Will The Detroit Pistons ACQUIRE Malik Monk In A 3-Team Deal? | S&T For Dennis Schroder?

Will The Detroit Pistons ACQUIRE Malik Monk In A 3-Team Deal? | S&T For Dennis Schroder?

In today’s episode of Locked On Pistons podcast, are the Detroit Pistons getting Malik Monk? Are they involved in a three-team trade? What is going on with the Dan Shrew signing trade? I break down all that and tell you guys exactly what is happening and what I’m hearing in today’s episode, Locked on Pistons podcast. Let’s go. You are Locked on Pistons, your daily Detroit Pistons podcast, part of the Locked Onet. Your team every day. What’s the deal? Welcome back to another episode of the Lock On Pistons podcast. Per usual, I am your host, Cahill. I’ve been covering the Detroit Pistons. We’re the Lockdown Dog Network over the last four years. I’ve been a credential media member over the last three years. I appreciate all of you guys, all of your support, the Everydayers, those of you who make lockdown Pistons your first listen of every single day. We are free to develop on all your podcast platforms. And if you haven’t already, hit that subscribe button to the YouTube channel where we just crossed over 11,000 subscribers. We are still on our way to 20,000 subscribers. We will eventually get there, but if you haven’t already, please hit that subscribe button or you can leave us a fivestar review on whatever podcast platform this link to us is on. And today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code lock NBA for $20 off your first purchase. In today’s episode, we’ll be discussing, are the Detroit Pistons better so far? Did they make themselves a better basketball team with what they’ve done through three days of free agency? Then we’ll talk about as well, do the Pistons need to go out and get a four still out there? Like, is there anyone out there even available for them to play the backup forward position? We’ll break down all of that later on. But we’re going to start with the the the news that or really the rumors that is really dominating. It feels like it’s been dominating the Pistons community ever since free agency started. And that is the Dennis Shruder uh signing trade with the Sacramento Kings. Now, I’ll try to explain all of this the best I possibly can. And I’m going to try to start from the beginning and work my way all the way through. Uh today or yesterday I tweeted out that I tweeted out some eye emojis being fun, whatever. But I that I was hearing and ended up getting reported by some Sacramento Kings uh uh beats. Um, but I al I end up saying that I was hearing that the Detroit Pistons were engaged in a three-team deal that would send Dennis Shruder a part of a signing trade with Dennis Shruder that would send Shruder to the Kings would send Malik Monk to the Detroit Pistons and send Jonathan Kaminga to the uh send Jonathan Kaminga to the Kings and then the Warriors were going to get some compensation from from the Kings. That’s what’s been reported. I heard that it’s been reported by a lot of media over in the Kings space. I heard there’s been a lot of people in the Piston space who heard the same thing, but people in the Warriors media escape are denying that this is the case. That doesn’t so much matter right now. I’m just trying to break it down, but that’s just where we’re at right now. So, I want because there’s been you guys have been asking me so many questions about this, so I want to make sure I get every question answered that people have been wondering. When it comes to Dennis Shruder and the signing trade, the Pistons can get Malik Monk. It’s possible for them to get Malik Monk in return for Den Shooter. We’ll see if that happens. But the Pistons and the Kings have until July 6th to wrap up the signing trade. What we know for sure, what I can tell you guys 100% is that a signing trade will be happening. Now, whether Malik Monk will be coming back to the Pistons, whether they trade for a TPE, which we’ll explain in just a minute, whether they maybe trade for another player on the roster, I don’t think that’s going to happen. It doesn’t really work out for either team to do that, but a signing trade will be happening between Dennis Shruder, the Pistons, and the Kings. It will be happening. Now, the two options that appear to be the most likely scenarios is Malik Monk comes back to the Pistons, and that creates some cap room for the Kings to then open up their MLE so they can go and get players that they want. It sounds like they want to go after Russell Westbrook. It helps them go get players that they want to get, right? and the Pistons get a really good player Malik Malik Monk back. The other option is the Pistons can get a $14 million TPE, which is a trade exception that they could either use immediately or they could take into the the regular season and try to use it maybe around the trade deadline. So then they have that $14 million trade