LEAP: Is Detroit Pistons’ Jalen Duren Ready to DOMINATE and Cash In With a Breakout Season?

LEAP: Is Detroit Pistons’ Jalen Duren Ready to DOMINATE and Cash In With a Breakout Season?

Jaylen Duran walked into this year without an extension knowing that if he wanted to get paid next summer, he need to improve and play extremely well. And through eight games, is Jaylen Durren making the leap? You are Locked on Pistons, your daily Detroit Pistons podcast, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. What’s the deal? Welcome back to another episode of the Locked On Pistons podcast. Per usual, I am your host Coup Kahill. I’m going to tell you guys a quick joke about why I paused right there once we get through the intro here. But I want to thank all of you guys who make Locked on Pistons your first listen for every single day. We are free to on all your podcast platforms. If you haven’t already, head to the YouTube channel at Lockdown Pistons. Hit that subscribe button or leave us a fivestar review on whatever podcast platform you’re listening to us on. That’s another great way to support the podcast. And today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Head to fanduel.com to get started today. Now, real quickly, the reason why I paused in between saying coup and then kahill because I had a few people actually comment on the last uh YouTube video saying that when they watch or they listened to me only on audio platforms, they thought my name was Cucka Hill. So, now I see I had to start pausing. I had to say C. Wait a second. And then Cahill. so everyone knows that, you know, that’s my name. Um, just want to make sure everyone understood that. Um, but today we’ll be discussing should Isaiah Stewart start next to Jaylen Dur moving forward and the Pistons just signed somebody to take up their last spot on their on their roster. Does this mean that Malik Beasley potentially returning to the team is finished? It’s done. We’ll discuss that as well. But we’re going to start off with is Jaylen Duran taking the leap that so many people wanted to see him take this year and through eight games. I think the answer has to be yes. Now it’s only eight games. You guys know I like to wait until like the quarter. I like to evaluate the season in quarters. So around the 20 game mark I would like to have a more of a of a you know final statement on how I felt about the first quarter of the season. So, it’s too small of a sample size now to have a big takeaway. I would say not it’s not enough sample to have let you know, yep, he’s made the leap. It it’s here, but it is enough of a sample to say it’s trending towards that. He is playing extremely well. His raw stats are 17.9 points, basically 18 points a game, 11.4 rebounds a game. He’s shooting 61% from the field. He’s doubling almost doubling his amount of free throw attempts. He’s at 5.9 free throw attempts this year. last year was at 3.1 and he’s shooting 83% on these free throw attempts. The pick and roll between him and Cade have been absolutely exceptional. But I want to dive into some numbers here that really paint just how much better he’s gotten and how much that’s helped the Detroit Pistons directly. So, I want to start off with this is the first season in Jaylen Durren’s career with the Detroit Pistons where this team is better both offensively and defensively with him on the floor. You guys remember last year it was a large talking point about how well this team played with Isaiah Stewart off the floor, how much better they were defensively. Looking at the numbers last year, the Pistons were two point they won their minutes without Duran by 2.9 points. They won their minutes with Duran by 1.1. So they were 1.8, my goodness, 1.8 points better with him off the floor. The main thing here is is that the defense was over six points better with him off the floor this past year. And when Isaiah Stewart is on the floor defensively, they were a tremendous defense. That was one of the main talking points people like myself had about Jaylen Dur coming into this year needing to prove that the team is going to be better with you on the floor. If you’re going to command 30 plus million dollars, the team needs to be better when you’re actually on the floor. They need to perform much better when you’re on the floor. It can’t be when you leave the floor they actually get better. That you’re not worth that type of money if that’s the case. and early in this season, the first eight games, this is the first time in his career where the Pistons are infinitely better on both ends of the floor with him on the floor. In 211 minutes, Jaylen Dur when he’s on the floor, the Pistons are winning for by 14.3 points per 100 possessions. They have an offensive rating of 121.2 and a defensive rating of 106.9, which is absolutely ridiculous. when he’s off the floor, the offense gets 13 points worse and the defense gets eight