Detroit Pistons Player Expectations? | Pistons Talk Podcast with Lazarus Jackson
Hey guys, welcome back to Pistons Talk podcast. Hope you guys are having a great Monday evening. I got over that lion’s loss. Probably not. Uh I am joined by Lazarus Jackson, editor over at the Detroitbad Boys.com. Laz, welcome back to the show. I don’t feel like I’ve talked to you in a very long time. We did the we did the live stream for one of the games uh earlier in the regular season. That was the last time we did like a show together. But yeah, it’s been a while. Thank you for for having me, Anthony. Thanks for bringing me back on. I appreciate it. I I will say I’m not a Lions fan. I I volunteered up my Lions fandom when Calvin retired and I decided I made the decision that if I did it, if I jump back on, it would be bandwagoning and I want to do that. So, I’m right now I’m like fan homeless. Uh, but yeah, that’s if I was still a Lions fan, I I would be having a very hard Monday as well. So, I feel for you guys. Yeah. I mean, my whole timeline is just like I’m just doom scrolling like Lions beat reporters and like Lions Twitter right now. And it’s just like, you know, it’s bad when like people are just like, when did the Pistons play again? Like they they they’ve like skipped over the Tigers even though like the Tigers are doing great. The Tigers are going the Tigers look bad, too. So, this is Yeah. I mean I mean three weeks until training camp, but uh today’s podcast should be pretty fun. I think we’re going to be doing expectations with nine guys in the rotation. So I wanted to start with Kate Cunningham first. So what kind of things are you expecting out of him this upcoming season? Sure. So, I think Cade is gonna have to be my expectation for Kade is to lead this team to a playoff birth again to make to play at an all-star level. Like maybe, you know, uh some guys don’t get injured this year and he’s not selected for an all-star spot. Like, okay, sure. Um play at an allNBA level. I thought he was deserving of being a second team allNBA type performer last year. Uh he obviously made third team. Uh, and so I I think he can replicate that. Uh, the thing I would like to see him develop and do a little bit better is the three-point shooting. Uh, we saw in particular in the Knicks series how um his uncomfortableness uh his uncomfortability, I don’t know, he looked uncomfortable taking like pull-up threes. And so I was like, he he’s got to get a little bit better at that. But that was really the we’re we’re picking flaws, right? again like Kade was the engine that drove this team to a playoff birth last season. So that that’s that’s what my expectations for Kade are. Like more of the same. I don’t expect like a huge huge jump. I don’t I don’t know if that’s reasonable uh after like a career year last year, but uh yeah, more of the same. Like maybe like a like a little like 3% bump, right? Adjust for inflation, Kate. Yeah, I I I felt like like once the regular season was over, like he just had tired legs. And maybe I’m just kind of using an excuse for why that three-point shot wasn’t going in. Cuz at times during the season, it looked really good. I mean, I remember he was shooting like 40% from three really early on in the season. I was like, hey, if you can shoot 40%, man, that’s huge. But I do agree with you there. I I I kind of expect his scoring to dip down a little bit with Jay coming back. I don’t expect him to, you know, average 26 a night because I don’t really think he has to. I know he’s capable of doing it, but I I don’t really think, you know, the the the scoring load will be on him every night with, you know, not having Jaden Ivy and um I’m not even going to mention like Malik Beasley because I’ve talked about it as Nauseium. I don’t know about you, but it’s just like I don’t really know what’s going to happen there, but like I I could see a scoring be like around maybe like 23 to like 24 a game with a healthy Ivy coming back. I could see that too. Uh and you know, if that corresponds with like he’s averaging if he was averaging 26 and nine and now he’s averaging 24 and 10, like those are functionally the same numbers, right? 10 assists looks cooler though. I’ll grant him that. Yeah. I mean, I I that would be cool if he did have like 10 assists and the turnovers were like maybe like maybe I could live with like three a game with his usage, but I don’t know about you. It’s like I’ I’ve told myself at this point that it kind of is what that’s who he is. And so I I’m I’m I’m living with four, right? You live with four and you just enjoy the uh the playmaking and the like the crazy assists he made at the end of game two against the Knicks and stuff. So yeah, like I said, I don’t really think too many people are going to have like expectations for him to just like, you know, either drop off or, you know, average 30. I don’t really see that in his future, but I I know he’s capable of scoring 30 in every game, but you know, averaging 30, that that that’s a lot to ask out of, you know, Kate. Not to say that he can’t do it, but I mean, like there’s levels. I I just don’t really know if he’s there yet. the type of like he would have to change his game I think to get to that level, right? He’d have to take a lot more threes. We just tal we talked about how that wasn’t necessarily like something he wanted to do last year. He’d have to get to the free throw line a lot more. I thought he did I thought he got more calls. I don’t know if he did anything like magically better after the All-Star break, but it it definitely seemed like being named an All-Star gave him like more respect in the referee’s eyes and so he got some more calls. Uh but yeah, like those that those are the ways you get to 30 is uh more threes, shooting better from three and more free throws, right? Yeah. I mean, if you got SGA’s whistle, he’d probably get 30 easy, easily. Easily. I think a lot of I think a lot of people would average 30 if they had SGA’s whistle. Like I I literally uh saw an interview with them the other day. He’s just like, “Yeah, I didn’t like playing football cuz I I fell on it and like um I it took the air out of I think he fell on a football and then like he just couldn’t stop breathing.” And everyone’s like, “Well, you you can’t flop in football SGA.” I was like, “Wow, the hate is real. The hate is real.” I I did want to kind of like stick with the back court. Um, Jade Ivy, I I I have a lot of um expectations for him, but I’d love to hear what you think like with him, you know, coming off a an injury last year, played really good in 30 games, but what do you think we could see out of him this year? Yeah, this is the tricky one for me because I do think that like Jaden was starting to hit his stride right before the injury. Um, and we but we never really got to see him and Assar play together and that was the thing. That’s that’s something I’m most curious to see is how those two guys kind of interact with each other on the court. Uh Jaden shot really well on catch and shoot threes last year. It’s a big addition. Like if you’re going to be next to Kate Cunningham, shooting good on catch and shoot threes is a is a really good way to fit in next to him. Um and I thought that he did a good job like balancing his uh three-point attempts and like shots at the rim. I thought he did a good job of like keeping those two intention and like not so the defense like couldn’t key in on what exactly he wanted to do. Uh what I will say though is that he still needs to finish better at the rim. This is something that like Cookah Hill has been on top of for like two seasons and it’s true. Um, and I think that he needs to, if he’s going to be in bench lineups with Caris Levert and they’re like sharing ball handling duties, like neither one is like a really uh like a primary p per se. I think Jaden needs to do a little bit better job of distributing, right? Sometimes you can see him uh he you can see him pass uh or like his mindset is to pass and sometimes his mindset is to shoot and he needs to do I think a better job like switching between the two or being kind of creative uh in the like in the flow of things. So like predetermining like what he’s going to do. But I I think Jaden’s going to be a really good player this year. Um he’s as far as we know like as of this recording he’s still uh competing for a contract. So, I’m sure he’s going to be motivated to put up counting stats. I don’t know how um if that leads to winning, I think that’ll be a good thing. I think we’ve seen in the case of like Cam Thomas and and uh Josh Giddy, like just like putting up counting stats and putting up numbers like isn’t necessarily enough to get the kind of contract you want. So, I do I do worry about that. But if the team wins and Jaden puts up really good numbers and he’s able to handle the ball in bench lines and he’s able to shoot like really well on catch and shoot threes, like it’ll be a successful season for