EXCLUSIVE: Mat Issa of Forbes Joins To Discuss Detroit Pistons Offseason And Future In The East!

EXCLUSIVE: Mat Issa of Forbes Joins To Discuss Detroit Pistons Offseason And Future In The East!

In today’s episode of Lockdown Pistons podcast, we are joined by Matt Issa to talk about the Pistons past season, their success, the offseason. What do they need to do moving forward to take the next step? Stay tuned. Today’s episode, Locked on Pistons podcast. Let’s go. You are Locked on Pistons, your daily Detroit Pistons podcast, part of the Locked On. Your team every day. What’s the deal? Welcome back to another episode of the Lockdown Pistons podcast. Per usual, I am your host Cuckah Hill. You can find me over on Twitter, cuckill. I’ve been covering the Detroit Pistons for the lockdown network over the last four years, being a credential media member over the last three years. I appreciate all of you guys who make locked on Pistons your first listen of every single day. The everydayers out there. I appreciate all of the support. And today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked in NBA for $20 off your first purchase. Today we have a special guest on my guy Matt Isa. You can find him over on Twitter, Mattisa 15. He is a writer over at Forb Sportscasting and Opta Analyst. Does great great work. I there’s there’s a few player interviews that you’ve done over the last few years that I very much have enjoyed. You’ve done some great stuff. Appreciate Appreciate all the work you put out. Definitely make sure you guys go check him out over on Twitter and all of his work. He does great stuff. Matt, how you doing today, man? Crew, I’m I’m fantastic. Um, there’s something I wanted to wait to admit publicly on the podcast to you. Okay. I don’t know if you know this, so me and C have known each other for a couple years now. We were introduced through a mutual friend. Me and him usually end up sitting next to each other at Pistons Games. But, um, you know, man, I’ve been waiting secretly for years. I’ve been waiting for that. You DM’ me a couple weeks ago to ask me to come on your show. I’ve been waiting for that. See, because I’ve always wanted to come on Locked Down Pistons. like all my buddies to lock down Pistons and I was like, you know, me and C are good friends. Like he knows like I work in the industry. Like why hasn’t he ever why does he ever ask, you know? And so I was just so happy, man. That’s my fault. That’s my fault. Wait, I waited too long, bro. This like this means more to me than it could ever mean to you. I just want to let you know that, man. Thank you for this. I appreciate you, man. I appreciate you coming on, taking time out of your day to come on. I know you’re a busy guy, especially all the coaching. Coach Smith, if you’re listening to this, you’re playing them this year. I I I’m going to have to come to one of those games, man, if you haven’t listened to today’s episode. But let’s let’s go ahead and get into it. U we’ll talk about the Pistons off seasonason. We’ll talk about what they need to do moving forward into their future, how they look. But let’s start with this past season. Like you mentioned, we sat together during the playoffs. I I believe we went I went to two games. Both games we were sitting next to each other. Um spectacular atmosphere in the playoffs. It was it was great seeing, you know, the Pistons have a playoff game and seeing the crowd get as crazy as it. It was a fun atmosphere, but wasn’t just the playoff. You obviously have to get through the regular season to make it there. And the Pistons had uh just a surprising and crazy bounceback season off of a 14- win season. What before we get into the playoffs, what shocked you the most? Like what did you take away from the Pistons season? Were you were you that shocked at what they did? Just what were your thoughts? I knew they would get better. I knew they would get better. I mean, they brought adults into the room. Um Tim Hardaway, Fentio, Malik Beasley, and uh who’s the last one I’m missing? There’s a fourth member. Um back Tobias. Tobias. There you go. Hey, Tobias Harris. Yes. Uh very important starting power forward. Um so I knew they like they they needed spacing. They brought in spacing and they did a good job of bringing in spacing without sacrificing size, right? Tobias a huge dude. Simona Fintio is a huge dude. Beasley and Hardaway are, you know, decent sized guards. Hardway plays very physical um for his size, has a lot of man strength, right? So, I knew they’d get better. I didn’t I didn’t think they’d win so many games. I think the big thing was the defense that surprised me the most because I look at this team and like I said, they have like a lot of size and but like you know, Hardway is not known as like a stopper. Tobias is always like it’s always been like a running joke like you know the theory of Tobias Harris like would have won the 76ers NBA title but he’s not actually that guy. Um, so there’s that. So, but there’s a defense and like what I loved about this team and I thought they were doing something that not a lot of teams were taking advantage of. They were really So, you know, the whistle, right? The whistle, I would say, started at the end of the 2024 season where like referees are like, you know what, man? Like, got to stop calling so many fouls. You got to let the boys play a little, right? And they continued on to the season and the Pistons, what they would do is they had a lot of like thick guys, like really like girthy, strong, muscular guys. And they would just like bump you. They would like subtly bump you. They knew they weren’t as laterally quick as some teams, but they used that physicality, right? And they used the way the referees were calling the game to their advantage to make up for their lack of lateral quickness. And they would always play a lot of size, right? They always had these big lineups out there. When Kade Cunningham is your point guard, you’re playing huge, right? like and that was a big reason why like a guy like Marcus Sasser didn’t get as much run as I thought he would because he’s small and he tries hard on defense, don’t get me wrong, but there’s a limitation to that. So, I loved loved loved loved that. There was one time and I knew I figured like I always suspected this, right? But I knew it was kind of a point of emphasis for them because if you look at their like shot profile, they they give up an average amount of threes, give up an average amount of shots to the rim. So, there’s nothing like drastic going on there. They sound like they’re packing the paint big time and getting lucky um with guys missing shots. But anyway, so they they were playing a team I can’t remember who it was. They were getting beaten pretty bad. They come back and win. It was a game where man, I’m blanking on his name now. I’m not good with the names. He was like a backend rotation guy. He might have gotten waved towards the end of the season, but he came in in the second quarter. They’re again being really bad. They came back and won. And if you looked at their points in the paint throughout the game against the opponent, the opponent points in the paint, right? They were giving up just a ton of points in the paint in the first quarter. And then as the game went on, they got lower and lower. And so I asked JB and I was like, “Did you emphasize like packing the paint?” I didn’t see it watching live. I obviously didn’t have the rewind button there with me, you know, don’t have the handy dandy rewind button, but he goes like, “No, we just focus on defending the ball more, you know, and so the Pistons really what they did last year, and I think JB did a great job of really emphasizing that, making a point of emphasis is they defended the ball so well, you know, they better than most teams. they weren’t giving up these automatic advantages and just relying on the help to save them at the end of the day. So, I was very very impressed with