Detroit Pistons SHOCK NBA with Packed National TV Schedule | Can Detroit Surpass 45 Wins?

Detroit Pistons SHOCK NBA with Packed National TV Schedule | Can Detroit Surpass 45 Wins?

The national basketball community will be seeing a lot more of your Detroit Pistons as the schedule has dropped for next season and the Pistons have quite a few national TV games. We’ll talk about and break it down 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 podcast network, your team every day. What’s the deal? Welcome back to another episode of the Lockdown Pistons podcast. Per usual, I am your host, Cahero. I’ve been covering the Detroit Pistons over the last four years for the Lockdown Network. I’ve been in conjunction with media member over the last three years. And I appreciate all of you guys for making Lockdown Pistons your first listen of every single day, the everydayers out there. 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 lockmbna at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. In today’s episode, we’ll be discussing whether the Pistons will win more or less than 45 wins. Bleacher Report has the Detroit Pistons winning 45 games this upcoming year. I’ll discuss whether I think they can go over under it. And then Detroit verse Atlanta. I think these two teams are the teams that everyone has really like right around each other. Some people have Atlanta leaprogging the Pistons. Some people have the Pistons staying right ahead of Atlanta. But these are the two teams that I think a lot of people are watching for in the Eastern Conference. We’ll break down that comparison a little bit later as well. But the Detroit Pistons, their season schedule has dropped. They did drop a cool little like 30 second uh teaser video, schedule drop video on their Twitter account with Kade and Ron Holland. Kade, my guy, the acting job. We got we got to get you in some acting lessons, my man. There’s been a there’s been a few there’s been there’s been a we’ve had a few situations or a few times now where Kade’s been asked to be, you know, uh to act some and he can he can get a little better. Ron Ron, I thought you did a decent job. I’m not going to lie to you. Uh it was a fun little uh schedule release video. I thought it was cool. Um but let’s go ahead and get into the schedule itself. The Pistons have quite a bit of national TV games this year. Over the last few years, it was tough to say. So like obviously two, three years ago since 2020 that the Pistons deserve more national attention because obviously they’ve been really bad. But then this past year, building upon that, a lot of fans wanted to see the Pistons get that national media respect, get that national attention. And the NBA responded with giving them quite a bit of national TV game. So for Peacock, they have because remember the Pistons have or not the Pistons, the NBA has a new meteor rights where they’re now with NBC, Peacock, Amazon Prime, ESPN. You’re no longer going to see them on TNT, stuff like that. So, for this upcoming year, the Pistons have uh quite a few games on Peacock, which we’ll get into this whole thing a little bit in in just a few seconds, but on October 27th, they play Cleveland on Peacock. November 1st, they play Dallas on Peacock. On November 10th, they play Washington on Peacock. On January 5th, they play New York on Peacock. That’s now four games. They play San Antonio. On February 23rd on Peacock, that’s five games. And then they play a six Peacock game against the Oklahoma City Thunder in uh on March 30th. Now, if you move on to NBC, they play Atlanta, which I think is a I’m looking forward to that game. I think that game is going to be a lot of fun to watch, especially because of the topic we’re going to talk about a little later, but they play Atlanta on NBC on November 18th. They also play Boston on Martin Luther King Day on NBC as well. Um, and that’s the end of their NBC games. Then you got ESPN games. Again, we’re at like eight or nine games at this point. ESPN, they play Boston on November 26th. That is an inseason tournament game. And then they play Cleveland on February 27th on ESPN. They play Atlanta again on March 25th on ESPN. And then towards the end of the year, they play Milwaukee on ESPN on April 8th. Then they have a few prime games. We’re not done yet. They play Houston January 23rd on on Prime TV. They play New York February 26 for Prime and then they play New York again on Prime like a week and a half later on February 19th. So the Pistons in total if you count all of those as national TV games. I know some people are saying they don’t count Peacock as a national TV game. I do. Everyone’s going to be able to watch those games. I count that as national TV. So, if you count all that, that’s 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 national TV games for your Detroit Pistons this year. So, the NBA is openly saying this is a fun and upand cominging team. They have a rising superstar