The Two-Way Wing The Pistons Have Been Searching For? 👀 | 25-26 Pistons Player Previews

The Two-Way Wing The Pistons Have Been Searching For? 👀 | 25-26 Pistons Player Previews

Welcome back to the Piston Jack YouTube channel. On today’s episode, we are joined by Cukahill of Lockdown Pistons to preview the season of one of the newest Pistons, Caris Levert. Is he the two-way player the Pistons have been searching for? We’ll talk about that and a whole lot more. Carris Levert. Uh, quickly just some numbers on Caris for those that might not know much about him. last season he started on the Cavs, got traded to the Hawks, pretty much put up 12, three and three off the bench. Uh shot 37% from three. Uh he’s a lot of that was skewed towards a good hot shooting start to the season that tailed off once he got to the Hawks. But on the year was 47% from the field, 37% from three, 71% from the line. I think the key numbers here that stand out to me, he’s a career 34% shooter. Um but last year as well, he was he’s pretty good in the clutch. um 64% from the field, nine of 14 from the field in clutch moments. Didn’t really turn it over in 62 minutes in the clutch with only two. So, bit of shot creation, 6’5, 6’6. Um he credited JBar for um the defensive improvement when he got to Cleveland a few years ago. Um maybe let’s just go back to July. What was your initial kind of reaction and thoughts to the Caris Le signing? There’s some people who may like listening to this that may know what my initial reaction was because I was live in the playback room with like 150 people in there and as soon as the numbers hit. I was not I was not the I was not I’ll just be I’ll be I’ll be real about it. I was not the biggest fan when the report first hit. I I’ll be even more honest with you. like before free like the hour before free agency agency start I remember going in the playback room and saying the one notification I just don’t want to see please is caris the first sign like that like I said that before free agency and then it hit so I was I’ll be honest I was not you know the biggest fan of the signing at the time um no that’s fair and because I think we were all I was guilty of it as well like I was excited for the prospect of nil Alexander Walker even though it was looking like he was going to go to the Hawks in the the day leading up I was still kind of hopeful. Um but you know we got Caris Levert two years I think is it 29 million so it’s the mid level around there. Yeah. Um what type of role do you see him having for the Pistons and and not just like um minutes wise but more like play style. How do you see him fitting in with the young core and where do you think he can help this team this upcoming season? So, like I said, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the signing at the time. I wouldn’t say I’m like a huge fan of his or or let me not say of his, huge fan of it still, but I under I can see it and I understand it more now. Like I’m looking at more in a positive outlook and I do see how it could very much work out well. Um my my issue with LeVert is that for the previous seven seasons um for all the high volume scorers, he was one of the most inefficient scorers in the league. He had around a 51 true shooting percentage over the last six or seven years. Was not very efficient at all. Um but this past year he had the most efficient season of his career. And that was a lot due to him taking the most threes of his career. He cut out a lot of the long twos. I went into this on the podcast. I forget what the exact numbers. I should have brought them up. But he cut the percentage of his shots that were long twos went way down. He took more threes instead and more shots at the rim instead, which is just better offensive process. I mean, it led to his most efficient season of his career. So, if he can be that player from last year, if that’s truly like he’s changed how he attacks the game offensively, I think he could really work out for the Pistons. I think just his size. Um, I think you kind of have to bring up Dennis Shruder here in order to understand why he could be an improvement because Shruder was very good for the Pistons in the playoffs. No doubt he he was a part of one of had some of the biggest moments in the Pistons breaking their playoff losing drought. So give him a ton of credit for that. But I think that’s kind of like blinded people from how he played during the regular season with the Pistons because during the regular season it was not the greatest at all. He was not very efficient. Didn’t shoot well from deep. Didn’t shoot well at the rim. Was not he was not very good during the regular season. Now he turned it up. Like I said, give him all the credit and we always respect Dennis because of what he helped in the playoffs, but just during the regular season, I know it was at the end of the year and he was getting accustomed. So, I’m sure maybe that played a part in it, but his play during the regular season just wasn’t that great. I think Caris will be better than that. Like, he