Uh, you know, I just think if you have Caris Dvert, uh, who’s proven who could be that that type of playmaker, then, uh, you know, they should probably split those on ball minutes to me. If Kate’s sitting down the middle, you know, you could take Ji off ball a little bit more, let them get some open shots. Uh, you know, maybe create some easier looks at the rim. Uh, yeah, I think there’s a lot of benefit to leaning on Caris like as much as they can. As far as that, uh, Pistons fan says, “Great show. Are they taking questions today?” If you put a question in the chat, I’ll star it. We’ll see if we can get to it later on. I saw we had one um that maybe when we talk about Ji, maybe if you put one about a specific player, maybe we can get to it um whenever we talk about said player. But we’re going to finish off here with the vets with the another edition of Duncan Robinson from the Miami Heat. Obviously, just like with Caris Levert, a lot of Michigan Detroit fans familiar with these guys. Duncan Robinson last year in 74 games averaged 11 points on 443989, two and a half assists, just over two rebounds. I’ll be honest, I didn’t even put those things on mine. All I put was points per game, and I have Duncan Robinson at nine points per game. This was another guy where I wanted to be a little bit higher, but once I started adding up all the numbers with where I have a couple other guys, it was just it was hard to get him to 10 or 12 points a game. So, I’m going to end up with Duncan Robinson at nine points per game. And I think we see him take o seven plus threes a game though, even in the minutes he gets. So, I have Ducken Robinson at 12 points per game. And like you, I didn’t really bother with the other numbers because, you know, like he’s going to be out there shooting threes. Part of that is just because Malik Beasley averaged 16 a game last season and I think uh Duncan Robinson is within the same caliber of shooter. I don’t know if he has quite Malik Beasley’s shot volume, but you look at the shots being vacated by Malik Beasley and Tim Hardaway Jr. and you probably want Duncan Robinson absorbing as many of those shots as possible. And even though and even if he comes off the bench, like that’s just a lot of that’s just a lot of shot attempts you have to replace. I think I think Duncan probably gets a big percentage of those. And because of that, I think he probably ends up cracking double digits and scoring. I think actually initially had him at like 13 or 14. And uh you know, you have to go back and add the dummies and make sure you don’t have them at like some outrageous points per game as a a team. So ended up down it down a bit. But I could see Duncan being like sneaky high in points per game of the team overall just because there like there’s just so many threes they got to replace. And I don’t know who else you would want taking those threes other than Duncan Robinson. Yeah. I mean my thing with him was what I realized as I was going through this how important he is to this team. I I know some people are like nervous like is is he a guy that can actually replace Malik Beasley’s production and all of that. And it’s like I mean my thing is what if he what if he doesn’t? like what how nervous would you be as a Pistons fan if I told you, hey, Duncan Robinson’s going to miss the first two months of the season with a, you know, a severely sprained ankle or something like that, right? I mean, he is just vitally important to this team in terms of the floor spacing because you take him out and then all of a sudden there like Ji had really good three-point percentage last year and the vert can make shots and Harris can make shots, but you don’t have that guy that just like this is what he does. This is his elite skill or even the Tim Hardaway Jr. which was he was at least high volume even if it was a little bit up and down. So the Pistons pulse line is 10.3 points per game. West had him at 10 points per game. So we’re all kind of here. I’m interested to see some of yours cuz I feel like you have come in higher on these veteran players. So I’m kind of interested to see where we differ then as we get down the road to some more of the younger players and where they land. Uh, real quick, I don’t know that we’re going to get into the specific numbers, but let’s start with Chaz Laneir. Let’s just go like what do you think minutes played? Um, could be total per game, games played, you know, what are you thinking for Chaz Laneir? Yeah, I mean, realistically, he’s probably a guy that sees minutes in garbage where if there’s any injury, uh, you give him a shot. But they have depth on like on the wing. Uh, like, you know, he’s a guy like a 6’4 who’s going to be playing a lot of like offguard. uh probably more of a pure two or three and he’s competing with minutes for just a lot of guys in that range. So, uh like I would be surprised if he had a significant role early on. Like he’d have to be killing it in camp or something else happened rotation wise to clear some form. Yeah. And I think that goes for Javvante Green as well. I I did a video breakdown on Javvante Green over on the Substack if you guys want to check it out. Thank you for everybody that’s supporting me over there. We’re I think I’m up over like 1,250 subscribers. A lot of those things have gotten over a thousand views, whether it’s the written or the video. But I think I’m with you, O2. I to me, if I’m JB Bickerstaff right now, I’m looking at my team and I’m planning on a consistent nineman rotation and then I’m playing the hot hand either as the 10th man or the, you know, the sub that I need, whether that’s Sasser, Laneir, Javvante Green, Paul Reed, Bobby Clintman. I know there’s one more roster spot available eventually. You even have the two-way guys that have been interesting, especially Dannis Jenkins. So, that’s how I envision this right now. So, with you, I don’t have I don’t foresee a consistent role for Chaz Laneir or Javvante Green right now to start the season in terms of the rotation. So, I