point worse. The Pistons are overall 20 points better with Duran on the floor this year. This would mark the first time again in his career where the team is actually better with him on the floor versus off. That’s a big development. Now, the question is, I mean, those are just some numbers to kind of back up my statement. Now, why I need to tell you guys is why is that? Why is the team finally better with him on the floor? Why is the defense better with him on the floor? Why is the offense better with him? This much better with him on the floor. Now, I want to start with the offense. Number one reason, he’s becoming much more, well, one, he’s dominating the offensive glass, but he’s always done that. They dominate the offensive glass, but he is becoming much more of a threat in the half court offense. I told you guys this yesterday on the last podcast. He is scoring 1.41 points per possession on drives this year. That is insane efficiency on 12 drives he’s had this year. Now, it’s not a lot of volume, but it’s enough volume to keep defenses honest and open up different avenues of their offense, especially out of DHOs’s. Out of those 12 possessions, he has a 74 true shooting percentage. And he’s drawing free throws on 50% of his drives. And that’s with him. If he’s driving and he’s drawing free throws in 50% of his drives and now he’s also shooting 84% from the free throw line, that’s incredible efficiency. That helps the Pistons have another ball handling, another driver, another slashing uh threat to go with their half court offense. So, while they are not the greatest three-point shooting team ever, they are dominating the points in the paint. Actually, I want to pull up we’ll pull that number up while I’m talking here. I want to pull up the exact number. I believe they’re number one in the league in points in the paint. But the overall point is that is happening because of Jaylen Duran. Not just Duran, but he is contributing a large portion of that because of his ability now to get to the paint and drive himself. Create looks at the rim himself without needing a lob from Cade or a dump off from Kade. He’s doing it himself. Yeah, the Pistons lead the NBA in 58.3 points in the paint. So, they don’t need to shoot 53s to win games. They’re just p punishing you in the paint. So, that’s reason number one. Reason number two, I kind of hit on it just now, but I I want to bring it up again. He’s become way more efficient at the free throw line. He’s drawing way more free throws and he’s hitting his free throws, which again makes your offense a lot more efficient. I want to back up just how much better the half court offense has been because of how well he’s playing. So, I did sense the Cleveland game. It’s only four games, but I think you’re you’re seeing as you watch the games, this is to match with the eye test. If you’re watching the games, you’re seeing that the Pistons half court offense is just flowing better. It’s flowing better. Guys are getting open shots. They’re passing it around. It seems like everyone’s getting a lot more accustomed to what their role is. And obviously, like I mentioned, Jaylen Durn’s doing a great job of creating for himself. Over the last four games, the Pistons have the sixth best half court offense in the entire NBA. This is after being a putrid half court offense this past year and also in the first four games being again a bottom 10 half court offense. Over the last four games they are the sixth best half court offense in the NBA and a lot of that has to do with obviously Cade is playing a lot better. You expect your best player to play better. So I don’t think that’s some random thing to pull from. But also you’re getting like this additive stuff from Jaylen Duran. So I think that’s absolutely huge. you’re seeing how the Pistons can have a good half court offense despite not having the absolute most shooting on the floor. Along with this, he has been more engaged than I’ve ever seen him defensively in his career. He’s engaged. His activity level around the rim has been great. He’s been going after shots more consistently than he has at any other point of his career. I want uh locked on Nugget host Matt Moore. tweeted this out. Opponents are shooting 17.8% worse inside six feet when Duran’s contesting them. He’s been a lot more aggressive as a paint defender. And I think you’re seeing that. And the fact that he’s playing a full season now he’s starting off the season with the SAR helps. He’s playing to start the season with an engaged Cade on the defensive end helps. He’s playing with Steu last few games helps. But that’s it’s a team game. It’s team defense. And as long as he’s not just simply being hunted out and can contribute to a team defense, that is really helpful. It really impacts the game. So I think that those are the reasons why and obviously the Kade pick and roll with him has just been exceptional and that’s