exception. Either way, the Pistons will benefit in some regard. I’d like them to take Malik Monk. I think that would be a good deal. But even if they don’t take Malik Monk, the trade exception will benefit them. You don’t just lose shooter for nothing in any in either outcome. You get something in return for losing Shruder. So that’s where we’re at with that. By July 6th, a signin trade will be completed of some scenario. Now, I’ve had a bunch of people asking, is the three team trade going to go through? What am I hearing since I said that I was since I said I heard that this was something they were working on? Is that going to happen? From what I understand, from what I’ve heard, what I understand is this is all on Golden State. It sounds like the Pistons were on board with it. Sounds like the Kings were all on board with it. That all come that specific three-team deal would just simply come down to the Golden State Warriors being okay and in wanting to trade Jonathan Kaminga in state. And I’ve heard that that is a problem for them. They it it sounds like that a lot of people do not want to trade Kaminga to Sacramento. They’ll trade him to an East team. They’ll trade him somewhere else, but they don’t want to trade him to Sacramento. That’s something I’ve heard as well. The other thing is Golden State has to agree to the package that the Kings send out. So if Golden State basically all you need to understand is if the Golden State Warriors agree to send Kaminga who is a restricted free agent a part of a signing trade to the Kings and the Kings give up enough you know value whatever that the Warriors want then the three team deal should happen. It it’s just about do the Warriors actually want to be a part of this and actually send Kaminga. The whole reason why the Kings are doing this is because they’re trying to create this cap room to go get someone they want. Whether it be a Jonathan Kaminga or a Russell Westbrook, the whole reason why they’re trying to get off off a Monk is so they can create cap space to go get someone they want to get. So that the three team the three team possibility all relies upon if Golden State agrees with Sacramento on a deal that sends Jonathan Kamingo. The Pistons, they’re fine just being patient because they know that they’re getting something by July 6th. They don’t need to rush right now. That’s fine. They’re just waiting to see, you know, what are they going to do? What are they going to do? By the July 6, we’ll get what we want. Just tell us what you guys are doing. That’s basically where they’re at with that when in regards to the three team deal. Next question I’ve been asked a lot is, do the Pistons have to take back Malik Monk if they want to do this signing trade or can they take on some other players? And yes, the Pistons could if and I’m sure the Pistons are doing this. They’ve been going through all their options. If they wanted to take on Shruder in a signing trade and they wanted to take on Malik Monk or they they wanted to reroute Malik Monk, I should say. There are players who would fit into that if they if they wanted to, you know, like I said, shooter goes to the Kings. Kings send out Malik Monk, but the Pistons instead of taking him, rerouting him to a third team and get someone they actually want, they can do that. The problem with that is you have to find a team that wants to trade Malik Monk or wants to take on Malik Monk and then wants to give you what you’re asking for. It it gets it’s hard to do. It’s not impossible at all, but it requires multiple teams to get on on board and agree and want Malik Monk just as much as you know they want the player that they’d be trained to the Pistons. Is it possible? Yes. Will it happen? I’m not sure. It it once you start getting more than two teams involved, it starts becoming more complicated. Now, the next thing that I want to make clear, a lot of people have been asking, why aren’t the Pistons just immediately accepting Malik Monk? Because they can, the Pistons absolutely can just take on Malik Monk in a sign trade for shooter and the Kings would like that because they still would open up their MLE. Even if they don’t get Jonathan Kaminga, they will like that because it opens up their ML and they can go get someone they want. Why aren’t the Pistons doing it? I’m somewhat asking the same question because I think if they got Malik Monk, this offseason would be infinitely better. Malik Monk’s a really good basketball player. I think he’d be the best two guard on the roster. Doesn’t mean he starts. I think he’d probably be the sixth man, but I think he’d be the best two guard on the roster right now. He’s really good. Here’s why the Pistons may not be interested. One, maybe they just don’t think as highly of him as I saw Nikayas talking pretty high on him of the dunker spot. Steve Jones of the dunker spot spoke pretty highly of him. I’ve seen a lot of people, myself included, I