Detroit Pistons’ Young Core is SPECIAL! Brett Usher Joins To Discuss Why Detroit’s Core is NEXT UP!

Detroit Pistons’ Young Core is SPECIAL! Brett Usher Joins To Discuss Why Detroit’s Core is NEXT UP!

In today’s episode of Locked on Pistons podcast, we are joined by Brett Usher to talk about the Detroit Pistons promising young core and the expectations for this coming season. 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 Onet. Your team every day. What’s the deal? Welcome back to another episode of the Lockdown Pistons podcast. Per usual, I am your host, Cuckerhill. You can find me over on Twitter, Cucker Hill. I want to thank all of you guys who make Lockdown Pistons your first listen every single day. We are free on all your podcast platforms. I’ve been covering the Detroit Pistons for the Lockdown Network over the last four years, been a credential media member over the last three years. I appreciate all of your support, all the everydayers, the first listeners. I appreciate all of you guys. And today’s episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code lockdown NBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. Today’s episode’s going to be a very fun one. We have a special guest, Brett Usher. You can find him over on Twitter, usher NBA. If you are active at all within NBA Twitter, you will know that Brett is I I absolutely love following Brett because he is the most optimistic and keeps the the the point of the NBA, the point of basketball at the forefront, and that is to enjoy basketball. You’re supposed to like watching basketball. And I very much love that that’s just the whole point of Brett County puts out cool highlights of specific details. I remember you put one out of just uh Kate Cunningham hook shots and it was just like a threeminute compilation of just Kade hook shots. So I appreciate you coming on the podcast man. How you doing today? What up though? It’s it’s good to be here my man. Definitely uh definitely been looking forward to this one. Um you know the Pistons are are one of the teams I I paid most attention to last season. They were just so fun to follow and see the growth and see the leap over the season before. So um yeah, man. and I’m I’m ready to talk about them for sure. All right, let’s go ahead and get into it. So, this past year obviously was a surprising season for everybody. They made one of the biggest jumps we’ve ever seen a team make uh in the NBA, especially from the bottom of the league all the way to, you know, to playoff uh without having to go into the playin. Does the six seed um about I believe a 30 20 something win uh improvement. Crazy jump. And a large part of it was due to the improvement of the young guys. Kade got better. Assar came in and got better. Jaylen Durren got better. Ivy looked better when he was playing than unfortunately went down with injury. Just the young core looks a lot more promising. I feel like a lot of people were high on him before this year, but then after that crazy of a season, it was a little bit of pessimism around it was like, okay, is this the young core? Maybe we were too high and then they kind of proved everybody right a little bit this past year. I just want to talk about the young core to start off. Where are you at with the young core of the P? I didn’t even mention Ryan Holland. Just where are you at with the young players that the Pistons are building around right now? I’m high on them, man. I’m real high on them. I mean, I think, you know, the biggest jump we saw last year was was from Cade. Um, but they’ve got a couple guys, I’d say three guys that could have breakouts this coming season, I would say, in in Duran, Assar, and and Ron Holland, maybe to a lesser extent. Um but but a breakout, you know, relative to kind of where he was last season. Um and I think, you know, their success this season is largely going to hinge on how much those guys can improve. Um I mean, I think during second half of the season got a lot better. I if I recall correctly, he even said something like kind of called himself out um essentially like he could be better and then he was. Um the defensive effort went to another level. We saw some of his passing ability, especially in that first round series against New York, uh, namely out of the short role. That was exciting to see. I think that’s an area that we could see further growth in next season. Assar had no off season. He missed, I think, the last uh 20 games of his rookie season, then had no offseason, missed, you know, 20 or so to start this past season, and then took a little bit longer to kind of get integrated. So he could really he’s the one where we we could see like you know most improved conversations around him. I think he’s got that type of leap in him when you kind of consider his his circumstances and just and just all the potential that’s largely untapped. So I’m I’m particularly excited about Assar. Um and then but yeah, I mean this past season it was it was really the K leap. Um, if we’re talking about, you know, in in that context, what really propelled them to that, I think what 32 win improvement, which is just absolutely insane. I mean, you mentioned the jump hooks, the video that I put together, and and that was one thing with with his improvement that I really liked. Like, he replaced a lot of those mid-range jumpers with those jump hooks in the post. Um, and I think that was big. That’s a high percentage shot for him. And uh you know, you can look at the I think he tripled his volume in hook shots and and reduced his his mid-range volume pretty significantly as well while also uh incorporating the pull up three into his offensive repertoire, which was something that people had kind of been like, you know, this is something we want to see him be able to do. And I think he shot like 35% on him. And and that I think that was that was another kind of game changer for him. So just kind of changing his shot diet. um learning sort of how to optimize himself as a player. Um but yeah, man, he was, you know, he’s a superstar in my book after after that season. Legit, you know, superstar, up