Locked On Knicks/Pistons Crossover: How Close Is Detroit To Being A PROBLEM For New York?

Locked On Knicks/Pistons Crossover: How Close Is Detroit To Being A PROBLEM For New York?

On today’s episode of the Lock Knicks podcast, just how big of a threat are the Pistons to the New York Knicks and are the Knicks the alpha dog of the Eastern Conference? We get into it all right now on Locked on Knicks. You are Locked on Knicks, your daily New York Knicks podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. You are locked on to the New York Knicks. My name is Gavin Shelman, credential media member that’s been covering the New York Knicks for nearly a decade and the Saturday co-host of the Locked On NBA podcast. Be sure to check out all my work over there. This is Locked on Knicks, part of the Locked On, your team every day, your daily podcast on the New York Knicks, giving the most detailed insight on your favorite team five whole days a week. So, be sure to join thousands of other Nicks fans and subscribing on both YouTube and your favorite podcast platform for the best insight on your favorite team every single day. on today’s show. Uh, first we want to tell you that it’s sponsored by our friends over at Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code locked on NBAmoney.com for 50% off your first year. On today’s show, I am lucky enough to be joined by my good friend Cahill, the solo host of the Locked On Pistons podcast. You guys might remember when we did that uh massive preview with him uh before the Knicks Pistons series. uh for summer reset. We we go back, we we take a look back at some of the uh highlights from Nicks Pistons, some of our takeaways from Knicks Pistons playing in the playoffs, and then I was curious to get Coup’s perspective on the New York Knicks and of course his thoughts on Detroit and just how big of a threat they are in the Eastern Conference. Are they maybe sneakily the Knicks biggest threat outside of Cleveland? Uh we will talk about that and so much more in today’s edition of the Lockdown Knicks podcast. All right, guys. We are lucky enough to be joined by an old friend Cuckahill, the host of the Locked On Pistons podcast. Uh, who big battle in the first round. It is it is the the weird thing about the playoffs is you have this like absolute war with another team and I always just want like a week after to like catch my breath, break it down, have you back on, talk about it because it’s amazing series, amazing moments. you know as well as I do like very like I think each of the last five games in the series decided by six points or less four of them I think by three or four points or less like very easily could have swung either way and it’s this weird thing in where where you’re one team moves on to the offseason the other team like moves on to the Celtics and and that’s your focus but I’m happy we could belt go down as a classic first round series. Yeah, it was a very very fun first round series. Especially I I think for the Knicks, I think uh it really at least from our perspective, it felt like that the Pistons kind of gave the Knicks a run for their money. Kind of set them up for the rest of their playoff run. Had a tough first round series, got them ready moving forward. I mean, they to get out of that series, it was extremely physical. It was extremely just it felt like it was played in the trenches. So, I feel like it helped New York moving forward and you guys had some great success. So, I had a lot of fun watching the series. I thought it was great. Yeah, I think I think I look obviously this was an area the Knicks were already got a lot of credit and recognition, but if if if this iteration of the Knicks needed some toughening up. Um I I think Detroit gave that to them, right? That that was the most physical first round series I’ll say in the Eastern Conference because West you you get some wars, but like that I can remember in recent memory. I I guess having said that, how did you feel about the Knicks coming out of the first round? always so curious like you you you’re always interested in the perspective of like people cover other teams and have maybe a little bit more of an objective view not seeing the Knicks as often but I’m I’m always particularly interested in teams that you played an extended series against you got to watch the Knicks against the Pistons six times. Um there were there were some real low moments for the Knicks and real high moments for the Knicks. What what is your view on that team and them heading into next year and maybe what a more optimized version of the Knicks could look like and just how close Detroit is to to hitting that level. Yeah, I thought the playoff series I mean before the series started there was a lot of talk of who was going to be the best player in the series. Jaylen Brunson Kate Honey Jaylen Brunson made it clear he was the best player in that series and that’s why the Knicks won. It was Kate’s first playoff series. He had some good highlights. He had some good high moments but he also has some low moments. some moments that he’s going to have to improve