really like Malik Monk. Maybe the Pistons just don’t think as highly of Malik Monk. Pet two, I think this is the by far the most likely scenario. I think they do like Malik Monk. They went after him last year. I think they like Malik Monk. What I think is the most likely reason why is Malik Monk has three years left on his deal. The Pistons do not want to take on a three-year contract. Every deal they’ve done has been a two-year contract. Now, whether that’s because Trajan has a long-term plan, which I hope is the case, that he has a long-term plan that in two years he plans on doing something like there’s something that he’s looking forward to in two years that he wants to make sure he’s ready to do. I hope that’s the case. Or if it’s just we don’t want anything longer than two years because it ru ruins our optionality. I think that would not be very smart. Now, if you have an actual plan for something in two years that you want to make sure you’re ready for and don’t want to have to, okay, well, we took this one deal, now we’re ready to do what we wanted to do in two years, but now we have to find a way to attach assets to this contract to free up the space we wanted, not because we want to be able to do our plan. I understand that if it’s just because you don’t want you want every optionality and you don’t want anything longer than two years because it maybe is a little bit harder to move, I don’t know if I even agree with that one. And two, I just don’t think that would be smart. If you have a plan for two years, that’s smart. I get it. If you want to stay to it, I get it. The reason why I’m saying that is because Duncan Robinson, he signed for a contract that is effectively a one-year contract. It’s a three-year deal. First year’s fully guaranteed, the second year is partially guaranteed, and the third year is completely non-G guaranteed. Caris Levert signed for a two-year contract. Tobias Harris signed for a two-year contract. Simony Fonteo signed for a two-year contract. Even Malik Beasley recent reporting came out today just before I started recording this from the Athletic that Malik Beasley before everything is and when I say everything I mean my god everything’s come out about it. Um the Pistons were the the contract they were going to sign him to was a three-year deal with a team option on the third which again basically would have been a two-year contract. So, it sounds like the Pistons do not want to go beyond two years because that that makes more sense to me and has made a lot more sense for this whole situation because before people were trying to tell me that, oh, well, Malik Monk’s just a bad contract. Why would you want his contract? You don’t want it for three years. I’m sitting here looking at his contract. It’s a $20 million contract. 18 to$21 million contract for three years. Malik Monk’s a really good player. 18 to$21 million is not a lot of money at all. Especially for a really good player, that’s a bargain. That’s not a bad contract in 2025. I like I’ve been sitting here like, “Dude, there’s no way we’re actually looking at Malik Monk on $18 to $21 million and saying that’s a bad contract.” If that’s a bad contract, I’m concerned about some other things. Like, if Malik Monk on that money, I’m concerned about what some other players would look like on some money higher than him if he’s considered a negative asset. So, I mean, maybe that is still the case. Maybe some other teams across the league don’t like him at that number. Maybe that is the case. I find it hard to believe that he’s just a flat negative asset just because of the contract. What my takeaway is and what I understand is the Pistons don’t want any long-term money and that’s making it harder for them to just take back Malik. Maybe they end up doing it because again, Malik’s really good, but it really feels like they just do not want that long-term money. They want to stay at two years. If Malik was on a two-year contract after this, I think he would have already been sent to Detroit. But I think there’s a little bit of hesitancy with the Pistons because they don’t want that third year. To me, if you want my opinion, I would still do it because I think Malik’s good in that third year and expiring on that type of money, especially in at 2027. $21 million, $20 million in 2027 will not be a lot of money at all. I think you could easily move off of it if you wanted to three years from now. Like, I don’t think it would be a problem at all. So, I would take it. But I if that is the case and they have a plan two years from now, I understand why they would be hesitant to do it. So that’s I believe I covered everything in regards to this. I there’s been so many questions from Pistons fans asking me about this. Can they do a sign trade from League Monk? Yes. Will they do it? They can. Just depends if they want him really that bad. Three team deal. Will it be going through? It