Pistons Eye 4th Straight Win! | Pistons/Jazz Postgame Recap! 🏀
All the dirty work. All dog. I’mma dive on the floor. Go try to block every shot. I’m going be physical with you the whole game. You know Ste going to be physical with you. When you think of the Pistons, you think just hard work and just pretty basketball. That’s his identity you got to have when you put on that jersey. I’m not your average. Not a good dog. I’m bad boy for life. I set the tone. Don’t care about no. I get my respect. Come in the lane and see I don’t love you. If you retaliate on you talking I shame walking the top. You must put this mess around. [Music] Mess around. Yeah. [Music] for somebody. You better comprehend cuz I’m like right now when you’re waiting for somebody to smile. to comprehend cuz I’m [Applause] going to mess around [Music] Detroit basketball. What up though? Welcome back to another episode of the Downtown Deuce show featuring Sarah Boss aka the boss. Yes, she has returned. Last game she was at the Denver Nuggets game. Who were they playing last game? Um the Kings. Uh yes, the Kings. So I got to see Shruder. I got to see Westbrooks return. It was uh it was pretty interesting. It was a good game and you know it really especially after tonight it really reinforced to me that yeah Shudo was good for us but he’s also surrounded by you know Lavine D Rozan some bonus guys out there and they’re not they’re not winning either. So he’s not just he’s not the missing piece that some people might think he was. Nah nah not at all. Not at all. That’s cool you got a chance to go though. It was it was hard holding it down without you here. You know like having to multitask without you was a task but we got through it. Right chat. Right chat. But they do miss you as you can see. Ryan, what’s up? GVH, they y’all saying free. They were saying free boss last stream. I was like, damn, what y’all y’all don’t care about me at all. But hey, it ain’t the same without you here. So, but yeah, man. So, okay. So, look. How you feeling? I got I got a little drinky drink. Got a little Jack and Coke. I’m feeling good after tonight. How you feeling? Nice. Jealous. I should have told me. I would have joined. But, um I got you next time. I’m feeling um relieved that we won. I’m feeling grateful that the Jazz also had bench bench didn’t show up for them. Yeah. And um uh yeah, I’m just glad that we won. That’s what I’m going to take from this. We saw, you know, some really good flashes of things, but some things that were also just just off. So, we’re just lucky the Jazz were off as well. Yeah. But I I kind of knew going into the second with our energy that we would pull it out. And I’m glad it wasn’t perfect, right? But it’s just one of those games. Like, all right, we’ll take a dub and learn along the way. Tom, what up do Detroit basketball? Got to hit it for Tom because Tom showed up again. Showing love as always. Yes, Kade is him, Tom. Kate is him, bro. For sure. And you are getting love in the chat. Peruge, man. So, we appreciate you showing up and showing up as you always do, bro. As always, man. But yeah, man. So, chat, you guys asked for the dog pound intro tonight and ask and you shall receive, man. But it was definitely worthy of that for sure cuz it it’s so many different directions you can go in tonight as far as this game. Um, boss, I’m going to let you lead it off as far as with the initial thoughts. But before we get there, for anybody who did not watch this game, the Pistons just concluded their home matchup with the Utah Jazz and they pick up their fourth straight dub 114 to 103 and improved to six and two on the regular season. They are now in the second spot in the Eastern Conference. They’re now the second seed. The highest they ever got last year, if you if I’m wrong, correct me, was the fifth seed. So for them to already be at 6 and2 in the second seed last year we were at I think it took us 39 games to get to 500 or above 500. We were at 2019. So for us to be four games above 500 in eight games just shows you the growth from one season to the next, right? But if you guys remember too if you recall last year the Pistons lost a game to the Jazz that they should have won for sure. They came back and beat him the next time, beat him bad, but that first game against the Jazz was was a stinker, man. So, I was just like, I hope they had that in their mind. Like, come out this game and get this dub, put these guys away. And they did. It wasn’t pretty, but they got it done when they needed to. We’re going to talk about why in a few. Um, final thing, Boston, I’m going to let you take off. Yeah. Injury report. So, Walker Ker was out for the Jazz. I think he’s out for the season, too. Yeah, he had surgery. Okay. Okay. Yes, that was that’s a tough blow for them, but even more so reason for the Pistons to dominate on the glass. Um, Marcus Sasser once again was out. Missed his a straight game. That hip impingement is still bothering him. um he’s yet to see the court. Also missing a second straight game with Tobias Harris with the right ankle sprain. Um and both of those guys were on the injury report yesterday, so I knew that, you know, it wasn’t a game time decision. So that may tell me that they may be out a little bit longer, maybe at least another game at least for the both of them, but we’ll see. Um but the silver lining silver lining, at least for me, hopefully for you guys after tonight, is that we get to see more Jaylen Duran and Isaiah Stewart. Yes. And so the Pistons went with the starting five of Cade, Duncan Robinson, Assar, Isaiah Stewart, and JD. And like Boss kind of alluded to, it was a little bit up and