upon. And that’s the kind of thing that happens when you play in your first ever playoff series. The entire team was is their whole team’s first playoff experience. All of them are extremely young. So, it makes sense. But Jaylen Brunson, if there was any question before the series, Jaylen Brunson made it clear he was the best player in the series. Um, and that’s one of the main reasons why the Knicks were able to move on. I thought the Knicks before the series started, I said it, were just a more talented team. I think everyone would agree with that. So, the Pistons forcing them to six games and getting close to a game seven, just a few seconds away from a game seven. I think that says a lot about what the Pistons were able to do. Um, so I think they should feel proud about that and and the fact they were able to make it as good of a and as great of a series as it was. Um, but the Knicks were clearly the more talented teams. They had the best player on the court at times for most of the series. I think I thought what really swung the series I thought Carney Towns hit had some crazy shot making throughout the series. I thought he played well. Um I thought he had some crazy shotmaking for the Knicks throughout the playoffs. I thought he really showed why the Knicks went out and drafted him or not drafted him, traded for him. Um and I thought that paid off. I thought he was really good for him. There was a lot of talk about Cat before uh they traded for him about, you know, is he going to show up in the playoffs or whatever. I thought Cat delivered. maybe he wasn’t a superstar or whatever, but I thought he delivered for what for the most part of what Knicks were expecting. Um, and then I thought OG Noi and Muel Bridges played pretty well in that series as well. Um, I I like the size and length that the Knicks got. It just I thought they just outtalented the Pistons and, you know, for a team that, you know, they blew some leads in the fourth quarter. They had some chances to maybe hit a Kate had a chance to hit a game-winning shot. I believe that was game two. uh you know they had some chances to pull it out but the more experienced more talented team just pulled through. I don’t think anyone could be mad at that heading into the future though with the Knicks. I think the Knicks should be the best team in the East next year. I I think Pistons fans will look at that series and say, “Well, the Pistons took them to six games. They should be right behind the Pistons.” I say all the time, each season’s brand new. Things happen differently. You can never you never know how each season is going to play out. But just looking at the roster and looking at the talent, I think the Knicks should be either them or the Cavs, the best team in the East next year. I like the new head coach you guys got. Um hopefully you guys really buy into the the offense that this the offensive ceiling that the Knicks got. I that’s what I would do. Um I think this Knicks team has a lot of talent. I really like how they built to try to I mean they beat Boston this past year, but it kind of felt like they built to beat Boston with the wings and length and it kind of paid off for them. Um I think they’re in a good spot going into next year. So, I think Knicks fans in the Knicks community should feel good about where they’re at, especially now with uh unfortunately, no one wants this, but Hi is now down and Tatum is now down. Kind of leaves the Eastern Conference wide open. Kind of feels like it’s the Knicks Cavs and some people are starting to put Orlando in that mix, but I feel like the Knicks should feel pretty good about them being the best team in the East. Yeah, I I think it’s so interesting because obviously that that series was was closer than Knicks fans were comfortable with. And I don’t know, I I I maybe maybe some Lockdown Pistons listeners like tuned in, but after that game six, there was like this this sense of like, oh my god, we were about to get run over by the Boston Celtics because I think the consensus was that the Knicks were just so far from optimized and were saved, to your point, by Jaylen Brunson’s brilliance. I go back to game three, like the shot making from cat down the stretch of that game, like I just I don’t really I’m sure I’m sure Joic has had moments. Joel Embiid has probably had single playoff games who replicated that. I don’t really personally remember that from a big or or even too many guards because it was it was like Detroit would play perfect defense for 23 seconds and Cat would hit a 30-footer or that baseline turnaround fadeaway literally falling out of bounds slightly over the backboard. I mean, it’s not going to be remembered because it was a first round series and the Knicks obviously ultimately did not win a championship or even make the finals, but that those were some of the better shots I’ve seen in do or die playoff moments in my life. And Pistons fans could hear me say that and take that as an insult to Detroit. It is more so me saying that I I don’t think the Knicks, despite reaching the Eastern Conference Finals, came close to hitting their ceiling