in K Cunningham. They have a bunch of other young talent. We loved the first round series you gave New York this past year. We are expecting you guys to not only be fun and exciting this year, but to take another step forward this year. And we want everyone, we want to start marketing you. That’s I I I love seeing that. I hope the NBA takes that takes that stance with a lot of up and cominging teams. To be honest, this has been a complaint, just to go sidetrack a little bit. This has been a complaint of mine as an NBA fan. I’ve loved the NBA for like my whole life. The guys that I grew up with are all getting older. Steph, LeBron, KD, Harden, like all these guys are getting older and felt like for years the NBA has still just been like catering to them. Where there is a lot of young stars, a lot of young superstars that you need to be marketing the NBA. You need to be marketing to your fan base. So when these old guys eventually retire here soon, it’s not like, oh, the NBA’s in terrible hands because they’re not. The NBA has a lot of talent. You need to start marketing these guys. So, I’m glad the Pistons are getting this many games on national TV. I hope a lot of the other young fan bases and young teams, they get to see their team on national TV as well. And the NBA starts doing a better job now with this new TV deal. Start marketing some of these young teams. So, I like the fact that the Pistons have this many games. It’s going to be a lot of fun. Hopefully the Pistons I think all of us are expecting them to be pretty good this year. Um so I don’t think we have I’m not too concerned about oh are they going to be you know is this going to be a disappointment? No. I I expect the Pistons to be pretty good this year. So I think they’ll put on a show and be fun every single time they’re on TV. A part of the schedule that I’m really looking forward to, they have this thing called rivalry week. Um and the Pistons are playing uh this is one of their prime games. They’re going to be playing Houston on January. What is it? January 23rd. I need my I need to get glasses. Um January 23rd they play against Houston a part of rivalry week. Now I saw some fans say should Houston really be the team that the Pistons have a rivalry with? Is should you if you’re going to do that should it be New York or whatever. One I don’t think the Pistons have a rivalry with New York. They have to beat New York and they lost to New York. So I don’t really see the rivalry there. There definitely is one with Houston. Now it’s harder to like we just had Jackson from Lockdown Rockets on the pockets like last week and for the first four years of this of both teams rebuild these were the two teams that were constantly compared to these two fan bases constantly fought each other. It was a huge rivalry obviously. But once Jaylen Green got traded, the rivalry kind of dies a little bit because it was really about Jaylen Green versus Cade. And then after last year, I feel like Cade kind of silenced that debate to begin with anyways. But because he was still on the rockets, that rivalry was still there. And that was what everyone always liked looking forward to. I mean, last year we had Shaq on what was it TNT asking Kay like, you know, why don’t you like Jaylen Green? I forget what the exact question was, but they started talking about Jaylen Green that whole rivalry. If Green was still on the team, I completely get it. With him off the team, I understand that how some people are saying that it’s not there anymore. I do think simply having the Thompson Twins make it a rivalry and a lot of people want to see the Thompson Twins play against each other. So, I think that’s going to lead to a national TV game. I’m going to expect every year, as long as they’re on the Pistons and Rockets, you’re going to get a national TV game with these guys playing against each other. And then also because the Pistons took the next jump last year and are trying to catch up to Houston because they were compared to so early on the rebuild. I feel like that’s naturally going to be a comparison for years. Whether Jaylen Green is obviously with Jaylen Green or not, I think they are going to be compared to each other. So I do think the NBA made the right decision. If they want to include the Pistons in rivalry week, I probably would pick the Houston Rockets as well. And again, especially because you have the Thompson Twins, like they are going to be marketed. The NBA loves them. I know you guys have been seeing them get marketed obviously on Slam Magazine. They’ve done multiple little videos for NBA uh for the NBA channel. They’ve done NBA Twitter or not NBA Twitter, the Twitter account of the NBA has put out multiple videos featuring both of them. They love the Thompson twins. So, it makes a lot of sense to me that they would obviously uh market those two guys and put them in rivalry week. I think that makes a lot of sense. Um the last things I have to