another reason why their half court offense has been so good. But you’re seeing him make the leap. If he can maintain this for the entire year, then yeah, he has made the leap and yeah, he will get 30 plus million dollars if he maintains this for an entire season. I will say this to be fair because I’m not I’m not one of those people. You guys know this who listen to the podcast. I am fair. I am objective. I try to be objective and I try to play both sides here. I I try to make sure I’m giving you guys the analysis from both sides. While he has been tremendous and I’m by by no stretch of the imagination am I trying to minimize it. He has been fantastic and if he maintains this pay him $30 plus million dollars. He has been incredible. It is fair to wonder or not wonder. You just I I I the way I should phrase it is this. I want to see how he continues to look defensively as they go against better competition because over the last four games they did go against the Magic who are struggling right now and don’t really have a threat. The five uh Mavericks were without AD. Memphis was without Zack Edy and and you know uh who I forget the other big that Bran Clark obviously he’s out but he’s been out for a minute. But my point is, and then the Utah Jazz without Walker Castler. Now, um, these teams, these are good wins. I’m not minimizing it at all, but we know that Jaylen Duran’s biggest weakness is when he goes against a stretch big or he goes against an offensive heavy center. So, he’s playing great in this development. He sustains this, pay him. He has been tremendous. But, let’s just see how I want to see how he looks when like they got the Bulls on November 12th. Does he look better on November 12th than he did at the beginning of the year when he played against Fooch? Does he do do a better job guarding him? Alex Sar, they’re about to play the Wizards on the 10th. Alex Sar is having a great start to the season. He’s shooting the three a lot better. He’s creating a lot more offensively. Is Dur going to do a better job if he’s moved out on the perimeter against him? They got the Sixers on November 9th. Obviously, Joel Embi players in the world when he is healthy. I’m not, you know, that’s going to be a hard, but you guys get what I’m saying. He’s dominated to start the year. Let’s see if he can continue that kind of consistent play, especially defensively when the competition raises. But to answer the question, is Duran making the leap? So far, he 100% is on both ends of the floor. He’s developed and he’s getting better. Let’s see if he can sustain it. And if he does, the Pistons will be in great positioning moving forward. So, let me know in the comment section down below or over on Twitter, Cookah Hill. How do you guys feel about Jaylen Dur’s play so far? And do you guys believe he is making the leap right in front of us? Let me know comment section down below or over on Twitter. Um, coming up, should Isaiah Stewart start moving forward next to Jaylen D? We’ll discuss it coming up. Today’s episode is brought to you by Door Dash. The NBA season is heating up and Door Dash has found the perfect way to keep fans in their bag all season long. Whether you’re watching for the highlights, your fantasy team, or just your favorite player, Door Dash makes every game night even better. Door Dash is the official on demand delivery platform of the NBA. And they’re celebrating with something called the bag drop. Every time an NBA player scores 50 points in a game, Door Dash drops 50% off your order with the Dash Pass the next day, and you’re automatically entered for a chance to win the ultimate bag. 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Both of those things will be there for you guys. If you guys want to watch live games with us for the playback, you want to subscribe to the substack and get film breakdowns, which we’ll have one coming to you guys tomorrow. Um, but yeah, let’s talk about Isaiah Stewart, who is playing extremely well. I mean, we we’ve spoken about Stew very um glowingly on the podcast recently, and he deserves it. He’s been phenomenal, especially defensively. He has been, I think, the best defensive center in the NBA this year. Actually, I take that back. Let me take that back. I forgot. WBY is the best defensive player by mile across the league. So, he’s I he’s one of the best big man defenders in the league. I’ll leave it at that. I don’t want to put exact numbers out there because then people will argue about, well, is he better than this guy? Two, is he three? Is he? He’s just one of the best defenders in the league at the big man position. In minimum minutes, he’s averaging over two two blocks a game in like 24 minutes of action per game. It’s it’s ridiculous how great he’s been defensively. And he’s been more aggressive offensively. We’ve seen him have a career-high points a few games ago. But we’ve seen him be extremely