last year. And Detroit, as you and I discussed going to the series, over the final 50 games of the regular season, it wasn’t close, right? The Pistons were clearly a better team. And we both acknowledge that on paper the Knicks were more talented and they should win the series. But the reason it came down to basically like Jaylen Brunson having to to be micro Michael Jordan right at the end of those games is because the Knicks like didn’t optimize their talent all year. And I do think it’s a scary thought for the rest of the Eastern Conference that the Knicks weren’t optimized and they could be and they were still good enough to get to the Eastern Conference finals and challenge those two teams that aren’t going to be there anymore because of Hallebertton being hurt because of Tatum being hurt. The flip side of that is Detroit like is also just way ahead of schedule, right? Incredibly young without Jaden Ivy, Isaiah Stewart, who I thought was going to be a much better option at center in that series versus uh Jaylen Duran like he essentially misses the whole series. And yet Detroit to their credit with Kate Cunningham shooting 18% from three is still five shots total. That might even be too many. It could be three shots total away from ultimately winning that series. And I I think that is indicative of the toughness Detroit has, the culture that they built, and that we we’ll get into this throughout. Like I think Cade is a a genuine 1A MVP type of star at just 23 years old. Like that is that is pretty clearly the trajectory he’s on. I guess having said that, do you do you see a world where Detroit could make the NBA finals this year? Where they could make the Eastern Conference Finals this year? What what do you think is the ceiling for the Pistons this this upcoming season specifically? Yeah, talking about the Pistons moving into next year has been really tough in the community because it’s all you can’t really you can’t really quantify where they’re going to be next year because so much of it is relying upon things that we don’t know. It’s so much rellyant upon things we aren’t going to get to see. We don’t get to see the training behind the scenes, the practicing behind the scenes. We don’t we don’t know how much better these guys are going to get. the Pistons this offseason. A lot of people, it was like a little bit of a civil war in the Pistons community, a lot of people thought, okay, after this first round series and after Kade proving himself, all this stuff, go after and get somebody. Go try to get somebody and take this next step and try to compete in a wide open East. And then there was a section, I’d say probably the majority of the fan base or the community wanted the team slow down, maybe make some improvements, sure, but kind of buy into the young core, let them develop, and just see where they take you. And that’s more so where more so where Trean Langden, the president of basketball operations for the Pistons went, um they lost Malik Beasley due to this gambling stuff that’s going on, which is really tough. The day before free agency, which I understand that the Pistons did not know this was going to happen. That’s was my understanding. So that was tough on them. The day before they ended up getting Duncan Robinson and Caris Levert. I think most places I’m seeing grade the Pistons offseason is like a CC plus. That’s where I graded it. It wasn’t bad. It wasn’t great either. it kind of just like okay sure. Um it’s very clear that majority of what they expect to happen next year will be relying upon does K take that next jump into a firm top 10 player does a SAR improve offensively to where he can become a top 50 player does Duran improve defensively where he is not viewed as the the worst option like you mentioned compared to Isaiah Stewart in a playoff series like this against the New York Knicks. Can Jane Ivy become this offensive scorer that people want him to become all the and then Ron Holland. Can Ron Holland become a good three-point shooter to where maybe you can play Ron Assar together? Like so much of this stuff is just things we don’t know. So I think I’ve said this before over and over on on the podcast uh over on lockdown pistons that I feel like that Tan Langden is in a I just want answers season. Like I know fans probably don’t want to hear that and don’t like to hear that, but I everything I understand and everything we’ve heard him say outwardly publicly kind of signals that that look, if they have a bad not bad season, they don’t want a bad season, but if they stay where they were, maybe take a little bit of a step back and some of the young guys don’t improve, I think Treasurion wins nonetheless because now he has an answer. It’s a bad answer, but he has an answer and knows how he wants to move forward. If it’s a good answer and they take ne another step and they, you know, maybe make it to the Eastern Conference Finals or something like that, then he has another good answer. But I think he just wants answers nonetheless and doesn’t really care like so much about the win column. With that said, I think the Pistons goal