him in my mind. I I feel like he has so much pressure on him and I think it’s just fans putting pressure on him. I don’t really think it’s like the organization putting pressure on him because like we haven’t seen this back court actually play like constructive like more than like what like maybe 40 50 games together. Um, you had the Monty year which was just a whole experience in itself. Uh, his rookie year K goes down. Uh, last last year. I felt like he was starting to turn a corner and, you know, was putting everything together. He was, you know, hitting his three-point shots at a pretty good cliff, but I do agree with you with the finishing um, at the rim. It It kind of boggles my mind given the type of athlete he is and that that just that fast twitch first step that he does have. I’d like to see those numbers go up. I think my expectations for him defensively, I want him to fight a little bit more up off the top of screens because I I feel like in certain situations um sometimes he will and sometimes he’s just like nope. Hey Steu, you got him like or hey, you got him and is like way over on the opposite side of the court. Like I I want to see him get better defensively. I I don’t know about you. Yeah. No, that’s definitely been a weakness of him. But I think at this point like it it’s also kind of what I expect. Um he’s like maybe it’s a technique thing more than an effort thing. I don’t think he’s like bad at effort. Um but I do just want him to like be a little bit better about getting around screens, being a little bit better as like the low man. um he is he’s such a good athlete and he’s never been like a really good rebounder and like that would be a that would be one way to contribute defensively is just like average like five and a half rebounds a game from your shooting guard spot. Like that would be really cool. Um so yeah, that but I don’t I don’t have grand expectations for his defense. I kind of just think that’s kind of who he is as a player. He sucks me in, man. It’ll be like a game where there was a game this year where he was just like fighting over the top of screens. He was really active and I was like, “Okay, maybe that’s something to build off.” And then like the next game he like injures his toe and he’s out for a week. I was like, “Crap.” So like all the expectations hustle. Yeah. You injured yourself playing too hard. But I think the one question I have is like obviously they didn’t sign a backup point guard and they still want they still want to stagger and I guess you could probably play Caris Levert um you know handling the ball. Maybe a star does get some reps there. But my only like probably question, maybe you can answer this for me, is just like do you run the risk of him, you know, overworking himself? Uh, you know, being in the starting lineup with Kade and then trying to run that second unit? I don’t think so. Or I I hope not, right? Because I think that’s ultimately like what his role is going to be at the as a professional. And so I you’d hope he’d execute like really well in that role as opposed to it being like a little too much for him. Um I do like I’m not super comfortable with if like if he can’t do it then that means like Caris Levert is your backup point guard. I’m not super comfortable with that. So I I would really prefer for him to rise to that level and them to be able to share ball handling duties. So like I hope you’re wrong if that’s how I feel about it. I I I just worry with just like getting like overloaded through a long NBA season. Obvious obviously like you you mentioned like Kade earlier like his legs looked really tired come playoff time and the three-point shot kind of suffered. Like uh I I just wonder and question if having him as a second unit backup point guard could kind of have a similar effect of terms of just his production night in and night out. Yeah, I mean I think that’s a fair concern. Absolutely. Well, hey man. Uh, I hope you’re right. I hope he can handle it. Um, I don’t want to see Marcus Sasser back up point guard minutes. Love you, Marcus. But, uh, yeah, we we ran that experiment. It didn’t I I hope that experiment died. I talked about Marcus Sasser for 20 minutes last night. I don’t even know why. Like people are asking about like September. That’s why. Yeah. It’s just like, man, I should not be going this ind depth with Marcus Sasser right now, but you guys are just I I I love my subscribers. Like, they’re they’re the definition of just Pistons die hards. So, uh Sar Thompson, uh I I’d love to hear like what you think he could have this upcoming season because I I feel like he’s a big X factor. Yeah, I I I’ve been calling him the secret sauce, right? like when he came back, that’s when things like really started to take off for Detroit. Uh it’s weird. I My expectations for him are to just like see him play an entire season, don’t get hurt, uh and like be the insane athlete he is. Uh maybe that results in like an alldefense team. Maybe that results in like a most improved player candidacy. Uh, like I know like Zack Low was like talking him up on the latest edition of uh the Zack Low Show and I I don’t think that’s like uh it’s nice to have national people like care about the third or fourth guy on the Pistons. Um but yeah, I don’t think uh I don’t think the shot is going to be in a space to where um like teams are going to have to guard him on the perimeter. And so my expectation for him is uh improve the handle, right? Is like we’re talking about we’re cocking Rock Cade, we’re talking about Jaden Ivy. Um maybe Assar can be like a tertiary ball handler for this team and that’s something that they can actually like give him the room to explore during a long regular season. Um because I think I think the handle has a better chance of getting to a place where that becomes like a weapon for him offensively than the shot does. Um, for now, my expectations would be like, “Hey, SR, like you don’t have to shoot, you don’t have to shoot uh threes. Like, shoot them if you’re open. Don’t worry about it too much.” Um, but you do have to make your free throws, right? I think he got he got noticeably more comfortable at the free throw line as the season went along and I’d like to see that continue. Um, that was a that was a big like point of improvement for me just because like he’s so he’s so he’s so quick as a driver that like if like guys are going to foul him if he has the ball in his hands and he starts driving. Um, and so you’re going you’re like if you’re going to get fouled like it’d be nice if we could get like actual free throws out of this. Uh, it was a nice decent jump like 60% to 64% over his rookie year but like I’d like to see that get closer to like 70 75%. It’s so funny because a couple weeks ago I got in a heated argument over what’s more important, him developing a three-point shot or a handle. And I said handle. And uh the the guest that I had on was crashing out over it. I was just like, man, like if he develops a handle, he can get to the free throw line. I think that opens up his game more getting to the free throw line. Not only that, like he makes some like you have to rewind your TV type passes because you’re like, “What? Did he just really make that pass like underneath the basket like that?” Like I think some I think his passing I don’t want to say it’s underrated, but I don’t think it gets talked enough in my personal opinion in the Piston space. But yeah, I I do agree. He doesn’t have the ball enough to pass it enough to like where it becomes like a talking point, I think. Yeah, I mean like if he had a tighter handle, maybe he does take on more on ball reps because I think he’s more than capable of it. I know JB kind of experimented with like the point of SAR and I think a lot of teams last year didn’t really know how to guard him because he’s just so fast and so strong and uh by the time he jumps or cuts, you’re like, “Oh crap, it’s going in.” Or like the like the Knicks assistant coaches every time he was in the dunker spot about to cut like they’re yelling at Josh Hart and Josh Hart’s like, “What?” and then like he’s up in the air. It’s just like right his athletism is just crazy. Um I don’t expect a three-point shot to just go from like whatever it was this year. I I haven’t even checked to like 40%. I I just don’t see it that way. If he can develop a handle, I think it’s great. Uh I’m with you on the free throw percentage. Like if he can get from like 64 to 70ish, I think that’s just a a win. You can kind of check that off as a box of like what you want to see improve on. But to me, like if he develops any sort of a jump shot, I I I think that’s a big win for the Pistons. Yeah. And like even if that’s those those like 10-ft like moonshot jumpers he was shooting his rookie year. Um but if he’s able to get to his spot like into the paint and like rise and fire and make those shots consistently, then like yeah, you like you’ll take that offensive