think it’s just hey, you know, somebody’s injured tonight, somebody’s not playing, foul trouble, something like that. Then that those guys get minutes. We are gonna get into the young guys that I think are going to be the most fun part of this conversation. That is Jaylen Jern, Jaden Ivy, and Assar Thompson. We’ll get into those three right after this. All right, we are back with segment two and we’re going to get into the young guys here. Uh it sounds like we’re going to lead off with Jaylen Duran. Uh this should be fun. Uh Bryce, I’ll let you lead off with your Jaylen Duran prediction. So Jaylen Durren last year just under 12 points on just under 70% from the field. A guy that understands his role. Free throw percentage went down from the year before. Something that was talked about all year. Over 10 rebounds, just under three assists, uh uh.7 steals, 1.1 block, 1.7 turnovers. My projection for Jaylen Duran this year isn’t a huge jump in the box score numbers, but I went with 12 points, three assists, 11 rebound, and two and a half stocks. My big questions, and I think this is what will be fun to talk about, is does he play more minutes? Last year he played 26 minutes a game. Is this a guy that’s going to get more? It’s I mean I think it’s hard to average more than you know 12 you know the right around those double digit numbers if you’re only playing 26 minutes a night and there’s nothing wrong with that. I think it speaks to a guy we’ll talk about later in the episode and the depth at the position. I’m just not sure you can put up box score numbers that are significantly better than that unless the minutes are really going to take a huge jump. And so that’s where I stayed relatively close to the same that he averaged last year. And really for me, it’s all about how much does the defense continue to improve and be consistent, especially compared to what we saw at the end of last season and into the playoffs. Yeah. Uh I pretty much agree with all of that and I think I had the exact same numbers for Jaylen Duran or pretty close to it. Um and it’s also pretty similar to what he averaged last season. 12 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, and around two and a half blocks and steals per game. Uh, I could see him like getting slightly more blocks of sales. I think he was around two stocks last season. Uh, I can see the one point 1.8 last year. So that I think I p I predicted 2.5. So that would be a significant jump even from the jump that we saw last year. Real quick, it was two in the playoffs and he did play 34 minutes a game in the playoffs 02, but as we all know, Isaiah Stewart um was not available for the majority of that series. Yeah. Uh, you know, I can see his playmaking being a little bit more efficient. Um, you know, maybe the assists are a tick higher. Uh, he was at 2.7 assists last season. So, I could see, you know, him creeping a little bit closer to three assists and one and a half turnovers, which he kind of flirted with last year, which I mean, the two to1 assist to turnover ratio has a big, you know, I think you I think you you take that uh any day of the week, but I agree overall in in that I think a lot of his improvement is just more so technique and, you know, just defensive stuff. uh he could continue to hone his skills on offense. Like he couldn’t, you know, add a a jumper or more of a a post hook or whatever it may be, but like he’s kind of in a perfect role on offense already, which is just him thriving as a lop threat and a secondary playmaker. And uh like it’s just tough to see, like I agree with you, it’s just tough to see where he’s getting those extra shot attempts and those extra looks outside of like what’s already been there for him. and he’s going to continue to feast and his field goal percentage is going to continue to be crazy, but like there’s only so much more you can kind of get out of that type of row. So, yeah. No, that that’s a great point. It really is. And maybe not even as much about the minutes as much as like did he expand his individual game to hitting short roll floaters or the like you said the little hook or something like that? Because if he didn’t then it’s really going to be game-to-ame basis. There’s gonna be games where teams are say, “Hey, we’re taking away the lob.” and he may get, you know, eight points on offensive boards and that’s it. Then there may be a game where they’re, you know, slow tagging on the weak side and now the lob pass from Kate is a little bit more there and that’s a game he goes for 16. So I I do think that’s a great point because if all of a sudden he’s hitting short roll floaters and some stuff like that, this may jump a little bit more. And Wes has us are average at 11.2 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, two and a half stocks. West had him just under 10 points a game. His logic was more minutes for Stu blaming Assar. That meaning Assar needs to play with Stu as opposed to Duran. Got you. Okay. So, and that is I think that’s an important thing to remember because Isaiah Stewart played 72. You know, he was available for 72 games last year. That’s a guy you’re going to play 20 minutes when he’s available 02. So, how do you get Jaylen Duran consistently 30 minutes when those guys don’t play together? And so, I I just think it’s hard to see the minutes going up. And again, a great point from you on the like just how the ways he might be able to score is important. All right. I think these next two are probably the most fun in terms of I think we could be vastly different here. And it’s just the guys that I think really you want to see jumps. The next three got two of the next three guys. You really want to see that. That’s a huge part. Jaden Ivy, everybody knows only played 30 games last year. Averaged 17 and a half points on 46 4173. Four rebounds, four assists, three turnovers. Jay Nivy in year two, the year before, averaged 15 points. The year before that, 16. So for his career, he is at 16 points per game on 43 3575 playing