should be to be a battling with the Atlanta Hawks for the fourth seed in the East and I think they should want to win a playoff series. I think that should be their goal. Whether it happens will be completely reliant upon does Cade, Assar, Ron, Duran, Ivy all take steps forward and we just don’t know if that’s going to happen. I I just I literally just recorded about this yesterday that expecting everybody in your young court to take a step forward is incredibly unrealistic. It doesn’t happen. You don’t see everyone take step forwards in the same offseason. Maybe you can bank on one, maybe two, maybe three, but everyone it just doesn’t happen like that. And Pistons fans should know about that over the last five years. It doesn’t happen like that. So, can they bank on one to really take a leap? If that can happen, maybe they can get to the Eastern Conference Finals, but we just don’t know that yet. Yeah, I think it is such an underrated part of team building intel gathering. It’s something like we’ve maligned, unlocked on Knicks where you where you had two seasons ago Julius Randle injured and we never got to see what that Knicks team could be. That seemed like after the OG and an Obi trade, they were playing as well as any team in the NBA, including the Boston Celtics who were obviously the Goliath potentially in their way. Last season, I think just due to Tom Thibido’s refusal to play what was on paper their their best couple of lineups and instead rely on a lineup that at the turn of the year was consistently bad. like we don’t really know the Knicks ceiling like if if they to your point which I completely agree with try to lean into shooting and try to lean into offense and what that looks like and it’s this weird thing where like the Knicks are now in a place where I I don’t know if they know what the best version of their team looks like and and I’m hoping very similar to what Mark Dagnel did in Oklahoma City and and what we saw a lot of what Kenny Atinson did in Cleveland like Mike Brown treats the regular season as an exercise of like how can we discover what the best version of our team is and Knicks have very little wiggle room in doing that. Detroit because Kate is 23, because most of their stars are under 25, has a lot of wiggle room in doing that. And I’m I’m with you that I don’t know if you stated an opinion on this. I assume you you were on that page that not trading for someone like Kevin Durant and accelerating was ultimately the right move because you can actually have a gauge if that is the thing that’ll push you towards finals contention or if you like seriously have to reshape things. Kate is a sure thing. I think Assar in some form or fashion is a sure thing, but do you have to continue to work on the margins? My biggest question about that is around Jay Ivy. We’re going to get into that in just a sec on both locked on Nick Knicks and Locked on Pistons. But first, we want to tell you about our good friends over at Monarch Money. Most people can’t name all their financial accounts or even what they’re worth. Whether it’s 401ks, properties, or investments. And when you don’t have the full picture, you can end up leaving money on the table. That’s why there is Modern Money. 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That’s 50% off your first year at modermoney.com with code locked on NBA. All right, we are back. Locked on Nick Knicks locked on Pistons. Gavin Shaw Cookie Hill. Be sure to subscribe to both podcasts. Be sure to check out our good friends over at Lockdown NB where me and Coup feature regularly. Um, I wanted to know I’m skipping ahead a little on my questions. I had some other stuff and maybe we’ll we’ll circle back on it, but I really wanted to know about Jaden Ivy because he broke out last year certainly from a shooting perspective and that was probably the biggest question about him, right? His ability to shoot from distance and he was hovering right around 40% when he got hurt, maybe a little bit over. Um, and yet when he gets hurt, Detroit takes off. You and I talked about it ad nauseium when we did our preview, right? I think top 10 defense, top 10 offense final 50 games of the year or so. Like profile of again like not like a solid playoff team, profile of an Eastern Conference Finals contender, maybe even a Finals contender. And I’m curious how you think Detroit reinccorporates him. And did they find something again making it so incredibly cateentric and putting arguably too much on his shoulders and yet it it it gave it it reminded me of like a better version of the 2020 Knicks where they just ran everything through Julius Randall and they competed their butts off defensively and that wasn’t optimal and it broke down a little bit in the playoffs where where you need that second creator at times especially when your star is just beingounded and blitzed and having to just bully his way through the brick wall. known as OG Anobi over six games and yet in the regular season like it gave them this clarity of identity that I’m not sure if they had before Ivy got hurt. So I’m really curious your opinion on if he