top, whatever you want to say player, but he’s he’s up there. Yeah. So, let’s stay on Kate a little bit. And I I want to try to get through the rest of the guys you mentioned, but I want to stay on Kate and bring up some of the numbers you you just mentioned. I talked with Kate a little bit during the season. He tal he spoke about how he you know he he said like I know the analytics crew don’t really like me taking a lot of mid-range. I like having in my bag but I definitely have tried to make it a focus to try to cut out the longer mid-ranges and try to turn those into more pull-up threes and then try to turn those mid-rangers around like 16 feet into more like you mentioned hook shots floers from that area and it 100% paid off for him. Last year if uh clean the glass will Okay, there you go. Load up for me. Last year, the year before this past one, he shot 18% of his shots on long mid-ranges. This year, only 10%. Cut it way down on those short mid-ranges that you were talking about, the hook shots, the floaters. He was at 26% the previous year. He jumped all the way up to 35% of his shots were from that area. And the efficiency on these shots went through the roof. He was in the 85th percentile on those shots from four to 14 feet. He just dominated in that area. I had somebody uh I was talking to a scout like a few weeks ago and they were like it reminds me of Kobe that he loves operating in this little post high post area. Get to his g get to his pull up get to a hook shot. Kobe didn’t at least from I’m a little bit younger so I don’t remember Kobe taking a lot of hook shots. But Kobe loved to get to that short mid-range area and just pull up. Use his size his length to pull up right over you. Kane loves that. He loves getting to that short mid-range whether it’s a post hook, a floater, just elevate over a guy. He really was and has such great touch on those shots. So, I wanted to back up those n back up your your your claims with the numbers right here because I had them in front of me. Um, but obviously, like you said, Cade was the one who made the biggest jump, but I think everyone knows I love Assar. I am super high on Assar and I’m happy that you said that you feel like he could really make that jump. What do you see in Assar’s future this year? Like, what are you expecting to see from him? I think we’ll see something. you. I hate to always invoke his brother when we talk about Assaar. Everybody does. It’s kind of frustrating. I’m sure as a Pistons fan especially where like you almost can’t mention Assar without saying, “Yeah, but yeah, but his brother.” Um I think uh you know, Amen’s just a little bit further ahead of the curve and and I think a lot of that has to do with the time that Assar missed. Um if I had to point to one thing that really separates the two, I think it’s the handle. I think Amen’s got a significantly better handle than Assar right now. Um, I think if Assar can get that down, we we could see a lot of the excite. They’re different players, but I think we could see a lot of the the excitement that we saw for amen um this past season. So, like, yeah, I mean, if he can if he can improve significantly as a ball handler, I mean, the sky’s is the limit. Like, we don’t even need to talk about shooting quite yet, I don’t think. Um, you know, I’d like to see those I feel like he took more of them his rookie year. I’d have to look at the numbers, but kind of those short little fadeaway jumpers. It actually looked pretty good when he was shooting him as a rookie. I just don’t remember him taking too many this past season, but I like that shot for him. And then I mean the defense, I think he could make all defense. I I almost want to say I think he will make all defense. I’m that confident in him as a defender and we saw it in the playoffs on the the biggest stage he’s been on. Uh he is clamps and uh so I think that that’s going to be his calling card. But I think if we’re talking about like sealing like even for next season, what he can be, I think that’ll depend on the offense because we know what he’s going to bring defensively. He’s absolutely elite on that end. Maybe you could even make an argument that he’s as good or better than his brother on that end. That might be a conversation um that we have this season. But but again, there I go bringing up a man. It’s a it’s an interesting situation, you know, when you have two guys that are that special and they just happen to be identical twins. So yeah, I was gonna say when they’re identical twins, it’s kind of hard to not can’t avoid it. you can’t avoid it. But no, I I I love that kid, man. I I think he’s special and uh yeah, he’s got got a very bright future and I think he’s going to have a a major impact um this this coming season with a full off seasonason behind him. Yeah, I completely agree with you on the handle over the shot. The shot is for at least for me, I was I was higher on his shot coming out of OT at the end of OT season. He had some off the dribble self-creation threes that had me like, “Okay, maybe it’s farther along than people think.” I think I’ve been proven wrong a little bit. I don’t really expect the three in a realistic uh expectation to be something he actually ends up doing this year. If it does, that would be great, but I just don’t know if it’s super realistic. The handle, I think, is more realistic to improve on. I think it unlocks so much more. He ran, he was the point guard at OT. He has such great passing vision. He’s such a highlevel processor. It’s one of my favorite things about him. You get a high level processor, like elite processor with a passer combined with generational athleticism. It’s like that right there already just makes you such an impact player because of the margins that you have to there’s there you can mess up you can you can not be as good of like a handler and get away with it because your generational athleticism combined with your processing just allows you to do things that other people wouldn’t allow you to do. So if he can improve the handle and become like that secondary ball handler that I kind of envisioned