say, we’re not going to go through each part of the schedule. I’m not interested in doing that. What I do like to do every year, you guys know this, I like looking at the Pistons first 10 games. I think they need to start out the gate well. I don’t think I mean they flipped it around this past year and in January and really took off. That’s not something to I don’t think that’s uh sustainable. You don’t want to get midway through the year and like, okay, now we’re going to be good. You kind of want level yourself up to where you are in a good position that if you get hot, then you can really jump into the stands like into the third seat. You don’t want to be behind the wheel and then trying to, you know, trying to catch up basically. So, I want to look at the Pistons first 10 games. And obviously, another reason why I look at the first 10 games is simply because the first games we’re going to see. So, let’s talk about those games. They start off against Chicago opening night um or opening day, October 22nd. Their first game at home is Boston on October 26. I probably should have said that. That’s actually a 3:30 tipoff game on a Sunday is their first home game. Um, I’m questioning that. I honestly should have looked if the Lions played that day. I’m not sure. Um, I don’t know if I I I don’t know how I feel about their opening night being midday. It’s not really opening night, but anyways, they start off with Chicago, then they go to Houston, game two, then Boston, Cleveland, Orlando, round out the first five games, then Dallas, Memphis, Utah, Brooklyn, Philadelphia. In the Pistons first five or first 10 games, at the very least, at the very least, I think they should go five and five. They should beat Philadelphia. They should beat Brooklyn. They should beat Utah. I’d like to see them beat Memphis and Dallas. I think they can beat all those teams. Orlando will be a tough game, but that’s a winnable game. So, that’s six. I’m not going to just pencil. That’s not a pencilated win, but they can beat Orlando. That’s a competitive game. Cleveland. Cleveland’s a better team, but the Pizzas have beat Cleveland in the past. So, that should be a competitive game. They should beat Boston. I want everyone to go look at Boston’s roster. Someone in the Boston Celtics Twitter, tweet out what their roster looks like. When you look at it on paper, you’re like, my god, I don’t know how that team’s going to be really good. So, they should beat Boston as well. Houston will be tough. I think Houston’s going to be a contender. I won’t be surp surprised if Houston’s in the finals, but you’re catching them at the right time. Second game of the year, incorporating KD. Maybe the chemistry is not all there. Maybe you beat Houston. I do think you can beat Chicago. Obviously, you should beat them. So, that in the first 10 games, I won’t be shocked if the Pistons start off seven and three, eight and two. like if they are as good as we think they can be, which we’ll talk about coming up. These first 10 games, they could really start out hot. So, we’ll see how they start this season off, but I think this schedule is much more favorable. And also, it has to do with the fact that the team is better than we thought last year going into the season. Team is better, but I think this schedule is much more favorable early on than the last few seasons where I feel like the first few games of the year have just been gauntless for the Pistons. Um, I think they should start start off hot here and really give themselves a a good start to try and get into the top five, top four of the Eastern Conference. So, let me know comment section down below or over on Twitter, Cuckoo Hill. What are your guys’ takeaways from the NBA schedule drop Pistons related? And maybe you have some takeaways NBA related where outside of Detroit, are there any other games that you’re really looking forward to watching? Let me know comment section down below or over on Twitter, Cook Hill. Coming up, can the Pistons win over 45 games? bleach report believes that’s where they will sit at. I’ll break down where I think they’re going to end up coming up. 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Make lock on Pistons your first listen for every single day. We are freely available on all your podcast platforms. If you haven’t already, head to the YouTube channel at Lockdown Pistons. Hit that subscribe button or leave us a fivestar review on whatever podcast platform you’re listening to us on. That’s another great way to support the podcast. I give you guys this update every single time in the second segment. You guys want to check out the subst. We have breakdowns, film breakdowns, uh, multiple articles published at all times, especially during the season. We’re going to be every single day giving you guys content. I have a Jane Ivy article dropped last week along with Marcus Sasserman. We’re going to be having a film breakdown drop this week coming