makes Detroit better or or if there are some questions that have to be answered with him coming back. Yeah, I think your point about the identity is something maybe I have even brought up on the podcast, but I think it’s a great point that no one wanted Jane Ivy to go down. It was terrible that he went down. definitely would have wanted to see him play for the full season. But a silver lining that does come of a bad situation was like you mentioned the Pistons kind of found themselves an identity as the season went on where it it was Cade offensively. They really put a lot on his shoulders and had him lead them to the promised land offensively and then defensively Assar came into the starting lineup. He started to play more and they just dug in defensively and became one of the best defensive teams in the NBA throughout the last 50 or so games of the season. So that was a silver lining. I think you do kind of know now what the Pistons identity is. You can talk about what you want your identity to be and all that good stuff. But until it actually plays out, you start to see it. You don’t have an identity. I feel like the Pistons kind of cemented their identity as the season went on last year. Maybe it would have happened still with Jane Ivy. It just we it was unfortunate we didn’t get to see if it was going to happen. But with Ivy, he is probably the most actually not probably, he is the most controversial player on this roster. There is a lot of heavy heavy fans of his and there are some real critique critics of him. I’m probably leaning more towards the critics of him. My listeners know that they’ll probably comment down below and be like, “Why you always hating on Ivy?” I get it. Um Ivy is up for an extension this off seasonason. I don’t think the Pistons are going to sign him to one this offseason. It might happen. We still have two months to go, but I am leaning towards I don’t think they’re going to assign him to extension because of he’s coming off an injury and he he had a good season this past year shooting wise from deep, but the other areas of his game still remained where they were over the first two years of his of his career. He’s still not a very good finisher, still not a very good defender, still not very good playmaker. Now, can he improve those things? 100%. He’s too good of an athlete. I’ve said this before, it’s too good of an athlete to be as bad of a finisher he is, especially within the half court. It’s it’s it’s honestly shocking to me. So, the three-point shooting in 30 games was great, but you don’t get to I I’ve written about this before. Do we we we weren’t able to find out was it a hot streak or was it a turn of the corner? And we just weren’t able to find that out for the rest of the season. So, now is this an open-ended question that we have to wait for this season to find out if Jane Ivy can be an an a a pure second scorer for the Pistons, not a guy that you’re you’re kind of squinching your eyes hoping he can be that guy. If he’s actually a legit second scorer for this team to where they go from a bottom 10 half court offense and the worst half court offense in the playoffs to, okay, now we got a second guy that can create some offense. It’s not all just Kade in the half court. If he can be that, that would be huge for this team. But he has to actually do it. It’s entering year four. Has to become efficient with it. If he’s able to do that, that would be huge for this team, especially again, like I said, in the half court, which is where I think their biggest struggles are from right now in the half court offense. He could help with that if he actually improves and becomes the this ideal version of what people want him to become. The other question that’s kind of hovering over the team when it comes to Jay and Ivy, and I’m I bring it up, but my, you know, some people hate that I bring it up, but it is what it is. Ron Holland just played tremendous in the summer league. I know that he torched the Knicks, man. He was shooting lights out. He looked great. Yeah, he he looked good. And I said this early in the offseason over on my subst. I’ve heard that the Pistons want to play Ron and Assar some this year. They want to see some sample size of both those guys together, especially if Ron has improved with this jumper. The long-term, you know, cloud hovering over this is that, okay, well, if you think Ron and and Assar can eventually be your, you know, tandem of the future, where does that leave Ivy then? Like, how? Because neither one of those guys are a fourman. So, like, where are you? That’s the long-term vision. So, I think all of those questions are why I don’t believe the Pistons will extend him this off season. But if he does go out and he balls out and proves that the shooting this past season was not just a fluke or a hot streak, it was something he actually turned the corner with. And then he comes back with improved finishing and becomes a better playmaker and better ball handler. If all that stuff happens within a half court offense, he is serving his purpose. He will sign an extension, but he will sign a contract with