just under 30 minutes a night. I have Jaden Ivy making the jump and and I’ve just like it’s it’s got to be this year if it’s going to be. I have Jaden Ivy at Jaden Ivy at 19 points per game, four assists, four rebounds, one steal, and a half of a block. Calling my shot here that he’s going to take a step forward. this team needs a guy that’s close to 20 points per game. This is the year he has to show that he has it or he just straight up doesn’t. Um, I’ll talk about some more of the other things, but where are you at on Jay Nivio2? Pretty similar as you. Uh, not as many points. I have him by 18 points, which is really just kind of rounding up from the 17.6 he had last season. uh four four assists, four rebounds, uh 1.5 stocks, 46% overall, 38% from three. And I was tempted to dial it up a little bit more because again, I mentioned all the shots vacated by Beasley and Tim Hardaway Jr. and Ji is going to absorb some of that. And like because of that, I can see his three-point attempts going up a little bit higher as well, which is why I have his percentage dipping a little bit. But still 38% from three on, you know, mid to high volume. Like, you know, you’re pretty happy with that still. Uh I just see some other guys on the roster like still having significant enough roles on offense that and especially on a team led by a guy in Kade Cunningham who’s going to flirt with 25 points and, you know, 10 assists probably every season. Uh like the wealth’s just going to be spread around it. He’s going to dominate the ball. And you know, I’m just curious on a team with these other guys who are going to have rows. Uh you know, just how much more of the the pie could really go to to Ji compared to where it’s already at. So I could see him taking a little bit more of a bigger role compared to last season, but I don’t know if it’s going to be like significantly bigger. Uh and I just mean from like a a role standpoint and not his actual play. Yeah. I mean, my thing was I I wanted him at 20 points per game. Like I said, I I think calling your shot on Jay Na’vi is saying that he’s going to average 20 this year because if JI averages 20 a game this year, I mean, you there’s a real argument that that’s can be good enough for the number two guy on your team. Um I have that uh I have that all broke down. Um top two scorers over the last uh I looked at Eastern Conference and Western Conference finalists. the average I think it was the last 10 years the four teams that made it to the conference finals um Omar you want to guess what’s the average points per game so this was the last 10 years the the average of the top scorer for the four finalists in the two in the Eastern Conference the two in the Western Conference so the best teams in the NBA what do you think the average points per game are for the leading scorer on those team over the last 10 years I I would guess I would guess 27. Yeah, it’s 25.8 is the average. The median is 25.9. Like the the minimum and maximum is like like there’s some real outliers. So, same thing, the 40 best teams in terms of making conference finals over the last 10 years. You want to guess what the number two scorer was on average for those teams? The number two score on those teams? 21. 20.8. Okay. If you go just the last, I think this one is just the last five years, it’s 21.3. In my mind, I just literally was like, I think Jaylen Williams averaged 21 points a game last season. So, I just kind of went off of that. And for what it’s worth, the third leading score, the average was 16 points per game. And again, I have the medians, the Max, the men’s, the outlier teams, all of that. My point here was is I’ve wondered like if Ji gets to 20 points per game, is that enough to consider him to truly be the number two option on a team that makes the Eastern Conference Finals? And I think the fact we’ve seen Kate Cunningham be the 25 26 point per game guy and know that 20 points per game is enough for the number two guy, I would say yes. Now, there’s always context to it. You can’t just say, “Oh, he averaged 20 a game. He’s it.” But I think that’s why I kind of look at that 20 points per game for JI this year as like the benchmark because if he’s at 17 again, they may have to go like, “Hey, this isn’t going to end up being good enough.” But if he’s at 19 and a half, if he’s at 20, and I put in here, Omari, I think I see an uptick in three-point attempts per game for him. I think you mentioned that as well, right? You see him shooting more this year? Yeah, I see him taking more. Uh, like somebody’s got to take him. Uh, he showed last year that he can. Uh, I mean, I don’t see why it wouldn’t just that naturally become a bigger part of his game. Yeah. So, I have him at six per game. I think he took 5.1 last year and I think like you that’s why I would have his three-point percentage come down a little bit to 38%. I want to talk about the assists. So, Jaden Ivy throughout his three years, he averaged 5.2 assists his rookie year. If people remember, that was the year that Cade got hurt was Ji’s rookie year. then 3.8 then four. Where did you end up with him at assist per game? Because I kept him at four even if I think he’s going to play some more minutes again because I think there we’re going to see more playmaking from Assar Thompson, potentially Ron Holland, Caris Levert. Yeah, I asked him how four assists and I could see his uh playmaking becoming more efficient similar to Duran where maybe you get a little bit uh closer to four assists than two turnovers. I think he was around three turnovers a game last season. Uh so if you could cut down on turnovers that would be great but I think a lot of the playmaking outside of cade will be by committee. Uh they’re going to have a lot of push of the ball in transition. Like you said Assar uh you know can handle playmaking responsibilities during handle playmaking responsibilities. Uh I just don’t know how many more assists there there are going to be left for Ji to average once you take into account