their defense. Also very impressed with how well they ran in transition, but the defense is really what what got me. So, just stay on that because the defense I I completely agree with you. The defense shocked me like it really shocked me because before like like you said, you look at like the roster on paper and you’re like this isn’t like a you know, the Pistons were a top six defense after like after January 1st. you look at you look at the roster you’re like this is not you know I wouldn’t think this is some great defense and then the Pistons ended up like you mentioned just dominating teams defensively and like you mentioned they were at the top of the league in transition points fast break points points off turnovers and that’s all really generated from their defense from their defense just getting them out in transition whether it’s turnovers securing rebounds and then pushing that’s really where their offense came from and I wanted to ask you about the defense I know obviously you’ve watched a ton of the Pistons uh before January The Pistons had the 28th best defense in the league. In December, it was bad. It was it. Now, they ended up going five and five in December towards the back end. Ivy started to play really well offensively, but the defense, the net rating wasn’t great. It was still middling. It was like, is this real? Can you believe in this? The defense is so bad. Are they getting lucky? Blah blah. That kind of thing. Then the Sar Thompson comes back and he’s put in the starting lineup. And after that, the Pistons jump to the seventh best net rating the rest of the year. They have a top six defense. They lead the league in points off turnovers. They’re at the top of the league in transition points. Do you I know you mentioned all, you know, and JB did get the most out of Tobias, THJ, and Malik. Whatever you can get out of him, he got the most. How much of an impact do you believe Assar really had on the defense just turning around midway through the year? Well, I mean, how much of an impact do you think like the greatest physical specimen we’ve ever seen would have on a defense? Like it’s like it’s what it is. like he’s they him and Amen are probably the greatest like physical athletes I’ve ever seen. You know, they’re so gifted. Um just the way they move laterally, their reaction speed, the physicality they can play with their hands, right? Like he’s it’s night and day. And I think there was I know he’s your guy, but I think there was a night and day. There was a little bit of addition by subtraction when Jaden Ivy left the lineup. As much as I I hate to say it because he went out in a brutal way. Sorry, it’s my dog. But I deal with the same thing. She’s barking. You just can’t hear it. But um so I think I think that helped right now. He was like he’s smaller too. He’s like 6’4. He’s a little smaller than Kate. So getting him out of the lineup putting in bigger guys, filling that space with bigger minutes. And like I said, the physicality thing I think the Pistons did so well is like so you know usually right when you get beat, right, you have to open up your hips and you’re kind of like parallel with the guy driving. Before that change in officiating, if you would try to bump a guy to get back in his way, that’s a foul. But like the like they stopped doing that. the Pistons like you have Tobias Harris. He’s he’s slow but he’s strong, right? And so like if he got beat, he would just kind of bump his way back in front and protect the rim. I mean, protect the drive like that. So yeah, I I would say back to your original question. Yeah, Sar phenomenal phenomenal defender. One of the three, four best perimeter defenders in the game right now. Yeah, I think that point you brought up about how they played on drives, especially with like the bigger guys like with Tobias and even Cade and Assar, like both of those guys, it was something in the playoffs, I think you noticed that, you know, early on in the series against the Knicks, Assar was getting into foul trouble and I think a lot of them were from him trying to, you know, do what you said and and kind of ride guys and and and and bump them. Um, and Jaylen Brunson is just great at like selling that contact. He started to get a little smarter obviously as the series went on about how, you know, when to pick his spots doing that, how to get away with it, you know, all that. And he had some really good success success on Brunson. Um, but I completely agree with you about the whole the size point of the Pistons team building, which is why I’m so interested to see how this season plays out now because Ivy is back and he’s going to get a bunch of the minutes and he’s going to hopefully play really well offensively and hopefully they get the most out of him defensively. I just want to see can he provide enough defensively with, you know, the physicality that they’ve trying to sell because I I like one of the biggest things that I’ve always wanted with Kade is the like you when you have Kade at point guard, you have the ability to have no one on the court smaller than Kade and you just you can just run you can run a lineup of just pure length, physicality. And I I love the fact that they have a Cade, Assar, Tobias, Duran, Stew, like they just have so they can they can run laps where no one on the floor is really like pickonable for a lack of a better word. Like you just can’t pick on them. So I I think that was huge. But I I do want to give a ton of credit to JB. I mean JB got the whatever the most defensively you could could have gotten out of Malik Beasley, THJ, like guys who are not good defenders, he got the absolute most out of him. Whatever the most was, that’s what JB got. I think that contributed a lot to their defensive success, too. Yeah. I mean, coaching, just having experienced it now firsthand at a much much smaller scale, but like I’ve seen firsthand how much coaching means to defense. Like we last year, my team not very good, but we have the second best defense in our conference because my coach was just super creative with his schemes. Um, he really put an emphasis on it. You couldn’t play if you didn’t defend, right? And I think that same thing with AB. And then plus just like everybody loved each other and that buyin is just defense is so much about effort, trust, communication and all those things are just amplified when you’re playing with a you know group of guys you you like to work with. The one thing I will say about their defense in the first half of the season, I don’t have the numbers pulled up but I do remember they started out what like 0 and4 this year. They started out kind of slow and I remember looking they had like the unluckiest opponent three-point shooting in the league at that point, right? And so like I think that played a part in the slow defensive start and then that finally started to regulate and obviously you saw their defense um amplify. I don’t think that they were the sixth best defense in the league last year. I would say they’re probably like the 10th, right? When you like even out the two sides of like being really bad and like really really excellent. So I would say somewhere in the middle of that they were that’s still like much better than either you or I could have predicted, right? No, definitely. I I don’t I I looked at this roster before the year. I was like, I don’t know how they’re going to be good defensively. And then January rolled around. I was like, “Oh, okay. Well, I guess I was wrong.” And now I I’m can’t wait. They got even more size coming into this year, which we’re going to talk about coming up. How does Matt think about this off seasonason? There’s been a lot of There’s some Pistons fans that feel like they didn’t do enough. Some Pistons fans that think they did do enough, some are just like bland. Well, this is all right. This is is what it is. When we come back, I want to get Matt thought if the Pistons did enough this offseason. Stay