depends on Golden State. Does Golden State come to an agreement with the Kings and the value they want? And do they actually decide to move him in state, which it sounds like they don’t really want to do? Relies upon that. uh the three-year contract thing we spoke about. I think I covered every single part of it. Oh, and the Pistons. Yeah, the Pistons will definitely have a signing trade completed by July 6th with Shooters. It’s just a matter of what will the sign and trade look like? But a signing trade will be happening. Actually, last thing, the Yonas Valentuna’s trade looked like it was potentially going to be rescended, which would have impacted a lot of this, but recent reporting from Jake Fischer says the trade for Yonas Valunis is expected to still go through because Jonas Valunis, you don’t understand why it was being discussed why it maybe didn’t go through because he sounds like he’s going overseas. He might he might not be playing. So now, do the Nuggets want him? Would they take the trade still? Recent reporting says the trade will still go through. So, it should not affect the Pistons at all. 13-minute segment. I believe I covered everything for you guys in this. If there’s anything else that I didn’t answer that you guys want answered in regards to this situation, let me know comment section down below or over on Twitter, Cuckah Hill. But coming up, as of right now, are the Detroit Pistons a better basketball team? I’ll tell you guys why I believe at the very worst they’re the same basketball team. We’ll break it down coming up. We’ve all been there. Loging on early and waiting forever for concert tickets to go on sale, only to lose your spot for a show that you’ve been dying to see. Live music should be about making memories, not dealing with the stress of ticket shopping. And that’s where Game Time comes in. Game Time makes concert tickets faster and easier than ever. Prices actually drop as it get closer to the showtime. 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Hit that subscribe button or leave us a fivestar review, whatever podcast platform you’re listening to this on. That’s another great way to support the podcast. We are I’m recording this on July 3rd. Also, I guess I should probably say this on the pod show. Love this. Happy anniversary to my wife 12 years ago. I asked her to be my girlfriend at a random weird uh fireworks celebration for the Fourth of July. You guys want to hear a funny story? Uh just real quickly. Uh when I asked her to be my girlfriend at that at this event, uh the person who was handling the DJ, I had never seen fish flies before until she had me come to this event. Fish flies all over the place. I thought it was disgusting. Apparently, everybody in this area around St. and clearers thought it was fun to make a song about fish flies, asking the crowd to chant about fish flies. And I immediately was grossed out and I didn’t know if I wanted to be her boyfriend anymore after that. I’m not going to lie to you. It was kind of kind of weird. I’m trolling. I’m somewhat trolling a little bit. Anyways, um are the Detroit Pistons a better basketball team as of July 3rd, three days into free agency than they were before? I will make the argument that I don’t think you can say they’re worse. I think I think at the bare minimum it’s fair to say that you’re just like eh sure like they’re like they’re the same at the very least they should replicate themselves like they they should be the same. And here’s why I believe that I said this a little bit on the last episode. Tan Langden said before free agency started that he wanted to bring back the vets and didn’t foresee making any big moves. That’s what he said. Now again if they if they get Malik Monk I think they I I instantly go from where I’m going. I’ll tell you guys where I’m grading it. So far, my grade will jump two whole letter grades if they get Malik Monk. I I think that would be great. Absolutely fantastic. But we’ll see if they actually do it. Anyways, Tan Langden said want to bring back the vets and didn’t foresee making any big-time moves and was going to rely upon internal development. Now, what ended up happening is Shruder left. Beasley, I can’t really blame Traan with that, but Beasley situation happened. Um, THJ signed with Denver. The only real vet that’s returning, I guess, if you want to call him a vet, is Paul Reid. I don’t really consider him a vet. He’s not that old. Um, so the only vet left is Tobias. So, some people may look at that and say, “Okay, well, he didn’t even be he wasn’t even able to execute the plan that he wanted.” I don’t necessarily think that’s the case. He basically did that exact same thing just with different players. Like Caris Levert is replacing Shruder. Duncan Robinson is replacing Malik Beas. Like those two guys are replaced in the exact same roles those two guys played and they’re both going to be viewed as vets. Caris Levert