up. So, if you want to check that out, Substack’s down below. If you don’t see the link, it’s cuckill.substack.com. Also, if you want to watch me play some video games over on Twitch, come talk Pistons with me while we play video games. It’s always a lot of fun. Twitch account is linked down below as well. If you don’t see that link, it’s Cookill 7 on Twitch. But let’s go ahead and get into it. 45 wins over under. That’s where Bleacher Report has the Detroit Pistons winning 45 games this upcoming year. I see a lot of people talking about it obviously. Will the Piss is that is that disrespectful to the Pistons? Is that respectable? You know, what would happen if they won 45 games? Let’s start there and then we’ll move into how many games I think they’re going to win. If they won 45 games, would that be a disappointment to me? No. I think that would be I tweeted this out. I think that would be is a is a realistic expectation or a realistic um guess for where the Pistons will end up. They won 44 games this past year. 45 games would be one more win. And uh we had Hal on the podcast a few weeks ago and he brought this up and it’s a good point and it’s a true point. The Pistons could win 45 games this year, end up as a fifth seed. They could win 45 games this year, end up as a seven seed. Like, you never like you can’t, it’s hard to judge improvement unless you’re like going from 44 to 50 wins, like obvious improvement. But if you’re a 44 win team one year and a 45 game or a 45 team the next year, that 45 win team, you could be way better than the 44 win team, but maybe the conference was a little bit harder than you expected or maybe you dropped some games that maybe you wish you wouldn’t have. Okay, but your net rating could be way better. Your offense could be way better. You could be feeling a lot more confident in that team even though they only have one more win. Context goes into it. Watching the team play goes into it. So just win total purely does not always paint the picture, but it does do a good job of it. Um, so but 45 wins I don’t think would be crazy. They lost Malik Beasley who had one of the greatest shooting seasons we’ve ever seen this past year and even he wasn’t going to be able to really replicate that. So, taking that away, could that hurt them some? I do think it could hurt hurt them quite a bit this upcoming year. Um, maybe you get one, you know, leap from a young guy, maybe the other young guys don’t take as big of a leap. Is that enough to improve one game? I think so. Um, and I think the Pistons got really hot after the January 1. Teams are going to take the Pistons a lot more serious this year. I saw someone write about this as well, and I do think it’s a fair point. The Pistons came out this past year really was disrespected for a while. People didn’t really I would say I don’t want to say take them seriously. I take some credit away from the Pistons. I don’t think any credit should be taken away from the Pistons. But I do think it’s 100% fair to say that the Pistons caught people by surprise and then this year they won’t be caught by surprise. Like teams will be respecting the Pistons every game and giving them what’s the right word? Maybe the the the utmost amount of preparedness I guess every single game. Whereas last year, I think maybe you could argue that wasn’t happening because teams maybe didn’t take them as serious because of what happened the previous season. So, I do think all of that can play into maybe not seeing the Pistons win like six plus games. Also, some people just don’t like the Pistons offseason. I’m okay with it. I we’ve graded the offseason numerous times. I have it like a CC plus. Don’t think it was great. Don’t think it was bad. Um but if you don’t like the Pistons offseason and then you also think losing Millie Beasley is really going to hurt, which I I would agree with that one. Um, I could 100% see why you say, “Okay, the Pistons are going to be around the same win total. Won’t make a huge jump, but they won’t get worse.” I could see that. At the end of the day, I don’t think 45 wins is a crazy I don’t think that’s disrespectful. I don’t think people should be getting mad about it. Um, do I believe the Pistons can win more than 45 games? Yes, I do. I think obviously if K continues to get better, that will obviously that your best player has to continue to lead you. Um, but Assar Thompson, I really think Assar could take a leap this year if he takes a leap. I think Assar is the most impactful player outside of Kade on this team. I think the numbers all bear that out. All the objective numbers show that. If Assar improves offensively, I think he can swing this team three to five wins himself with that. So, I think the Pistons could get to 47 48 wins this upcoming year. If Ivy takes a jump, that would be great for this team and really help them get to closer 50 wins. If Duran takes the leap defensively, that would be huge. Um, so it really just and then obviously Ron Holland, how much better is he? All of that plays into it. You just, it’s hard to predict impernal improvement. You kind of just have to see it. But could the Pistons win more than 45 games? 