the Pistons next off seasonason ahead of restricted free agency. And he will be a part of this team for a while and he will be K. Cunningham’s running mate at the two guard position. if he can prove that this year he’ll get every chance to do so. They purposely did not get a backup point guard so he could play those reps and prove that he can, you know, run the offense, uh, control the half court, all that kind of stuff. They’re giving him another chance at it. If he can do it, they’ll sign him to an to a long-term contract next off seasonason. If not, then I think they’re going to make some decisions maybe at the trade deadline or ahead of next season. All right, guys. We’ll be back with coup in just a sec, but I have a quick favor to ask. Locked on wants to hear from you. We put together a survey to learn more about our listeners and make your favorite podcasts even better. This is your chance to tell us what you like, what you don’t, and answer questions about our advertising. So, go to lockdownpodcast.com/servey to get started. Everyone who completes a survey will be entered for a chance to win one of 10 $100 Amazon gift cards. Again, that’s lockedpodcast.comservey. You can also find the link in the show notes. Thanks for helping out. It’s it’s interesting and I’m I’m going to preface this statement by saying it’s completely unfair in the sense that I just haven’t watched Jaden Ivy and I haven’t watched the Pistons enough to make the comparison. But based on how you talk about him, it reminds me a lot of of the discourse around RJ Barrett where it was very difficult to give up on the guy was one like homegrown top five pick with just intoxicating athletic traits, right? I I just one one of the fastest point guards with the ball in his hand end to end in like recent NBA memory. RJ just ridiculously strong, able to get to the basket. Couple of big games over the years against big teams where you’re like, “All right, it’s all clicked. He’s got it.” And it was just it was just hard to accept that for R.J. because of his lack of shooting and lack of defense. Uh maybe for Ivy because of the reasons you just mentioned that like as much as we love him, as much as like this is finally a homegrown guy. I mean, for the Knicks, he was the first player, first round pick they drafted to sign an extension in New York, I think, in 25 years. And that made it just incredibly painful for Knicks fans to be like, “All right, this guy probably isn’t on the best version of this team down the road.” And like it was very clear that him and Bar him and Brunson were not an ideal fit together. And I’m curious, like again, if Ivy can continue to shoot like that, maybe him and Kate are a really good fit together, even if Ivy has to scale down a little bit in terms of role, in terms of usage. Um, but I am I’m I’m going to follow that really closely because the Knicks ultimately resigned R.J. and it would have gone down as a really bad contract, but Mousaiiri thankfully bailed them out and they traded him and Emanuel quickly for Ojanobi and it worked out incredibly well for the Knicks and that’s a trade I assume Toronto would would really want to take back if they could. And I’m curious if Ivy doesn’t work out in the ways you mentioned and doesn’t check all those boxes and has a lot of boxes to check whether or not Detroit is is ultimately just gonna have the stomach to be like, “All right, we just we got to cut bait while this guy still has really positive value.” Again, I say all that I’ve I’ve simply not watched enough of Jaden Ivy to know if that is a fair comparison or not. But I I wanted to jump to uh clearly the most important guy in Detroit’s future, and that’s Kate Cunningham. I know you you’ve touched on this a little bit throughout our conversation and a lot of it was just playoff growing pains for him. What specifically do you think are the next steps for Cade? We just unlocked on NBA. I was It was I I don’t know when I said it was going to come out, but it was mid August when we recorded it. We did a draft of all players 25 or under in the NBA. And I took Kade second like ahead of or I would have taken Kate second um ahead of anyone other than Victor Webbyama. I had him slightly ahead of Anthony Edwards which based on resume is not fair. aunt has accomplished a lot more in the NBA w with essentially playing two more years of basketball, but that is how high I am personally on Kate Cunningham. Do you see him turning the corner and potentially becoming like an MVP, first team AllNBA type guy in the next couple years? What what do you think are the next steps in his development? Yeah, I’ve said since Kade’s rookie year, I see MVP type player in his future. I I’ve remained high on Cade all ever since the Pistons drafted him. I was happy that they fin the NBA audience finally got to see it, you know, realized this past year. They finally put a good team around him, guys that made sense around him and he was able to take this next step in the playoffs. I thought, again, you mentioned it, it was really just him offensively and there was a lot of bodies being thrown at him. I