everybody. And that’s kind of where he’s been anyway around four assists for his minute load. So that just feels like a pretty safe prediction. YouTube user says, “Cade and/or Ivy need to get much better finishing at the rim in order for the offense to be efficient.” I agree. I’ll tell you the other sneaky one. As a Thompson’s finishing numbers and non-dunks uh isn’t extremely efficient either. So, across the board, it it’s something that Pistons fans um should be looking for this year with some of the the star players on the team. Uh Beastley Arrow asks, “Random question. Are we sure that Ivy is the fastest player on the team?” I would say he has the first step. I would say a SAR, like if they got in a race, like if you said, “Hey, start on the inline and we’re gonna race to the other inline, especially without a basketball.” I assume Assar wins that race, but I do think Ivy still has the fastest first step. What do you think, O2? Yeah, it’s tough because they they just move a little bit differently. Like Assar, like it never seems like he ever runs like full sprint. Uh but sometimes like he’ll just kind of track a play across the entire floor and it seems like he just kind of hops across the floor in four steps like a guy who’s like Jiannis size not his size. So like his speed is deceptive. So yeah, if you’re talking like a full sprint race like it might be pretty close. I’m still going to lean toward Ji just because of the first step, but like Assar sneaky fast like that’s that’s one I would definitely like to see. There’s not a whole lot of guys that will start out of screen in transition and then end up making the play at the backboard and Assar does that. And I need to first give our JI predictions as a group. Our Pistons pulse line 19 points, four rebounds, four assists, one and a half stocks. West had him at 20 points per game, which leads us into Assar Thompson, who last season averaged 10 points a game on 5422, five rebounds, just over two assists, just under two and a half stocks, just under one and a half turnovers in 22 and a half minutes. Assar Thompson for me, 14 points per game, three and a half assists, seven rebounds, two steals, one block. That’s three stocks per game. 5530, a jump up to 30% from three, 70% from the free throw line. Where are you at O2? So Assara is tough because like just the minutes per game, you know, are going to go up from 22 and a half, which even just just reading that like that just sounds so absurdly low. Even though we saw how it progressed over the course of the season, it’s like his average never creeped above 23. Um, so because of that, like you naturally want to add a lot more points, but I also contrast that with just what they’re going to need him to do from a ro standpoint. And like he’s going to score the ball, but I don’t think he’s going to be asked to, you know, score or be a go-to guy in any sense. Uh, you know, I still think his shot diet will end up being pretty similar, even if the minutes does go up. So I have him at 11 points, 6 and 1/2 rebounds, two and a half assists, two steals, one block. So that’s three full stocks per game. Uh 55% overall, and then 29% from three. Still on on low volume, but a little bit of an improvement. Uh he was tough to like he was probably the toughest one for me to project. Like six and a half rebounds could be too low. Uh 11 points could be too low. Uh like honestly three stocks could be too low if he’s playing like 30 minutes a game instead of 22. Um yeah, I struggle with him the most because it was just difficult for me to dial his points up to 13 or 14 and not make the Pistons like this historically prolific offense. Uh so so that one may age poorly. Like I like I really don’t know but that’s kind of where I landed 11.6 and a half. So it looks to me like Assar and my guess is Cade and it’s not going to be a wide gap, but my guess is those are the two guys that give that are going to be five or six point difference in terms of me being higher, you being lower, and you giving those points to the veterans, which I don’t think is like I think my thing with the SAR was just like he averaged 10 last year in 22 and a half minutes. Like he’s going to play he’s going to play like 28 this year, right? Like right and then I don’t know, maybe he doesn’t. And in the playoffs, he got to the free throw line all the time. Even though the points per game didn’t jump a ton, he got to the free throw line six times a game. This is a team that seemed like just played faster throughout the year. And I assume back they come back next year and play at that same speed from the start of the year. The offensive rebounding, him forcing transition off his, you know, forcing turnovers. So I understand where you’re at O2. I just feel like he’s a guy that’s gonna, you know, cut and finish, offensive rebound and finish, transition and finish. It’s like, how easily does he get eight or 10 points, and then do they run some stuff through him this season? Even in the half court, do they run some actions? Again, for his video breakdown over on the Substack, I specifically chose a game where Cade was out and you saw them use Assar as the focal point of the offense and run some interesting things with him. I’m not saying they’re going to do that a lot, but I do wonder if there’s some more designed actions coming out of a timeout, coming out of halftime, stuff like that. And you know, you talked about Jaylen Dur adding stuff to his game. What if Assar comes back with a little post game where he jumps higher than everybody else and shoots a little hook or they use him more in ball screen and roll situations? So, I I thought that two or three more points per game was reasonable for Assar. Yeah, I I guess my last thought on that is that I think about Assar almost I think about a guy like Ray John Rondo where like he does everything and also exerts so much energy on defense that is he capable of scoring more like we saw Rondo score like 40 points in the playoffs and we you know and even though he couldn’t