tuned. Coming up, today’s episode is brought to you guys by Game Time. I’ve told you guys many of times before, I’m a procrastinator. I wait till the last second with everything, and oftent times it screws me over. But with Game Time, it absolutely saves me. We’ve all been there, logging on early, waiting forever for concert tickets to go on sale only to lose your spot for a show you’ve been dying to see. Live music should be about making memories and not dealing with the stress of ticket shopping. And that’s also where game time comes in. instead of having to I mean even if you don’t want to wait until the last second they obviously got you with great tickets beforehand but if you’re someone like me who waits at the last second oftentimes everyone else you get bad ticket prices you get bad seats with game time they have last minute deals even sometimes after the event has already started and another thing I love about game time is that you get to view from your seat right within the app no longer you get your tickets show up find out then if you like the seats you’ll know right there before you purchase whether these seats are the best for you if I’m buying tickets for anything sporting event, concert, whatever. I’m going through game time. Take the guesswork out of buying concert and show tickets with Game Time. Download Game Time app. Create an account and use code locked in NBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply again. Create an account, redeem code LO CED D O NA for $20 off your first purchase. Download the Game Time app today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed with Game Time. So, I want to thank you guys again. and make lockdown pistons your first listen every single day. We are free to develop on all your podcast platforms. If you haven’t already, head to the YouTube channel @ 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. Go to the description down below for the substack, the playback, and the Twitch channel. We’ve been streaming a lot of college football over there lately. We’ve had a few of you guys come over and hang out. If you guys want to see me just play some video games in the morning, I’ve been doing that a lot recently. So, if you want to check that out, you can. I have some summer league stuff coming up on the substack. Again, like I told you guys recently, haven’t been able to find anywhere that clips the summer league and my PC won’t let me do it without blacking it out. So, we’re going to have to try to find a different way to cover the summer league, but I have something coming for you guys definitely about Ron Holland as well. But, let’s go ahead and get into the offseason, Matt. So, heading into this offseason, the Pistons, obviously, they’re coming off a playoff appearance that yes, they lost in the first round, but them simply getting there and ending the playoff win drought was amazing. them pushing the Knicks to six was amazing coming just really one shot away from going into a game seven at Madison Square Garden. It was it was a great season and they’re going into the offseason with a ton of momentum, a ton of optimism and some people wanted the Pistons to make a big move. This is the year. This is the offseason. You swing for the fences. You go out in a weak Eastern Conference and you try to take the East away. Especially, no one wants to see anyone get hurt. But especially when Tatum goes down and Halley goes down, it’s like, okay, well, if those guys are out, what’s going on in the East? Like, if the East, like, how open really is it? I think you’ve seen some other teams in the East obviously try to capitalize on that. Like, okay, this is an open East. We maybe could take advantage. Some people wanted the Pistons to do that. Now, we’re sitting here July 18th and the Pistons really didn’t do much. They lost Malik Beasley due to the whole gambling investigation. Dan Shruder went to the Kings. They lost him, but they replaced them with Duncan Robinson and Caris Levert. And that’s really where their offseason ends. It’s been a lot of conversation in the Pistons community. Do you like it? Do you dislike it? There’s a bit of a civil war going on with it. Where do you stand with the Pistons offseason? Do you think it was enough or do you think they should have done more? Yeah. Well, I think the first thing is like, okay, like you know, you look at Beasley and Schroeder, those were two of your five best players in that series against the Knicks, right? And you’re like, man, like we’re losing those guys. And like, especially if you’re a Pistons fan, right? And you don’t watch the other 29 teams. So, you look at Caris Levert, you’re like, his reputation, like he’s fine, whatever. Duncan Robinson, oh, he went to Michigan, shooter, blah, blah, blah. Carce also went to Michigan, which is funny. But I would say, so think about it like in fantasy football terms, right? Say you’re in a dynasty league, okay? And you’re trying to trade for this guy who’s at the peak of his value. Like you’re going to have to fork over like a pretty penny, right? And that’s kind of like what I see with Schroeder and Beasley. Like they were at the peak of their value coming into this off seasonason where Beasley’s coming off his career year. He shoots the ball better than he ever has. Has one of the greatest shooting seasons in NBA history. Surely the greatest shooting season of any six-man we’ve ever seen, right? And like shooting is very very volatile. What I mean by that, it changes a lot from year to year, right? Great shooters can go from 45% to 31% to 37% to 39%. It’s not like every year you’re pencled in for being a 40% three-point shooter. So, there’s a chance that Beasley could have a drastic fall off next year because some so much of his value is derived from hitting threes, right? So, if he’s not hitting those shots anymore, that change that changes the math. It’s not like he’s getting any worse as a player. Shots just not falling sometimes, right? And so, they were going to have to pay Beasley a ton more than I think his value is. And with Schroeder, I’ve never been super super high on Schroeder. I was I wrote an article before the postseason started that I think they should have played Marcus Sasser more than Schroeder. But that’s just that’s my prerogative, right? Schroeder shut me up. But here’s the thing that Schroeder did in that Knicks series. He shot the ball better than he ever has, right? So his value is skyrocketing. You can’t you can’t trust Schroer to be a 40% three-point shooter. We’ve seen this movie before. And then on defense, he has literally the perfect matchup for his his skills, right? He’s quick enough to guard Brunson. He’s disciplined enough not to fall for all the tricks that Assar was falling for early on in the series. And he’s not Brunson’s not tall enough to make him pay for his size problem, right? So, you have these two guys who are probably valued now by the league higher than they should be, right? If they were coming off a regular season or like a below average season by their standards, right? And you sub them out for two guys who the league is devalued a little bit, right? Whereas like to me, like the way I see it, Carris Levert’s just taller Dennis Schroeder, right? He’s a good on ball defender. He’s improved a lot over the years. You know, anybody’s been watching the Cavaliers will tell you that he’s a good on ball defender. He is like that bucket getter, shaky shooter, right? Can get you a bucket, solid passer, right? Can can be that creator for you off the second unit. And he’s just bigger than Schroeder. So, you know, size is very important in basketball, right? How much better of a basketball player would you be if you were four inches taller? I mean, let’s not get into that. We’ll start getting into some heartbreaks, okay? But um so you have that and then to me Duncan Robinson has had that I’m going to call it latent value right that value that comes with being this