contribution. And then like defensively like everybody already knows what he’s going to do defensively. He’s going to mess stuff up. like he’s just gonna like shut down guys. Like it’s gonna be great. Yeah. Like his defense is crazy. Like you can set a screen and it doesn’t matter. He’s like glued to the defender. Like I I’ve never seen like someone like set a pick and the stars are still on him and then like if he does get beat his recovery speed like I don’t know how many times last year I had to rewind my TV because I didn’t believe the recovery of him like blocking a shot or contesting a shot or covering for Jaylen Duran because he wasn’t paying attention or just like little things like that. I’m like man this this kid is just so different. Like both of him and his brother like they’re just like A1 athletes man. It’s It’s honestly like really just fun to watch them play basketball. Yeah, they’re they’re really fun to watch, man. Uh I still have to watch that um podcast of him and his brother. I keep seeing it on my timeline. I just have not haven’t had the time to watch the the podcast with the old man of the Yeah, man. I’m I’m trying to watch the like Pablo Tori Kawaii Leonard podcast. Like I haven’t had time to do that. So, it’s just like Yeah, it’s it’s in the backlog, right? It’ll keep Oh, that that Pablo podcast and then the Mark Cuban followup I think was even better than the just the whole like him finding out about the Kawaii stuff, man. Like um I didn’t think we would be getting this much like juicy like content in September. I know Champs Karania kind of trolled all of us saying it’d be the busiest NBA off season ever, but I mean I didn’t expect this kind of stuff. Um like the the memes are just funny. It’s just like, you know, Kawawaii gets banned for 50 games and he’ll be healthy just in time for the playoffs or everything like that. Like it’s it’s so funny, man. Like Yeah. Uh I I did want to talk about a former Clipper, Tobias Harris. Yes. Now, uh what are you expecting out of uh Uncle T this year? Man, I I want Uncle T to stay healthy, right? He’s still the only player. He’s still the only wing that you can reliably say can dribble, pass, and shoot for the Pistons. And if he doesn’t play, like things get gnarly, like rotation wise, like really quickly. And so I want him to play like 75 games again. Um, continue to shoot the ball well. My hope is that like they don’t have to like he he plays all those he plays all those games but they’re not like leaning on him to uh contribute like offensively like all the time um in a way that like it felt like for the first half of the season like if Cade wasn’t playing it was like hey like Malik makes some threes or like Tobias like post up on the left block right like those were the only two like offensive options and my hope is that they don’t have to do that for him anymore like it’s a mismatch thing you can exploit but it’s not something that like you need to like wear him down for for 75 games a year. Um, and then defensively, like I’ I’d presume he’s going to be older. It’s like maybe a little bit worse defensively. I’d like to see again like more of an effort on on the defensive glass. Um, he surprised me in that area last year. So, I I just want to like reiterate that that like that’s a thing that I want to see him focus on again this year. And then um yeah, maybe it’s like maybe maybe help Jade Ivy out every once in a while. Maybe uh take some take some uh matchups so that Sar doesn’t have to guard like everybody all the time, right? Yeah. Would be nice. But yeah, no, I’m I think it’s it’s a real blessing to have Tobias here in like a such a rock steady like veteran role for this team because like I’m again like I was looking at this roster and it’s like man like if he’s not here like they really just like don’t have another guy like him in a way that like really is damaging for the team. So yeah, just keep keep being yourself Uncle T. Yeah, I mean to your point, like I think a lot of Pistons fans are looking at Tobias and obviously like what he did last season, I didn’t expect him to re rebound the basketball like he did. I was just kind of expecting maybe like 14 and six a night and some pretty good pretty good shooting splits, but like the rebounding I thought was really crucial. And when he was injured towards the end of the season, you really saw his impact just on the glass. um because it seemed like no one like obviously this team is still young and they’re still learning how to you know win basketball games together collectively but I think you see his veteran leadership out there. I know in the beginning of the year like he wasn’t really leaned on as much to score and I know a lot of Pistons fans were like like I can’t believe we paid off this guy this money and he’s not producing because I remember looking at the box box scores and it be like you know two for 11 maybe six points here and there a couple rebounds but I felt like once Jaden Ivy went down he really picked up his game he kind of you know became that pillar or that safety blanket for K to go to. To your point I agree with you. I don’t really think they should like rely on him as much as they did last year. Try to see if, you know, the younger guys can take a step in a direction or maybe, you know, Caris Slover kind of find finds himself in that role as more of that go-to scorer. Um, but my ultimate dream for Tobias Laz is I I want him to after his contract’s up, assuming they don’t make any crazy trades, is I want to see him play that L Horford drill. I want to see him come off the bench, be that backup power forward. And maybe you feel Assar is the long-term power forward on this team, maybe a trade for one or maybe sign one, but um just his impact as as a veteran on the court and then the leadership off the court, I I I think you can’t really put a a price tag on it. Yeah. The as a as a culture setter, right? Which is like it’s he played here, but he didn’t play here for long. And like last year he play fulfilled a really important role for this team, but like that was his first year playing for the Pistons in like 5 years. But uh I I like the Al Horford comparison as like a steadying presence who you can rely on to actually like do things on both sides of the ball as well. Yeah, we got uh Rod uh Burger on uh Facebook saying feature front office guy as well. I mean, hey man, like Dwayne Casey got a roll. Why not Tobias when he’s all done? You never know. No, Tobias is a landlord, man. He’s building uh apartment buildings with his brother out in uh out in California. I don’t know if he’s got time to to be at the front office when he’s done. And I was watching a podcast, speaking of landlords, apparently like uh Isaiah Stewart once he got his extension, he bought a bunch of um I guess like an apartment building in like Rochester, New York, where he’s from. And his dad said, “Oh yeah, I’d love to do that. Like I’d love to be a landlord.” So Steu just like bought like an apartment building and then told his dad’s like, “Hey, like you know you can be a landlord now.” He’s like, “Oh, I don’t want to do that.” And Ste was like, “What am I going to do with all this?” Oh no. New York New York real estate mogul Isaiah Stewart. I didn’t see that one coming, bro. Like his Instagram stories like he’s building like a farm like planting trees. Like he’s just living the good life right now. Yeah. That’s dope though. It’s like he’s because he’s in Jamaica I think. like where where his family’s from. It’s just like, okay, that’s pretty cool, right? Just like be on the beach like making your own like property and stuff. That’s that’s the dream. Did you see the annual Tom Gors party with uh Stew and JB dancing? Tom Gore is like creeping in the background like the more I scrolled like the more people I knew that were there. Like you had like Piston social media team people there. I was just like big Sean’s there. Like they invited like everyone. Like they were out in San Diego, California. It was just like a banger of a party. Yeah, man. I mean, you know, uh who doesn’t love the work trip on the boss’s dime to meet I know Pistons thoughts. He said uh there was like a a a party that he could see and obviously it was a Pistons party because like uh he said there was a bunch of piston stuff like floating on the beach. It was like a balloon. He’s like, “I was there. It was like right down the street.” I’m like, “Man, you should have just went over and introduced yourself.” Yeah. Just Yeah, just say something. Man, that’s I I couldn’t imagine being a party like that. Like, it’s probably so much fun. I want to kind of transition into Jaylen Duran. Um I feel like I’ve been really harsh on him. I don’t I don’t know about you, I was I was really harsh on him like first 25 games of the uh season, but kind of picked it up once Aar came back. Don’t know if that was his effort or Sar’s effort. Uh but what are your expectations for him coming into this