is on the other side of 30. Duncan Robinson on the other side of 30. Like you get your vets. Duncan Robinson plays the exact same movement shooter role as Malik Beasley did. Caris Levert is going to play that same exact ball handler role that Dan Shruder played. So maybe you didn’t get the exact players, but if you remove the names from the players and just looked at the archetype and the player, it’s the same. like they have the same what his plan was before July 1st. He basically acquired the same stuff. It’s just different people doing it. So I like I I don’t think that he failed. I like I see some people thinking the Pistons off season has been horrible. I don’t think it’s been horrible at all. Like they’ve done basically what he said he was going to do. He just did it with different players. And then with THA leaving, Jane Ivy was going to be coming in. Like Jane Ivy was coming back somewhat. I had been saying this on the podcast for months and people were thinking that I was just like reaching I I guess I was, you know, reaching for content or ideas. The Pistons did if once Ivy came back, they did not have enough room for everybody. They they didn’t have enough room for every single one of those guys to get minutes and to bring in a guy. Like if you wanted to bring in somebody to help and keep everybody around and give Jane Ivy 30 plus minutes, it just it was going to be hard to do. Now, I will say because some people I can already hear it right now saying, “Well, coup, how are you gonna get Malik Monk?” Well, if you want Malik Monk, just a sidebar real quick, you play Malik Monk at the one or Caris Lever Car Lever at the one, Malik Monk at the two, then you’d play Duncan Robinson as the backup three. Then you’d play Ron Holland at the four, which I think we’ll get into the third segment, but I I feel like that’s probably where they’re going to play Ron. It sounds like that Ron will be playing a lot of his at the four, and then Stu, you just play a 10-man rotation. I know JB has I’d said this last summer that JB has loved eight nineman rotations. He eight is a little a little bit of a stretch. He liked that in the playoffs, but nineman rotations even back in Cleveland. He loved it. But Pistons, he cycled back and forth with the 10-man rotation. Honestly, I feel like he probably would have stuck with the 10-man rotation if the 10th player was good enough. Like he kept going back and forth with players at the 10th 10th spot trying to give him a chance. Like if Simone was good, he probably would have played and would have been 10-man rotation all year. Like if Sasser really popped, it would have been a 10-man rotation. Just neither of those players really forced like JB kept giving them chances and they just never really took it. Um but that’s the sidebar for those I already know the comments. Well, cool. How can you say that? Monk. Well, there you go. Um but Ivy replaces THA. So everything you had last year has been replaced. So at the very least, I believe they stayed the same. They should not be worse next year. We always knew like as much if you were on if you were part of the fan club that wanted the Pistons to make moves then great. But I feel like most of us always knew that. Oh, we just got a Oh, that’s a Jackson Hayes news. Who cares? CHS. You got to be better with the news you’re breaking, man. No one cares about Jackson Hayes. Um, we all really knew that this next season the Pistons are going to take a jump by the improvement of their young guys. That’s that’s where it was going to happen at. So, they replace the vets that they had. They replace them with the exact same archetypes. I don’t think either of the vets are that much worse. If you want to say they’re one of them is worse, maybe. I think I I probably would stick at they’re probably the same. Like I think before this past year, people would have said Duncan was better than Malik. And then this past year, Malik just had an otherworldly season. So now Malik is better than Duncan. But before this past year, I think people probably would have rather have had Duncan because he provides the movement shooting and he has more size and he seems like a he’s a better playmaker. So like I think that’s at least a wash. Um and then Caris Lever, look, I’ll say this. People know I wasn’t high in the Caris Levert signing. I’ve tried my hardest to come around to it. So I’ll say this about Caris Levert and this is completely and this is this is fair. If Levert is what he was last year with the Hawks and the Cavs half a season, if he was what he was last year, he will be better than Dan Shruder because what he was last year was a much smarter basketball player. He took much better shot uh way better shots. He was smarter about those shots. He played more defense and he was just more he was more efficient. He m he actually made his shots at the rim. He actually made some of the looks he was creating in the