shoot like he had games where he just got it going and uh you know nobody could really stay in front of him but he never went out with that expectation and uh a lot of his impact you know came from defense it came from his playmaking. It came from other aspects even though he could score a little bit more. So, I think we’ll see Assar have nights where he scores 25, maybe even 30. He may have shot, you know, nights where the shots going or he’ll have nights like you said where like he’s just creating havoc and, you know, they they can’t keep him out of the paint. You know, I also think there will be nights where he has like, you know, five assists, four steals, uh, you know, maybe eight eight points, but he made an impact everywhere else. And I just don’t know if he’s going to be I could see him having more highscoring games. I just don’t know if it’s going to be every single night. I can see it just kind of being sporadic based on game flow. That’s fair. And and to be clear, I put him as a alldefensive guy. Like I think he’s going to be very much in that conversation. For anybody that’s interested, uh over on Game Theory, we did a top 25 defenders in the NBA. I’m sure we’re getting screamed at right now a lot about that one. Um but Assar did make that list. So if you want to check that out, go listen to episode two is whenever we talk about Assaar. We do talk about Isaiah Stewart um a little bit at the start of episode one. Spoiler, he did not make the top 25, but he was mentioned and talked about. So, our Pistons Pulse line for Assar Thompson, 12.3 points per game, just under seven rebounds. I wonder if that’s where we end up all being short is uh him averaging more rebounds per game than that. Three and a half assists, three stocks. Wes said, I had him at 12 points and I’m all in for the three stocks. Like Wes said, I’m praying for eight rebounds per game out of him. I do wonder if the rebounds per game is where we all end up being uh I I I wonder if that’s where we end up being a little bit short. Here’s another really good point. There will be nights where Assar has much less impact due to foul trouble. That’s true. The one thing I will say, elite defenders, especially when they get the reputation of being elite defenders, seem to get a better whistle. And I think Assaar is going to be very close to, hey, this is one of the best defenders in the NBA and we’re going to quickly start seeing him get that type of whistle on the defensive end of the floor. But we have a few players left to go, including Kade Cunningham, Isaiah Stewart, and the young Ron Holland. We’ll start with the face of the franchise, Kade Cunningham, right after this short break. All right, we are back with segment three and we’re going to lead off with uh you know, our last three players. Uh you know, Kate Cunningham will be up next. Uh Bryce, I’ll let you lead off uh coming off of his breakout allstar allNBA season. Where do you have Kate Cunningham season? Kate Cunningham, Detroit Piston Allstar Detroit Piston AllNBA third team snubbed. should have been second team and seventh in MVP voting voting with a season of 26 points, six rebounds, nine assists, a steal, just under a block on 473685. I kind of had forgotten how ridiculous his season was until I went back and read the numbers. Yeah. And here’s the funny thing, Amari. I went higher. 27 points, nine assists, six rebounds, one steal, one block for the face of the franchise. And I think what Kate Cunningham does this year is solidifies himself as a perennial AllNBA level player, as an MVP conversation level player. I don’t want to say a lot of guys have like a single AllNBA season, but there’s probably some that you could find out there. I think what Cade shows this year is that no matter what, every year, regardless of injuries from other players, who’s eligible, who’s not, he’s in the running in all NBA conversation and MVP conversations. A stat line of 27961-1 would truly be a historic season in terms of having one steel and one block along with those other numbers. So, as much as I’m calling the shot with Jay Nivey, maybe even a star Thompson, I am very much calling my shot with Kate Cunningham that he not only replicates last year, but he actually builds on it just a little bit. So, this may be a cause for some debate. I have Kade taking a step forward in several ways next season. Uh, but I actually predicted his points per game dipping a little bit. Sure. Uh, and I’ll explain why. Uh, but for my uh overall uh stat line for Kade, I have him at 24 points. Okay. 10 and a half assists. Okay, let’s go. Seven rebounds, two stocks, 48% overall, 37% from three. Uh, yeah, I think his scoring goes down a little bit. I think his playmaking goes up. Uh the reason for that is because Kade Cunningham was fourth in the NBA in shot attempts per game last season. It was Shay LaMelo, Tyrese, Maxi, Cade, and then Luca, and then Anthony Edwards. So like he’s taken a lot of shots. Like I don’t I I like I don’t think his shots per game go up. I think it’s probably going to go down, especially if guys like Ji, guys like Assar, guys like Ron, who we’ll talk about here soon, take a step forward. And like I think that’ll correlate with Kate just playmaking a little bit more. Uh and honestly that’s that’s really just it. I looked at you know who led the league in like shots last season. Uh you know Shay uh led the league at 21.8 which was just one more shot per game than Kade which was 20. Uh you know if Kade’s effic like no if he still stays the same and his efficiency goes up like let’s say he shoots like 37 38% from three then that’s one thing. But my prediction is that his shots per game dips a little bit and because of that he’ll still be really efficient but it’ll just be a trade-off between his playmaking and his overall scoring. So here’s the thing O2 in general who I think Kate Cunningham is in his heart of hearts. I agree with you. I’ve been saying since he was drafted that I thought that Kade Cunningham would definitely be the