aggressive as a three-point shooter over the last few games as well. And the Pistons have been winning last two games. They’ve been without Tobias. They started Isaiah Stewart at the four position and they’ve won both of these games. Now, I’ll go ahead and spoil a little bit of the final segment of the podcast, but you guys will make sure you guys stay tuned for that still. But they did just fill their 15th roster spot with Isaac Jones who is a center. There’s some people saying he’s like a four or fiveish. Um, but he’s a big man. So that leads to a lot of fans I’ve seen ask the question, are they gearing up to start Steu moving forward? Do they want Stu to start next to Durham? Moving moving forward when Tobias comes back. Is Tobias going to be out a little longer than people think? or one or two are they just wanting to start Steu moving forward. So I want to tell you guys the numbers with Steu and Dur on the floor so far. It’s a very small sample size but is what it is. In the 74 minutes that they’ve played together, they are dominating teams. They are winning their minutes by 22 points per 100 possessions. They have an offensive rating of 125.5 and a defensive rating of 103.4. Now it’s a very small sample size. I do not think that the offensive rating will remain at 125.5. That’s ridiculous. I don’t think the defensive rating will remain at 103.5. That’s also like these are two ridiculous numbers. So, I don’t think it will maintain at those numbers, but nonetheless, the trend looks like the offense is still good enough and the defense is much better with them both on the floor. So, should they start them both moving forward? I am in the camp of no, I do not believe this should be the case for a few reasons. One, Stu, I think, has finally found, I said this all last year, I said it all off seasonason. I thought Stu finally found where he’s at his best and which allows him to play to his absolute peak performance, and that is as a backup five. One of the reasons for this, or one of the reasons why I say this is because we know Stu fouls a ton. Now, actually, over the last two games, he’s done a really good job not fouling. He’s only had one foul in each of the last two games. Before then we talked about he was averaging like six fouls per 36. He was fouling a ton. He was fouling out of games. He fouled out of a game what four games ago and just like 18. Yeah. Against Orlando he fouled out in 18 minutes of action. So he fouls a ton but that’s because of how physical he plays and how he goes after every single shot. And you don’t want to take that away from him. That’s one of the concerns I have about if you play him next to next to Duran and he’s playing 30 plus minutes tonight. You know can he’s done a good job of it these two games. I will give him that. So maybe it’s not as big of a concern as I think it is, but way he plays, I think, you know, it’s going to be hard for him to not be in foul trouble. So that’s number one. Number two, the last few games have required him. When you play him at the four position, teams are funneling the Pistons to kick out to Isaiah Stewart and let him kill them from beyond the arc. Now Stew has improved as a three-point shooter. We all know this. Few years ago when he was shooting 3.8 eight attempts a game he shot 38%. This year through eight games he’s shooting 39% on three and a half attempts. However, that was majority a lot of it was coming in the first six games where he wasn’t having to take as many threes. The last two games when he started he’s had to take seven threes a game. First game he took eight. This past game he took six. He only made two in both games. So he shot 33% this last game and 25% the game before. Now, look, I am I’ve said this before. I am I am okay with Stu being aggressive. If it’s open, I want him taking it. Not saying he shouldn’t take them. What I am saying, though, is I don’t think you should want him to have to take this many threes. I don’t think you should want him to be in a position where the offense is coming down to, oh, they’re helping off a Stew. They they want him to shoot a three, so therefore, we are then outleted to him a lot. I mean, eight threes in a game is a is a lot. That’s a high volume. and you’re going to it a ton. I feel like not only are you putting him in a bad position by doing that because I don’t think Steu’s a high volume three-point shooter. I think he’s a good three-point shooter. You keep him around three to four attempts. But high volume three, I I don’t think that’s who he is. And so I think you’re putting him in the wrong position. And then I think you’re also putting the team in a difficult position if that’s what’s happening within the half court. Now the counter to that is that through two games with ST starting they’ve scored 114 points both games which is you know fair and then obviously like I said what the numbers look like with Jaylen Duran