season? Yeah. Yeah, I noticed much the same thing. And I think you can chalk that up to like a little bit of column A and a little bit of column B. Um I think it’s easier to give max effort or give something approaching max effort on the defensive end when you have a guy like Assar out there in front of you like making stuff happen. I think it’s harder to do that if it’s like you’re relying on Tim Hardway Jr. and Jaden Ivy and Malik Beasley and Kate Cunningham to stop dribble penetration all the time. Um, I think the big thing I noticed last year from JD was his comfort level defending uh like regular non-spacing bigs. I thought he got a lot better at that. Lab a lot better at like hand placement and body placement in the pick and roll as long as he’s like defending if he’s like moving backwards and like kind of in drop. um doing a good job like at the cat and mouse game defending the defending the ball handler, defending the roller as well. Um and just like shutting shutting down the pick and roll and like giving giving his guys time to recover and like cut off the ball handlers and stuff. I thought he did a really good job of that. It was really apparent to me how much more comfortable he was defending Mitchell Robinson than Carl Anthony Towns in the playoff series. Um so like I’ I’d like to see like that continue and obviously the next step is to get better at uh get more comfortable at defending in space. get get more comfortable defending uh stretch bigs offensively. Um I was a little surprised when I looked at the numbers like his scoring went down and so you’d like you’d like to see the scoring kind of tick back up. He also shot a lot worse from the free throw line and like he he was a really good free throw shooter in year two. Um and I I didn’t think he did anything like differently from a form perspective. So it’s like yeah get back to like close to 80% from the line JD. That would be good. And then um yeah, get up to like I so at times last year I really so especially during the Monty year I got really frustrated with JD because it felt like at times it was a lot of like it’s like well nobody else has anything going like I’ll just take the ball from the free throw line and do like a HB dive and like I’ll see what I can do. And uh JB did a great job cutting a lot of that stuff out and turning those into like dribble handoffs or or pick and rolls for the ball handlers. Um, but I do think like now that he’s more mature, I think there’s a there’s a level to like reintroduce a little bit of that stuff just to make sure that the defense isn’t always keying in on the guards as uh as a as ball handlers, right? JD’s quick enough and got like decent touch in like the mid-range. there’s there’s enough room, I think, for JD to like get the ball, like fake a handoff, get to the middle, like get a floater going and like get some points that way. Um, and I’d like to see a little bit more of offensive diversity like in his game. Um I like I that sounds because like I was so crit I was so critical like two years ago of what he was doing and now it’s like no it’s like but that’s like as you build trust and like as you show effectiveness on the defensive end and like as I believe like okay like I know that you can like just do this regular thing at a baseline level you start to build on top of that. So yeah that’s those are those are that’s what I’m looking at for for JD going into this season. Are are you buying into the uh the jump shot, the mid-range jump shot that he’s working on this summer? I mean, he he’s practicing it. I’d come in before the games. I see him warm up. Like, he he is taking those mid-range jumpers. Um I don’t know how valuable 18oot jumpers are in today’s NBA, catch and shoot 18 foot jumpers. Um my thing would be like if you can turn those into better free throw percentage, like great. Um, if you like hit one in the first quarter, like great, but I don’t and that should not be a source of consistent offense for for Jaylen Duran. Yeah, I know. I saw a lot of piss because I I had posted the video. Um, the guy he’s working with, the guard whisperer, um, he had Oh, he’s working with uh Simplas. Olen simpl. Yeah. Okay. So, he’s working with him and Evan Mobley like a lot this summer. So, it made me think like he’s showcasing his jump shot a lot and even Stu is kind of like posted as well. So, it just has me thinking like is that something that the Pistons want to explore more? Um, do they tease us with the two big lineup again? Because we always kind of talk about not having a power forward. I was like, do are they just gonna like kind of we’re going back to Stewart power forward? Are they gonna pull the Joker card out and then like we don’t have a power forward issue anymore? But I mean, I think everything you said about Jaylen Duran, I’ve kind of had the same opinions. Like during the Monty year, his his stats look so inflated. You’re like, “Wow, 80% from the free throw line, you know, putting some putting up some good stats.” This year it’s just like at one point he was only shooting 50% from the the free throw line. It picked up a little bit. Um I I I thought the form looked very similar. I don’t know if it was like maybe he’s more of a rhythm guy where like if he’s not getting a whole lot of touches. Uh maybe the ball’s not going in cuz I know some guys are like that like if they need like 15 shots and they don’t get 15 shots they’re like three they’re like three for you know I don’t know nine that game. They don’t get their 15. But um yeah offensively I I I think there’s a lot of things that I like that he does. I I I think he’s gotten a whole lot better at dribble handoffs. Um interested to see uh if he gets better because Duncan Robinson worked with Bamab Bio a lot. Maybe Duncan can help him get better at those DHOs’s. Um defensively, it’s just those stretch fives are his kryptonite. Like we got to see we got to see Miles Turner four times a year again because he’s with the Bucks. Like uh Miles Turner is a lot more agile. No more Brook Lopez. Only Brook Lopez twice a year. man. Yeah, the Clippers off season is just like the uncction if you ask me. There’s just they’re so old, man. They’re so old. Yeah, they really are. But yeah, the stretch vibes is obviously his kryptonite. I thought he got a little bit better, a little bit more disciplined, but to your point, like when he’s just playing like a a non, you know, face up big, he’s great. Like I thought when he was going up against Nick Nick Claxton with the the Brooklyn Nets, I thought he did like a phenomenal job just protecting the rim and being switchable and communicating, but like I think the next step for him defensively is just be more locked in. Like I know Tan had mentioned it like you know last 50 games of the season he was great. First 25 like not not so much. So, uh, hopefully we get locked in JD and not like kind of like not paying attention JD because that’s what I was kind of calling him because like one minute like he’s locked in, next minute he’s just like looking. He’s like, “Oh, oh, oh, that was on me. My bad.” Kaden. Kate’s like, “Dude, what the hell are you doing?” But, um, I feel like he’s kind of like in the Jaden Ivy situation, especially with like the contract years. Like, if if you want a big boy contract, you’re probably gonna have to like put it all together, assuming they don’t give him one over the next month. Yeah. Yeah. I I think it’s it’s easier for me to see how both from a like this is what comp other comparable players get paid version and like a you kind of fit here long term. Like it’s easier for me to see how he gets an extension than Jaden Ivy. But I do think it’s just like up in the air for both of them right now. I did hear the Pistons did give Jaden Ivy a contract extension, but he didn’t take it. So Ah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And they they made him an offer. Yeah. Maybe it wasn’t the Jen Hollinger like uh 10 million or whatever. I saw that. I was like, “Bro, if someone offered me 10 million, I would rip. Uhoh. Anthony, I lose you.” Chat, I think I lost him. Maybe it’s me. you back? Yeah, we’re back. Man, it’s so funny. I’ I’ve lost internet so many times over the past like four weeks. I even scaled it back to 720p and Streamyard told me it’s all good, but almost lost you for a minute there. You’re good. You’re good. I was worried it was me because I I had some internet problems last week, too. So, I don’t know. T-Mobile like they’re trying to to strongarm everyone right now. They went they went from like oh we have one plan unlimited. Now there’s like well if you want fast internet it’s 70. I’m like don’t don’t pull a Comcast or a Wow on me right now. Right. The bait the bait and switch. Yeah. Honestly just just just don’t do it. Um I think we were just kind of wrapping up on the the Jaylen Duran talk but I don’t know if you had anything more to contribute with it. No, I’m curious to see who who the next guy on your