incredible shooter that Beasley was bringing last year creating open shots right just by being in an action not even touching the ball necessarily because people were so worried about his shooting. Duncan Robinson’s had their reputation for years. And Duncan Robinson has very quietly in Miami been improving his on ball game to become a better passer, a better driver, right? So to me, you’re getting an upgrade there in terms of like you got a better shooter, a better kind of version of this player archetype, this offball player creator. Now on defense, I don’t think he’s as good of a defender as Beasley. Um, I think Eric Spolstra, even with how creative he is as a coach with his defenses and all the crazy zones he’d run, he couldn’t even hide Duncan Robinson like fully, you know, like he was still limited. He’s still a bench player, but to me, I think you get out of paying two guys higher than you probably should. Like I don’t think Schrover is a $14 million per year player. Like for me, he’s like a $10 million player, you know? And I know it’s $4 million, but $4 million is a lot of money, you know? Um, so I think you get two guys a little bit below their market value and get rid of two guys that were getting rated a little bit above their market value. All right. So I want you to try to convince me on this because I agree with you completely on Duncan Robinson. I think you can make a strong argument that Duncan Rouse is just better than Malik and Malik had just like you mentioned just a I don’t want to say outlier because he is a shooter but he had like I mean an outlier historical shooting season like was he going to come back and shoot 300 made threes and do something only Steph and Clay have ever like is like was he going to do that? Probably not. Um and then before this past year Duncan like you mentioned he’s just he’s better better playmaker. He’s a better driver. He moves better without the ball when he gets top locked and denied. Malik would oftentimes kind of just stand around and try to still get around for the DHO. Duncan comes off getting top locked or denied. He’s immediately back door cutting, circling around to the other court and running a DHO on the other side. Like he’s he’s constantly moving and opening up stuff within your offense because of his movement. Go ahead. Duncan’s also a little taller. Back to the size thing. He’s got a couple inches on him. It’s not meaningful, but I’m just I just wanted to add that. No, for sure. No, I think it I think it is meaningful being bigger than Malik. They’ve they’re trying to add size. So, I buy them the Duncan part. I have been I was very like I I will say outspoken that I did not like the Caris Levert sign. I saw it. I saw it. Don’t worry, man. I was not I was not happy about the Caris Levert sign. So, I’ll give you a brief reason why and I want you to try to convince me why I should not believe this. The first seven years of his career, he was one of the most inefficient scorers in the league. He was around 51 52 true shooting percentage. Now, this past year, he did jump. He jumped to around 58 59 true shooting percentage. started taking better shots this past year. I think his three-point rate jumped by like five, six%. Started taking more threes. He did get better as an on ball defender throughout his career. I I haven’t watched enough of him to say that he’s been this great defender, but I’ll trust the people who say he’s gotten better in that regard. Convince me why I should believe in I’ll buy I’ll buy the the size, the length, and his improvement on defense. I’ll buy all that. Why should I believe that? because he is like he’s known as a bucket getter but for the vast majority of his career he just he hasn’t been an efficient bucket getter. Convince me on why I should believe that this past year is who he really is now and it’s not just an outlier year like Beasley when it comes to the 300 threes. Convince me why I should think that he’s this efficient scorer now, not the guy he was the first seven years of his career. Okay, so first of all, you have to like compare. Okay, so in isolation, yes. Like I mean Caris Lever’s not like one of my top 100 players in the league, but you have to think about it in the situation, right? So like what do you what did you lose by getting Caris Lever? Like what do you think was better out there for us? Better as in to to replace Rutder. Yeah. That we could have realistically had. There’s a few like the few of the point guards that were out. I mean, the thing I would say a few of the veteran point guards, maybe like a Taius, some someone like that. Well, Tyus, first of all, Tyus has a history of not being playable in the playoffs because he’s too small. There’s that. Tyus is a pretty, you know, he’s a floor general guy, right? And you don’t really need a floor general. You have Kate Cunningham. And it’s funny you mentioned the the thing about Caris being inefficient score for his career. For his career, 53.3% true shooting. No bueno. Not good. I would not be happy with that on my team. What is Dennis Schroeders? You want to take a guess? No, this is fair. This is a fair point because I believe Shruder before the playoffs this past I believe he was at like 51 52 shooting with the Pistons. So So like I said, Caris River Caris Levert, excuse me, career 53.3% true shooting. Dennis Schroeder career 53.1% true shooting. Like it’s like it’s it’s not that different. And then you just get a little bit more size, you know? It’s the same type of player. Like do I like So Tus Jones, give me some more. Let’s let’s talk through this. Okay. Uh I don’t think Tus Jones is better than Caris Liver in my opinion. You okay? I mean, Tyus’s defense is fair enough because his defense is I think this is a negative, a clear negative. And then offensively, I mean, he’s not like he’s a good shooter, but is he really would you really call him a spacer per se? And then like I think this is the turnover thing is very overstated. Like it’s just because like so there’s like this whole thing, right? They call it like the the Jason Kid Stfan Mberry corlary, right? where it’s like Ste Stfan Malberry had like had this incredible like assist to turnover ratio right on the Nets the year before Kid got there but their offense was and then Kid comes and and he’s turning the ball over a lot more but their offense gets much better and it’s because Kidd is making passes that break the defense. He’s taking risky passes. He’s not always making that simple, you know, one pass away pass, right? The right guy next to him right there, like boom, you know, like he’s trying to break the defense, get layups, get open threes. And I think that’s the Test Test Jones like Stefan Malberry to me. He’s just like he makes a lot of smart passes, does, you know, doesn’t turn the ball over because he doesn’t make too many gambles. So that’s just that’s just my read on him as a player, you know. Nothing against the guy. I can’t hear you. Coup. Oops. My fault everybody. I have my mic muted. That’s my fault. Um, what I was saying was going Yeah, it would have been tough. It would have been a bunch of dead air. But, uh, we’re going to get to the ad break. When we come back, I’ll give you more point guards and we’ll continue we’ll continue the discussion about the offseason and then we’ll transition. We’ll spend more time. We’ll have like 15 minutes to talk about it in the last segment about the rest of this offseason talk and then u what you think about them moving into the future, what they need to do, where they stand up in the east going into this season. But that’s coming up. Stay tuned. Today’s episode is brought to you guys by Open Phone. If you’re running a business, you know that every mis call is money left on the table. Think about the last time you had an urgent need, maybe for a plumber or a service provider. If the first person didn’t answer, did you wait for them to respond? Probably not. We moved on to the next person