him to becoming when they drafted him five, I completely agree with you. I think that’s the spot that especially on drives too. I think it helps him with on drives. I think his footwork is a little wonky and that’s why he struggles a little bit um in the half court on drives. I think that has a lot to do with him not trusting his handle and picking up the dribble a little too far away from the basket. Um but I completely agree. Yeah, you mentioned the passing and the processing and and I do think he’s a natural playmaker and that playmaking is what will be unlocked um with the handle and so we’ll see a little bit more of that hopefully. like he’s obviously proven to be a pretty devastating presence in the dunker spot as we saw against New York. Um but yeah, we we I’d like to see his game expand a little more where he’s a little more empowered to to playmake uh play some like a point forward role essentially. So that’s definitely the direction I want to see him go. And then the shooting it it like I look at as icing on the cake. Like if that if that comes around like I mean all bets are off. But that’s that’s just like icing on the cake because I think he could be a heck of a player uh in the short term without even that really coming together. I think as long as he has that kind of short mid-range just a little counter uh for when he can’t get to the rim and there’s there’s nobody available to pass to that he can just go up with and hit at a pretty reliable rate that that’ll go a long way in itself. Yeah. I he has like this strange like left hand push shot that he does a lot. He feels really comfortable with like this left hand floater. I don’t know if that’s something he wants to make like a real part of his game, but he go I feel like he goes to that floater with his left hand more than he does with his right hand. It’s just a weird thing I’ve noticed about him. Um, but coming up, I want to get into your thoughts on Jaylen Duran, a little bit about Jay and Ivy, and then also we’ll talk about the expectations for this upcoming season. Stay tuned for that coming up, guys. Today’s episode is brought to you guys by Monarch Money. Ever wish managing your money felt any easier? With Monarch Money, it can. 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Code lockinmbba for half off your first year with Monarch Money. So, I want to thank you guys again. Make locked on Pistons your first list of every single day. We’re free and available on all your podcast platforms. If you haven’t already, head to the YouTube channel, locked on Pistons, hit that subscribe button or leave us a fivestar review, whatever podcast platform you’re listening to us on. That’s another great way to support the podcast. Check out the description down below for the substack, the playback, the Twitch, all that stuff. I’ve been streaming some college football lately. I’ve had a few of you guys join. If you guys want to pop in and hang out, I’ll put the Twitch down there with the substack and playback as well. Um, but Brett, let’s go ahead and get into the rest of the young core. We spoke a little bit about Assar, a little bit about Cade. Let’s move on to Jaylen Durren. You spoke about how, you were correct, he did uh come out and say, “I just did not play very well to start the year.” Um, I I believe he used some choice words about how he played to start the year. Um, but I think all of us saw it. Even Traan uh brought it up and at the end the season presser. Um, but after around January, which coordinated a little bit with when Assar came back, I think Assar defensively really helped him out a little bit. Um, but just over on both ends of the floor, Duran really turned it on, started to play a lot bigger, stronger, started to showcase, like you mentioned, the short rule aspect of his game. Where are you at with Jaylen Duran? I I think the conversation around Jaylen Dur so interesting because his archetype I I feel like is very clear. He’s a rim running big, hard screener, great on the glass, short roll passing, and then you want him to be like a rim protector on the defensive end. It I I like I had someone earlier mention like can he get to as good as a Visa Zubox with with with this kind of thing? And that would be such a hu that would be a wild jump. And like the reason why I bring up is so interesting because there’s so many guys that can do like that can fit into this like rim running uh rim protector role where if the Pistons want to give Duran this extension and an extension this off seasonason, you’d like to see him become a little bit have something that can be a little bit more than that and maybe the passing can be that. So where are you at with Duran and his future with uh future in the NBA just where he can get to? I mean, I think he’s got just a ton of upside still. I mean, it’s easy to forget this guy doesn’t turn 22 until like mid November. Like, he’s he’s so young. Um, so I think that’s just the first thing we got to keep in mind, even though he’s been in the league for for a few years now. Um, he was, you know, I think probably the youngest player in his draft class or certainly one of them. Um, I always thought of him as just like a blank slate like when he came in where like there maybe there’s a little jumper there, maybe there’s a little handle there. I think there’s definitely some passing there defense. We’ll see. But like kind of like wasn’t sure about what his role would look like and certainly like, you know, I think he’s got massive potential in the pick and roll between the vertical threat that he presents and and also the passing ability. um you know kicking out to shooters or you know hitting a guy like uh Assar in the dunker spot. So like I love him as as a pick and roll big. I I still think there might be a little jumper there. Like I don’t know if you remember that that summer league game where he hit like three pull-ups and like I mean when when you see him shoot or like when you see clips from practice or something like it doesn’t look bad. Um again that’s kind of like with Assar. That would be icing on the cake. I’m not counting on