on your list is, though. Carris Levert. Oh, okay. All right. You know. All right. Probably maybe the backup point guard playing some shooting guard next to uh Jade Nav. What do you expect out of him? So, my expectations for Caris are hopefully just like continue to shoot the ball uh well from three. um take some pressure off of whoever the other ball handler you’re on the floor with is um continue to be like just a a really good slasher and like don’t but don’t try and do too much, right? I feel like uh we talked a little bit about Jaden Ivy and overextension. If you’re in a place where Caris LeVert is uh handling the ball all the time or you feel like that’s your primary like point guard or backup point guard, then I feel like you’ve over extended him a little bit. And so again, like I just really want to him focus on like sharing the ball handling duties between him and another guard, whoever that guard may be. And then uh defensively, I felt like he was I felt like he was engaged in Cleveland. I felt like he got less engaged in Atlanta. Um JB has experience playing or like coaching Caris Levert and so I’m hopeful that like he can restore uh some of that defensive intensity. Um just it’s like yeah it’s it’s like between Stu and Ron Holland like I expect there to be good defensive players on the floor and bench lineups. It’s just like just don’t be something that like defenses feel like they can pick at, right? Like that would be my ask for Caris from a defensive perspective. I think he’s a clear upgrade over Tim Hardaway Jr. and the just the defensive like if you’re having that kind of conversation. Yeah. Um, initially I wasn’t the biggest fan of the signing because I did I re agency I I think for a lot of us before the Malik news broke like we just thought we were just like team run it back like we were going to just like resign Dennis and bring Malik back and then we had to pivot really fast and I thought they did a pretty good job but like the more I’ve had time to, you know, dig into the numbers, watch him a little bit, um, I think he’s really going to help Jaden Ivy in in the sense where Jade Ivy, you know, in the second unit won’t have to do everything himself, like they can share bringing the ball up the court. Jade Ivy can, you know, come off more screens, play more off ball. Um, and Caris has shown the ability if you need a bucket, he can go get it. Um, I just question like how much are him and Kate Cunningham going to see the floor together? Because I I feel like they like kind of doing the same thing. They like getting to the same spots and I I just question maybe spacing wise like how that would work. I know Caris can knock down some three-point shots. I’d like to see him get back to his college numbers, but I maybe that’s a big ask. Yeah, that’s a pretty big ask. But yeah, I think that um I think it would it would be good for Kade to play alongside another guy who can handle the ball and get him some catch and shoot looks. Um, like you saw Kade and Dennis play together for stretches and like that worked fine offensively. Um, yeah, my thing with Caris is like as long as he’s uh like attacking the rim and not settling for not just like settling for jumpers or just like kind of just taking shots just because somebody has to take some shots in these bench lineups. Uh, like I I feel a lot better about his game if under those circumstances. Yeah, I mean we uh we got a kind of a comment that’s aligning with yours. Um Jason Griffin watching on Facebook said need lever uh from the Nets not the recent version secondary handler off the bench scoring I have low expectations for him. Uh he’s only been okay the last few years few years. I kind of agree like maybe just you know being that secondary handler and like you know kind of taking that scoring load or the the pressure off maybe the second unit or maybe Winnie is out there with Cade where Kade doesn’t have to do everything. I thought he’s been at least above average. I think that’s kind of harsh saying he’s has been okay but that maybe that’s just my piston fandom leaking out a little bit. Yeah. I mean, like I think he was definitely more prolific in Brooklyn and so people have like a better memories of him there, but that was also like it’s like five years ago now at this point. Um, and he started for those Brooklyn teams. I I don’t think he will be like that type of player. That was like a I’m looking at his numbers. They Yeah, he was like a 18 20 point per game guy in Brooklyn. And like I think it’s much more reasonable to ask him to do what he did last year, which like 15 points. Um, take good shots. Didn’t shoot crazy good from three, but got up five a game. Like that’s pretty good. Um, assists have like never like just, you know, keep the ball moving. Uh, but don’t ne don’t necessarily expect him to be like this like huge distributor. Um, so yeah, like that’s that’s kind of where I’m at uh with like the the version of Caris Levert I think we’re going to get. Yeah, same here. I don’t really I don’t expect him to like come in and like average like 18 like you uh mentioned a little while ago. I think in Brooklyn he wasn’t really defending. Maybe that’s why he was averaging 18. Oh yeah, maybe. Maybe even he like kind of like uh touched on it when he was talking with the beat reporters last month. He said like, “Yeah, when I was in Brooklyn, like no one asked me to defend.” He’s like, “When I got to Cleveland, JB demanded I defend and play defense.” And he’s like, “It was the first time ever in my career anyone asked me to play defense.” So, um, I think defensively he’s a huge upgrade over Tim Hardway Jr., um, don’t know how many charges he’s going to take like THJ did, but at least he’s switchable. At least like when he’s out there, you don’t have to hold your breath just hoping that like, you know, there’s not like a smaller faster guard that could just get to the basket and then you’re like, “Oh crap, that’s a basket.” Yeah. It’s like I think uh I think he can be a little bit better than Tim Hardway Jr., but Tim Hardway Jr. was like just average, right? Yeah. Just enough where it’s just like he’s not terrible, but he’s not good. It’s just kind of in the middle. He’s not hurting you, but like I don’t want him guarding like Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell like either. You know, like the defense isn’t that great when you got the FanDuel broadcast bringing up like he’s like second in charges like every like game like, “Oh, let’s see where he’s at in charges. Oh, he’s number one.” I was like, “Yeah, we get it. He’s not that good.” I know you guys got to have positive spins on everything, which is probably very difficult, but I mean like uh at least we know Carish uh can at least stay in front of you know, faster and bigger players out there, but I did did want to stick with uh new acquisitions and Duncan Robinson. So, I feel like a lot of people um initially hated the deal. I was one of those. Full transparency, I saw the deal, I was like, that’s a lot. And then the contract details came out and I was like, Trey and you dog. But, uh what are your expectations for Duncan Robinson with the Pistons this year? Yeah, I I expect him to be like the the a combination of like the Beasley and THJ replacements. Um both of those guys got up lots of three-pointers and they hit him at a really good clip and it felt like they kept the Pistons like offense afloat at times. Feel like Duncan Robinson like definitely has the capability to do that. Um he’s also a little bit bigger than both of those guys and so I think that uh he can contribute a little bit more uh defensively than like Beasley or THJ. Uh something he did in Miami that um I’m not sure he’ll be able to do in Detroit was like get off these DHOs’s and like leverage his threat as a shooter to like get to the paint or get get all the way to the rim. Um, part of that is like he was doing a lot of that with Bam Adabio and whoever he plays with, whether it’s Isaiah Stewart or Jaylen Durn, like won’t demand as much defensive attention as Bamab Bio does. And so I do wonder if like some of those driving lanes like won’t be nearly as open uh because uh like teams are just like, “All right, like if if Isaiah Stewart like catches the ball at 12 feet, like we’re we’re cool with that, right?” As opposed to as opposed to BAM and that floater and those jumpers. Um, but yeah, as as long as he doesn’t like forget how to shoot, I think Duncan Robinson will be like a perfectly good contributor like to this team. And then the contract, like you mentioned, like half of it’s not guaranteed. Like it’s basically like a one-year deal with some stuff tacked on to the end. And so it’s like, okay, if uh he plays really well, like maybe you can uh it’s like he’s still under team control. if he doesn’t play particularly well, like you can just kind of get use the non-g guarantee and like try to find another shooter. Maybe that’s Milick Beasley, maybe that’s