down. You could tell they’re still trying to get, you know, iron some things out, you know, with guys getting comfortable playing together in this lineup. So I’m not too concerned about that, but I do think there’s a conversation, boss, that needs to be had about a certain player in the starting five. I’m not going to get to it right now because it’s early, but I am keeping my eye on that. So with that, now that I said all that got out the way, initial thoughts for you, boss. What did you see in this game without getting too deep into the box scores and all that good stuff? Yeah. Well, I mean Jaylen Duran popped off 22 points, 22 rebounds. We’ll get there, but fantastic. It’s like Isaiah’s big game was last uh the last one. His was this one. The two plays seems to be working well. Um I saw I did see good defense. Um even though it was kind of slow on offense, I think Ron did his job. I think um Assar did great. I think Duran, Stewart, I think everyone played decent defense. Um, and some of the shots that they were taking were just this happened to go in on good D. I think I think uh SV had one over um Assar that was like perfectly defended. Some of them we couldn’t help. Um, but we really, you know, we kept uh Mark and uh shut down until the end. We really messed with Keonte George. This was one of his worst games of the season. Like he still did really good for them. Um, so I mean we some of the shots weren’t connecting when they should have. We had some offensive rhythm just go out of whack, but we pulled it together and we got the job done. Something that we we couldn’t do two years ago, so that’s a plus. There were a lot of plus and a lot of ugly. Nothing too terrible, but uh a couple highlight plays, but that’s about it. Not a highlight game for sure. So, I’m glad we pulled out the win. Yeah. Yeah, it was it was some frustrating moments for me. It’s It’s like with the Pistons with these games, they these last two games should have been blowouts. Yeah. It’s like they just need to learn how to finish possessions and execute a little bit better. You see them play great defense and then a foul late in the shot clock. You’ll see them get a turnover and then turn over right back. Like just just things just finishing the play you but you can see them getting better. It’s just those things. Those are the separators between being able to separate yourself from a team and being able to let them hang around. And it happened the last two games. So, it’s just something to keep in mind and keep working on. It’s just they’re still ironing things out. It’s a young team. They’re still learning how to play together. You do see the growth and you do see the effort. So, as long as that is there, then I can then I think they can build off that. I’m okay with that. But, I just hope at some point they’re able to really be able to capitalize and just put teams away, put their foot on their neck and allow some of their starters to chill a little bit. Absolutely. Here, I have a question for Chuck who just came in with this comment. There’s no way he Cade plays the way he plays and only gets to the free throw line two times. Was that a direct JP quote from the postgame? Because we didn’t get to see that. Um, let us know because I love that about that because it’s true because there are he was being bumped and stuff and yeah, some of our fouls were obvious on the Jazz, but um they they really just let them Yeah. All over Kate. There were a couple times his arms are being grabbed. He’s like that one towards the end where he missed two threes and then drove it in. He was being pulled from behind. Yeah. Crazy. Yeah, exactly. Zion says, “Kate, having two free throws after being hit on every drive is so nasty by the refs.” And he still did what he did late in the game after getting beat up, which you going to get to that dude something else, man. I want to get to this. This is funny. Devon says, “Why was Grant Long repeating everything Duke says after the game?” He said uh said he’s going to call Ron Crash and JD Stewart like the Wallace Times. Yeah, we we’ve been talking about that. But shout out to Grant Long. I got a lot of respect for him. I met him I met him um couple years ago. Real cool dude. Real cool dude. He knows his basketball, man. So, I’m not even going to take credit for that. But Devon, that was funny for sure. Yeah. Um, go ahead. Keep going. Confirmed it. Yeah, he just confirmed that that was a direct quote from him. So, I’m glad that he said that because it is true. And, you know, we’re not a team to complain about it. So, I’m glad that he spoke up. Um, and you know, that messes with Katie’s rhythm when he’s not getting when he’s going for the shots he’s getting, he’s getting fouled, the ball’s not going, he’s not getting a call. It’s frustrating. And I even texted you after the third. He was going to the bench. He was mumbling. He was mad. I was like, “Pop off in the fourth.” And he did. Yeah, he did. I’m either going to get this these baskets or I’m going to get the foul call. And he got the baskets, not foul calls, but it paid off. So, Right. No, definitely. Definitely, man. It’s it’s once he if if and when he starts to get that whistle, um he’s it’s just going to be so much like much like JD, he’s it’s going to be a lot more opportunity for him to be able to have these these big scoring games without having to exert a ton of energy because he’s just going to the line knocking them down, right? Um so, as far as for me, you got any more initial thoughts? Uh, no. Just other than I also, you know, told you that Keonte George is top 10 for drawing fouls in the league. How? Keynote George. That’s what