that. Uh, but I think, you know, the passing was probably the most exciting thing. Just like really seeing that emerge because I’ve always felt like he’s he’s had that in his game. Um, where he’s like I’m pretty confident in saying that he’ll be, you know, an above average passing center going forward. The defense, I don’t think he’ll get to Zubas’s level. like uh but I could see him certainly becoming if he’s not already like what we would call a solid defensive center like a a a good not great like I that that’s probably where I’m at with that. I don’t know if he’ll ever be like an elite rim protector. Obviously the physical tools are are crazy. His athleticism, his size, his frame. So I mean I think you know with the right a lot of it’s been effort and again he improved that a lot in the second half of last season. So, I think if that same effort is there, gets a little smarter defensively, um, just, you know, just NBA experience, like just like any young player, um, I think he could be pretty pretty darn good defensively if if not, you know, probably maybe not great. But, you know, you’ve got Isaiah Stewart who I would say is a pretty great defensive big with him. So, like I’m not worried about that. Uh, but that’s probably like the the biggest area of like improvement that I’ll be looking for because, you know, he’s a absolute monster on the boards. Um, awesome vertical threat, exciting passer. Like, there’s a lot to like already and and he’s so young and it’s going to be interesting to see what they do in terms of an extension with him. That was something I was thinking about like uh does that happen this off season or do they let it play out? So, that that’s going to be an interesting thing to to keep keep track of, but I’m inclined to believe they see him as their center of the future. And uh and I wouldn’t be surprised if they um you know, locked him in accordingly. Yeah, I I I completely agree with everything you said about Duran. You’re I think you’re spot on. He has such like I’ve said for like the past year and a half, his talent is just tantalizing. Like you see a little bit of everything. You like like you mentioned, you’ll see the handle. At the end of the year, the Pistons were running inverted pick and rolls for him at the top of the key. Like they were running they they would have I I wish I knew what the exact action was called, but they would have Kade go set a pin down on THJ was at the block and usually he would come wrap around the top of the key for a dribble handoff, but anytime they would top lock, THJ would just come up, push his guy into Duran’s guy, defender, and then he’d just come around the pick and roll and and with the handle and just get all the way to the rim and finish. It’s like, whoa. That that’s that’s special stuff for a center. And then like you mentioned short roll passing in the Knicks series when obviously the dump offs to Assar and the lobs to Assar were great but like even later like in game five end of game five and game six I remember like they started to really pack on the on the dump off to Sar that left open the weak side kick out and he would hold in the air play one defender on that end and make the right read. Like that’s special stuff that you don’t always see from bigs. So, and then like you mentioned the jumper, we haven’t seen the jumper and like you me it would be like icing on the cake. For what it’s worth, he went from being a horrible free throw shooter his rookie year to a 79% free throw shooter his second year. Now, evened out a little bit this year, but like it’s not like Andre Drummond 40% from the free throw line all of a sudden he’s trying to be a shooter. Like there like the form does look better and he has shown good touch from the free throw line. So, it’s like maybe it’s something that could be developed there. Um and You know what I would like to see from him on that note is like uh in the pick and roll just to have like a a touch shot from like 8 10 feet that he could go to, right? If the if the if the shooter’s not there, if the if the dunker spot’s not there, if the at the rim finish isn’t there, like one one more thing he could go to in there. And I do think he he has the touch to develop that type of shot. Um I think that would go a long way for him. Yeah, the push shot, the floater shot has been something that’s been brought up in the business community too that they would like to see. A lot of people want to see the three-point shot. I I like that’s not something that you want. I I don’t think that’s something he should really be focusing on. I agree that the push shot would be would be really impactful for him. Um you see a lot of these pick and roll bigs really get comfortable with that five to eight foot floater right there. Um I think that would be great for him if he if he was uh if he was able to develop that. Um but defensively I’m with you as well. I just don’t that’s the biggest area of concern for me. the numbers uh show that the defense was good with him and Assar, but as soon as he took Assar off, the defense kind of cratered with him on the floor. So, I I what I’m watching for him this year is the same thing as you. I want to see is he actually developed defensively or is it more so Assar’s playing with me, he can cover a lot of the weaknesses. I want to see if is Duran individually himself getting better defensively. And I think if he does that, I I think he’s clearly the piston center of the future and would be great for them. Um, the next young guy I want to get to before we move on to expectations in the Eastern Conference, um, is Jane Ivy. Jane Ivy is a player that I think my my my fan base and listeners know I’m not the highest on, but he did showcase some some real improvement as a shooter. And he’s another guy that has the physical tools. He’s a He’s a freak athlete. He’s probably one of the quickest players in the league, one of the fastest players with the ball in his hands. He’s an instant paint touch. Where are you at with Jay and Ivy and his development moving forward? Yeah, I mean, I’d say I’ve always been a believer in in him. Um, as far