100%. And the other thing that you have to look at this, and we kind of talked about this a little earlier, uh, with the schedule, Boston’s roster is not good. Like, look at Boston’s roster. It is not good. They’re going to be dropping from the second seed to I think maybe the playin. Um and now those games that the Pistons play against Boston are not going to be playing against one of the greatest offenses we’ve seen. We’re going to be going to we’re going to be seeing them play against a not very good roster. So those are a few games that maybe you should be able to sneak sneak in. Indiana who’s in their own division. You play four times a year. They lost Miles Turner and obviously don’t have Halleurn for the whole year. That should be a lot easier that you should be able to get some more wins from that um from that team not being as good this upcoming year. I think Milwaukee is not I I really don’t think Milwaukee is that good either. That’s indivision. That’s four games. The Pistons will be able to do a good job with that. There’s a few teams that just dropped I think in the top five. I think Milwaukee will drop. I think uh Boston’s going to drop and Indiana’s going to drop. So, those are just some extra wins I think the Pistons can take advantage of. I think if the Pistons I I mention this all the time. I wrote an article about it last year. Taking care of your business against the bad teams is more than half the battle. People always and it matters your record against above 500 teams, but more than half the battle is just dominating the lower ranked teams. If you win all your games against the Wizards, the Hornets, the Nets, the RA, like you win those games, you’re going to be in a good spot. Don’t drop any games to bad team. You can’t be dropping bad losses. Those ones are the ones that really kill you. Not the ones where you go against a team on a similar tier as you and you happen to drop one. Those are going to happen and it is what it is. You’d like to win those games, but that’s going to happen. It’s when you drop the games that you shouldn’t drop that really impact you in the totality of the season. So, Fizz gets some improvement. They really handle their business against some of the worst teams in the East and overall in the NBA. And then the fact that I think there’s a there’s two teams in their division that got much worse, I believe. And then there’s a team at the top of the conference that they are going to play at least three times. They got a lot worse as well. I think that should really help the Pistons as well with their win total. But at the end of the day, it is going to come down to internal improvement. And we’ve talked about how great this team was after January 1st. After January 1st, the Pistons were not just a Cinderella storybook, you know, fun story. They were legit one of the best teams in the entire NBA after January 1st. Now, do I think that’s going to happen again? We’ll have to wait and see. Should the defense translate again to this year and get even better with the SAR being there full full health for the full season? 100%. 100%. If the Pistons can play like the team after January 1st all year this year, they should be trying to get to 50 wins. But one, I don’t believe stuff translates like that season to season. Teams are different, environments are different, culture is different, other teams are different. You know, everything it changes. This is a new season. It’s a whole new season. You’re not starting from last year. You’re starting from scratch now. So, can we look to last season? Obviously, and have takeaways for sure. But I’m not going to just say it’s going to be a one to one comparison. We have to actually see it bear out. That’s one. But two, the area that I think the Pistons really do need to improve upon if they want to take this next step, I don’t think it’s their defense. I do think their defense is going to be good. Simply, as long as Assar and Stu are healthy, their defense will be good. their halfcourt offense has to improve and that’s going to come from improvements with Assar Thompson um and improvement from Jane Ivy. I believe those guys have to improve offensively, especially Assar if he improves his ball handling. But if they can improve their half court offense to where they’re not a bottom 10 half court offense again and in the playoffs they were one of the worst. I think they were the second worst half court offense in the in the playoffs this past year. But in the during the season, I believe they were bottom 10 when you removed putbacks and even when you included putbacks, I think they moved into the top 11 or bottom 11, bottom 12. So, they are a bad half court team. If they can improve their half court offense, I