I call him. Keynote George. Um, yeah. But you’re right. But you’re right. You know, it’s like, come on, man. Like, this is a AllNBA player we’re talking about here, you know, professionalism class. He’s not even the kind of guy that gets on the refs or makes himself the villain with them. So, it’s like, come on, bro. What’s he got to do? What’s he got to do? He’s off, right? There’s no neck breaks. There’s no like he’s going in and he’s getting fouled and he’s not selling it. Yeah. Imagine if he was on his SGA tip. Yeah. Oh my god. I don’t want to talk. All right. Um so here are my initial thoughts. I got I got a couple things. Um I wanted to see the Pistons hit first in this game. Mhm. We always talk about that setting the tone, especially with with Steel in the lineup defensively. I wanted them to set that tone. Um and they came out the right way energy-wise, right? You can see they tried to set they got to a little early lead and you could see it really could have ballooned had they just executed and finished those plays, right? Yeah. Um but they so I thought as far as the defense, they did a pretty good a solid job with that, but they just couldn’t separate because the execution offensively just wasn’t there, which is natural when you make a lineup change. So once again, I’m not too concerned about that, right? Um but because of that boss, they found themselves down for most of the half because they just couldn’t execute. You know, they were it went up early, but they just were not able to get into a rhythm. But when they went to their bench unit, I noticed this too, boss. The offense sputtered when K sat down, there was no flow. There was no go even the go-to threat. And that’s exactly why I think Tobias Harris will be perfect in that six-man role off the bench, right? He can be the instant offense off the bench. You set the tone defensively with with Steu in that first unit and allowed Tobias to run the unit, the second unit offensively with guys like Paul Reed, Ron, Caris, Javvante, etc. So, in the second half, they did turn their defense up um even more and they were able to execute better when they got in transition. Even in the half court, they just were executing better. But this time around, it was just much more crisp offensively. Much more crisp offensively. And I think I forgot who said it, but in this game they they didn’t even shoot that well this game. No, they they were they were like Okay, so they finished 11 for 30 from three, but they started off a lot worse than that. Yes. And they shot 13 for 22 from the free throw line. Yeah. So they left points on the board. They left a lot of points on the board. So had they just knocked down some free throws and knocked down a couple threes, this game really could have got blown open early in this game. But like the last game, it wasn’t perfect. They’re still working things out, so I’m not too concerned. Mhm. Yeah. You got anything else on that? Um, no. I mean, there were a couple times that they to threes that I didn’t think we needed to. There’s like three possessions in a row where different guys took threes. And I understand it like a three would, you know, separate you, maybe get you hot, some momentum. But, um, when it’s that close and you’re just trying to, you know, disrupt another team’s rhythm. You want to just get to the basket. Get get your shot. Don’t, you know, don’t force it up. But, um, but that’s just me. I’m not a huge like I’m not a huge like I don’t love constant three-point shooting. So, um but that’s that’s not how we win. That’s never been how we won. No. Um but yeah, I just got individual stuff, so I’m ready for box scores and everything. Okay. Okay, cool. Let’s get through a couple comments real quick because you guys are coming in hot. CEO and I see a lot of guys talking about uh the free throw shooting. I see Ryan, I see Detroit Drew. CEO says, “The last time we went six and two was 2009.” I didn’t realize that. I thought it was 2008 when we lost to the Celtics, but you could be right. But either way, it’s been 15 plus years since we have gone six and two to start the season. Um, Case Crack says, “Pistons haven’t shot well all season, and we’re six and two.” Exactly. It’s starting with the defense. Exactly. We’re lucky, but so much room for improvement. That’s scary. Right. You can you can just see the potential with all these young guys, the versatility we have on both ends of the court, right? That’s why I wasn’t so big on making a trade cuz if you can make a trade for a guy, you’re trading away some of that versatility. Mhm. Which has been kind of the calling card for this for this team early this season. It’s just that versatility. So, wanted to point that out. Um, let me see any more comments I want to get to. Um, okay. I think we’re good. I think we’re good. And if you see anything else, you can throw it in here, too. Absolutely. All right. So, let’s get to some box scores, boss. And let’s start with C2. Cade Parker Cunningham, number 67 as far as ranked players last year, which is insane. Yeah. Um, tonight he had 31 points, guys. 10 assists, three turnovers. So, once again, he’s got better than the 3 to1 assist turnover ratio. Uh, 46% shooting overall, three of nine from three, two from the free throw line in 37 minutes. So, his minutes were high for me. Um, it’s not too crazy, but it was more than he should have played. I want to see more like in the 33 34. But I’ll let you lead it off bots. What did you see from K tonight? Yeah, I think his minutes were high because nobody else really established themsself offensively. Nobody else was reliable for shots. I mean, the only other guy was