and Stu on the floor so far in those limited minutes the offense is still working and then the other counter would be the defense looks incredibly better with Stu and Duran and Assar and Cade on the floor like they’re just clamping ing teams. Their defense has been extraordinary. Actually, you know what? I know that this is a this is probably like not even it may not even be 20 minutes of sample. Let’s look at it. Yeah. I mean, you got third. Look, we’re working with really small samples here. So, I do not read too much into this at all. Like these are very small samples, but in the very early sample that we do have, Isaiah Stewart, Duran, Kade, and Assar on the floor together, they have a defensive rating of 102.9 and an offensive rating of 130.4. I mean, they’re pummeling teams when they play together so far. So, I I see the side of the people that are saying it looks good with Stew in the starting lineup. the defense is so good and the defense is so good that it’s it’s it’s it’s transitioning into good offense as much like we talked about with the Sar this past year. Same thing with Stu. It’s creating good h uh uh uh transition offense, fast break offense, and you’re just dominating teams on the glass and you’re dominating teams in the paint because of it. I get that. I just don’t believe that you want Steu taking that many threes. And I think the four he doesn’t have enough fluidity and he’s not as agile at the four position to really attack. He’s not going to be attacking closeouts. He’s not going to be able to have, you know, bail him out in a half court position like Tobias can go to a post up ISO, get a good shot, draw some free throw. You know, Tobias, they they need offense. I know that this is a defensive team and they were a good defensive team with Tobias this past year, but the main weakness of this team is they do need individual half court scoring. And that’s Tobias is probably the second best player on the team with individual half court scoring right now. So you can’t I don’t think you can sit Tobias. I think he’s too important to what they do. He brings spacing. He’s able to attack closeouts. He’s able to ISO. He’s able to get his own bucket. He’s able to do all those things while also having size and competing hard defensively also with having a veteran on the floor. So Tobi and Tobias is good. Like I I sometimes I feel like people take shots at Tobias for no reason. Tobias is good. He’s been good for the Pistons since they signed him. Like I I feel like some fans take shots at Tobias. I don’t really like that. Tobias has been really good. So, no, I don’t think you continue starting Steu and Duran. Once Tobias is healthy, I think you start Tobias. What I will say though is I do think that even when Tobias is healthy, if the sample continues to get larger and larger of you playing Stu and Dur together, especially with Kade and Assar, maybe you go Kadosar to buy Stu and Dur one game closing. Maybe you do something like that. Who knows? But my overall point is you play them still in spurts, continue to do it, and as the sample continues to grow, if they continue to just be exceptional, and they continue to just dominate those minutes, then I would say you’d start to increase how much you play them together. Maybe you get Tobias out first and you let Steu start with Duran, and you let them play together for a while. Maybe you close games with Stu and Duran on the floor. Like, maybe you do things like that. You can sprinkle that lamp together throughout a game if it continues to look good. and get them good sample size together. You can do that. I think it’s a little too early to try to rush into, okay, there you go. Let’s start Steu and Duran because I think there’s legitimate questions and I still don’t believe Steu is a four. He doesn’t have the ball handling for that. He doesn’t have the offensive game for that. He’s good with what he does. I’m not trying I love Stu. I I just don’t know if we should be rushing him into trying to be a starting four after we finally found out that he’s great as a five. He’s great as the backup five. And I I think what I’m willing to concede is that I thought that he you just should not play him at the four at all. Just don’t do it. I don’t like the double bigs. Just don’t do it. So far this year, I will concede that maybe he can do it in spurts with Duran and it really does help the team because it helps him defensively and creates good offense because of the defense. So I will concede that maybe you should do it more in spurts. Maybe you should get these this sample higher. But I am not on board with the starting stew. And I think you still once Tobias comes back healthy, you start Tobias. The caveat being if Tobias is out, I don’t know, like I I hope he’s not. I hope he’s back next like I don’t want him to be out at all. But let’s say, knock on wood, that he does happen to miss maybe like two weeks