he easily should be better than that simply because of his size, his defense, his length. His defense has gotten better. I’ve talked to a few people in Cleveland and Atlanta about his defense. They say that he’s grown a lot. Um, so defensively he should bring an upgrade over a smaller guard. And Shruder, who fought defensively and definitely was an agitator, but just having that size and length will help. Um, and I think Shruder, as long as he sticks to this better process that he had this past year offensively, he should be like, like you mentioned him in the clutch, one of the reasons why he’s so good in the clutch is because he does have a bag. like he does he he does have moves that he can go to that do create space and he does feel confident going to these moves. Now, if he can be effective like he was this past year on him, that would be great. And if he just, you know, like I said, continues to have a good process offensively, I think he could be really good for the Pistons. Someone else who can get to the basket consistently, finish around the basket, a long defender. Like, he there is a future where I can see this really working out. And I know I was really rough on the signing at first. Um, but I I I do see truly that it could really work out if he sticks to how he played last year and and continues to improve or at least just stay at the level he was defensively over the last two or so seasons um in Cleveland and Atlanta. I think it could very much work out if he’s able to do that. Yeah, totally. And I think the thing that I cuz I was a bit like you, I was a little bit underwhelmed by the signing. probably maybe not as much as yourself, but but like I think once I had a chance to digest it, see how the offseason’s played out, I think something and I know you spoke a lot about this on your podcast throughout the season and in the leadup to the offseason is like the Pistons just and even right now don’t really have many two-way players like like last season and I’m not saying Caris Levert’s going to be anywhere near all defense, that kind of thing, but last season like I I personally really enjoyed the Tim Hardaway experience. Obviously Malik Beasley was incredible and Dennis Shruda, but like they’re all just kind of small. Like Be’s might be what, 6’4, 63. TJ is maybe 6’4, 65 on a good day and Dennis is like 6’1, 6’2. So you get that added size and a guy that in theory can give you positive stuff on both ends. And like I think that is a that is a bonus. Obviously like I love that you’ve highlighted the change in shot diet because I hadn’t looked into that too much but that’s that’s a real positive. So if you can continue that trend um I think this can be a really nice signing and an underrated signing um to be honest. Um but maybe that brings us to um obviously Caris Lever is a pretty established product in terms of who he is as a player. I think he’s might be close to 30 if not. But is there and you kind of outlined outlined the shot diet, but is there anything um that stands out that you would like to see less from him this season um for him to help this team be at their best? Yeah, I think he just I think again it goes back to the shot diaph. I think he just if so much throughout so much of his career he was given a lot of free reign to just be Caris Levert and you kind of have to if you’re going to have Caris Levert in your team you kind of have to allow him to be Caris Levert. Um but a lot throughout his career a lot of that came to step back long twos pullup twos and it just wasn’t efficient offense. if he can just continue to do what he did last year where okay, we allow you to be Caris Lever. Obviously, you want him like the Piston sign him because they want another ball handler and he’s going to be trusted to be that ball handler and he is a fine playmaker too. He doesn’t turn the ball over a lot at all. That that’s something you should get credit for as well. Doesn’t turn the ball over a lot at all and it’s a fine passer. Um so come in, we’ll put the ball in your hands, but if we do, we want you Hey, can you you know just be smart with the ball, be smart with your decisions. If he can do that and be the player he was last year, this honestly could really really work out for the Pistons. Like you mentioned, I’m glad you brought it up. Like the the size defensively was like at times for me just like I I wanted to like just like watching the games it was it would kill me. Like it at the three, but like the first 20 and that was cuz there like Yeah, man. We were just undized a lot. It was it was like like you have Kate at point guard and then you have this you know Jaylen Dur’s built he’s like so strong and whatever and you’re like oh they have size there but then it’s like the business are one of those weird teams last year who had like had size at certain positions but then very much did not have size and like the positions you’d like to have size at which is like the wings like so I completely agree with you simply even Duncan like I know Duncan’s not a good defender but