think that’s where this team really takes the next jump. Kade becomes a little bit more efficient. I think that obviously helps your half court offense, hits more threes, become a better finisher at the rim, maybe draw some more free throws. But it’s not just Kade. Kade can’t carry the half court offense of Assar. still isn’t able to really shoot, which I don’t think he’s going to be able to, but maybe he can produce some secondary ball handling, be a much better driver, a much more willing driver, become a better finisher, be willing to take contact, get to the free throw line. Ivy, if he can become a better finisher at the rim, draw more free throws, shoot better at the free throw line, continue to hit these threes. I think if that happens, the Pistons should be a much better half court offense, and I think that’s what will translate them to really flying past this 45 win total that Bleacher Report has them at. They could, if they improve as a half court team, I think they could win 50 games this year. So, but again, it’s hard to predict predict um internal improvement. So, we just have to kind of wait and see. But, is the ceiling there for the Pistons? 100%. The ceiling is there for them to be a 50-1 team. We just have to see if it actually plays out that way. So, but at the end of the day, I don’t think 45 wins is disrespectful. I do think that’s a if you pulled a 100 people outside Detroit to guess the Pistons win total. I think that would probably be the average win total that you’d get. 45 46 wins. I think that’s that’s fair. I don’t think that’s disrespectful. And the Pistons could be a fifth seed with 45 wins. That doesn’t mean that they’re a bad team. and maybe they’re heating up at the end of the year. Maybe you’ve seen some things improve that you really like and you feel more confident with them. So, don’t think it’s disrespectful, but they do have a ceiling, I believe, of 50 wins. So, let me know comment section down below or over on Twitter, Cucker Hill. Do you guys believe the Pistons, one will win more than 45 games, and two, do you think 45 wins prediction is disrespectful to the Pistons? Let me know again comment section down below or over on Twitter, Cookah Hill. Coming up, the team that I think a lot of people are elevating over the Pistons is the Atlanta Hawks. I want to do a comparison between the two teams when we come back. So, I want to thank you guys again. Make locked on 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 at Locked On Pistons, hit that subscribe button or leave us a fivestar review on whatever podcast platform you’re listening to us on. That’s another great way to support the podcast, the Substack, the Twitch in the link, uh, in the description down below. I had a brain freeze for a second there. Um, check it out if you haven’t already. Appreciate all the support, all the every dares, all that. You guys know it. Um, Atlanta verse Detroit. This is the are the two teams I feel like everyone, not everyone, majority of people have the top three in the East kind of pencled in. They got Cleveland and New York. And I think I think most people have Orlando third, which I would also have Orlando third. I think they’re one, they were really unhealthy this past year and they still found a way to get into the playoffs and only where were they at behind the Pistons? Like three games behind the Pistons. If those guys are healthy along with Desmond Bane who really add some much neededing shooting to them, I think third I think Orlando is the third best team in the East and I think most people agree with that. After that, I think they have Atlanta and Detroit fighting for that fourth seed. That’s the two teams I’ve seen most compared to and most talked about for the fourth seed in the East. So, I just want to compare the rosters real quick. Atlanta’s really good, guys. The roster on paper is really good. I I understand why I understand why team people are high on Atlanta. I’m high on Atlanta. I really like what they did this offseason from their roster spots, from the trades what they made with future picks. you know, certain people from other teams that maybe were in this front office at one point, went to other teams, um, continue to donate to other teams somehow, and you know, maybe Atlanta was a beneficiary of that. I think you guys know what trade I’m speaking to here. I’m not going to say his name, though. Um, but outside of that, the future picks, I thought that was great. But their roster, I really like their roster as well. They obviously have Trey Young, who I think is a Where did I have Trey Young in the top 100? Did I I think I had Trey top I think I had Trey 29th in the NBA when I did the top 100. I believe that was I could probably I have the list somewhere. I submitted it already, but I had I probably should have pulled that up. But I think I had Trey 29th in the NBA when I did the top 100 last week for locked on. So I really like Trey. I think