and that’s why you need open phone. Open Phone is the number one business phone system built to streamline and scale your customer communications all from an app on your phone or computer. The shared inbox feature is a game changer. Your team can jump into any conversation instantly without missing a beat. And their AI agent handles the afterhour calls, answers common questions, and captures leads so you never miss a single customer. Open Phone’s offering my listeners 20% off your first six months at openphone.com/locktonba. That’s op pho n.comlacttonmbba. And if you’re fir if you’re existing if you have existing numbers, excuse me, with another service, open phone will port them over at no extra charge. That’s with open phone. No missed calls, no missed customers with open phone. So I want to thank you guys again. Make locked on pistons your first listen of every single day. Free and available on all your podcast platforms. Hit that subscribe button to YouTube channel. Leave us a fivestar review. whatever podcast platform you’re listening to this on, you guys get all of that. You guys know it. Description down below, all that good stuff. All right, let’s get back into our conversation about the offseason compare and and talking about Caris Levert. And then we’ll move into I do want to make sure we spend at least 10 minutes or so on the future and getting your thoughts on that. So, I this would what I would say in regards to uh to to to Caris. I will I will buy especially for the money. I do agree with you. Shooter got very much overpaid and he’s not I appreciate everything he did, but I wouldn’t have paid him that much either. And I also will buy that he’s just a bigger, better version of Dennis. I’ll buy that. Um, so I brought up Taius. I thought Tyus would have been fine. Um, the the thing is with these point guards, the other one I would have been fine with, he still isn’t signed, I don’t believe, because he has injury concerns, which is a big no no with uh uh, Traan, but Braggen, the other thing I would have brought up is this. Instead of getting a point guard, it sounds like the Pistons want to give a lot of those reps to Jane Ivy. They’ve said it a few times. So, if that was the route, because Levert can play on ball some and he’s, you know, that’s where he really is used as on ball, but it sounds like they want to give a lot of those reps to Ivy. If that was the case, I would have been fine getting someone who was a more, if you want to give the backup point guard minutes to to Ivy, I would have went out and got an offball scorer type at next to Ivy off the bench and just got someone who could score the ball more efficiently. Like for example, they were rumored to be interested and I reported and heard that they were interest or not interested but there was talks of a potential Malik Monk trade and that kind of fell through because they already had LeVvert. So like would I have rather had Ivy and then Monk playing off of that or Ivy and Levert? Like I’m I’m assuming they’re going to lead the bench unit even though Ivy will start. I would rather have Monk. I think Monk’s better. I would rather have him with Ivy. But I will I will concede that he’s definitely better than Shooter. My my concern is just he is more efficient than Shooter, but that but Shooter is also like not efficient himself. I just question neither one’s a great option. I I won’t say that if I’m building a team, but again, you have to deal with what’s available. And my question to you, because I I’m not tapped into that situation. Um because I would also prefer Malik Monk like in in the isolation whatever like the two players. I think Malik Monk’s just a significantly better basketball player and I do like his fit with the Pistons, but like was he like like how much would they have to have given up? You know what I mean? Like was he really available to them? So from what I understand is what was going to h what they were trying to make happen. The Kings wanted to reroute Monk or not reroute but to send Monk to the Pistons in the Dennis Shooter signing trade to create that cap flexibility to get that MLE and open that up and and through some kind of cat poops be able to maybe go after Russell Westbrook that they were rumored to go after. They wanted to get from they wanted Russ and Shruder for a minute there. Just Yeah, that’s it. Man, that’s that team is something else. Keep going. I didn’t understand that. And then they also wanted to go out to Kaminga, but they wanted to create this. They wanted to get off of Monk’s contract so they could get Kaminga and still be able to do other things. My understanding was the Pistons just didn’t want the extra year that Malik Monk had. They want to keep the next two years flexible and he has a three-year deal. So the fact that he had a third year on the contract, the Pistons backed out of it because they didn’t really want the long-term salary. So that’s what from what I was told is what ended the conversations basically from that. Well, I’ll say this with the new trend that’s going on with So Malik’s a combo guard, right? Malik Monk is what you call a combo guard. And we’ve seen this off season that like the NBA doesn’t really value combo guards like that anymore. Malik Monk is signed to a long-term deal. Like for example, Norman Powell, he’d get him for nothing, right? He’s on this expiring deal. Um what was the other name? I said Colin. Yeah. And I don’t think he got a second. I think he was attached a second. And then like um everybody said like Drew Holiday is like this negative contract now, right? The Celtics got Anthony Simons back for him, right? They didn’t have to give up any picks. Like that’s like that’s what tells you like the that that’ll tell you what the league thinks of these players now. So I understand what they’re saying. I think Monk’s on a better contract than most of those guys because he’s only in that like high teens, not like the low 20s, high 20s. But I mean again, I would like to have Monk over Levert, but I don’t think it’s like devastating. Like the way I look at it is like yes, I agree with you. It’s it’s not I don’t think that move’s as great as the Duncan Robinson move, which by the way, I don’t also love 100% because I think they overpaid him a little bit. Um or at least I thought he would take less because he was getting that buyout money from Miami. But in like if you look at it just from like Schroeder Levert like I think it’s just an upgrade. So I’m happy with it. The move that really I know we got to get to the the future in a second but the move that I actually like disliked the most was the Paul Reed resigning. I’m like why are you not paying a vet minimum for your third string center? That was just the one thing and maybe it’s because they they plan on trading him at some point in the season. Like I don’t know what the long-term vision is, but that one was kind of like you guys save like $2 million a year here, but I guess I don’t know. I’m not going to count the guy’s dollar. He’s a very very nice guy, by the way. No. Yeah, Paul Reed is a very as you know. No. Yeah, he’s he’s a dope dude. Um but yeah, I I I arrived at the same place you arrived at. I like I think that this season at the very this offseason at the very least you stayed the same. You can make an argument that they upgraded. Like I but there’s some out there that wanted this big swing and Tan said said over and over that big swing wasn’t coming. I like the Duncan Robinson move. I can be talked into the Levert move even though I’m not huge into it. But at the it’s not like I don’t think they got worse. Like Levert isn’t worse than Shruder. Uh and I think Duncan probably is better than Malik. So I think the offseason I gave them a C++. I thought they passed. I thought they did fine. Especially with the uh Malik news happening last minute right before free agency. They had to pivot quickly. I thought they did fine with it. Um, is there anything