Unnamed Pistons Exec Shares Offseason Vision… What’s Next for Detroit? 🤔 | Pistons Jack Reacts

Unnamed Pistons Exec Shares Offseason Vision… What’s Next for Detroit? 🤔 | Pistons Jack Reacts

Welcome back to the Piston Shack YouTube channel. On today’s episode, we’ll be reacting to an unnamed Pistons executive’s comments on the team’s off season just gone. And some really interesting comments on a couple of the Pistons young stars. So, let’s get to it. Earlier today, Keith Smith of Spot Track, Keith Smith of the Front Office Show, uh he also covers the Celtics, I believe, um at Keith Smith NBA, wrote an article. It was pretty much a dump of all his information, quotes, and that type of stuff from conversations he had at Summer League. I’m pretty sure there was notes on all 30 teams. There was some really interesting comments here. He’s he spoke to a lot of executives. Obviously, Keith’s a salary cap guru. He’s kind of like out he’s kind of someone who probably should be in a front office, but he’s in the content and reporting space and really knows the salary cap just as good as anyone apart from maybe Bobby Marks um of ESPN. So, uh, Keith spoke to a lot of front- off executives as as this article shows and, uh, we’re going to get to what he had here on the Pistons because there was three different kind of quotes talking about different topics with the team that I want to get into here. Um, so let’s get to the first one. As you can see here on the right, um, when talking about the Pistons roster movement this off season that we’re currently still in and has just been happening the past few weeks, uh, the front office executive said, “It’s no secret we had to pivot, right? But we feel really good about what we were able to do. Carris Lever is going to be huge for us because he can score and he can primary be a primary playmaker, too. Duncan Robinson shooting is something we had to have. We think we’ve got guys who can set him up even more than he was in Miami the last couple of years. So, first thing here, um, obviously it’s no secret we had to pivot that quotes in reference to the MC Beasley situation. Don’t really need to go into that a whole lot more, but obviously that came out on the eve of free agency 24 hours before players could be signed. So, um, that’s what that is. The Caris Levert thing, no surprise there. Traan spoke about it, but I do think like Caris is I think honestly like he’s going to surprise a lot of people. The more research I’ve done since they signed him, I don’t think there’s that much of a drop off between him and Dennis Schroeder. Like in terms of what they can bring, I think Schroeda is a better like pure like playmaker. Maybe Caris is a a lot more like shot first, but I think Caris is an upgrade defensively from Dennis. He’s a lot bigger and I think like in terms of shooting like they’re very similar. Um, but there is differences, but I think Caris is going to be a big pickup and he’s going to help Cade and Ivy on the nights where they’re getting doubled and trapped and all that kind of stuff, blitzed. So, I think he’ll be a good release fell. But the key part here was Duncan Robinson. Um, I love how he says we think we got guys that can set him up even more than when than when he was in Miami the last couple of years. So, I was doing some thinking and obviously this is referencing the past two years. So the main two two or three playmakers that have been on the Heats roster is obviously Jimmy Butler before he was traded, Bam Adabio who had Duncan had really good chemistry with and then Tyler Herro who is definitely more of a shot first guy but has improved as playmaker. Um the Pistons I think it’s fair to say like Kade as much as Jimmy’s the more established player had much more postseason success and all that like I think it’s fair to say Kade is a better playmaker than him. Um he like just in terms of the reads he can make out the pick and roll. He’s just more consistent. It’s that’s what Kade does. Um so he’s better than the best player that uh Duncan played with. And then um I think Bam, maybe Bam’s a better playmaker than Jimmy, but Bam is definitely a better playmaker than Jaylen D right now. But I think JD has a similar type of game with playmaking. A lot of handoff actions he can run with Duncan and that’s what Duncan did with Bam. Um, so I think there’s some really exciting stuff which I’ve spoken about a few times now between Duncan and Duran, the chemistry they could forge. And then, um, Jaden Ivy, they’ve also got, I think he’s definitely around the same as Tyler Herro in terms of play making, potentially better, potentially worse on some nights. But like I think Kade overall is going to open up a heap for Duncan. And then yeah, I think Duncan as well, I think he’s going to surprise fans with some of the stuff he can do off the dribble. Um, the passes he can make. So, um, ex I’m I’m really sneakily excited for Caris and Duncan Robinson. I’ve got a bit of a hot take about the Pistons in general. I’m going to hold on to, but I I’m going to wait until I see the actual schedule for the upcoming season, but I, you know, I think as fans, all I’ll say is I think as fans, we’re used to kind of slow starts to the season. I have I I’m starting to just get this feeling and vibe with our squad that we are not going to be experiencing a slow below 500 start, but