mid-range. He made more threes last year. like he actually hit he he actually was just more efficient and was smarter with the shot. So if that actually is who he is, then he will be better than shooter. My concern with Levert is we have sevenear sample of him being very inefficient. He has one good year in a contract year. Kind of raises eyebrows for me. Like you’re 30 31. It’s going to be hard for me to believe that after one year in a contract year that your previous seven years aren’t actually who you are. You act the player in the one year. It’s possible though and I’m rooting for that to be the case. If he is that he’s better than Shooter. So then you could easily say they have better vets. You could you could say they have better vets. He has more size. He can play defense. He has that uh ability to break down the defense and get to the paint and kind of score for himself as he’s if he’s being efficient. So if he’s way he was last year, Lever’s better than Shruder. And people could probably make the argument that Duncan’s better than Beasley. I think everybody would make the argument that Ivy’s better than THC. So if you don’t want to go on board with all of those three guys being better, I understand it. That may be the most optimistic way of looking at it, but I don’t think you can be any more pessimistic than saying they’re at least the same as as they were last year. And if the young guys get better, that’s where the jump’s going to come from anyways. If Kade can become even more efficient, get better as a finisher at the rim, they’ll take a jump. If Assar improves his ball handling, can be trusted, do some more things offensively, they’ll take a jump. like Assar playing all year and being healthy and being able to actually play 30 minutes a game, which I think he definitely will, and he actually be a part of your starting lineup from the start of the season to the end, that will that already will provide a boost. So, Assar taking improving will help them take a leap. If Duran actually improves greatly defensively, that should make them take a leap. If Jayen Ivy actually becomes a good finisher instead of one of the worst finishers in the league, they will take a leap. Like all of these young guys, Kade needs to get better. Ivy needs to get better. Assara needs to get better. Duran needs to get better. If those guys get better, the Pistons will be a better basketball team. It doesn’t really matter about Caris Levert, Duncan Robinson, and Paul Reed. I whoever, whatever. Throw out a name, a vet name. Like, I’m not Maybe not matters a little too strong. Those guys do matter. They’ll contribute. You need your vets to be good, but they’re not going to be the the main reason why the Pistons get better. it was never going to be that. Now again, if they get Malik Monk, I’ll change my tune. I expect them to be a lot better and I think that would be great. But as of right now, at the very least, they’re the same. And I think you could easily make an argument that they should be better now. They could be a better team and maybe because the teams behind them made some big moves, maybe don’t they don’t move up in the playoff standings. We don’t know. We have to watch how the season actually plays out. But they could be a better team than they were last year and not actually move in the playoff seating. And I know for a lot of you guys that’s all that really matters. And I get that, but I can’t I don’t know if you can I don’t know how you can really make the argument they’re worse. I I understand some people want moves, but Tan kind of told us that wasn’t going to be the case. And you kind of just got to rely on internal development. So even if you’re not the happiest about this offseason, I don’t know if you can be so unhappy to say that they’re a worse basketball team. So my grade for the Pistons so far in free agency is like a C plus. Like I don’t think they’ve been great. I don’t think it’s been like some revolutionary moves. I don’t think it’s been bad moves either. I think they all make sense. Like I they just don’t wow me. So it’s fine. Yeah, they’re they’re fine. C plus like they pass. It’s fine. That’s where I’m at with it. Let me know comment section down below or over on Twitter. How do you guys grade the Pistons off seasonason so far? Three days into free agency. And how would you guys change that grade if they do acquire Malik Monk? Let me know. Comment section down below or over on Twitter. Coming up, do the Detroit Pistons need a backup four? And are there any backup fors even available on the market anymore? I’ll tell you guys the answer to that coming up. So I want to thank you guys again for making locked on Pistons your first list of every single day. We are free and available on all your podcast platforms. If you haven’t already, head to the YouTube channel at locked on 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. Three days into free