as the fit with this team, like I I had some questions, but man, he played so well before he got hurt last season, that like I mean, I think the five games before he got hurt, including the game he got hurt against Orlando, he averaged 19.2 points a game on like 73% true shooting. very small sample, but just the timing of it that he was playing like unquestionably the best basketball of his pro career, if not life, right leading up to that pretty severe injury, that was just that was brutal. And like one thing that that I’ve heard people say when I brought up Ivy is that they were they were better after he went down. And I don’t think that’s fair to him at all. And because you just touched on this, right, Duran Dur Durren flipped the switch, right? right around the time that Ivy got hurt is when Duran got noticeably better um especially defensively. And then also you had Assar who like I said, you know, missed the first chunk of the season and then took two or three weeks probably to where he was getting like 20 25 minutes a night even and that also coincided. So like I think it was more of those two, you know, being better and being available than like it was like without Ivy. So maybe maybe there’s still I there are still questions I think with the fit. Like I really am looking forward to seeing that this season sort of how they use him, how he fits with this team that’s kind of established now. Um but like I I wasn’t discouraged in any way in that regard um based on what what he showed last season. But like you said, man, freak athlete. Some of the craziest burst I’ve ever seen. Obviously coming off a pretty major leg injury. It’s like hopefully none of that got sapped. Uh, I forgot to even mention him in the beginning when I was talking about the young guys that could have a breakout. And maybe that’s because he is coming off an injury. So, like I’m not necessarily expecting him to be better than he was the first 30 games of last season. like if we could just get that guy that he was that you know if he could sort of pick up where he left off and be something resembling that especially in terms of the 40% three-point shooting maybe not the most realistic expectation but like even 37 38 would be awesome. I’m buying the shooting leap with him. I saw it the year before and I know the numbers don’t reflect it but I think sometimes with players and development a lot of the time actually the stats are going to lag behind the development a little bit you know like when you make changes to your jump shot or um you know you become a better uh you know self-creator or something like the stats might not reflect it for a little while but I think if you watch the games you can kind of see it like the year before I could he was shooting it with more confidence his base looked better his base looked a little wider. Um I know he was putting in the work and then it really showed up um last season. So maybe he ends up somewhere in between, you know, mid mid to high 30s uh from three. But on if he can do that on decent volume, that that would be huge. And because if he goes back to, you know, the the the low 30s on threes, then it’s kind of like, you know, maybe he’s better suited off the bench, like because you’re going to need a certain level of shooting with that starting group. Um, and that’s kind of my question there with like just what what that lineup’s going to look like. I mean, I think it’s pretty much assumed, right, that it’s going to be Cade, Ivy, Assar, Tobias, and Duran. Um, but I think there’s an argument to be made for for Duncan Robinson to be in there instead of Ivy. I don’t know how much that’s been talked about, but everything I’ve seen, everyone kind of assumes Ivy’s starting, but between the fact that he’s coming off the injury. Um, he’s a little smaller and like, you know, he’s a guy that you want with the ball in his hands and I know they’re going to stagger his and Cad’s minutes so that he gets plenty of ball handling duties and everything, but I almost wonder if it wouldn’t be better getting a bigger guy with more shooting in the starting five and and having him as like an awesome sixth man at least to to start the season and see what that looks like. So, uh, he he’s a little bit of a question coming off the injury, but, um, you know, I I I like him. I believe in him. Uh, he’s another guy who’s eligible for an extension. That one I don’t, you know, if if you could get him at a major discount because of the injury, maybe, you know, you’d look to do that. Uh otherwise, you know, I think maybe the more likely scenario is that he just kind of they just play it out and he kind of bets on himself because if they’re he might not agree to what they see as a sufficient discount on the contract and and he just wants to play it out and earn some more money. So, uh I could see that going either way. But, um but yeah, he’s just kind of the question mark because we saw this team without him it all works really well together. Plugging in Duncan Robinson for for Beasley essentially. Uh plugging in LeVvert for Shruder essentially. And um and then but then it’s like where does Ivy fit in? We know he’s talented. We know he’s an awesome player. Um but uh just it’s kind of a kind of a fun question mark. So I think that’s something that probably most Pistons fans will be paying paying really close attention to next season. Yeah, him as a open catch and shoot three-point shooter has been really good since his rookie year. I remember his rookie year he I believe he finished in like the 91st percentile on open catch and shoot threes. Oh wow. Now, not just now that’s just that’s not all catcher shoot because a lot of them are contested as well, but the open ones he’s always been showed that he maybe could do this and he had this really good shooting stretch. I think that was the most disappointing part before we move on and we’ll touch on Ron Holland when we come back and then get completely into the Eastern Conference. I think the most disappointing part for because a lot of my listeners probably would call me a Jane and Ivy skeptic. But I think even like