best player on a championship team, but he may not be the leading scorer because I thought in his heart of hearts and what made him special was his all-around game that he would be like a 23 point per game guy that averaged 10 assists, seven rebounds, was above average on defense, the steals, the blocks, all of that. So, in general, I agree with you. I think where we differ is I think we’re one year away from that version of Cade Cunningham. I think we get one year more year of do it all Helios I it’s not heliocentric but like he’s scoring he’s creating he’s doing everything and then whether it ends up Ji whether it’s Ron a year from now whether it’s a free agent or a trade addition a year from now then I think we get the step back year in terms of points per game. I love that you brought the points per game down though and brought the assists up. Like that is beautiful stuff. Um, what did you have? I stopped listening after 10 and a half assists because I was so happy. What did you have for rebounds and stocks for him? Yeah, Adam has seven rebounds. So, the rebounds go up a little bit. Adam had two stocks. You could divide that however you want between steals and blocks. It’ll probably be pretty even honestly. And uh, yeah, 48% overall. Like he got I think 47 last year, so a little bit higher. and then 37% from three, which he was around 35 36 last year. So, fewer shot attempts, but he’s a little bit more efficient. I agree with that. I think my biggest thing with the points is, and I don’t disagree with you that even maybe the attempts go down, I I just I got to believe he’s going to get to the free throw line more at some point in his career, and I’m hoping that’s this year. Um, that’s a good point, too. I talk about shot attempts, but some of that could also come from free throws, which Shay Yeah. I mean, he’s averaging whatever he aed last year, like 33 because he’s getting to the line so much. So, Yep. or if Cade’s three-point volume goes up or the P, you know, he has a really good percentage year or something like that. So, our Pistons Pulse line for Cade ends up at 26.3 points per game, 6 and a half rebounds, just under 10 assists. I’m going to round all the way up on that. 10 assists per game and two stocks. Wes had him at 28 points per game. And Wes says free throw attempts go up and he believes Cade loves getting buckets. So maybe a little differing opinions there for me and Wes on like who Kade is in its heart. At the end of the day, I don’t think it matters. I think we all know that he’s really good. It’s just a little bit of a nuance thing of, you know, what do you see him and what do you think Kade sees himself as? I will say this. I think a couple of the biggest things I’m looking at, can we get the turnovers under four per game, Omari? I I do think that that’s something I would love to see. They got up to 4.4 four during the regular season and over five in the playoffs. And can we see him be that above average defender? Whether he’s closer to your points and assists or my points and assists or Wes’s points and assists, any of that is going to be a major positive. He’s driving force of offense. Can he bring the turnovers down while doing it? And can he be that two-way impact that we saw a lot of last season? because if he’s a better than neutral defender with the stocks and then what he does offensively again that’s a perennial perennial allNBA player in this league go to yeah I mean there’s no doubt about that um he was extremely productive in all areas last season and like I think we all agree that the productivity is going to be to the same extent next season uh I mean he’s going into year five uh you know and I thought last year was the first year that he really began to just kind of put together all of the different ways he can impact a game. And yeah, I mean, like I just said, he can only get better. So, it’ll definitely be fun to see what that looks like. Real quick, do you think is is there any chance his minutes go down? He averaged 35 minutes a game. My initial thought was like, man, maybe the minutes go down, but then whenever I looked it up, 35 is pretty consistent with the best players in the league. So, I I talked myself out of his minutes going down. So, did you consider that at all, O2, that maybe he doesn’t play 35 minutes a game? Yeah, I did consider that. And I still think he probably hovers around 35 because it’s like you said, you look at what all the stars of the league are playing and I mean, they’re all cracking at least 34 minutes. So, I just I just don’t know how much how many more minutes you’re going to trim off of that for Kate. Like, maybe you trim one minute off, but he’s not I don’t think he’s stepping down to like 33 or anything like that. Agreed. All right, next up, Isaiah Stewart. This one will be fun. I think we all understand the impact of Isaiah Stewart. Again, Sam and I both had him just outside our top 25. I think I could solidly say we considered Isaiah Stewart a top 30 defender in the NBA, not in terms of just bigs or something like that. And we, one reason was the minutes per game. we did factor in like you know he is only playing 20 minutes per game but I think it just speaks to and that list is littered with really really good defenders. So Isaiah Stewart has consistently proven his defensive impact and how good he is. But when you look at the box score that impact doesn’t necessarily show up as much. He averaged six points, five and a half rebounds, one and a half assists, half a steal, one and a half blocks, 20 minutes a game. My stats prediction for Isaiah Stewart, six points, six rebounds, one and a half blocks. I think we all know who Isaiah Stewart is. I hope and think that most Pistons fans appreciate him now and what he brings to this team and how important he is, but I don’t think all of a sudden we’re going to see a difference in the box score numbers. Yeah. Uh I have the exact same prediction, which essentially is what he averaged last year. Six points. Rebounds, two assists, one