Duran, but that’s Kate’s law partner, so Kades got to be in there. So, um, I think that’s why his mans were high. I don’t think he had a problem with that. I’m I think that he was getting more frustrated as the game went on. And, uh, he wanted to go out there and show up. I mean, that’s why they gave him two chances to for those long threes. They were just like, “Yeah, have fun with it now, Kade. We got you.” And that’s why they were all crashing the boards for that so they could clean it up if he didn’t hit it. Um, he’s just such a good leader and I just, you know, both teams were kind of like in the last four minutes like, “Let’s just turn on our offense.” Both of them, Mark and Cunningham, like they both just are like, “Let’s just let’s let’s play offense now, you know, when it when it’s basically over.” They hung around too much for my liking. Mhm. But man, Kade is just Kade and he just, you know, we are so lucky to have him that he was on it tonight. He started slow, picked it up in the second half, knew he would. Um, yeah, he did. I think he would have had more assists if we were, you know, hitting our shots better. Yeah, the free throw stuff is just ridiculous. But, um, but yeah, I mean, what what else can you say about Kate other than he’s, you know, he’s Kade cunning him, you know? Kade cunning him, man. For sure. Real quick before I get to Kade, Abraham says, Abraham says we shouldn’t trade for Lori. And I 100% agree because first of all, you think about the kind of guy we need at that fourth spot. He started tonight, the guy we needed at that spot, right? And if you’re going to get a guy like Lori, once again, you got to trace some of that defensive versatility. You’re going to trade two or three pieces at least, plus a pick, plus another player just to get him. So it’s like you want all that for a Lori, you want to just keep stew with the four and and have this versatility and then figure it out later. You know what I mean? So wanted to point that out. Um, but I just want to mention that Lari also had zero assists tonight. And that’s something that that Jaden Ivy gives for us is points and assists and and you know, Lar’s off to a good start this season, but um I don’t know. Yeah, I’ I’ve never been team give up everything we have for him. Uh cuz he’s kind of up and down as well. But yeah, I’d rather just keep it how it is. But I I’m glad you pointed out because there are some people who are in that boat and I see why. I see why because reducing points. I see why for them. It’s just the points. It’s like, yeah, I know. I know what you’re saying. That’s so true. I mean, he can get up there and block, but I don’t know if he had one tonight. Let me check real quick. Nope. No blocks, no assist. That doesn’t fit. Like, that doesn’t fit who we are. No. Like, we’ll get to the other players that I’ll hold up on that. All right, let’s get to our super chat. We got Matty. What’s going on, Matty Fresh? I appreciate you, my dog. Says Kade Clutch Cunningham. I don’t even call it the fourth quarter anymore. I just call it Cad’s quarter. I 100% agree with you, bro, and I appreciate your support, my dog. So, he leads us right into um my thoughts on K. And the the chant tonight at LCA, if you were there, kind of said it all. MVP. Mhm. At the free throw line, they’re just chanting it. And it’s not nothing new, but I think at this point now, for the first time, it’s really starting to become warranted to where it’s like it fits, right? Um, okay. So, first half, right? It seems like in the first half for me, he was just more tactical, just more so trying to be a floor general, more so trying to uh help his guys get off and take what was there for himself when it was there. It’s funny, you saw like um on one play, I’m not sure if you saw it, but he had the ball um in the post, top of the key, and Ron is to his to his right in the elbow, and he’s signaling to Ryan like, “Get out of the way, bro. Get out of the way. I want to iso.” So because he wanted he wanted a clear out because Ryan’s guy was kind of hedging toward Kade for the exact reason that Kate won the ISO. He had a mismatch. So Ryan cuts to the basket and Kate gets in that one. Like so he’s he’s really just at this level now being able to really just pick guys apart, pick the defense apart and be able to take advantage of the best matchup possession on possession on possession. So it’s just good to see that growth from him really just breaking down the defense and understanding and seeing what’s the best move for the offense. And that’s great. Um but like we mentioned, the offense as a whole in that first half did not have great flow. Yeah. You know, but he got things going in that second quarter. He started getting a little bit more aggressive um making the right decisions and him and JD got kind of involved in that pick and roll in the second quarter as well. But in the second half, man, second half, he just took it over. He said, man, much like last game against the Mavericks, he just got super aggressive. Yeah. Started looking for his own. And in that fourth quarter, man, and like Matty like Matty Fresh said, man, fourth quarter, like K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K just took over much like the the the Mavs game and he just took it over. He closed and he got whatever he wanted offensively. He made it look easy. He made it look really really easy, man. Like and this this is backto-back games now. Last game K scored 19 fourth quarter points to close out the Mavericks. Tonight K scored 14 19 fourth quarter fourth quarter points to close out the Jazz. So once again, man, he even took one from the logo. He thought he