or something. Maybe the injury, the ankle sprain’s a little bit more serious than they let us know, which with the Pistons, it’s not past them. um let’s say it hap he’s out for like two more weeks and during those two weeks they continue to start stew and they just continue obliterate teams. Now if that happens if that were to happen then we can revisit this in two weeks and be like okay we got a much larger sample size of this. It’s working. Let’s let’s not mess with it. But two games is not enough for me to feel like you should bench uh Tobias because my eye test tells me and and just B like understanding basketball tells me you need Tobias. He brings half court scoring. He brings spacing. He attack closeouts. He’s able to do all those things that you need in a modern day four where Stu is only able to do it in spurts. I believe again with the caveat if it goes on for two more weeks and Tobias comes back and they’re still dominating maybe then we have a conversation. But right now, I I don’t think you start Steu over Tobias. I do think you need to get Stu more minutes, though. I think Stu still needs to be trying to play 28 minutes a game. Like, try to give him as many minutes as possible. So, again, if that means staggering him more with Tobias, then fair enough. But, I wouldn’t start him at this point. Let me know comment section down below over on Twitter, Cuckah Hill. Would you guys start Isaiah Stewart even when Tobias gets healthy or do you believe Let’s calm down. Let’s, you know, start Tobias still, but just try to get Stew some more minutes. So, let me know where you guys stand with it. Comment section down below or over on Twitter, Cookie Hill. Coming up, is the Malik Beasley dream done? Is it over with? The Pistons filled their final spot on their roster. Does this mean Malik Beasley is never coming back? We’ll talk about it coming up. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA is back and there’s no better place to get on the action than with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss the start of the game or want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parley for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team’s making that late push. Right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So, head to fanduel.com to sign up and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Hey, now I got to tell you guys about another one of our sponsors, Prize Picks. You and I make decisions every day, but on Prize Picks, being right can get you paid. Don’t miss any of the excitement of this sports season. Whether you’re following the NFL, NBA, or both, there’s no better time to jump in on the action. If you haven’t tried it yet, Price Pix is the simplest way to play. Just pick more or less on at least two player stats. And if you get them right, you win. It takes less than 60 seconds to make your lamp, and you can play anywhere Price Pix operates, including California, Texas, and Georgia. Plus, if one of your players leaves early with the injury, I absolutely love this with Price Picks. The injury reboot saves your lineup from a loss. I think that’s absolutely big time. So, download the Price Picks app today and use code locked in NBA to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That’s locked in NBA for $50 in lineups after your first $5 lineup. That’s with prize picks. It’s good to be right. So, I want to thank you guys again. Make locked on Pistons your first listen every single day. Free and available on all your podcast platforms. If you haven’t already, head to the YouTube channel at Lockdown Pistons. Hit that subscribe button or leave us a fivestar review on whatever podcast platform you’re listening to this on. That’s another great way to support the podcast. Now, I we’re about to talk about the subject that I just like I cannot wait till this is over. I I do not want to I like I I am I I am so done with this this topic, but it gets brought back up again today. The Pistons walk into this season, they had 14 roster spots. They had one spot open. They still have cap space or they’re let me say cap space. They’re still way below the tax. So, they have 14 roster spots, which a lot of people believed, rightly so, is that they keeping that one roster spot open in case things clear up with Malik Beasley or maybe if they want to use that TP that they still have, which by the way, I don’t think they’re going to end up using it. But, nonetheless, they want to use that or it’s basically Malik Beasley. If things get cleared, you can bring him back. You have a roster spot open in case it has to happen. That is until today. The Pistons claimed former Sacramento Kings center Isaac Jones off of free agency waiverss and he will take up the Pistons 15th roster spot. With that happening, does that kill the possibility of Malik Beasley coming back? No, it does not. Kyle Mets, we’ve had him on the