he’s great. Um one of the best playmakers in the league. Um I really like Tyson Daniels, one of the best defensive players in the league. Um I liked Zachary Risha’s rookie season. I think he’s going to be a really good like starting caliber player. I don’t think he’s ever going to be a superstar or star or anything, but I think he’s a good wing, which if you have good wings, I’m going to like your roster. And the the Hawks do. They got Tyson Daniels, they got Ricochet. I very much like Jaylen Johnson, who was hurt this past year, but when he did play looked tremendous. I love the addition of Kil Alexander Walker helps get them a little bit more deep in the roster. On Elkongu, I really like him as well. I think he’s continuing to improve. Luke Canard, I like Lukard as well if he can be healthy. And then obviously they got Christopheringis who I think is a is a top 35 talent but can’t you know obviously healthwise hasn’t just hasn’t been on the court and we don’t know what happened this past playoffs. I I need to see him play before I know if he’s like is he able to play more than 10 minutes a game. Can he breathe again? Like what’s what’s happening? Um but the talent on the roster with Atlanta is is great. I I really love the roster. Do I think they have more talent than the Pistons? I think they have more proven talent. Yes. Um, I like their I like their roster build a little bit more. They have more 3 and D guys and they have more wings that can play together, which I like their which is why I like their roster build a little bit more. Rish, Jaylen Johnson can play together. Nikquila Alexander Walker can play with with Rishcha. Jaylen Johnson, Dyson Daniels can play with Rishch. Jaylen Johnson, Nquila Alexander Walker, Luke Canar can play with them. Chris stops at the five could be really crazy. Like I I I don’t have any questions about whether that team can fit together if they’re healthy. The big thing with them is health. And Luke Canard hasn’t given us reason to believe that they’re he’s going to be healthy for a full year. Christophs definitely hasn’t given us a reason to believe he’s going to be healthy for an entire season. Jaylen Johnson has given us question marks to believe whether he’s going to be healthy for a full season. So, for health alone, I think the Pistons will I think the Pistons, if you like had the FA like the betting odds for fourth seed in the in the East, I think the Pistons should be slight favorites over them simply because of health. The Pistons team I I think has proven to be a much more healthy team than them. I know Assar missed like half the year, but that’s not like I think we everyone agrees to kind of throw that out. Blood clots is not reoccurring injury. He got a blood clot had to be, you know, wasn’t allowed to come back. that doesn’t count. So, Assar hasn’t proven to shown to be injuryprone. Kade this past year played in a lot of games. Would have played more in down the stretch where they were kind of, you know, getting ready for the season. Not concerned about Kade healthwise when it comes to like missing maybe like like 30 games or anything. Will Kade maybe miss 10 games in a season per season maybe, probably 10 to 13 games? I won’t rule that out. But like Kristop’s level, Jaylen Johnson level, Luke Canard level when you’re with you’re missing like 30 plus games a year. I’m not having that concern with Cade. Ivy had a freak accident. Don’t think he’s going to be, you know, missing 30 games. Duran’s been really healthy throughout his career. So, the Pistons, I think, are just a a more healthy team. I think that will be their biggest advantage over the Atlanta Hawks. And another advantage I think the Pistons will have over Atlanta, I think that the Pistons have a better um franchise player, I think Kate’s better than Trey, especially because of the defense. I think Kay is better than Trey and I think the Pistons have a higher ceiling because I think the Hawks do have more proven talent than the Pistons. Like as of right now, like August 15th, take away potential, take away what you, you know, think they could become. As of right now, the Atlanta Hawks have a more talented roster. They have a better They have better players. Dyson Daniels is better than Jay Ivy right now. More better defensive player. Impacted the game defensively at an insane mark. He’s better than Jay Ivy right now. Jaylen Johnson, he’s better than Assar Thompson. Chris Hosping, he’s better than Jaylen Durren. Like Nikil Alexander Walker. A lot of us in the Pistons community want to kill Alexander Walker because he could potentially start like he’s he’s really good. Obviously Trey Young, he’s not better than Kade, but he’s better than anyone else on the Pistons. So, as of right now, I think the Hawks have a more talented roster if you’re taking away potential. But I think the Pistons, if these young guys, who are obviously very young, continue to get better, which we a lot of us