was step for a second. He got hot, had a little heat check. Thought he was step. He came up short. Yeah, but I’m not mad at that. You know, when you feel that, you’ve earned the right to take a take a shot like that. They were giving it to him. They wanted him to. Yeah, they wanted him to. And the crowd wanted him to, too. Everybody wanted him to. So, I wasn’t mad. I wasn’t mad at that. But, um, yeah, he carried this, man. He put the team on his back in that fourth quarter and said, “Follow me.” Yep. And he got it done. So, once again, like I said before, the two biggest knocks on him last year were his turnovers. Check. Those are down. Yep. And his ability to close games. Check, check, check. So, he is showing the growth. And that’s what MVPs do. They close games. They don’t let you hang around. When the game is on the line, despite how you’re playing before that, they show up. Yep. In back-to-back games, K Cunningham has done that at a very high level. And he’s now warranting those MVP chants for sure. Absolutely. Absolutely. I just want to say too, our backto-back was the Grizz. Grizz was the last game. I’m sorry. You’re right. I’m just let I know you’ll reference it going forward. No, you’re right. You’re right. That’s why you’re here. That’s why you’re here. But, uh, I mean, yeah, there’s really just no other way to describe it. And it is like it’s crazy. Like, his floaters are just nuts. Like, you just like you really do just expect them to go. And like George Ba and Greg Kelzer were saying, like it’s like a layup to him. And like that’s when you know he’s on because you know when he you know hits the back of the rim with those, that’s when he’s off. But usually he’s right down the middle. Easy. Yep. Or they’re just coming up short because he has no legs cuz he’s so tired. Hard. I should call them hard because they’re very hard because he’s never left open ever. He has four or five guys on him at some point and he’s still making these. So yeah. Yeah, for sure. You’re right. Chris says, “K looking so good on the court without them turnovers.” That’s what’s big time. Exactly. Exactly, bro. We heard it all last year, you know, and to to some point it was warranted. You know, got to get those turnovers down. Um people were saying he’s not a point guard. Y started. All right. All right. Like bye-bye. like come on y’all. But now he’s just silencing all all the doubters. He’s just showing who and what he is. And you’re seeing the offseason work really start to pay off for him now. So credit to him for putting in the work and continuing to get better. Yeah. Yeah. I saw that on Kate, man. He played great. Oh, the up and under finish. Did you see that? The reverse. Heisenberg saw it. Oh my. He’s had some nice finishes, man. To not be athletic. Yeah, he’s got some crazy finishes. We said this last time. I said it’s like he’s averaging one of those baskets a game. Like he just gets it done and he sees it. So, I mean, he’s just he’s so fun. He’s so so fun to watch. So, he is. He is. Remember the preseason one where Tobias had that crazy pass and he had to catch it with his left hand. Yeah. And he’s Yeah. His his touch around the rim. His touch period. But around the rim, he’s got a he’s got much improved touch. So, shout out to him, man, for doing it all tonight. Yep. Absolutely. Um Mike says, “Duce, nil, JDB.” We’re going to get to that. We’re going to get to JD for sure. 100%. Mike, appreciate you as always, man. All right. Anything else on Kate, boss? No, nothing with Kate. Okay. All right, guys. Let’s go ahead and swing it over to Duncan Robinson. All right. So, tonight, guys, Duncan Robinson had nine points, two boards, two turnovers, three of seven shooting, three of six from three 02 from the free throw line. Yikes. In 28 minutes. Yikes. Okay. Um, I’ll let you lead it up, boss. What were your thoughts tonight on Duncan Robinson? Um, he did fine. I don’t like He only had seven field goals attempted. I don’t love that. Um, I just feel like if you’re out there when we have the two big lineup, your role next to Kate is to score. That’s Duncan’s role right now. And, you know, he made a couple clutch threes. He made one in the in the beginning. He made one that clutch one at the end. Like, he’s still a good shooter and we can rely on him. I know we’ve been spoiled with bees who we who we know could put up five, six threes a game and make them, you know. Um, but I would have liked to see Duncan, you know, we saw him being more aggressive the last few games and I don’t think he tried to get to the rim as much. I think he did okay on defense. He had a couple Did he Did he market a steal? No, they didn’t mark a steal for him, but I know that he got in the way of some uh some passes. He made an impact. Uh, it man, you nice. You being nice, man. I know. I know. You being nice. I’m mean. It’s hard for me. It’s hard. But yes, with with Duncan, I’ve talked about if you’re going to play him that long, he needs to produce more. And it was interesting towards the end when we did have double digit leads. I know our bench wasn’t great, but I would have liked to see Ron or Javvante or someone else in there for defense because we have this lead. You’re not producing offense at this time moment in time. Let’s get another defender in there to keep the lead. So, that’s mostly where I’m at with Duncan. Um, but glad, you know, he came through when that’s I’m glad he came through when when we needed him to. All right. So, she’s giving y’all the nice version. Yeah. I’m not going to be me. I’m just going to be honest. Y’all know me. I’m blunt. Um, so look, I don’t think he played well tonight. And I I say that because