else you want to say about the offseason before we move into the future? No, I’m I’m good there. All right, so let’s hit the future now. So, obviously there’s been a lot of talk about what should be expected from the Pistons next year. Should they sign Ivy and Duran to these extensions? Is this the core to build around? Is this these four guys or really five guys maybe with Kade Assara, Ron, Ivy, Dur? Is that is that your core? Are you going to maybe trade one of them at the deadline? Are you expecting to take another step this year? This there’s so much talk about what the Pistons future is going to look like. Where do you stand with this team moving into the 2526 season in this Eastern Conference with some of the uncertainty around the extensions for Ivy Duran? Just where are you at with this team right now? It’s tough. So, I mean, this is the hardest part right here. This is way harder than I’m glad you said last year. Because I’m I’m glad you said that because fans, I’ve said this throughout the whole season last year, like especially in the playoffs, this is the best part because there’s no expectations. You don’t have to make any crazy decisions, no heartbreaking decisions. Like you’re not like you just enjoy this. But this is I’m glad you said it. This is 100% the part that either takes you to the next step or you make a mistake and you fall backwards three steps. Like this is when stuff gets tough. What’s that? I think it’s Spider-Man, right? They they where he says like, you know, they they build you up so they can tear you down. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And no, so this is like honestly like I would argue that what the the year the Pistons had last year would is more is going to end up being more joyous than if they win a title with this crew because if you win a title, right, unless they do it next year, which is different because then they don’t have any scrutiny, but it’s probably you’re going to have your trial and error, right? You’re going to have some scrutiny. There’s going to be questions. Is Kate Cunningham a closer? Is he a killer? or his ex person this that that you know there’s going to be the scrutiny and there’s going to be they’re going to have a three-game losing streak or something when they’re a one seed in the Eastern Conference and people are going to be like oh did everybody figure the Pistons out there’s going to be all this drama around it last year it’s like no matter what happened like people were just happy you know they lose the last two games to the Buck the end of the Bucks the end of the regular season and lose the fifth seed whatever like I mean we’re the six seed like you know we don’t have to play a playing game you know they lose to the Knicks in dramatic fashion but it’s like beat the Knicks twice went to the Eastern Conference Finals they were two wins away from being in the NBA finals Right. So, there’s that. I I compare them a lot. We were just talking about to that Sacramento Kings team from uh the light the beam team, right? From what is it 2022, 2023, I think, where it’s like, you know, they had this fun run. They were the third seed in West and, you know, they took the Warriors to seven and then they haven’t been to the playoffs since. It’s so hard to go from, you know, bad to good than it is good to great. And when I look at this team, I’m like, okay, what are what would need to happen, right? They brought they have they still have those veteran they have the adults in the room still right they have different adults but they still have adults in the room with uh Tobias Duncan and Lever but so how much what’s K what’s Cade’s next level? Does he have a next level? You know what I mean? Like to me right now I know I know you’re a little higher on than me. I know most business friends are higher than me. I think he’s like a he’s like between 20 and 25 like in terms of players in the league. To me top 20 he’s like top 25 maybe pushing top 15. I don’t think he’s in the top top 15, right? Can he get into that conversation? Can he be like a 12? Can he take like the Jaylen Brunson leap? Like go from being an all-star to a fringe top 10 player. Does he have that? Does he have that gear? What would that take? Probably got to be a better finisher around the rim. Um, probably a better shooter, right? Can he do that? That’s a question that’s going to have to happen for sure. And then like which other young guys want to emerge? I saw a lot I saw a lot from Jaylen Duran in that playoff series. I was not a huge Jaylen Duran guy before that playoff series, but I saw the vision. He was rim running. He was making passes out the short roll, great rim protection. They didn’t miss Isaiah Stewart on defense, which was crazy because he was like the glue of that defense. You know, I’m surprised we haven’t even mentioned him yet, but he was really the catalyst of that defense outside of Assar Thompson. Like his plus minus on the defensive side of ball was incredible. It was. Yeah. Does Jaylen Duran want to step up? Is Jaden Ivy going to take a leap? Um, Assar Thompson, Ron Holland, they’re both tricky players to build around because their floor is so high, right? They’re both like already like rotation level NBA players. Assar is already like a starting caliber lover player in this league because just because their defense, their effort, their athleticism, but can they do the things on offense? Can they make the leap they need to make? And this is such a hard leap to make. You know, so many guys get drafted like Ron Holland or like, man, if this guy could figure out the shot, like, he’d be a freak. But it’s hard. It’s hard to learn how to shoot in the NBA. It is super hard. That is not an easy thing to do. So those are big questions. So I think it really just the the Kings the problem with the Kings is they didn’t and the Bulls too the year before that, right? The Bulls with Demar and Zack and Caruso and Lonzo. They didn’t have any young guys really like to I mean you know Kings had Keegan Murray but other than that that’s that’s a big burden to put on Keegan Murray, right? You’re putting the weight of the world. Like Keegan Murray’s gotten a lot better over the years. That’s a different conversation for a different day. But the Pistons have young guys now. We just named what, five young guys. Put six in there with Sasser, right? I’m still I’m still got my Sasser stock. Um, can can like two or three of those guys take a meaningful leap? Not just like the le not because every year you’re going to get better. You know, when you’re a young player, you’re gonna get a little bit better. You’re gonna be a little bit better of a passer. You’re gonna be a little bit better of a team defender, a little bit better of a communicator. But is it a meaningful lead? Right? Can Cade go from top 25 to top 15 to top 10? Can Duran go from, you know, solid starting center to like a Vita Zubach level? Can he get to that level? Very, very good center, right? Can Assar turn into like our version of Aaron Gordon on offense where he’s in the dunker spot. He’s aggressive driving, you know, he’s he’s scoring at a higher volume. Um maybe can hit some corner threes more often, right? Can he do that? Can Jaden Ivy be more consistent, more efficient, more um aware off ball on defense? So, it’s really that’s really the big question here. And I think the Pistons are better suited than those surprise teams of the past to take that next league because they still have young guys. But I don’t think any I don’t look at any of their young guys. I’m being completely honest. I watch all 30 teams. None of their young guys really like other than Kade. I think Kate’s phenomenal, but like the other guys we talked about, I don’t see like a surefire like this guy’s going to take the jump. Like there’s question marks, you know. All right, so with that, we’re getting towards the end of the podcast. I do want to get this from you. Would you, if you were the