like s I I feel like just simply having that added size should like bring something that maybe THA in it. Um, and again, I enjoy THA’s season for the most part. He definitely was, you know, a part of why they turned the season around last year. But, um, Caris with his size and his length, I think that will really help them defensively. He’s a lot, he’s really active defensively, too, from what I’ve understood from people I’ve talked to. Um, so just continue to be active defensively and just offensively. They’re going to trust you with the ball in your hands. Just be smart with the ball in your hands. Take the right shots. And if he can do that, honestly, I don’t know if you have stats or awards for this player, but I think he could be like top five, six man if he just sticks to that. Well, I was gonna ask you that. So you’ve kind of I think that that’ll cover that section because maybe where we’ll jump to to wrap it up with Caris and for the show is I think from listening to locked on you have kind of highlighted a nineman rotation for the Pistons as the roster is right now not including any potential Malik Beasley reunion but maybe just with those four bench players how do you actually see the minutes roughly being distributed? Like is Caris the sixman? Is it someone else? Uh maybe just dive into that a little bit because that does relate back to Caris. Yeah. So I I I think it was a week and a half ago I kind of put together what I think the rotation will look like minutes wise. So what I’m looking at is I think Cade’s going to get all of his minutes basically at point guard. I think he’ll get around like you know you hope 32 to 34 minutes a game I think will probably be what he gets. Um, and then the backup position. I think you’ll get like 10 minutes or whatever. What what is it like 14 minutes of Ivy that you because I either you can split up between Ivy and Caris there. Maybe like 10 minutes for one for whatever. Um, then Ivy will play 20 or so minutes at the two guard position. And then you’ll have Caris and um Duncan and maybe, you know, maybe Ron or someone split those minutes at the two. And then I think Assar will start at the three. He’ll play like 20 minutes I think. Maybe maybe even 18 minutes at the three. backup three, you’ll split between Duncan and Ron. Um, whatever those minutes are left. Then at the backup four position, or I guess I just start with the four, Tobias will play around 28 minutes at the four. And then I think you’ll have Ron and Assar split the backup four minutes. That way you can get Assard to 30 minutes by playing him maybe 18 minutes at the three, 12 minutes at the four. That would get you to around 40 minutes at the four used up. Give Ron like the other eight minutes there plus maybe like 18 minutes at the three or something like that. to now he’s at seen an increase in minutes. You see Duncan split some mints at the three and two. Car split some mints at two and one. So is Ivy at the starting two in the backup one. I think that’s how they’re going to chop up the mints and get everybody, you know, the because you want to see Ron play more and you want to see Assar play more. I think that’s the main reason they didn’t get a backup four. Um because they that’s how they’re going to increase both of their minute totals is have them split the minutes at the back of four, split minutes at the three and then that will equal us at like 30 and I think Ron I estimate to be around like 25 plus minutes a game and then Duncan and Caris to be around like 20 21 minutes a game something like that. And then the backup point guard position will be completely filled up from IV and Caris. Um and that’s how you kind of fill those minutes in. Um and then the back obviously this starting center rotation I think is going to be JD and Isaiah Stewart. Uh, that’s how I envision it. That’s one of the reasons why I kind of talked about this on the last episode locked on that like if they can bring back Malik like obviously like having all that shooting would be great. I kind of don’t know like where these, you know, I I’m I’m I’ll be interested to see how if they were able to bring back Malik. I’m interested to see how the rotation play out because you kind of start to pinch for minutes here and there amongst these guys. Um, so I’m interested to see if like that maybe is a reason doesn’t end up back in Detroit. But yeah, that’s how I see it paying out right now. Yeah. No, I like I’m with you on the nine man rotation. It does get very crowded if Malik comes back. I’m kind of the view like if you can bring him back like kind of just try and make it work because of how good he was um and then maybe you can move on from someone at the deadline. But um no, I agree. I was talking with somebody. I won’t say who it was, but I was talking with somebody last week and I kind of brought up like, oh, what if Malik comes back, whatever, whatever. And one of the things that got brought up was like, well, even if you do have a crowded rotation, that means that you have a lot of trade assets at the