Jane Ivy lovers, skeptics, everyone can agree that the most disappointing part about this season is that he was playing the best brand of his best basketball of his career right before he got injured. So now no one will know like we we won’t know until this this season plays. Whether was that fivegame streak just a hot streak and he was just playing hot and he was going to cool off or was that him actually turning into what everyone wanted him to be. We never will get to answer that question and I feel bad for him that he won’t get that answer until this season. He has to kind of wait and none of us will be able to know that answer now until the season starts either. So, it’s tough for him, but definitely probably the biggest like I I like that you said fun question. He is the biggest fun question mark on this team going into this year. It’s like kind of like a good question to have, you know, to put it that way. Exactly. Um coming up, we’ll touch on Ron Holland and then we’ll touch on the Eastern Conference that’s gotten weaker but also has seen some teams try to take advantage of it getting weaker. We’ll talk about that coming up. So, I want to thank you guys again for making Locked On Pistons your first listen of every single day free and available on all your podcast platforms. If you haven’t already, head to the YouTube channel at Locked OnP, 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. So Brett, I was planning on like the first segment was going to be just the young core and then the second segment expectations, but we got so like I really wanted to hear your thoughts on all the young core that we’ve just turned I think everyone will enjoy it too that we’ve just turned it basically into a talk of the young core. That’s the most like positive happy part of the team too. So I think everyone will enjoy it. Let’s touch on Ron Han a little bit and then we’ll get into the Eastern Conference teams. Ron Han, you mentioned earlier you think it’s a candidate for a potential like breakout in his own regard. maybe not like superstarred or starred and whatever, but as a rookie who was viewed as like a raw project a little bit, I guess, a raw prospect at the very least, came out and contributed for a team that made the playoffs, was a part of the rotation all year. And now after a strong summer league showing, seems like a lot of momentum is being built up in the Ron Holland’s going to have a really good year uh camp. So, where do you stand with Ron Holland moving forward into this year for the Pistons? I I mean, I love the kid. I I love his mentality. He’s an absolute dog out there. Just a a total menace uh defensively. He plays with such an edge, doesn’t back down. So, like just that in itself is such a dope foundation for a player to have. And then when you factor in that he’s, you know, 67 or whatever and super athletic, um there’s a lot to like. I mean, again, the defense is going to be his calling card for probably the next couple seasons really. But, uh, I mean, the thing that really jumped out to me offensively, um, his his rookie year was was his downhill scoring ability. Like, not only his, uh, aggressiveness and and ability to get to the rim, but, like the touch that he showed from quite a few different angles at the rim where like it didn’t always look pretty, but, like there’s there’s a good finisher there. Um, I think his finishing numbers were pretty respectable, too, for for a rookie. But, but that that impressed me a lot. Just the total downhill package, whether it’s in transition or in the half court. That’s something that that he can do right now at at a pretty high level in the NBA. Um, shooting big question with him obviously. Uh, but I mean, if summer league is any indication, I mean, he he showed us everything we could want to see from him in summer league. Obviously, context, it’s summer league. He’s a secondyear guy. I get it. He was expected to do well, but like I think he shot what 46 47% from three on pretty high volume. I was looking at the summer league stats a couple days ago, and I think among players with five or more three-point attempts per game, he’s like top three in percentage um shooting at at summer league. So, what more could you really want to see from him? We’ll see how much of that translates. But he’s another guy where you could see the improvement in his shot over the course of the season, even if it wasn’t being reflected in the box scores quite yet. But I I think that’s coming where he’s going to be a respectable shooter. Whether it’s this year or the next year, it’s coming. And Fred Vincent is a big reason for my belief in that. And with all these guys, too, where I feel maybe that’s why with all these guys, I’m like, you know, maybe Duran can maybe there’s a shooter in there with a SAR like maybe that jumper will come along. know Ivy, I’m buying the leap. Like the presence of Fred Vincent uh goes a long way. He’s had a couple of major success stories as a shooting coach. He’s widely regarded as one of the I guess two best uh in the league. And um and so that’s great. Like that’s just a great fit. And and like you said, man, the fact that Ron like exceeded all expectations in the sense that he got consistent pretty consistent rotation minutes on a 46- win team. Like that’s I don’t think anybody would have expected that. Maybe people would have said, “Oh, he’ll get minutes as a rookie, but if you were like the Pistons are going to be a 46- win team and he’s going to get, you know, pretty solid minutes.” Like, I don’t know. I think that would have been a little bit surprising. So, ju but just in terms of his development to have that kind of experience right off the bat on a good team, um, and have that great shooting coach there and I know he’s a worker and he’s working his butt off on on that jump shot. Uh he he could be he could be a pretty awesome wing. And I man just the duo of of him and Assar are going to terrorize people out there. Like maybe there will be some questions on the offensive end when they’re together out there, but but defensively man you could look at at at any um any of