Pistons, do you feel comfortable extending either Duran or Ivy at this point in the offseason? Would you do it or would you rock it out? What’s the number I’m extending them on? If they’re under 25, I think the Pistons would do it. But I don’t see Duran or Ivy wanting under 25. I I don’t think either of them would. I I know for a fact I won’t say which one, but I’ve been told one of them would not take less than that. So won’t say which one but okay let’s let’s just say both of them around 25 plus uh I don’t know like four years 110 something like like four year four 110 something like that so at their current state I want to say okay I for sure I want to say this Rick look I think I’d be more comfortable extending Duran I’ve seen more from him I mean it’s just it’s given I’ve seen him in the playoffs which is already more than I’ve seen from Ivy Right. So, I feel more comfortable with Duran. I don’t feel super comfortable extending either of them yet because because not because I don’t think they’re good players, but because like the type of player they are is very easy to find on the open market right now. You know, Duran, he’s just like a rim running, rim protecting big. He hasn’t really taken that next step to where it’s like I’m the best at this. You know what I mean? Like, I’m one of the best at this, right? Like, like I just said, I beat a Zubot, right? He’s he’s incredible at what he does. It’s it’s the skill set like in isolation is very easy to find, but like can you like become the best at? Can you become like Jared Allen where like anytime they try to switch a small on you, oh, I have my left hook, here’s my right hook, like here’s my, you know, jump, stop, finish, right, whatever. Just becoming like just the best version of that. So, he hasn’t done that yet. And then we just talked about with the combo guards and that’s all Ivy is right now. That’s all he’s proven to us. He is is like a spark plug combo guard. You know what I mean? So, is he more than that? If not, like I’d kind of be like, “Sorry, dude. this is what I’m giving you. Like I can I can go get a Malik Monk, you know, and replace you. Like I don’t like these are good human beings again. I don’t mean to talk about them like they’re pieces on a chess board, but this is how business is done in this league. Um so no, I don’t feel super comfortable extending either one of them yet, but I would if I had to pick one, it’d be Darren. All right. I agree with you. I wouldn’t extend either right now. I don’t I’m not confident in it. Last question, then we’ll wrap it up. Do you think this season because a lot of fans feel like and I think they’re probably right in feeling this way that while no move big move was made during the offseason that it depending on the results that you get from some of the young guys they there may be whether it’s a big move or just making a decision about where you’re going future you might see some changes made the deadline. Do you think that’s probably going to happen or do you think you do you still think the Pistons will be quiet throughout the season? I’m not sure. I wonder I’m curious how much their monitor because I think the best best best player for this team right now and how Cade likes to play basketball. They could get Deon Booker. I would really like that. And I I don’t think I wonder how much Devin Booker is going to hang around in Phoenix because I I have no reporting on this, but it’s like you kind of look at how that place is being run and it’s like them and the Kings are just taking turns doing the dumbest I’ve ever seen, right? So it’s like now I will say like the Suns do have like some semblance of a roster. I mean right now like they actually have like a three and D guy and Dylan Brooks. They have a center. They kind of have like a basketball team which is more than I can say about the Kings which is basically like are you guys going to play like four guard lineups next year? Like what’s going on with that? But um so I wonder if the Pistons are standing pat trying to build up their assets, let time go by so more draft picks become tradable so they can make that swing at Devin Booker when the time comes. So, you want to keep an Ivy in that situation because he’d be good matching salary, you know what I mean? But, um, yeah, I I don’t know. I don’t I I have to see what they do in the first half of the season. If this team’s like pushing like they’re a top three team in the East, they’re feeling good. Kade’s looking like an AllNBA, like a real legit, like nobody’s hurt, AllNBA player, right? Um, I could see them making a move, but again, it there’s so much uncertainty with this team just because of how the roster is constructed where it’s like you have this even blend of young guys and veterans and I, you know, it’s it’s a fun team. It’s going to be an exciting year for sure. All right, last thing quickly. Where do you predict they finish in the East? In the East. Let me Can I Can I do this out loud? Like my thinking out loud. Go ahead. Okay. Okay. Cavs are probably the best team in the East to me right now. I think the Knicks aren’t too far behind. Um, Magic are really good this year. So, those are three teams I think that are probably better than the Pistons. I think the Knicks and uh maybe I guess I can’t say the Knicks are for sure better than the Pistons. Pistons just took them to six, but um we’ll go okay for for sure for sure Cleveland and then I’d probably say Knicks Magic. I don’t I think the Bucks might be a regular season juggernaut. I just kind of have this weird feeling about them. I love Ryan Rollins, Dakota native, right? Yeah, I was about to say. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. But uh I mean is there anyone clearly better than the Let me I know I’m taking a lot of time. We’re getting over the 40 minute. Let me get the Eastern Conference up in my favor. Eastern Conference standings. I’m going to guess that you end up at six seed that they stay six. That’s okay. That’s That was my initial reaction. Okay. I don’t I think they could They’re probably better than the Celtics even with Brown and White. They they don’t even have a center right now. So yeah, they’re better than the Celtics. The Heat Heat are scary. I don’t know what to make of the 76ers. Hm. I’d say fifth. I’ll give him fifth. I would say one of one of the Heat. The Heat. Um Oh, the Hawks. I forgot about the Hawks. The Hawks are better. Okay, I’m going to go six. Yeah, I’m with you on six. Okay, I’m going with So, I’ll say for sure my prediction would be that those three teams I mentioned in the beginning, the Hawks will be better than those four. And then I think one of the Heat, the 76ers, or what was the other team I had out? The Heat 76ers or Bucks. One of those three teams will be better than them, too. All right, fair enough. We’ll wrap it up. I wouldn’t be mad at Succeed. I wouldn’t be mad at Succeed. Well, I I’m interested to see what fans would feel like if they came back as the six seed again. I just want I I would be interested to see what what the I feel like a lot of the expectations are. We want a playoff win. I don’t know if that’s coming or playoff series I should say, but we’ll wrap it up there. Appreciate you, Matt. Let everybody know where they can find you and your work real quick before we get up out of here. Yeah. And um just Matt Issa 15 on Twitter. Matisa 15. And I actually started a Tik Tok. I’m doing Tik Tok videos. So, isa hoops issa. Hoops. So, it’s hoops. I’m sure you guys know how to spell that if you’re basketball fans, but um yeah. All right. Appreciate you coming on. I appreciate all of you guys. making Lockdown Pistons your first listen of every single day. If you’re a on your podcast platforms, hit that subscribe button to the YouTube channel. Leave us a fivestar review, whatever podcast platform you’re listening to us on. And until next time, I’ll see you guys later. Stay safe out there. Until next time, peace out everybody.

