STOP Sleeping on the Detroit Pistons…

STOP Sleeping on the Detroit Pistons…

Stop sleeping on the Detroit Pistons. This is a team that shocked the league last year. Was the six seed in the East after backto backto back years of being like one of the worst teams in the league. Kade Cunningham announced himself as a superstar and they do nothing but get better this off seasonason. They lose Tim Hardaway Jr. and they lose potentially Malik Beasley. We’ll see what happens with that whole situation. But they bring in Duncan Robinson and Caris Levert as good role players. They get back Jaden Ivy who might be the most underrated player in the league right now. And then they have a couple of young wings still developing. But like I said in the intro, the Pistons have lucked into having themselves a mega star. Kade Cunningham will be just 24 years old next season and is already a fairly accomplished player in the league, taking the Pistons to the playoffs last year in just his fourth season. Of course, they lose Malik Beasley, but they bring in Duncan Robinson and Carris Lever. They have to do their best to surround Cade with as much talent as they can right now while he’s still young because they want to obviously develop a roster around him. He is the perfect piece to develop around. 6’6, 215 lb frame, pick and roll specialist at the point guard position that makes everybody around him better. However, he doesn’t have a true number two option right now. He averaged 26 a game with 9.1 assists, 6.1 rebounds, and one steal last year, shooting 47% from the field and 36% from three on seven attempts per night. He’s a guy that, like I said, makes the entire team around him better, and he is currently on a 5-year, $270 million contract. So, he is locked up for the foreseeable future. However, the Pistons only have one big-time contract. They still have a lot of rookie deals on the books. And looking at their cap space, they are still $30 million under the first apron and 42 million under the second apron. That’s an entire max contract below the first apron. So, they could really go out and make a move and try to get Kade some help. But looking at his career trajectory, he’s just gotten better every single year. His efficiency continues to go up through the roof. If he can get up to 38% or so from three next year, he’d be one of the best players in the league. He’s already one of the best players in the league. I think he is low-key a top 25 player in the league. That really shouldn’t be a discussion. He’s coming off a year where in the playoffs he averaged 25 a game with 8.7 assists, 8.3 rebounds, and 3.1 stocks. Yes, he only shot 43% from the field and 18% from three. That was a weak point for him in the playoffs. However, he was gettingounded that entire series by two of the best perimeter defenders in the league. And he held his own. I mean, he averaged 259 and N on decent field goal percentage in the playoffs, I guess you should say. But they got to find him a co-star. That co-star may very well be Jaden Ivy, who is an elite young scorer, but we were kind of robbed of his season last year. He missed 52 games after playing the first 30. Went out for the rest of the year with an injury and we didn’t get to see the Pistons at full strength really for most of the entire year. Jaden Ivy and Kate Cunningham could be that one-two punch. However, I don’t know if it’s going to work out because Ivy at the two is only 6’4. Now, he does have a 610 wingspan, so he is allowed to play a little bit taller than 6’4. and he averaged almost 18 a game with 4.1 assists, four rebounds, and a steal in 30 minutes while shooting 46% from the field and 41% from beyond the arc on five attempts. His three-point percentage and field goal percentage have gone up steadily every year of his career. And yes, smaller sample size, but 41% from three for a guy that’s known as being a pure slasher and will be just 23 years old next year is big time. That is something you can really look at and be happy with. Now, if they can go together, we’ll see. That still remains to be seen. But I’m loving the additions they have around Cade and Ivy with Caris Levert, who signed on a 2-year, $30 million deal, essentially 29 million if you want to get technical with it. It’s about 15 million a season. And he’s a good 3D wing to have around this young core. 66 with a 610 wingspan. He comes in, he’s going to be able to knock down the three. He’s going to be able to create for himself. He is one of those guys that if you look at him and you didn’t watch the NBA at all and you caught him on the right night, you might think he is a superstar. He averaged 15 a game and 3.7 rebounds and three assist while shooting 47% from the field and 37% from three with Atlanta last year in 26 minutes a game. A big time big time efficiency scorer. He’s the perfect 3 and D wing like I said to play around. Kade Cunningham maybe a little bit better from