podcast. He’s like the Detroit Pistons salary cap guru. He tweeted this by claiming Isaac Jones the Pistons take on his contract as originally constructed. Fully non-G guaranteed $1.9 million becomes fully guaranteed on January 10th. Essentially, the longer he is on the roster, the more his salary is guaranteed. Which means to me how I read into this is that the Pistons have until January 10th to release him if something were to happen and not have to pay off all of his contract and then bring in whoever they want by then. But once January 10th comes around, I don’t think they would just drop someone that has guaranteed money. Even though it is just $1.9 million, I don’t think they would do that. Um, I mean, I guess if Millie Beasley is available after January 10th, maybe they say it’s more important to get him. So, we’ll eat the 1.9 million. So, like maybe. But seems like to me that January 10th is kind of like the, you know, they’d like to have a decision before then or they’d like to feel comfortable before then. Um, so no, it doesn’t kill the idea of Malik Beasley still coming back to the Detroit Pistons. However, I tweeted this and a lot of Pistons fans were upset, but I want I want to read you guys what I tweeted. I said, “If Jon is taking the final spot of the roster, I believe we know what that means.” A lot of fans were upset, so I followed up with, “I wish I shared fans blind belief that Trejan Langden is operating this season and handling this team’s roster with the quote, “Ah, but Beasley might get cleared if this major investigation ends soon.” I I don’t feel like many fans I don’t feel like many people are understand what is going on with Beasley and why I believe it would be so foolish to just operate as a president of basketball operations that I don’t think Tan’s doing. But how foolish I believe it would be to be operating your team that has legit hopes and expectations this year and has a team that’s actually playing well right now and has so many other things going on. If if in the back of your head you’re making roster moves or making decisions with the well yeah but what if Malik Beasley gets cleared like I think that would be absurd. I think that would be insane to be operating your team in that regard. One, because while Malik Beasley was great for the Pistons, he’s not like a superstar to where you need to be, oh well, what if he gets clear? We got to make sure we have this or we got like that. He’s not that like he isn’t he’s a good player. He helped the Pistons an absolute ton this past year. He had a historic season, but he’s not that good to where you should be operating your whole roster with that. That’s one. But the main thing here is this. If people aren’t following the NBA, the NBA out of any sports league right now is under the biggest microscope when it comes to this gambling stuff. I don’t, in case you don’t know, but what’s going on with Damon Jones, Chanty Bils, and Terry Rosier. Pretty serious stuff. The FBI is involved. Pretty serious stuff. And the FBI is has a big scope on the NBA right now. And the NBA especially looks bad because they cleared Terry Rosier just for the M for the FBI to come back and say, “No, basically you guys messed up. He wasn’t cleared. He actually did this and now we’re going after him.” So now the NBA for the last few weeks has had pie in their face and they’ve looked bad because it looks like they don’t know how to control this and looks like they don’t know how to handle this. I bring all that up to say Malik Beasley is currently under investigation for gambling. It is the same thing that the FBI is go has going on with the NBA. I am not trying to get too crazy into it, but the I like what I’ve reserved myself to is and maybe I’m wrong. If I’m wrong and he ends up getting cleared tomorrow or next week and now he’s back on the Pistons and they just wave Isaac Jones, I mean great, they have Malik Beasley back. That’d be great. Not saying that it’s impossible, I guess, because I none of us truly know. I guess I find it incredibly incredibly hard to believe and to the point of just blind optimism that you are watching the scope that the p that the NBA is under right now with everything that is going on and and every NBA team knowing the scope that is on them right now and how bad they look in this regard with the whole gambling stuff to think that this investigation one is ending anytime soon. Two, that any NBA team really wants to get close to touching any situation like this anytime soon with a player. And three, to think that the FBI is in some or or or any in that the investigation is in any kind kind of rush to get this done in order to pay a favor to Malipasley. Everything we’ve seen happen with the league and everything that’s happened suggest the complete opposite. It is it like has suggested the utter complete opposite. So I am in the camp of Malik Beasley is not on this basketball