and a half blocks. uh like he absolutely maximized his row last season uh you know maybe they find a way to carve out a few more minutes and like if he does end up spending some time at the four and I guess that’s the the swing factor like if you’re going against a team like uh Milwaukee or Cleveland uh you know which obviously you’re going to play those teams a total of eight times so uh you know you’re probably going to need some size up front and I’m curious if uh you know after seeing just how much he drive after five last season if that maybe gives you some leeway as far as well maybe we could play him you know 5 10 minutes after four here and there depending on matchup because you don’t want to have to put a saw or or Ron Holland on Giannis or uh you know be caught doing something like that. So, uh, you know, that’s for me the swing factor as far as, you know, does he stay at six points or maybe he can get up to eight if he is playing a few more minutes, he’s taking a couple more threes, stuff like that. But otherwise, I agree like, you know, I think we’ve seen what he is in that role and that’s probably not going to shift too much just from a a pure minute standpoint. Yeah. I mean, I think the only thing that would sway that that’s a good point there. There are certain matchups where maybe he could play some minutes at the four and and his minutes go up. The other thing is if like all of a sudden we saw the three-point jumper come back, right? I mean, obviously that was a big talking point last year. It was one of my biggest nitpicks of last season, whether it was Stu, whether it was JB, Tan, whoever’s vision it was for him to no longer shoot threes was a nitpick of mine. It’s not a huge thing. I I just I hated to see the amount of time invested into it. It looked like it may was at the very least progressing and then to completely eliminate it was frustrating. But if that doesn’t come back, I’m not counting on it. I I think we’re all probably in line here. Our Pistons pulse line has him at 6.3 points, six rebounds, two assists, one and a half blocks. Wes had him at seven points per game. Um YouTube user asked, “Amari, is Steu’s knee good? Any updates? any word on that? I don’t have anything to add as far as those specifics of the injury, but everything I’ve heard is that you like is expected to be, you know, completely good for camp. So, okay, very good. Uh, last player. Actually, this one could be really interesting there. There might be some variance on this one. So, Ron Holland, I think this is a sneaky one to that that I think is important for the future of of the Pistons because we talk about the upside of a Jaden Ivy, the upside of an Assar Thompson, but Jaylen Duran, I do think you want to see real growth from Ron Holland in year two, right? if he’s back at what he did last year, six and a half points, just under three rebounds and assists, you know, even if if he plays 20 minutes and and that goes up to seven or something, you may not be really counting on a huge major jump from him moving forward. So, I didn’t have a huge jump, but I had enough of a jump for him where you could go like, “Okay, here’s the first step, and then we’re going to take a next, you know, another step the next year.” I had Ron Holland at 10 points a game, one and a half assists, four rebounds on 473380. Where did you end up with the secondyear Detroit Piston? We are not that far apart. I had him at nine points, four rebounds, one and a half assists, 1.5 stocks, 49% overall, 33 from three. I didn’t do free throw percentage, but somewhere between 75 and 80 if I had to ballpark it. uh but moderate leap forward accounting obviously for his minutes going up from 15 to you know maybe in the range of 20 uh you know I think I think we’ll see his scoring be a bit more confident especially getting downhill and if he can knock out a couple threes then that’s only going to add to it. Yeah I think for me him and Ivy are the players where the jump in scoring is probably the biggest thing I’m looking at with them. Obviously Ji on the defensive end as well, but those are the kind of the guys I’m like, “Okay, what are they going to show this year playing off of Kate Cunningham theoretically with some other ball handlers and floor spacers where what do they show scoring-wise where you can start to project their role moving forward? Does JI show enough that you can think he could be the number two option or do you, you know, see a number three option or a six-man? Does Ron Holland show number three option potential or is there not that much of a growth?” So these two guys specifically for me it really is about their points per game and and and really not even that but just their scoring ability that they can show this team and you mentioned it as well. I think there could be a bigger jump if the minutes per game go up as well. So we end up at 9.3 points per game, four rebounds, one and a half assists, one and a half stocks. West had Ron Holland at nine points per game as well. So not too far off O2. I think the biggest things were I had Cade and who else? Ji Assar. Assar. No, that’s it. Cade and Assaar. A little bit higher in points per game. And where you didn’t have those points, you threw those into the veterans a little bit more. A little bit more balanced. Specifically Duncan Robinson and Tobias Harris. And yeah, I I still think Duncan is the guy that’s like, you know, a year from now, we came back and he averaged like 14 or 15 just because of how many threes he got up. Uh, you know, I’m just curious to see where where where that one lands because Be’s did average 16 points a game last season. So, it’s a lot of points per game. That’s going to be going to other players. Uh, so Wes said, “I ended up at 117 points, 02 116, Wes at 116.5.” Um, the Pistons as a, you know, I think their top nine last year. I did it at the very end of the year. Um, averaged 112.2 as a team. Last year they averaged 115.5 and we’re 12th in the NBA in scoring. So, I don’t think we’re crazy