three next year. You can hope for it, but he was big time in Atlanta this year. 15 points a game in just 26 minutes. And then you also have the pure sharpshooter himself, Duncan Robinson, who will fly off a down screen and bury a three in your face in a hurry. They signed him to a three or $48 million deal. However, he’s guaranteed just 17 million. They can cut him after next season and only owe him $2 million, leaving those books wide open. He averaged 11 a game with 2.4 rebounds and 2.4 assist and half a steal while shooting 44% from the field and 39% from three on six and a half attempts per game. He is an elite floor spacer, a guy that is going to attract a lot of the defense’s attention and if they don’t then he’s just going to knock it down. That 39% is a little bit misleading from beyond the arc because his degree of difficulty on shots is ridiculous. They essentially replace Malik Beasley and Tim Hardaway Jr. with Duncan Robinson and Caris Levert. And I like the way the direction if you will that that is going. Now as for the whole Mal League Beasley situation, it’s an interesting one because he seems to think he’s going to be just fine. There’s a lot of these cases popping up in pro sports everywhere, but he thinks he’s going to be back with the team next year. Now, he is obviously an integral part of this rotation. 16.3 points a game with 2.7 rebounds, an assist, and a steal per night. 43% of shooting from the field, 42% from three on 9.3 attempts per game. That is a ridiculous mark. second in three-pointers made this season only to Anthony Edwards and he missed out on leading the league by one three-pointer made. He is an unrestricted free agent currently while everything is being investigated. I think I hope he will be back in Detroit. We will have to wait and see though. They could get a bargain on him right now because of how cheap he will be. But this is what the lineup’s going to look like heading into next season. Very, very similar to the one that won so many games this year and obviously made the playoffs as the six seed, but with an upgraded bench. Now, this is assuming Malik Beasley is back. If not, we can throw Marcus Sasser in there at the backup one, slide Caris Levert to the backup two. But I want to talk about Ron Holland because this man has taken a leap. The shooting ability that he has showcased in the summer so far, it is clear that he was working with the Piston Shot Doctor this off seasonason because taking a look at his jumper from last year, it’s not bad, but it has a little bit of a hitch to it, especially when he was working with the G-League Ignite. Now it’s just a smooth shot. Like right here off the dribble, he’s going to step it back. It’s a little bit off to the left side of his face. Now he’s just looking like a sniper to be honest. And of course he has the athleticism. He’s 6’7 with a 6’11 wingspan and can jump out of the gym and run like a cheetah. But I mean he is hitting step back threes. He’s getting into his bag and cooking. Playing in the summer league in year two I think was one of the best things that could have happened to him. You see the stats from last year. Played 81 of the 82 games and averaged 19 minutes a night. shot 47% from the field but 24% from three. Teams didn’t even have to guard him on the perimeter. So getting him a three-point shot could be huge for the Pistons. And then you also have Aar Thompson who is a fantastic defender. 6’7 with a 7ft wingspan and can shut things down on the perimeter. Look at him come all the way across this play and get the block. Trailing Zack Lavine here. Lavine gets to the step back and he still gets the block. And then right here he gets beat back door but he’s able to recover like nobody’s business. 10.7 points a night. 5.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 1.7 steals in 23 minutes a game. Shot 54% from the field and 24% from three on eight attempts or point8 attempts a night, excuse me. Asar Thompson is not taking eight threes a night, but watch him lock up the eventual league MVP right here, Shay Gil Alexander loves to draw fouls. He’s not able to get a foul drawn on Aar Thompson. Great contest on the fallway right there. Gets beat momentarily, recovers, gets the block, gets the stealer going the other way. They also have Tobias Harris, who we didn’t even talk about, is a really big piece of that starting lineup as kind of that third option behind Cade and Ivy. With that being said, that’s going to be it for today’s video. But hey, stop sleeping on the Detroit Pistons. Make sure the like button, leave me a comment down below, and hit the subscribe button if you did enjoy any point. And with that being said, thanks so much for watching today’s video.

The Detroit Pistons are one of the most underrated teams in the nba this year behind young superstar Cade Cunningham, elite costar Jaden Ivey and others
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