deadline. So, if you know want to make a move, you’ll have trade assets. So, that could be another positive to that. And and undoubtedly, like we don’t want any long-term injuries, but players do get banged up. Like, I’m not saying you build a rotation built on that, but like there will be minutes that open up. Tobias I would think his minutes come down a bit but I’m with you at the core of and Traan said this anyway like the young core we’re going to get a real good look at particularly Ivy Duran those two plus assass so I think that should be the priority so we’ll see what happens with Malik but my man maybe last thing I’ll ask you then we’ll we’ll wrap this up is what’s your prediction for the Pistons this season as of I think it’s August 27th for you where are they finishing in the east and what’s their So, as of August 27th, I want everyone to know I I have the right to change this before the season starts. I’ll put you on the spot. Yeah. Um, I’ll say I’ll say the most likely scenario for me is I think they end up as the fifth seed. I think you get I think Cleveland, New York get the top two. I really like Orlando’s off seasonason and they were really banged up this past year and were only three games behind the Pistons. I kind of looked at that and was talking about in today’s episode like kind of give a lot of respect to Orlando that they were able to win 41 games with Suggs, Fron, and Paulo missing large chunks of the season. That was kind of crazy. Um, so with them being healthy and then bringing in Bane, I think they’re probably going to be the third best team in the East. Um, I think they could even jump to maybe second best team in the East. I think they’re going to be very good. And I think the fight for four will be between Atlanta and Detroit. And I think Detroit, what they have going for them is health over Atlanta. I know Ivy, you know, going down last year was unfortunate, but outside of Ivy, the Pistons actually had some really good health this past year. They didn’t have, you know, nagging injuries to a bunch of players like they had relatively good health luck. Um, and Atlanta really loved their off season. A lot of it is based around guys who are injuryprone. Jaylen Johnson, Christophorzingis, Luke Canard, like even Trey Young has dealt with some stuff every like. So, I think that’s what the Pistons have an advantage over Atlanta and that could get them the fourth seed. I think Atlanta just has more proven talent I think right now. Could the Pistons end up with more talent? 100%. But it’s kind of hard to predict where these guys are going to end up. So with that, I’ll I’ll comfortably say five just to be, you know, safe. Um but definitely I think they could end up four. I think it’s the storyline throughout the year will be a battle between Atlanta and Detroit for four or five. And the Pistons certainly could win it, but I’ll play it safe and say five right now. I’m with you. I have them slightly ahead of the Hawks, but it’s going to be like a toss up, I think. Um, barring, you know, barring any major injuries. So, C, thank you so much, my friend. Um, some really good stuff in there. I’m going to have all the links to everything you have going on from the sub, sack, the playback room, but please, for those that for some reason haven’t been following you closely, where can they find all the amazing work you do? Yeah, I appreciate it. I love coming on. Had a lot of fun. You guys can find Locked On on whatever locked on Pistons that is on whatever podcast platform you listen to uh whatever podcast you listen to on. You can also find it over on YouTube. You can find it wherever. Um you can also find me on Twitter, Cookah Hill. And also if you want to follow my subsect throughout the year, it’s been a little slow during the offseason, I will admit. Um but during the regular season, we were going every single day with content for you guys. I’ll have daily Pistons coverage for you guys, not just through the podcast, but on the substack with written formats and film breakdowns throughout the year. You guys can find it over at cuckhill.subsack.com or at pistonscudos. Um again, Jack, appreciate you having me on, man. I’m going to have to get you back in the pockets again before uh the season starts up, too. Hey, man. You know, I’d love to jump back on. Appreciate you joining once again.

The Pistons have lacked a true two-way wing for years. Could Caris LeVert finally fill that gap? In this Pistons Jack Reacts Player Preview, I’m joined by Ku Kahil (Host of Locked On Pistons) to discuss:

1️⃣ Caris’ 2024–25 season with Cleveland/Detroit
2️⃣ His role for the Pistons in 2025–26
3️⃣ Where he must improve to maximize his impact
4️⃣ Stats + awards predictions

Could Caris be the glue guy who balances Detroit’s young core with veteran presence?

👉 Follow Ku here:
X: x.com/KuKahkil
YouTube: youtube.com/@LockedOnPistons
Playback: playback.tv/watchpistons
Substack: kukhahil.substack.com

💬 Do you think Caris can be Detroit’s two-way answer? Let me know below!

#Pistons #NBA #CarisLeVert