team. He is probably not going to be on this basketball team. He is under investigation for something that is a pretty big deal. Whether you believe he did it or not. I’m not speaking to whether he actually did it or if he gets that’s not my point. I don’t that I’m not speaking on his innocence. I’m speaking on the investigation simply going on at the same time of what you everything else that’s going on with the NBA. They don’t need any more bad looks. They there and there’s no way that I believe that that the investigation is going to be hurried by the government. It’s not going to be hurried up to do a favor to anybody. You know, Terry Rosir was under investigation for over a year like these things and and they and I believe in the documents they said they’ve been investigating these guys for like over two years. like it’s been over two years of evidence they’ve been trying to like if Malik Beasley gets cleared soon I mean great that would be fantastic but I I believe that thinking that’s going to be the case is just blind optimism when everything we’re seeing happening with the NBA when it comes to gambling and the investigations that are currently going on and how big of a deal it was and how big of a of a of a like a again a pie in the face the the NBA had after basically missing thing. What’s going on with Terzir? I like I am I am now in the camp of it’s not happening and I’m not going I don’t want to keep talking about it. I don’t want the roster and I don’t want the front office to be operating with the in the back of their head. Well, we got to make sure we remember that Beasley could come back because I think there’s a large chance he’s not. Like we’ve just heard that there’s other teams in outside of the USA are heavily interested in Malik Beasley because he may not play. Like I believe that there is a much larger chance we don’t see Malik Beasley play NBA basketball this year. So operating with the with the yeah but Beasley I think is foolish. So I that’s where I stand with it. I guess to wrap up the segment does this mean the Pistons will not be able to bring Beasley back if he is cleared? No, that’s not what this means. However, I do believe Tion has moved on. I think Traan if it happens to come up he will like he kept uh flexibility open. January 10th is not even fully guaranteed till then. So if something happens before then he has the flexibility to make a decision then. But I think Traan has moved on in the regard of I’m not going to continue to make my roster. I’m not going to continue to make moves. I’m not going to continue to have this yeah but Beasley in the because I think that would be foolish. I don’t think he’s doing that. And that’s how I’m doing it. So I think fans like I I I keep seeing fans say when we don’t even have Jane Ivy Beasley yet. Well, okay. Ivy’s coming back. Beasley is not on this roster. He is not has he doesn’t have a contract and we don’t know if he’s ever playing NBA basketball again. So saying, “Well, Beey’s not even back yet. He may never be back.” Like I I I I’m just I’m real tired of this whole this whole this whole thing. I just want to get wrapped up so we can stop talking about this guy. I think this is one of the most annoying topics I’ve had to talk about over and over and over again. It’s so frustrating. Um so let me know the Pistons can still sign Beasley if he gets cleared. That that’s basically the answer here, but I had to go on my rant about why I think continuing to talk about this is is frustrating. Um, that’s all I’ve got for you guys today. Thank you guys for making lockdown pistons your first listen of every single day. Freedom on your podcast platforms. Hit that subscribe button to YouTube channel. Leave us a five star every whatever podcast platform you’re listening to us on. Until next time, I will see you guys later. Stay safe out there and peace out everybody.

Detroit Pistons’ Jalen Duren is making headlines with his electrifying start to the season, posting nearly 18 points and 11 rebounds a game while dramatically elevating the team’s offensive and defensive potency. Is Duren leaping to a $30 million contract—and can he sustain this high level against tougher competition? The Pistons now lead the NBA in points in the paint, fueled by Duren’s dominance and improved pick-and-roll chemistry with Cade Cunningham.

Ku Khahil examines Isaiah Stewart’s rise as one of the league’s premier big-man defenders and debates whether Stewart should start alongside Duren or remain the backup five for optimal team balance. Key topics include Detroit’s recent roster move to add Isaac Jones, the ongoing uncertainty surrounding Malik Beasley’s return amid a gambling investigation, and crucial lineup decisions as Tobias returns from injury. Are the Pistons on the verge of a breakout, or is lineup volatility their most significant obstacle?

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