off here. I think we’re all that would be projecting probably a jump into the top 10 in points per game in that 5 through 10 range somewhere. Yeah. Which if these guys are all healthy and it comes together and all of that. So, um, couple quick questions here. Uh, Pistons fan says, “How much of the Pistons improvement over the course of the season do you attribute to SAR and how much to Dennis Shruder?” Um, I will say my biggest attribution to the season improvement was just like, hey, this is a new coach and we are getting familiar with each other. We’re getting familiar with a certain process and we’re getting familiar with trusting that process and then it starts turning into wins and then it starts to snowball. So I mean yes individual players made jumps and were important. Obviously Assar coming back was important but to be honest I attribute a lot to just like JB Traan and just the culture that was built and the infrastructure that was built um by everybody including the players. I think Assar uh I would like I would credit a good amount of it to Assar I think as far as the team really being able to dial into his defensive identity. Um you know I think you you you you need good point of attack defense. You need a good defensive backbone. Uh they had some of it with Stew and then when you added Assar to that Yeah. uh you know I think you kind of saw that identity clicker to place a little bit more and obviously as sar got better as the year went on as his minutes picked up and whatnot and as we saw in the playoffs he’s capable of checking guys like Jaylen Brunson which is immensely valuable uh I think Schroer was uh very helpful as well uh but I guess the difference for me is that Schroeder was kind of coming in to replace like what you were getting from Ji and I think a star just kind of provided an entirely unique and dynamic. So, uh I don’t I guess I don’t know how much I would attribute to Assar, but I do think that that was a pretty big part of it. Yeah. The other thing I’ll say is I had somebody DM me today. They said that, you know, they said, “I love the pod. Keep up the good work,” which we always appreciate those those comments and whenever people reach out and um but this person said, you know, also think about the upward growth um that there may be under this coaching staff in this new regime as you go from year one to year two. You know, I thought it was a great point by this person. I’m not saying their name because I’m not sure if they’re comfortable with me mentioning it on the pod. Um, but I appreciated them reaching out. I thought it was a great point in terms of like knowing the system and now you’re going into year two where you can build off of all of those things. So, I think it’ll be really good. Uh, last one. YouTube user said, “Bryce, would you try to get on this roster? I honestly don’t think he fits the roster great or has enough great opportunity, but he seems like a Piston to me.” Listen, I love I liked him in that draft. I do think that when you talk about like true foreman, that is what is and he plays extremely hard, has athleticism, like all of those things. I mean, I guess the idea here would be you bring him in and just let him and Bobby Clintman fight it out for for that roster spot. But to your point, I don’t know that you’re guaranteeing that either of those guys are good enough to truly play the backup four minutes. So, in regards to that, it could be a little bit weird. I mean, if you could get him on a two-way. I know the Pistons two-ways are full, but um would love that. Uh O2, any thoughts on Olivier Maxim’s Prosper uh you know, got waved by the Dallas Mavericks to make, uh room for Dante Exom, I believe. Yeah. Uh no, no strong thoughts. You know, he’s kind of like one of the young, you know, fringe guys that you hope could develop into something. And uh if you want to take a flyer on a guy, like, you know, I think it’s it’s it’s worthwhile. But, you know, I don’t think you bring them in with any sort of expectations. So, uh, for a team with one roster spot, it’s just, you know, do you do you want to go that route? Do you want to leave it open, you know, going into the season? Uh, like what’s the best use of it? So, yep. That that’s a huge part of the equation as well. All right. O2, it was great to have you back. Um, listen, I I had a lot of fun with Coach Jones. I had a lot of fun with Andrew and Alex. You guys should go listen to those. The episode with Coach Jones is literally just about basketball. a lot of really good insights. If you’re raising a young athlete, um, if you want to understand NIL, like all of that stuff, the slam and jam crew was good. We talked Western Conference. I completely screwed up the trivia game, but we laughed a lot and had a good time. So, that was fun. But, of course, it was great to have O2 back, kind of get the band back together, get on a little bit more of a normal routine here. Um, glad he’s back from vacation. We can keep this thing rolling forward. Like I said, we’re not too far off from training camps and preseason games and all of that. So glad you’re back. O2, I will be with Pistons Jack on Wednesday night. So make sure you guys check that out whenever you get a chance. Otherwise, O2, take it away, my guy. Yeah, great to be back. Excited to talk a lot of hoops coming up to Training Cap in a few weeks. And with that, I close this out. Big thanks to our audio producer, Robin Chan, our editor-inchief, Dakota, Avery Nichols, and big shout out to Wes Davenport as always. and we’ll talk to you all next week.
The Pistons Pulse is your go-to Detroit Pistons podcast for all the best news, analysis, insights and opinions on the team.
Hosted by Omari Sankofa of the Detroit Free Press and Bryce Simon of Motor City Hoops. Omari brings insider insights and analysis as a Pistons beat writer and Detroit native combined with Bryce’s in-depth on-court analysis as a former D1 player and current high school coach of 12 years.
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