somebody else, maybe it’s Chaz Laneir, right? And so it’s he’s just it’s just a really good spot for uh for the team to have a guy like in that role, right? Because we saw we saw how uh how important it is to surround Kade with shooting and like Duncan Robinson’s an elite shooter. Um, we saw that like the first two years when we didn’t surround Kate with shooting, right? Oh man. Yeah, I went down that rabbit hole last night. I was just like, how did we surround Kade with such bad spacing? Like it was atrocious. Like I like I I honestly I just got got pissed off like kind of thinking about it. Like just thinking of it’s just like you know Troy drafted guys but he just drafted guys. It’s just like it’s like I have some talent but I don’t really know how they go together. It’s like trying to have puzzle pieces and they just don’t fit until you get more spacing around them. That’s kind of felt like what he was doing. It’s just like I got a bunch of these puzzle pieces but I don’t know like where to put them. Um but I I kind of agree with your uh Duncan Robinson assessment. Um, I I kind of wonder though because you mentioned the BAM thing and I think that’s crucial because Stu has shown the ability, he shown it a little bit to shoot a little bit in the mid-range, but not as much as Bam. Um, I wonder though if he’s going to be shooting more because it seems like at the end of the year he started to let it fly a little bit. The beginning of the season he was just in the post just, you know, scrapping for rebounds. But in terms of Duncan, um I think they’ll use him a lot, you know, offscreens, curling motion. Uh I think the one thing with him that I think is kind of underrated is he’s a pretty good passer for, you know, his his size and just being able to, you know, make reads and he’s really good at finishing at the rim. He’s like kind of sneaky good at that, but I’m not really expecting too much out of him. maybe he can kind of play a similar Malik Beasley role. I’m not saying that he’s gonna make 300 threes. He’s made 200 threes. Um I didn’t think Malik Beasley was going to make 300 threes, but he did. But I mean, when you’re shooting that many attempts a game, it’s a pretty good probability that you’re going to probably, you know, make over 200 in the season. But, um I think he’s a good player. I think the contract is really decent. Um, I have a pretty good feeling he’s probably not going to uh be here for that long given the way the contract is constructed. Yeah, it does kind of it does kind of set that up nicely. Yeah. Yeah. It’s just like okay. Like it’s a NFL contract if I’ve ever seen one in the NBA. Like I’ve never seen I’ve never seen like honestly I can’t remember the last time I I saw a contract that was just like frontloaded. Like you get your 15 million for like the year or whatever he’s making and then it’s just like two million. That’s just like that’s some NFL type [ __ ] Tan. Like I love it. Maybe we’ll see more. The non-G guarantees the uh the big signing bonus. Yeah, it’s just like like that’s some NFL stuff if I’ve ever seen anything like maybe the NBA is going to start transitioning into that where it’s just like a bunch of money up front and then like well we can cut you over the last like couple of years. You never know. Uh no, I touched on Isaiah Stewart talking about Duncan Robinson so I wanted to stay with him. Uh what are you expecting for Isaiah Stewart this year off the bench? Yeah, this is interesting because our last memory of Stu is like, “Oh man, we missed Stu because he didn’t play those last uh five games in the in the playoffs.” Uh but yeah, I think the the the important thing for Stu is to continue to be one of the best interior defenders in the NBA on a per minute basis and then maybe get a little bit more opportunity to stretch the floor. I thought that that was something that he looked like comfortable doing uh when he got to do it that year. He’s playing power forward. And I think that um they could that would having him be able to do stuff like that like like shoot threes would really open up the offense for for bench lineups in a way that I think would be advantageous for for those lineups. So I’d like to see it a little bit more. And then the other thing is like he’s not an amazing like roller screener diver. Um he’s not an amazing uh like passer out of short roll situations. And so like if he’s going to contribute in more ways offensively besides like post ups and offensive rebounds um and threes like it’s going to or it’s going to have to be threes that help them contribute offensively. But the defense is great and um what you what you like to see. Um I do wonder like uh Joe Truck, Joseph Sinki talked about this a bunch like uh it’s hard like he plays defense because he plays so hard. He gives max effort and it’s hard to give Max effort for like 28 29 30 minutes a night. And so I do wonder that like if he were ever pressed into a larger role like we we would probably see his production and his uh his defensive ability kind of drop. And so like that that seems like a limiting factor for him as a player. It’s like it just makes him a career backup. But if you can be really if you can continue to be really really effective in those 20 minutes a night like you know who who cares, right? Just make sure that uh it stays at that role. It stays at that level. Yeah. I know I mentioned about like him possibly starting at power forward, which I was like half joking, but maybe not. Um because like usually when players like post offseason stuff, it’s like they’re saying like, “Hey, I’m working on this. Like don’t forget I could do this.” He’s been posting a lot of just shooting per Yeah. Like perimeter shots like all shooting. He showed a a defensive clip which uh he kind of got cooked in that defensive clip. I don’t really know why he posted it, but I mean like it is what it is. I am still working on this. I promise. Yeah. But I mean like I think the role that he had was like perfectly suited for him because like like you mentioned like playing 30 minutes a night and playing as hard as he does, you got to be in like peak physical condition. I I think him like if you can keep him like around like 22 to, you know, 24 minutes a game off the bench as a backup, I think that’s more suited for like what he can possibly provide defensively. And like what he showed us is like that rim protection was so great last year. I know he got he got hosed on the alldefensive team because I feel like if he would have just played the 20 minutes he may have gotten some votes there. Maybe he makes all defensive team but um I’m not really expecting too much out of him offensively. Maybe you know they pick and pop with him a little bit more. Maybe attempts like two threes a game. But that’s that’s all I’m asking. I don’t need him to let a fly. I feel like everyone let a fly in the Monteier. They’re like, “Hey man, we’re not even running plays. Like, let’s just get some shots up at this point.” Yeah. But like last year he took like four and a half shots a game, right? You’d like to see him like just could just take more shots, right? Like be more of an offensive threat, be more of be be something be a player that defenses have to like think about a little harder on on the offensive side of the ball. It’s funny before we did this podcast, for whatever reason, my algorithm decided to show me the play where he crossed up Evoli. Um, and everyone like went wild and I was like, bro, like I know he’s got that in his bag. Like he he showed it like when him and Duran started, I think under Casey where he would try to put the ball on the floor and everyone’s like, “Oh, like what where was that? Like does he have that in his bag?” like like every once in a while he’ll like flash it and it’s just like man like where the like where the hell are these handles coming from? Yeah. I mean I’m thinking about the one he did to Embiid, right? Like he got Embiid pretty good. It’s like Yeah. Like it’s like maybe we don’t have to do that every night, but like maybe we do that like once a week instead of like twice a season. Yeah. Like ju just cross someone off. I I I still remember the Mason Plumbley one from a few years ago. That thing was just nasty. It is like like I I still watch that from time to time like how the hell did he do that? It was like some globe prior [ __ ] I was like gross. So gross. That the John Lure cross up on Chris Paul. That one’s an Alzheimer in my head. Oh, I got I got one more player. Um All right. And this is kind of kind of fits perfectly because this is like a nineman rotation. Um and it’s Ron Holland. Wanted to save uh best for last. So, uh, what are your expectations with Ron in the sophomore season? Yeah, I I want to see a big leap from Ron, uh, in the sophomore season. He really stood out to me in Vegas in summer league when I went to go see I went to go see him in person. I was really cool to see him uh, like blossom as a playmaker and as