I’ll wait until we see the schedule before I make any more claims. But uh moving on, some interesting comments here on Ron Holland. Uh oh man, sorry. Quote from the executive. Oh man, yes, be honest with me. Did you see a better player out there than Ron? If you say you did, you better be ready for an argument. Ron was so good. We said it when we drafted him that we felt like we got one of the best players in the draft. As a rookie, he just got better every single day. Now he’s going to break out and have an incredible season. The jumper and the free throw shooting. Those are real. Big big big year coming for Ron. And I love this. I just love hearing like people within the organization just get excited about their own players even if we don’t know who this executive is. Like it’s still just really cool. Um the main piece I really liked here was the sighting of rookie as a rookie. Ron just getting better every single day because I I couldn’t agree more. Like even if you go all the way back to Ron’s um first summer league, he got better every single game. The points per game, the field goal percentage per game, he got more efficient. His his drives were better. He was let more in control. And I felt like that just replicated its way throughout the whole season. Not saying the points got better per se because his role fluctuated at times, but like I just feel like he became, it’s a bit of a cliche to be like he got better every single day, but Rom was a player I really felt like benefited from being in such a, you know, awesome culture and a defensive minded team. I feel like he really thrived and just got better every single game. And I, you know, we saw in this summer league how good he looked and how improved the jumper is. like he’s still got more to improve upon for sure, but man, Ron Holland, like they said in here, he has potential to be like one of the best players in that draft. He was the number one ranked player, I’m pretty sure, with Mus Bizales before their like kind of disastrous season with the Ignite, which is now scrapped. So, I’m super excited for Ron. Like, I cannot wait to see how he fares in like the real the real deal with his improved shot and some of the other things he’s been working on. But, let’s get to the final point here. We’ll probably spend the most time on this and this was an update on the extension talks with Jaylen Duran and Jayen Ivy. Obviously, both of them entering year four are extension eligible. Um, and this is the quote that the executive had from Detroit. Those guys are key guys for us. We’re not the cap cap space Pistons anymore. We’re the playoff Pistons. Now, if we want to keep being the playoff Pistons, we need to be really smart from here on out. That means finding the right deal for us and our players. But we love the way both Jaylen and Jaden have developed. Look, if we have Jaden last year, we win our first player series in forever. We believe that 100%. We’re hopeful we can get extensions done with both of those guys to keep them in Detroit for a long time. So, couple of things in here I want to discuss, but the first thing I want to chat about here is what my main takeaway from this is, and my personal opinion, like kind of reading between the lines here, is um obviously, and Trajan said as much, like the Pistons want to extend both these guys. There’s an investment here. Trajan, I believe, said it in when asked about the extension talks all the way back at the end of June uh before the draft in his pre-draft press conference. So, you can go watch that. But the Pistons want to invest in both Ivy and Duran. Just depends at what price with a price that works for them. And as the executive says here, that means finding the right deal for us and our players. So gone are the days because of the new Salo Cup where teams just offer almost Mac near max extensions without blinking because if you have a player that’s on a deal that is nowhere near the value of the player and you got multiple years on it, not only does it hurt your cap situation, but it’s really hard to move those guys now because of the way the salary cap the the implications and I guess penalties for being in the tax and over the apron over the second like it’s so harmful and crippling that you have to be really careful with who you max now and who you give big deals to and frankly whilst as a fan I would extend Jayen and Jaden tomorrow like I can understand why a front office has to check everything off and be so sure with that the contract they’re offering works for the team and that they negotiate properly because when we look at JD and Jayen Ivy they’re both had three different like whilst this front office didn’t draft them like there’s just so many factors with these two in particular when they came to the team like they’ve had three different coaches a different front office drafted them like they’ve been through one of the worst seasons in franchise history which all the player young players have but still like the context these guys have been in has been difficult and then in last season you know Jaden Ivy 30 awesome games starting to really look good with Kade but then obviously gets his leg broken which is just shattering doesn’t get any playoff off burn. Then Jaylen Duran on the flip side, his first 30 games, like he would say, and he did say it in his own words, was on some