these great almost like a a man and tar with the Rockets like the Terror Twins like they could be their own version of that to bring up Amen yet again. Um but but uh but that’s g that’s going to be really exciting to see man. I I those guys are going to be tough to deal with and uh and Ron just he fits the the mentality the ethos of the Pistons so perfectly like so for all the reasons I kind of said like I don’t think he could have landed in a better spot and and so with that I think it was a great pick and uh and yeah we’ll see what he can what he can bring this year but even if he’s just like your you know seventh eighth man like that’s a I think that could be a heck of a seventh eighth man to have. Uh, so yeah, very very high on Ron, especially coming off his summer league. I think he was easily a top five player at summer league. Probably top three. I’d have to look at it, but um he he impressed the heck out of me. No. Yeah, Ron, his touch around the rim, like you mentioned, was fantastic with both hands, too, on tough finishes, tough angles. I remember that Pelicans game he went crazy and he was making like crazy off the backboard shots from like eight feet out. like it was he has incredible touch for someone and he has like he’s a strong driver but he’s also slithery or like he gets through creases too like he he’s an incredible slasher already. I’m I really like Ron and I really love the comparison you made to Tari and I’m in because I think that’s what the Pistons are going to want from those two. They just need one of them to become a respectable shooter to he can try to field an offense. You can’t have Ron Assar and Duran. Now maybe if you had Ron Assar in a stretch five you could probably make it work. Um, but the Pistons don’t really have one right now, which is why I wanted them to get one the offseason. But nonetheless, uh, we’ll move into the Eastern Conference and the rest of the the teams in the East. So, obviously, we know for unfortunate reasons, no one wants this to happen, but unfortunately, Tatum Achilles, he’s out. Um, Dame Achilles, he’s out. Um, and now Tyrese Achilles, he’s out. This just super unfortunate with these Achilles injuries. But because of that, you figure that the Pacers are going to fall. Celtics have basically let everyone know, you know, we’ll be back in 26 27 with the moves they’ve made. So, they’re gonna fall. And the East already was not viewed as like this juggernaut compares like the the West is. Um, and it looks like a few East teams feel the same way because you saw Orlando go out there and be like, “Oh, it’s open. We might, you know, let’s go try to do something.” Atlanta was like, “Okay, we got Trey. Let’s go get, you know, I really love Atlanta’s offseason. I think they’ve been great.” But they went out and tried to make some moves for it. So, a lot of Pistons fans felt like the East was open. Let’s go make a move. Let’s go do and they kind of just played it safe the offseason and you’ve seen a few teams behind them in Orlando, Atlanta kind of make some moves to kind of jump. Where are you at with if you want to talk about whether you think the Pistons should have tried to make a bigger move? You can. I you don’t have to. Um, where do you feel like the Pistons measure up right now in the Eastern Conference after a successful season last year? what what should they be expecting to be at be around in the East now with Atlanta and Orlando making the jump and kind of like Giannis is still in Milwaukee? Like does you know does Milwaukee get the benefit of the doubt? Like where are you at with the Pistons as it as it compares to the rest of the East? Yeah. Well, just real quick, first of all, for the record, I’m glad they didn’t take like a major swing this off seasonason. I’m glad they didn’t overreact to kind of like their their newfound status um in the East after that jump. Like I’m glad that they are banking on uh internal development. I think rightly so. And to replace Beasley with an all-time great shooter in Duncan Robinson. Um and I I you know I like I like the Levert uh fit too. I think he he’s going to be pretty useful for them. So I I like their off seasonason. I it’s it’s it’s along the lines of like what I would have done I guess. So um I’m I’m I’d give it I I don’t like to give it grub. It’s a solid offseason, right? U But yeah, in terms of the the rest of the East, like it’s interesting, man. Like I I feel like yeah, Boston’s pro I mean, yeah, they’re they’re they’re they’re down there. And um Indiana could still be competitive. I think like they could be solid, but they’re definitely taking a step back. I feel like Milwaukee took a step back for sure. Um although again, they could still be competitive. So like I kind of see it as Cleveland is probably the team to beat in the East in my eyes and then New York. Like those those two are kind of at the top of the East for me. And then you get into this tier of teams, and I think the Pistons are in that tier with some of the teams you mentioned. Atlanta, very exciting off season. I mean, I wouldn’t be shocked if they they could make the East Finals for sure. Um Orlando, I I I like what they did bringing in Desmond Bane and and Taius Jones, too. That filled a lot of needs for them. They’re they’re going to be tough. Um you know, Milwaukee is still probably in there. Philly is in there, you know, depending on health, like but I think they’re they’re kind of in that that tier as well. Maybe Indiana could sneak in, you know, depending, but I’m I’m not quite sure. But I would I would kind of have the Pistons in that next group where it’s like I wouldn’t be surprised if they made the conference finals. And so, yeah, they’re they’re in there with like with with Orlando, Atlanta, probably Milwaukee, maybe Philly, like I might be forgetting somebody, but like in in that group there. So, that the order of that could be could be anything, but I think they’re like a tier two team in the East when tier one’s only two teams in my mind. Yeah. Yeah, I I think I would agree with that as well. I as of right now, I said this earlier on Twitter to play it