agency. There’s only one position I would say that is very clearly not addressed that I’ve like I have been screaming from the mountain tops that they need to address and that is the backup four position. Now before I get into I don’t think I don’t know if I really have to get into why I think the backup four is a big big time need. I’ve done it for months. I think a lot of you guys probably know why. Uh so I’m not going to spend too much time diving into why it’s such a big time need. Again, we’ve talked about it a ton. Um, but I will say looking at the rotation it especially, this is especially if they end up acquiring Malik Monk and a scient with with Shooter, but even if they don’t, it’s looking like that it’s lining up to look like that Ron Highland will be taking up a lot of the backup four minutes. Like, let me just I’m gonna lay out what I believe the rotation’s about to look like based off what it is right now. I think it’s gonna be Kade, Ivy, Assara, Tobias, and Dur in the starting lineup coming up. I think the backups will be a nineman rotation. I think it will be Caris Levert, Duncan Robinson, Ron Holland, and Isaiah Stewart. I think that will be your nineman rotation. Maybe JB tries to give Bobby a chance. Maybe he tries to give Laneir a chance. Maybe he tries to give Sasser a chance. Sure. But you will have a consistent nineman rotation. And my expectation is the way they will sort out these minutes is Kade will take all his minutes at basically the point guard position. The backup point guard position will be taken up by Caris Levert and that’s where he’ll get his minutes. Ivy will take up a lot of his minutes, most of his minutes at the offg guard position. And I think Duncan Robinson will take up some of his minutes at the two and also at the three. I think that then you will have Ron Holland taking up a lot of the backup four minutes and back up three minutes. So you can see him have an increase on minutes because if he’s only getting minutes at the three position, you there’s not as many minutes available for him if he’s only playing as a small forward. And you want Assar to or not Assar, you want well Assar too, you want him to play 30 minutes, but you also want Ron to play a lot more than he did his rookie year. You want him to take this jump. So, you want him he’ll be splitting minutes. I’m going to guess probably like 144. I I think he’ll play 14 minutes at the small four position and 14 at the four position. I think I think there’s a good possibility Ron is the the most played bench player next year. Him or Stu and then Stu plays all his minutes at the five. That’s how I’m looking at it. Now, if they do if they did not think of Ron at the four, one, I think it’s going to be hard for Ron to get many more minutes than he did this past year, which I don’t think is what the team wants. And two, like I said, if they did get Malik Monk, I think you just shift everything down. Malik at the one, Car’s at the two, or swap either one of those, then you got Duncan Robinson at the three, Ron at the four, and Stew at the five. There’s your 10 man rotation. Like that’s that’s where I think it’s going to happen. Even Assar, I think Assar maybe gets half of his minutes at the four. Maybe it’s Ron that stays all the way at the three. Assar plays 14 of his minutes at the four or at the three, maybe 15, 16, and then plays 14 at the backup four position. He gets staggered. Maybe that’s what it is. I think they have a plan for Ryan and Assar to play those uh backup four minutes. And while I I I’ve said this before, I really do not think that Assar or Ron are fours, like I very much think they’re both threes and twos. I really don’t think of them as fours. I understand why JB may think that this is the best way to get them both minutes and the best way to try to implement both of them into the rotation as of right now. I get that. Despite that though, I think you need a backup force still. They’ve been linked to Cris Bush apparently as of today. There was a report that came out that they’re interested in him. Maybe Trey L they’re interested in. Um there’s not many options. There really isn’t. Maybe they try to get a sign and trade. Maybe a third team in this, you know, intruder signing trade. Maybe they find a way to get John Collins. I think that would be good. But at the very least, I think you need another fourman. Even if he’s not going to play a lot of minutes, even if he’s not part of the rotation, does someone you know can play the four and you can trust and spot minutes? Because god forbid, knock on wood, knock on wood, man. But god forbid Tobias get hurt for a stretch. What you going to do? Like what are the Pistons going to do if that happens? They have like we saw how large he had the largest onoff net rating of anyone on the team. Why is that? Well, one is because he was really good, but another large part is because they had no one for him when he