believe they will be, will continue to get better and they take a leap this year, I think they have higher ceilings than almost all the players on the on the Hawks outside of outside of maybe Jaylen Johnson. I’ll say Jaylen Johnson. I think maybe I think I would be disrespectful to say that everyone on the Pistons has a higher ceiling than Jaylen Johnson. I think Jaylen Johnson has a pretty high ceiling. is really good. Um, but I say I think Pistons have multiple players on their roster though is my point that if they take leaps could jump some of these guys. Like if gets him gets better offensively, I think he’s already better than Dyson Daniels. I think he’s a better offensive player than Dyson Daniels already. I think I’ll say this, the way Pistons fans, some Pistons fans talk about Assar offensively is actually what Dyson Daniels is. Like go watch Dyson play offensively. It’s not, you’re not going to like it. Um, I think Assar will be I think he’s already better, but if he improves offensively, he’s jumping way ahead of Dyson. Um, if Jaylen Duran can improve defensively, I think he’ll be better than Yaka Kongu. I think you could probably make the argument he already is. And if he can improve defensively, that really helps. I think he jumps ahead. If Ivy makes the improvements to be an all-around offensive scoreer and maybe improves defensively, I think he’ll be better than Dyson Daniels. He should become better than Zachary Rishes, Nquila Alexander Walker, like these guys. Same thing with Ron Holland. around Holland. Like the Pistons have like out of all the teams in the East, I think this would be the best way to explain how how I feel. I think out of all the teams in the East, the Pistons have like the largest room between like what people maybe guess they’ll do and then their ceiling. Like the ceiling between them is large. Like it’s like for those you guys aren’t watching on YouTube, you guys can’t see it, but like I think they have a lot of room between what they can’t what what people think they’ll do and what they can do in their ceiling. I think the rest of the teams don’t have quite the ceiling the Pistons do because they don’t have quite the same amount of young talent that could take a jump forward. Overall point is I do think this would be a very good battle between these two teams. If Atlanta is healthy for an entire season, it’s gonna be tough for the Pistons because I really like their roster build and the talent they have. The problem is can’t really say or expect the team to be healthy for the whole year because we have multiple players on that team that we’ve seen not be healthy for multiple years all season. So, if you do want to pencil that in, I guess that’s why you would put Atlanta ahead of them. Again, I’m not disrespecting Atlanta at all. I really like what they’ve done with their roster, their lineups that they can play, their lineup versatility, their wings. I love the roster, but they’re relying a lot on health. If they get that, I think they’ll they could leaprog the Pistons, but if the Pistons young guys get better, I think again, they just have a higher ceiling than Atlanta, I think. But again, we it’s it’s hard to predict, like I said earlier, it’s hard to predict internal development. You kind of just have to let it see him play out. So, I think the main argument that if you’re a Pistons fan, you’d make over Atlanta, it’s just health. The Pistons have a healthier roster. So, we’ll see bail out. I’m interested to see these both both of these teams. Atlanta will be one of the league pass teams I’ll be watching. I think they could be a lot of fun. Um and we’ll see what happens this year. So let me know comment section down below or over on Twitter. Who will be higher in the Eastern Conference, the Pistons or the Hawks? That’s all I’ve got for you guys today. Thank you guys for making Lockdown Pistons your first listen of every single day. If you’re available on all your podcast platforms, hit that subscribe button to the YouTube channel. Leave us a fivestar view. Whatever podcast listening to this on. And until next time, I’ll see you guys later and peace out everybody.

Detroit Pistons set to shine on national stage. Can they live up to the hype?

Ku Khahil breaks down the Pistons’ increased national TV presence and analyzes their win projections for the upcoming NBA season. From Cade Cunningham’s impact to comparisons with the Atlanta Hawks, this episode covers it all. The host examines the team’s first 10 games, potential for a strong start, and the crucial need to improve their half-court offense.

Discover why the Pistons might surpass expectations, possibly reaching 47-48 wins or even the coveted 50-win mark. Will young talents like Ausar Thompson and Jaden Ivey step up to boost the team’s performance? Tune in for expert insights on the Pistons’ path to success in a competitive Eastern Conference.

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