a scorer. It’s funny too because like he spent that that season in the G- League Ignite and he scored 20 points a game in the G-League and it’s like so you know he could score but that’s not what he was asked to do last season is very much like hey like focus on your defense and your rebounding and that’s the way you impact the game and just like excuse me be a terror in transition and make stuff happen and like that that’s how we need you to play and he did it and it was awesome and this summer league like he was so good as a shot creator. Uh he made he made a bunch of threes that that felt great. That looked the his comfortability like shooting those shots was good was really good to see. Um he shot really poorly from three last year. And so if he gives him um a big boost as a perimeter player off the bench next season, like that’s going to be great. Um he has a lot of upside. He’s such a such a long athlete. He’s so he’s very fast. like he’s not a SAR fast, but like he might be like he’s not he’s not Jade Ivy fast, but like he’s right behind those guys in terms of like just pure straight line speed. And so like my expectations for him are um like last year as a rookie like you got your feet wet and you played 81 games and like we know that you’re capable of like being an NBA player. Like this season is about like, hey, um, show us that you can do a little bit more on offense. And like the more you show us you can do, the more responsibility you can have because like otherwise again like these shots are going to go to Duncan Robinson and Caris LeVert who are like fine options, right? But like not nearly as exciting as an and as upsidy as like letting Ron just like take a take a couple shots, right? How was Summerly? Because I I heard a lot of trash talking on my TV. Oh man, Dennis Jenkins talks so much trash. Does he so much trash? I thought it was Tlu Smith because I was like I could like I you could hear the trash talk on TV and like you know NBA TV is just like excuse the language because like they were just like talking like they were like dropping fob. It’s like poor poor Tyler Cole, right? Like Dennis Jenkins just like eating this dude’s lunch. He he comes down he like steals an inbound. He’s like, “Thank you.” And then just like drives down and scores. So funny. But yeah, uh if you’ve never been to Vegas, you absolutely should go. It’s a really It’s a really cool experience to be able to see the games like that close. Um and and everything. That was like It’s like I’m watching the game and like the Pistons are playing really well and the dude in front of me in a Boston jersey is googling like Pistons 24. It’s just like like who? It’s like who is this guy? like what’s going on? So, yeah, like it’s it’s just a really cool environment, right? I’ve always wanted to go to Vegas. It looks like a a good time. Maybe uh maybe we’ll have our first round pick. Who knows? They’re they’re tradable this season. We we’ll see. But I have been on the biggest like Ron Holland bandwagon ever since the summer league because I was like, man, that shot looks good. His landing looked a lot better. Mhm. Um shot 40% from three on pretty good volume in the summer league. And I was so impressed with the processing. Like some of the passes were turnovers, but like just the process of finding the open man I thought was really improved. Uh the defense was great. I think he averaged over four steals a game in the summer league as well. But u I’m glad you brought up the G-League Ignite because like yeah, he was scoring 20 points a game, but like his role with JB was more of just like that energizer. Um, and a lot of times like fans would like be on the timeline like scrolling saying like, “Why aren’t we pushing the pace? Why aren’t we running?” Ryan comes in, they start running. Like it’s stuff happen. Yeah. It’s It’s just the thing like he’s such a good connector and a good bench piece for the Pistons. And when Coup and I were talking last week, like he’s like, “I think you know Ron and Assar could split minutes at power forward.” And I was just like, I could see that for Assar. I don’t I I know Ron has put on a little bit more weight, but I think he’s had to get closer up to like 230 if you ask me if you wanted him to play like power forward, especially back up. But I mean, I I I think his role is going to be very unique. I think JB really relied on him a lot to kind of, you know, charge that second unit of being just like the the fun Energizer guy, get everyone amped up, maybe get in a couple fights, uh once a week. Um, but I mean play with energy, right? Play competitively, right? That’s the nice way to be like, “No, he was starting [ __ ] It’s fine.” No, even even JB is just like, “Yeah, we’re going in the games. We want to [ __ ] you up.” And I was just like, “Bro, like the fact that like Dave JB said that on the Max Burned show, I was dying like cuz you got like stew.” And he’s like, “What do you do with like Isaiah Stewart?” He’s like, “Oh.” He’s like, “Don’t forget Ron.” Like I was just like, “Wow.” That’s actually kind of funny. But, uh, I probably have really high expectations for him just because of the rookie season he had. And I saw like plus 10,000s on MIP and I put 10 bucks on it. Oh, I was like, bro, if this hits, I look like a mad man. Yeah. Yeah. You got some financial motivation, too. No, that that doesn’t hurt. That absolutely does not hurt. But yeah, he’s he’s going to be I I came away from summer league feeling like there’s a possibility that Ron’s like the second best player of the team in the future. Like it’s maybe it’s not a like high probability, but like it’s definitely more on the table than it was than I felt like it was like at any point during his rookie season. Yeah, I I had a hot take with uh Ron his rookie year. And I I I think the hot take is it might turn it to be true. And I thought he was going to be the shooting guard of the future. That’s that still might be true. That still I mean I mean if the shot develops got a guy that could defend. Yeah. Uh hey, you never know. That’s a really big back court. That’s the where that’s where the NBA’s headed. Hey, I I probably just uh pissed off a bunch of fans watching right now. But hey, that’s what I do, man. I I I put fire on it and then I walk away and then they can simmer down and they come back next week and I do it again. Um did have a question for you while we were watching live. I don’t know if you still have a podcast or you just like from Thanks, Sean. Uh no, I do not have a regular podcast. I am starting to think about ways I can contribute more uh more often during the season, especially now since I like have season tickets. I’ll be going to games and stuff. So, I’m I’m thinking about ways I can I can do that. Um, if that’s like, you know, publishing more in DBB or like doing something on the Substack or like just hitting up Bryce and being like, “Hey, like let me like can I do some stuff?” But yeah, uh I don’t have a regular podcast right now. But I appreciate the interest. I appreciate the love. Uh it’s really it’s so cool that so many people like still uh remember me from a podcast I did like at this point like three seasons ago, right? still want to have me on and and talk to me about the distance. So, thanks for asking. I remember it. I used to listen to it every week. Like if I was working, I was just like, “Okay.” Said, “I listen to the DBB.” Um because there wasn’t like a lot of Pistons podcast at the time. I feel like it’s saturated so much. Yeah. Um but I mean I that’s what I kind of love about like the space. There’s so many different Detroit Pistons content creators and podcasters. Like I listen to Pistons Pulse. like um I listen to the pin down. I’ve been on the pin down a couple times with uh Blake and Wes. Um I swear every time I go on there like uh it it turns into a longer conversation than it needs to be and I love it. Like I I just get them thinking. Yeah. Yeah. I I love I love those dudes. That those are that’s my like spiritual successors. So I love those guys. Yeah. Same here. Same here. Like I every time I reach out to Wes, I’m like I’m not having you on. You got to invite Blake. Like it’s a pair duo. Like I I I got to have both of you guys on because I know if me and you do a podcast, Wes, we’re going to agree with every single thing. It’ll be the most boring podcast ever. Needs some controversy. Uh Tom, what time is it in North Korea? It’s got to be like or South Korea. Yeah. Like what time is it, man? It’s got to be like really early in the morning over there. It’s got be like 7. Yeah. Shout out Tom. What’s good, Tom? Tom is so locked in. Like I’ll I’ll I’ll scroll on like Instagram and he’s like commenting of like I was like bro like he is probably him and Jack are probably like the two biggest like Piston super fans I’ve ever seen. Yeah, I got to meet Jack in person when he came here on his like world tour. That was really cool. He’s he’s just a It’s funny