he knocked down shots. Okay. He knocked down He for six and three. I get it, right? That’s what you need to do. Well, first of all, over for two from the free throw line. Come on, bro. You a shooter. You can’t you can’t go over for two from the line. Um, and he I not going to say he does that a lot. I haven’t watched him his whole career at Miami, but he’s only been here for about, you know, a couple months. And to see that kind of a little bit discouraging. Um, can’t do that. Also, emission defense. You can’t give up 28 points in 35 minutes to Speed Muk, bro. Yeah, that’s so true. I don’t know why he went to be honest. Like, and he was speed was getting it every way he wanted. was getting it underneath. He was underneath the hoop with just kind of bullying Duncan. It’s like how do you let speed bully you, bro? Come on. Come on. Um Yeah. Like we and we know, you know, guys, you know, he’s he was a solid player here, but come on, man. You can’t let him get a career high, you know, against against us when we’re defensive team. You can’t do that. Yeah. Right. Like if he doesn’t do that, this game is probably over way sooner, right? Oh, yeah. So, yes. Right. Organically, you can’t come on, bro. Like you got to you can’t allow and you can’t if you’re going to do that you can’t score nine points. Yeah. Yeah. You know what I’m saying to like that’s that’s what my eyes told me. Like you got to be more impactful, bro. The three for six from three is great. Great. Right. But what are you doing on the other end? If you’re scoring nine, giving up 28, you know that’s you’re kind of a liability defensively and that’s what we can’t be as a defensive team. I talked about adding Stew to the starting lineup. You can’t do that and then negate that with allowing a guy like Steve Mahaloo, no disrespect, to get 28 points 35 minutes. You just can’t do it. Ethan says Duncan’s poor play would have stood out more if the Pistons were Yes, if they were losing. Not a good game from him, though. That’s for sure. And I’m not I’m not I’m not I’m not trashing him. Y’all know me. I’m not I I call it exactly how I see it. And tonight, it just wasn’t a good look for Duncan tonight, right? So, that’s that’s just my take on it. Hopefully, he’ll be better next game, but that’s what I saw. I think I would be a little harsher on him if someone off our bench did better. It We had a couple He did. Okay. I I was gonna say Ron as my guy too, Ron. Uh but I just feel like he his to me his poor play didn’t stick out as much because we had a couple multiple guys with poor play. Like he wasn’t okay only weak link. But I do agree with everything you’re saying because a starter though, it’s like you know what I’m saying? And missing the two free throws that should be a sign that he was just really off. Okay, that’s fair. I I also don’t think like he should have been on Hendrickx. I don’t know why he was on TV after a while. I don’t know if that was just how it ended up after screens and rotations or if that was what JB just wanted. Okay. Um but you’re right. Like we saw in the beginning that he kind of held Assar to a high standard because when Assar made some mistakes, he pulled him immediately. And you told me that. Yeah. Yeah. And I feel like JB just lets Duncan I don’t know. I I don’t know if Duncan wasn’t they he wanted Duncan to have the ball more to have more shot opportunities and he wasn’t getting it based off of how the rotations were going, how the play was. But for me, I don’t see why he’s out there other than to help grow the lead. And again, seven, three of seven is not starter numbers, right? So, and even just seven, like at least get to 10 and and like I don’t know how many of those were Oh, there all six of them were threes. And I know he’s a three-point shooter, but we we saw him in his highest scoring games get to the mid-range, get to the paint, get to the basket. So, I agree with you. Yeah. Yeah. Um Chuck, I’m not sure if you’re trolling or not. You might be, maybe you’re being serious. I don’t know. But Ryan knocked down his only three tonight. Yeah. So, he didn’t take a bunch, but he when he’s open, he’s knocking him down. Like, he is not the same shooter from last year. He is not. He’s taking a huge jump from last year. It’s not even It’s night and day as far as him. Mighty uh Bouch Buch says, “Duncan needs to spend time with the dog pound, find his edge. Not sure if he has chemistry yet with this team.” Yeah, you can see. And I I’m wondering if the defense is affecting his offense. I don’t know if he’s used to expending a ton of energy defensively. But to get in the court and stay in the court, he’s going to have to. And so if that’s affecting his jump shot, then what does that mean for him starting, right? Because we we have other guys on this team who can play great defense who aren’t great shooters. I mean, looking for further than Sarah Thompson, right? So, it’s just like if you can’t if you can’t give us that two-way ability, why are you starting? That’s just me, right? So, go ahead. Well, and we mentioned it, too, and we’re, you know, we’re going to see how the starting lineup evolves, but even Tobias in for Duncan because Tobias has a reliable shot as well. He really, you know, he’s usually um in our top like three, four scorers. Um, every now and then he has an off night, but he’s out there to pace and he’s out there to space, but I think, you know, he can put up as much he can put up nine points. He can put up more than that. Yeah. So, you know, he can hit as many threes as as Dunk did and get get to the basket and get the mid-range. So, um, that would be because I think right now until Ivy comes back, we