Pistons’ Defensive Resurgence: From Underdogs to Eastern Conference Contenders?

The Detroit Pistons stunned the NBA with their top-six defense after January 1st. Matt Issa breaks down their impressive turnaround, highlighting the team’s physical play and strategic “subtle bumps” that compensated for a lack of lateral quickness. The discussion covers Ausar Thompson’s impact, offseason acquisitions like Duncan Robinson and Caris LeVert, and the development of young stars Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren, and Jaden Ivey.

Key topics include the Pistons’ path from surprise team to potential contenders, player extension decisions, and a bold prediction for their Eastern Conference standing. Matt analyzes the competitive landscape, comparing Detroit’s prospects to rising teams like the Cavaliers, Knicks, and Magic.

Discover why Matt believes the Pistons could secure the 6th seed in the East and hear his insights on the team’s evolving strategy.

SUBSTACK: kukhahil.substack.com

PLAYBACK: playback.tv/watchpistons

TWITCH: twitch.tv/kukhahil7

Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!

OpenPhone

Streamline and scale your customer communications with OpenPhone. Get 20% off your first 6 months at www.openphone.com/lockedonnba

Hungryroot

With Hungryroot, it’s like having a personal shopper and a nutritionist all in one. For a limited time, get 40% off your first box and a free item in every box for life! Just go to Hungryroot.com/lockedonnba and use code LOCKEDONNBA.

Monarch Money

Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNBA at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnba for 50% off your first year

Gametime

Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.

FanDuel

Right now, new customers can get ONE HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.

FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOPistons?sid=YouTube

Locked On NBA League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, WNBA & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNBA

#DetroitPistons #Pistons #NBA