cuz like he’s doing the world tour and he’s doing the social media and stuff and you’re like, “Oh wow.” And you just meet him and he’s just like a down to earth guy. He’s just like really happy to be there. I I’m old. Like I’m I’m going to be 35 this year, right? And so I was like, “Oh yeah, like he’s in like he’s in his early 20s. Like he’s got like so much life ahead of him and I’m just I’m old.” I mean, hey man, I’m 33. I feel old. Like um I remember when Jack first reached out. He’s like, “How do I do this?” And I was like, “Bro, just get your feet wet. Dive in. Like just do it. Just do it.” Like I I met him. We went to the K I went to the Killian Hayes revenge tour, which I was like, “I got to go see Killian. He’s on He’s on to the Brooklyn game. Yeah, I went to the Brooklyn game, bro. That game was hilarious. They were booing him every possession. Oh. Oh my god. They got like people behind me like, “Why are we booing him?” Like he used to play for us. And they’re like, “Is he worth booing?” And I was like, “Look up his stats.” And this guy’s like, “Oh, hell no. What? He’s trash.” So, is he the second round pick? I was like, “No, we we picked him over Tyrese’s Hallebertton.” He was like, “What? What?” Oh, yeah. I I did meet Jack. What was funny is he was doing like team meetings at the the team store and I come out and like he this guy’s got a line like halfway down like the concourse and he sees me and I talk to him and we’re talking for like 25 minutes and he’s got like all these people like want to like get a picture and autograph. I was like, “Dude, I gota let you go. They’re getting pissed. Like I just cut the line.” And he was like, “Oh yeah, good good to meet you. I met him and his girlfriend. They’re like really nice, but like and the motion Jack has is crazy like in a year. It’s like Yeah, man. Like, you know, everybody loves my podcast and like everybody remembers me. Like, that’s cool. I never got to throw out the first pitch at a Tigers game. Me either, man. Just Just saying. The most I ever got to do was ask Blake Griffin a question, which was a really fun That’s still pretty good. That’s Were you in like a scrum or was it like a podcast thing? Uh, I got invited to Pistons media day. Okay. Uh, from one of the old social media managers and I got to ask him a question and like he couldn’t answer it but like he walked away and he just like kind of smirked and he’s like I can’t answer it but I’m going to be thinking about it later. All right. That’s pretty good. That’s pretty good. Yeah. Yeah. My uh my my claim to fame is uh so after game four uh when they lost on the Tim Hardway Jr. non call. Um I go, it’s me and my buddy, we go to Cafe Sus or Cafe Sutter. I don’t know how it’s French. I don’t know how you pronounce it. And we’re just like we’re sitting on the It’s a really nice That was afternoon game. So it’s like it’s still really nice outside. It’s still light outside. We’re like just like getting some drinks and just being like, man, like I can’t believe it. Blah blah blah. And then I go in and Tobias Harris is just like sitting there at the counter like also like getting his drink and it’s just like oh like he looks he was pissed. He was pissed and just like it’s like hey like yeah it’s like yeah man that wasn’t fair. That was some that was some [ __ ] He’s like yeah no and it’s like okay cool. That that’s the extent of the conversation but it’s just like it’s not like these dudes are uh not in the city and like you know don’t care about winning or losing. like he was he was super pissed. It is funny. Uh a buddy of mine uh Corey Woods who like works for Mive, like he texted me the other day and he’s like, “Bro, what’s Reggie Jackson doing here?” And I was like, “I think he’s just hanging around in the city.” Yeah. I was like, “He might still have a house here. I’m not sure.” I was like, “Maybe they’re getting a backup.” And he was like, “Bro, don’t don’t even don’t even wish that upon Pistons fans. You know how they are. They would crash out if Reggie Jackson was back uh in a Pitts jersey and and like wearing number one. Oh, wait. Is he is he still a free agent? I believe so. Okay. [Music] It’s like we we we talked a lot about how Marcus Sasser wasn’t really the answer at point guard. Reggie Reggie still can play point guard. Yeah. That’s wild. Okay. Is he a point is he a free agent or no? I think he is a free agent. Yeah. Uh either that or Artellum says, “Hey, got a former client that’s a free agent. Hey, Westbrook, come on down.” No, Westbrook is going to be a Sacramento King, right? Like that’s they’ve been like both the Warriors and the Kings have just like signed like four guys like under the table and like not done anything because they’re working out the the Kaminga thing. The last I read, it’s like they the only way they could get that to work is if they could trade Malik Monk. And no one’s touching that contract with the 10- foot pole. Yeah. Yeah. It’s not a bad not a bad player though. I mean that bad, but Yeah. I get why they’re not. Yeah. I feel like a lot of front officers, they just don’t value like shooting like they used to like five years ago. Like shooters were getting paid. Now shoot. You got guys like Gary Trent like on vet minimums. It’s like the wild. I’m not comparing the two by the way. Malik Monk’s a really good player, but it’s like they just don’t value shooting anymore. It’s the wildest thing. Yeah. Yeah. But I do appreciate you uh you know sparing an hour. Um do you have anything you’re working on currently right now that you want to plug or promote? No, just uh as always like my my spiritual basketball home is Detroit bad boys. So shout out to Detroitbadboys.com. Uh this go still where I go to check out uh like my Pistons information. The site recently did like a redesign that looks pretty cool. So check that out. Become a commenter. Uh we have a really good community of uh uh commentators over there. So yeah, detroitad Boys.com. Well, I have your Twitter link uh in the description below. Um I have Detroitbadboys.com in the description below. I got one thing I want them to bring back. It’s off season. Bring Pistons Twitter awards back. It’s been like five years. Like I need it back. It’s off season. If Sean Corpse’s listening, like man, just I don’t even care if you invite me into it. I just like to see the chaos and the time. Like I don’t even need to be a candidate. Just bring it back. It was fun. No, just ju just bring like I think the last person to win it was Nick and like that’s how long that’s how long it’s been. Like it’s been a minute. I’ I’d love to see that just brought back just for the chaos and the timeline because I I remember like it like Nick got the big guns and Blake and Luke Canard got involved like yeah we’ll give a jersey away to get you votes. I was just like man. Yeah. See Tom doesn’t even know there’s business Twitter awards. Like Tom would be all in. We got to bring him back now. Yeah, we got Yeah, we got to bring him back and put Tom in the bracket for sure. Yeah, Tom definitely would get a high seed just because he’s just so dedicated. I mean, like this man was flying to Detroit during the Monty era. Talk about dedication and wasting money. That’s wild. Wasting wasting your money, Tom. Hopefully, they win on opening night. It’s like, no, nobody told you to do that. We’re glad you did, but nobody told you to do that. Well, I I appreciate you uh coming on as always. Definitely have to do these more regularly. I was looking hadn’t had you on since November and it’s September. Wow. Yeah, that is longer than I was thinking. Yeah. Okay. Definitely. I have to have you on during the season or for sure. For sure. Do podcast. Maybe you’ll I was doing postgame podcast every game. Even the West Coast trip. I was staying up till like 5 in the morning. Oh man. You’re a braver man. I I got to get up and do work in the morning. I can’t I can’t post game pot after that. Oh, I still I still went to work. And my boss is like, you smell like way too much coffee on your breath. He’s like, how many pots? I was like, two. And he was like, man, he’s like, that’s that’s that’s that’s just uh crazy. But uh we will see you guys uh next week. Uh I promise I won’t do back-to-back podcasts again and forget that I scheduled one. But uh hope you guys have a great night. I am gonna go watch some Chicago Bears and uh Minnesota Vikings. Can’t believe I’m rooting for the Vikings. Laz, just root for your parlay. That’s what everybody else does. Uh I hope Ben Johnson loses, but see you guys next week. Peace.
Today, on Pistons Talk Podcast Anthony will be joined by Lazarus Jackson
to discuss Detroit Pistons Player Expectations for this upcoming season.
Laz’s Twitter:
https://x.com/lazchance
#detroitpistons #detroitbasketball #NBA
2 comments
Always a good listen when Laz is a guest. He keeps it basketball, doesn’t get overloaded with all the stats & analytics.
Laz has season tickets? Did he move back to Detroit?