thought my favorite part of the playoffs for Kade was that you kind of got to see him problem solve in live time. Like that game two, I thought you started to see him really react to the Knicks trying to play high in the pick and roll coverage, trying to trap, trying to blitz, and he started to get the ball out of his hands a little quicker. He started splitting the double team. He would hesitate a little bit before calling for the screen, reject the screen. He started to really problem solve against the Knicks. I thought even if his three-point percentage really fell off, which was disappointing, you started to see him really find answers within the half court. Uh, and I thought that was great to see. That’s what you want to see from your young guys. But I I think the next step for Cade, there’s a few things he has to do and it’s a lot of thing. It’s kind of like uh sharpening your tools. It’s not like he has to add any more tools to it. It’s just making these tools a little bit more sharper. So, for example, like his turnovers, high usage guys are going to turn the ball over that. They’re going to lead the league in turnovers. That’s what’s going to happen. But there is still a line that you can’t cross. You there is going too far with it. And I thought this last year while Kade again, he’s going to turn the ball over. I do believe he crossed it over a little too much this past year. He has to cut down the turnovers a little bit. Not saying again that he needs to average 1.5 turnovers a game. It’s not going to happen with a guy that usage, but less than three and a half like that that would be, you know, that’s ideal. Not going over that’s a little too much. Um that’s the main place. I think his finishing at the basket has to improve. I believe uh he was in I just saw a stat out of 150 people who had his I think it was I forget what the exact volume was, but he was around bottom 12 in efficiency around the rim. just wasn’t that great. Everyone that watches Kade knows that he has to improve around the rim. If he can turn some of those looks into free throws and just become a better finisher at the rim, I think that will go a far far away from him becoming a much more efficient basketball player. He had his most efficient season this past year. I believe it was around 56 57 true shooting. So, if he can improve his finishing around the basket, it really will leap in efficiency. And then the last area that I think he has to improve on it, this part really popped off the screen against the Knicks, his pull-up three-point shooting has to remain consistent. He had he opened up the season shooting like I like 38 39% on pull-up threes. Then he crashed down for like two months when it was like okay 30%. Then right out of all break he was back up to like 45% was going crazy and then at the end of the season he was just up and down, up and down, up and down. It led to his best season so far uh shooting wise, but it still was just too much up and down, up and down. And with how the Knicks played against him, the hedge gap three was open a lot against the Knicks, he took those uh that type of three seven times, I believe, in game six and just missed all of them. So, if he was able to improve and become more consistent as a pullup three-point shooter, I don’t think teams would be able to play that kind of show and recover coverage against him that the Knicks tried to play against him in the pick and roll. I mean, I think it would just make it even harder to guard him. So, I think he’s going to be a all allNBA guy for the next 10 years. I think he’s going to be great. But, if he wants to make this jump into the MVP type of player that I believe he can be, it’s a sharpening those tools, reducing the turnovers a little bit, and just becoming more consistent with the shot, I think he’ll get there. Yeah. And and to me, so much of that and so much of his his early career struggles are just like, what kind of ecosystem can Detroit put around him? and such a big part of his breakout, right? What was having Malik Beasley put together a top three at worst top five shooting season in the NBA, like statistically one of the better three-point shooting seasons in NBA history. Obviously, Tim Hardway Jr. was a big help with that. Tobias Harris was a big part of that. And I I think people on the outside just underestimate how ridiculous the cardio toll is on the greatest stars in the NBA. And I and I do think that is an underrated part of your first playoffs saying like, “All right, Cade was obviously in elite regular season shape.” And I I don’t know. I don’t want to pin pin this as the issue, but like when you talk about it, you you are on point. You’re on point with this. Tan Lane came out just a few weeks ago and said he thought the main thing Kate has to improve on is getting his conditioning ready, not from October to April, but from April on. So, I think you’re 100% right with this. And it’s it’s on such thin margins, right? his Cade could be like out of the eight billion people on Earth probably like top 500 in terms of shape, right? And still that could not be good enough in the