soft Like, and then he turned it around and looked pretty good in the playoffs and had an awesome and awesome 2025 really. But you can see why if you want to be devil’s advoc advocate, which I think you kind of have to be when you’re offering tens of millions of dollars to these players to solidify your core, like I can see why a front office isn’t like, so let’s say Jayen Ivy wants 30 million annually for the next four years. I can see why if they look around the league um why they might have reservations doing that and need to really discuss that because Ivy has just he like I said it’s not his fault and I think he’s shown amazing flashes and I love Ji I want him on the team and I want to see him with K for 50 games but I can see why they might say well Jaden just like you’re coming off a broken leg we didn’t get to see you in the playoffs whilst we believe in you we need to see it a little bit more we need to see your fit with Kate I’m not saying they say this word for word, but like I think you can still have a lot of belief in a player, but if the proof isn’t there and the numbers and the results across a huge span and you’re really just going to potentially I can see why you’re going to go, well, we do potentially think you’re a $30 million player, but right now we’re probably only willing to offer you 25 million per year and that’s the most we can go, but if you want to prove it to us, go out next year in your fourth year and then we’ll let it go to restrict. Like I can see from both sides and then I can see why Jaden Black will hang no I am a $3 million player. I believe in myself and do you see what I mean? Like that’s the back and forth and I don’t think it’s a personal thing. I think as they say here just like they have to find the right deal for them and their player. They have to meet in the middle and I can see why they might both players might not be extended at the end of this off season and it still might mean they’re both Pistons long term. They might just have to go out and prove it because you can say the same for Jaylen Duran. like I saw he was incredible in 2025 and in the playoffs. Like I thought he was awesome. I thought he grew as a defender. I think Cat’s a really tough matchup for him, especially when Stu’s out. Um so, but I thought JD showed heaps of growth, but I can see why the team would be like, well, we just need to see it a little bit. Like, we believe you can be that guy 82 games, but go out and show us before we give you four years 120 million or four years 110 million or maybe more. Like so um I think yeah the team is going to try to get a deal done for both. It certainly sounds like it from this quote. It sounds like it from what Trajan said. Sounds like Trajan is definitely invested in both Duran and Ivy. He spoke a lot about Iivevy this offseason and how he feels like even just from the outside people are forgetting that Iivey’s coming back and he can replace a lot of what or he will replace Dennis Schroeder’s role and more. So uh that’s just my thoughts on it. Let me know your thoughts. I know there’s been a lot of stuff about Jaden Ivy and some trade rumors which they’re just going to be around until Ivy signs. Like I like I don’t get mad about it. I love Jayen Ivy as a player. I have since the Pistons drafted him. I remember I cracked a beer at 10:00 a.m. here in Australia when they drafted Ivy. And I like I was so excited when they got him. Like it was I’m huge on Ivy, but I can understand it’s just it’s just like putting two and two together until he’s signed. He’s a young player with a high potential. Teams are going to rival teams are going to be looking to try and trade for him or are going to be curious about the situation with him in particular because him and Kay just haven’t had a chance to really thrive together due to injury and due to, you know, a disastrous year where they both healthy, but we don’t need to go into that 28game losing streak season to talk about in depth to talk about how bad it how bad it truly was for development and all that. But that’s going to do it for today’s show, guys. As always, appreciate all the love, the comments. Love everyone’s viewpoints, whether you agree with me or not. It’s uh super fun. We’re going to have more content here daily for as much as I can. Uh I still feel like we’re getting some good stuff. So, stick with me. If there’s any topics you want me to talk about, feel free to drop in the comments below or DM me on any of our social pages. But appreciate all of you as always. And until next time, go Pistons. [Music]

In today’s episode, we break down quotes from a Pistons front office executive, giving fans a look at Detroit’s offseason strategy.

From the additions of Caris LeVert and Duncan Robinson to Ron Holland’s breakout Summer League performance, we unpack what the team is building and where they might be headed next.

We also reference Keith Smith’s latest article on Spotrac, which dives deeper into the Pistons’ direction and provides important context around the team’s roster movement and player development updates.

Article → https://www.spotrac.com/news/_/id/2912/eastern-conference-summer-league-notes

Are the Pistons done making moves? What’s next in free agency, trades, or extensions for Ivey and Duren? Let’s break it all down.

#Pistons #NBAOffseason #PistonsJack #DetroitBasketball