safe, I would say probably around fifth or 60C is what I’m expecting right now. I’m not going to print that because I may I I have a lot of time to change my mind. So, I’m not don’t don’t hold me to that everybody. But that’s just like, you know, where I’m hovering around right now. But I agree that there’s really it’s Cleveland, New York. I’m really high on what Orlando did. I I’m I’m really considering putting Orlando kind of with New York. I kind of feel like Cleveland should be above New York. Um I I I I agree with you. It’s you you’re splitting hairs at this point around those teams. Um but yeah, I do think the Pistons should be considered a tier 2 team. A lot of it will come down obviously to whether these guys improve, the young guys improve, and take that next step forward. Um but we’ll see what happens. I think a lot of Pistons fans, from what I’ve seen, because of making the first round, winning two games, the expectation for a lot of them is, okay, we want a playoff series win. Let’s get to the second round. And I don’t it’s going to require quite a few improvements, I think, from the young guys to do that, especially with some of the East teams that have tried to jump. But it’s certainly within the realm of possibility. They definitely can do it. They just need improvement from their young guys. To wrap up the podcast, I do want to ask you just real quickly on this. We did touch on Kade earlier, but I have to we have to wrap up with Kade. What do you want to see from him this year? What what do you what is it that you want to see from him that could really launch him into this? I feel like most people probably have him around top 15ish. I’ve seen some people have him like 11 12. I’ve seen some people have him like 1920. So, he’s he’s around that area. Um what do you want to see from him for him to really launch himself into? No, I am a top I am a certified top 12, top 10 guy in the league. What do you want to see from him? Uh fewer turnovers. That would probably be my my my simple answer for that because other than that, you know, he’s pretty darn complete. Um, you know, obviously like becoming an even better three-point shooter certainly wouldn’t hurt. Like I think that’s but I mean he could improve a little bit there. Um, but but but really just like the ball security, a little bit of the carelessness sometimes like uh that was that was just something that jumped out watching them this year was kind of the only time only like uh knock on him that I would I would say. I mean, he had an absolutely brilliant season. Um, and he’s he’s still very young as well. So, I think I think just the the ball security in that sense would be probably the the biggest thing for me with with Kade. But, yeah, like you know, if he was um a pretty much unanimous top 10 player by the end of this coming season, I wouldn’t be shocked like he’s because he’s right there. I would say, yeah, for sure like top 15 in my opinion. Um, not not a lot of guys like him. I hope he continues to embrace that bully ball mentality that you were talking about earlier, not just with like the post ups and hooks, but like just the drives and the physicality and like um he’s so big, you know, there’s he’s he’s enormous for a point guard and he grew up as playing as a big man. So like that’s where a lot of those a lot of that stuff comes from. He knows how to be physical and seeing him really begin to embrace that last year I think took him to another level and definitely want to see more of that. Um, but yeah. Yeah, turnovers will be the one thing. Yeah, I think the turnovers will be what a lot of Pistons fans would say to you as well. That was the one thing that that was the one thing I think a lot of Pistons fans Now, Kate is loved. Obviously, he is loved. But I think if there was one thing that you would see every now and then after their Pistons game, you’d see some Pistons fans losing their minds. It was some of Kate’s high turnover games. And turnovers come with high usage guys, but there’s definitely a line that you have to like not cross. And Kade himself has admitted he struggled with that so far, especially the New York series was really tough as well with the turnover. So, he cut those ones down. I think that would be really great for him. I also would like to see him improve as a finisher at the rim. I think that would really help him a lot. Draw some more free throws. He was drawing more free throws at the end of the year. But think all of that and he can become a top 10 guy. But we’ll wrap it up there. Brett, thank you so much for coming on the podcast, man. You guys can find him over on Twitter, Usher MBA. Again, you guys can find all kinds of fun highlights from his page. I’m looking at his page right now. You got Zack Lavine, Penoy Step. You got the You got the LaMelo Ball back uh behind the back snatchbacks. You got all kind of just positive good basketball content coming from Brett over there. I appreciate you Brett coming on. I appreciate all of you guys for making Lockdown Pistons your first listen every single day. Free available on all your podcast platforms. And until next time, I’ll see you guys later. Stay safe out there. And until next time, peace out everybody.

PISTONS’ YOUNG CORE POISED FOR BREAKOUT SEASON?

Detroit’s rising stars take center stage as Ku Khahil and NBA analyst Brett Usher dissect the Pistons’ potential. Cade Cunningham’s improved shot selection, Ausar Thompson’s defensive prowess, and Jalen Duren’s rapid development are the highlights of the discussion. The duo examines how these young talents could help reshape Detroit’s standing in the competitive Eastern Conference.

Usher offers insider perspectives on each player’s strengths and areas for growth, while Khahil provides context on the team’s overall trajectory. From Cunningham’s efficient mid-range game to Thompson’s ball-handling potential, no stone is left unturned in this comprehensive analysis.

Will the Pistons’ youth movement translate to on-court success? Tune in for expert insights on Detroit’s path to NBA relevance.

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