first round of the NBA playoffs when when it’s on him to do everything. A and he’s competing as hard as he ever has defensively. The Knicks are trying to put him in actions. They’re trying to put him in coverages. They’re trying to tire him out. I mentioned you’ve OG at like 68, whatever he’s 240 pounds, just leaning on him like over and over again and chest bumping him over and over again. Cat’s doing that. Josh Hart is nicking him wherever he can and it’s what makes someone like Jaylen Brunson so incredible at 6’2, right? That he can come back over and over again and at the end of these games it feels like he he hasn’t played a minute of basketball. And I think that is something that takes years for a guy to develop and just and you almost just need to go through it once to say all right this is what it takes. And I think that was almost uniquely difficult for Cade because unlike Shay Gildas Alexander in Oklahoma City he doesn’t just say hey Jaylen Williams I’m going to throw you the ball for possession. Hey, Chad Homegrren, I’m going to throw you the ball for a possession. He didn’t really have that luxury last year. And and I’m I’m curious to see if that develops a little bit around him because I think there’s a world where Detroit has like a healthier ecosystem around him and and continues to have a lot of shooting with Duncan Robinson coming in, but is there that next guy that they can give the ball to? Dennis Shruder was really big for you guys in that respect and and I’m really curious if one if Duncan Robinson can replicate just the shooting that Malik Beasley did because it was just that good of a season. It would have been a question if Beasley could replicate that kind of shooting another year in a row and then if Levert kind of gives you at at obviously a different spot some of the ball handling to take some weight off Kade and just to carry bench units that Detroit needs. Yeah, I think that’s all questions that Pistons have been asking. Malik Beasley wasn’t going to be able to replicate last season. I’m glad you said that. That was one of the greatest shooting seasons we’ve maybe ever seen. It was insane on the type of volume he was doing or not. It was just crazy. Um Caris Levert hopes to replace Dan Shooter. The hope is he’ll be better than Shooter was during the regular season. Now Shruder obviously was fantastic in the playoffs. Levert hopefully he can, you know, be better than Shruder during the season. I think that’s possible. Um, but the Pistons do need a secondary score and that’s what everyone is building Jay and I Ivy to be and that’s where he’ll prove himself this year. If they can get a secondary score that allows Kade to like earlier in the year, I have a few clips on my PC that I am going through. Like early in the year, Kade came off some actions to hit some movement threes and let Ivy run the show. Once Ivy went down, that was just cooked. It was every single possession was just I or Cade with the ball in his hands, create, create, create, create. So, if Ivy can be that secondary playmaker or if someone I believe can be that Assar Thompson, if he can improve his ball handling and be trusted with running the offense and running the show, I think that would do wonders for Kate’s conditioning, his efficiency, and just the overall versatility of their half court offense. Yeah, I’m I’m I’m excited to see it. and and I do think like he he he knows what it takes and he strikes me as I’m sure he strikes all Pistons fans as someone who’s like going to work as hard as humanly possible to get to that point. Um I wanted to flip gears. Is there anything um on the Knicks specifically that you’re really curious about heading into next year? All right guys, that is it for part one with Coup, but fear not. We’ll be back with Coup tomorrow to uh do an even deeper dive on Knicks Pistons um and just some of like the kind of the key inflection points of the matchup and what factors could change over the next couple of years. We’ll get into all that with coup tomorrow on lockdown Nicks. So be good and we’ll talk to you soon. [Music]

Gavin Schall is joined by Locked On Pistons Host Ku Khahil for part one on a deep dive on the present and future of the Knicks-Pistons Rivalry.

Ku opens the episode explaining why the Knicks ultimately outclassed Detroit in the playoffs, where Cade Cunningham has to improve to match Jalen Brunson as the alpha of the matchup and if Detroit could potentially take a step backwards this year or emerge as legitmate Eastern Conference Contenders.

NOTE: Episode was recorded two weeks ago before the news of Malik Beasley’s potential reinstatement hence why it’s not referenced.

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Knicks vs Pistons playoff series recap

5:05 KAT’s clutch performance in Game 3

9:59 Jaden Ivey’s development and future with Pistons

15:28 Sponsor: Monarch Money personal finance tool

21:18 Ron Holland’s impressive Summer League showing

26:08 Cade Cunningham’s MVP potential and next steps

30:36 Importance of conditioning for playoff success

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