came off the floor. when he came off the floor they had no other for it was a money fontio like they need a backup four even if they want to give all the minutes to Ron Srar if Tobias were to go down and again knock on wood you don’t want it to happen but these are things that happen to players who especially are getting older you have to at least prep for those kind of things if that were to happen you want to be prepared you want to have an option I don’t even know right now like what would they do if if that did happen who would start are they just gonna move a SAR down to the four star him at the fourth then bring in Duncan Like, is that what they would do? I don’t know if that’s the greatest. Like, I I I guess, but I don’t know if that’s really the greatest idea. Sure. I mean, maybe it works. I don’t know. I really don’t like a I really don’t like Assara Ron at the four. But I get why you have to do it if you want to stagger their minutes. And maybe Ron comes back back much bigger. I think that would help for him too to play the four. But again, I I’ve said this multiple times before. I I really don’t know if Ron and Assar are Ron more than Assar, but I don’t know if either of them in their best case future are like at their peaks. I don’t view either of them as like these these bulky strong guys like their builds and slant and yes, they need to get stronger. I’m not You can get This is another thing too. People seem to not There’s some people that don’t get this. You can get stronger without just getting bulky. Like there’s a difference. Traan did say Assad needs to get stronger. I guarantee you he’s not telling Assar to put on 15 pounds of muscle and get bulky. That’s not what he’s telling him. You can get stronger without getting bulky. And I don’t think that either really Ron or Assar at their peaks are getting there by being like these heavy set guys. They their slend slender build, their ability to be, you know, how quick they are, their ability to fit increases. I think that really plays to their strengths. That’s part of the reasons why they’re so good and why they’re such good prospects. So, I do think that a little bit differently with Ron. I think Ron could put on maybe 10 more pounds of muscle, but it’s not like I think he need he’s going to be getting up to 230 and gonna be willing to battle with like a Pascal Seakum or a Julius Randall. Like I don’t think that’s, you know, ever going to be in his future. At least I don’t think it should be. Um in in a long roundabout way, I I know I’ve kind of talked about the forward position all kinds of different ways right now. Longabout way. I don’t know if the Pistons view it as much of a need as I do because I think they’re going to try split minutes with Assaar and Ron which I I at least understand but I still would say they need to go out and get a guy even if he’s not going to be part of the rotation at least get a guy for if the worst case scenario happens knockwood that Tobias goes down you have a secession plan like you have someone that you can you can survive if Tobias even gets into foul trouble he fouls out whatever like you you at least have someone there that you can trust and you’re not in the same position you were last year basically anytime time fake came on the floor you were like please God to survive like that’s at least where I’m at with it. So let me know comment section down below or over on Twitter. Do the Pacers need to go out and get a backup four or are they all set with Ron and Assar to take those minutes again? Let me know comment section down below or over on Twitter. That’s all I’ve got for you guys today. Thank you guys for making lockdown Pistons your first listen every single day. We’re free to grab on all your podcast platforms. Hit that subscribe button to YouTube channel. Leave us a fivestar review on whatever podcast platform you’re listening to this on. Until next time, I will see you guys later. Stay safe out there. Until next time, peace out everybody.

PISTONS’ TRADE RUMORS HEAT: Schröder, Monk, and Kuminga in potential 3-team deal?

Host Ku Khahil breaks down a rumored trade involving the Detroit Pistons, Sacramento Kings, and Golden State Warriors. The discussion explores the complexities of moving Dennis Schröder to Sacramento, Malik Monk to Detroit, and Jonathan Kuminga’s potential shift to the Western Conference. Kuka analyzes the Pistons’ free agency moves, including signings of Caris LeVert and Duncan Robinson, and addresses the team’s glaring need for a backup power forward. He explores possible lineup configurations featuring young talents like Cade Cunningham, Ausar Thompson, and Jaden Ivey.

Tune in for insider information on the Pistons’ offseason strategy and how these moves could reshape their roster for the upcoming NBA season.

SUBSTACK: kukhahil.substack.com

PLAYBACK: playback.tv/watchpistons

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