just he it uh JB just wants some kind of offensive help in there and yes, Ron’s an option, but maybe not maybe doesn’t feel quite confident enough yet, right? But that’s why we’re missing Tobias. that’s, you know, like everyone’s like, “Yeah, like stew in the starting lineup is great. I can see that, but maybe Tobias, too.” So, yeah, that’s a good point. That’s a good point. Um, and yeah, I I just think at some point if you’re going to lean into your identity, you got to have players on the court one through five who fit that identity. And that’s kind of where I’m at, you know, because otherwise, what’s the point? What’s the point if you got, you know, you kind you patch a hole here, you get a little bit bigger in the front court, but you got another hole in the back court because you don’t have a guy who’s really a good two-way player. So, it’s like if you’re going to lean in, you got to lean in. And that’s kind of where I’m at with that. Uh, what do you see? You got you got a look of of confusion on your face. We’ll get this through soon because, you know, it’s it’s a mixed bag on that. He’s been starting and he’s looking good. I get it. I get it. But, I mean, I think that’s just a wild thing to say after. Yeah. For what reason? State your case. State your case. Exactly. I would like to know why because Yeah. And we’ll get to his box scores and they weren’t perfect tonight, but there I I there were a couple moments I I’ll talk about that his impact just being there changed changed the course. So, right. And we’ll get to this too. Person next says, “But we know this is temporary, so it’s not a problem. I’ve seen a lot of comments about Jaden Ivy when he gets back and Duncan will probably be going to the bench.” I think that’s 100% accurate. Um, but still in the meantime between time, we’re talking about us moving up in the standings, right? We still got to get these wins. We still got to build a chemistry and still try to get these wins so we can make sure we get a first round playoff series, a top four seed. Right. These are the important games. The reason we didn’t get that last year is because we start off on four. So, this is important. You want to experiment and figure it out, but you also want to try to stack wins against teams you know you’re better than. Yeah. Right. And not having these guys hang around late in the games when they should have been put away. Go ahead. And like we’re at the top of the or near, you know, basically at the top of the East right now. But um and like I’ve discussed now we have the next 19 games 16 of our this is the west team 16 of our um games are against east opponents who are all currently below us right I know it’s early but they’re all very winnable games the you know it’s possible that we you know have a nice long win streak we’ll probably you know get get stopped by one or two of them but like you said this is yeah we it’s temporary but I want us to utilize ize these games because then we go to the west the second half. It just gets a little tougher. Then we have to sometimes adjust to having Ivy back. If somehow bees comes back, well, we’ll still have some adjustment period. So, like you said, these are the games we need to be winning. So, even though it’s temporary, it still needs to work, right? Exactly. And that’s and that’s kind of the whole point. You can’t just say, “All right, when he gets back, it’s a shoein because these guys are still going to need time to adjust and get used to their new team.” Like, think about like Stu has been on this team. He’s the longest tenure Piston. Mhm. And it’s still you can see it’s taking them time to adjust to him being in that starting five, right? So it’s going to take time for all these guys regardless of who they are. If they haven’t been playing with the other guys, it’s going to take them time. So we can’t rely on, oh, when he gets back, we’re going to be going humming like humming like a machine. No, you still got to try to get the wins when you can get them. So, but so I agree with you there for sure. All right, let’s keep it moving. We’re going to leave Duncan alone for the rest of the night. Um, let’s go to Assar Thompson. Assar Thompson, 18 points, guys. Seven boards, three assists, one steal, one blocks, stuff in the stat sheet again, two turnovers. Uh he shot 58% overall, which is good. Seven for 12, no three-pointers. I’m fine with that. Free throw percentage is better tonight. Four for six at 67% which is a solid in 31 minutes. So boss, thoughts on our Tasmanian Thompson tonight. He looked great and he had a defensive impact as well. I really like the statline um from him and you know those two missed free throws. What I liked is that he went and got the rebound after that. I think it deflected off of Ron but he got it and so if you’re going to miss your free throws at least, you know, make up for it. Um and he did. Um I felt like there were some moments. Okay, so we’re still using him as a ball handler whether Kad’s on the floor or not and JB is still on the sideline saying go. I feel like I feel like I’ve mentioned the last few games. I feel like Assar’s confidence was apparent and it was there with his ball handling confidence tonight. I felt like that was down and he did make up for it in other ways. But that was my only really negative from him. And I do hope that he’s okay with his um with his leg. It did look like a cramp. Whenever and they reach for it, I immediately go to like Achilles and that freaks me out. Yeah, cuz I didn’t see we didn’t see a roll of ankle or anything like that. But that’s why I’m also just like his Achilles that on you, right? I got a little scared there. Um, and you know, maybe that scared him a little bit too because I know he does not want to be injured again or side. Absolutely not. No, he doesn’t. So, um, I really I I I love the stat line. He did great tonight. Um, kind of kind of a quiet 18 points. I just I think I saw a lot of rebounding from him, a lot of good defense. Um, so yeah, I just I it made me happy. Yeah. Second half was was a lot better than the first half. Yeah. Um, so that’s and that’s is probably a byproduct of that, right? That’s a great point. Um, you guys know I call him Tasmanian Thompson because he’s just a wrecking ball wreaking havoc all over the floor. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, right? Yeah. Tonight it was a little bit of both. It was a very hot and cold game for me for Asar early in this game. Um, because he has he just had it was just so many plays like great play and then what are you doing? I tweeted like what are you doing bro on some of those plays. So, there was a stretch. I’m going to I’m going to give you guys a quick playbyplay. It was like a four play stretch of what happened with the starting first quarter to kind of um to kind of just illustrate the up and down play. He scored the first bucket bucket of the game, right? Baseline cut out of pick and roll. JD caught it, found him right in the baseline. Nice. He followed that up with a travel. Then he follows that up with a backcourt steal. Then he follows that up with a point blank missed the rim, right? And not too long after that, he had a nice block at the rim. So, it’s just like it’s just so uneven. It’s like up and down, up and down, up and down. And he makes so many big plays that are positive that’s hard to keep him off the floor. But, it’s like if he could just cut down on those mistakes, just slow down a little bit cuz I think his speed is his blessing and his curse. Mhm. Because he’s got he’s got quick feet and quick hand. He’s able to knock the ball away, get a back course steel, lay it up, but he’s also sometimes just moving too quickly, trying to finish too quickly, trying to get the ball off court too quickly, and he gets out of control, right? But he has gotten better. He has gotten better. I think overall he was a plus. I just I see his ceiling and his potential. It’s like, bro, if you could just cut down on some of those mistakes, you could be so much better of a player. And I know he’s still working his way back and you see the potential. But that’s what I have my eye on is just trying to cut down on the uneven play, the hot and cold, the frustrating, and then impressive plays, and just be steady. Yes. Just be steady. So that’s all I got on him. But I thought overall he played pretty good. Yep. Yeah. He had our he had our highest of the plus minus um at 22 and so I you know he just I think he also did a really good job on Keonte George. I’m really liking the way he’s defending right now on the perimeter. His arms are by his sides until they start to drive and then he goes for the ball. I think that that’s fantastic perimeter defense especially when you know it’s not someone bigger and you’re like Kante there’s no reason to put your hands up until he makes a move. Um so I I really did like his perimeter defense to really stifle some of the threes. again it was mostly or spy I can’t how do you pronounce it okay okay that’s what I thought but I second guessed myself um with like and again I think that someone else should have been defending him but uh yeah I think Asar stuff but yeah again with the like you said the ups and downs I’m glad he makes up for his mistakes but it is just like just cut the mistakes yeah and again I’m going to give him the leniency that the that the it’s not like he was the only weak spot again on the team right and so I think just some of the rhythm was out of there. And um but yeah, uh I think I think he he still has room to improve. It’s still early. I’m just like I feel like he’s already better since day one. So now it’s just continuing that. I agree. And I want I want to clarify this here. Philip says you can’t cut down his speed. Let him run fast and adjust and learn, but end up keeping the same pace. So here’s what I mean. I don’t mean literally slow down. I mean the same thing we were saying about Jaden in his first or first and second year about the pacing. Not always trying to go 100%. But knowing when to slow down, knowing when to pull the ball back out and not try to just barrel your way to the rim. Just the decision-making is what I mean as far as the speed. Just understanding when to go and when to pull back. That’s what he gets in trouble cuz he’s always trying to go like this. The same way Jaden was always trying to go like this. And then he improved and his turnovers came down. So that’s what I mean when I say learn down or focus focus on the speed is understanding when to do it and when not to do it, right? Not literally slowing down because that’s literally makes no sense. Um, let’s get to the super chat from Al Deloney says, “I love Stu, but Tobias is JB’s security blanket. Check the tape.” Um, we’ll get to that, bro. Um, for sure. I definitely have some comments on that for sure. So, I appreciate the super chat and we’ll come back to that when we get to Ste. You got anything else on us, sir? Let me see. He says his brain, right, his brain needs to calm down, right? That’s that’s what I meant, Philip. Yes, but the energy needs to be the same 100%. Yeah, that’s that’s his superpower. that’s he’s in the 99th percentile as far as athletes in the NBA. So, it’s like you can’t you can’t take that away. It’s just the when you do it that we got to kind of focus on. So, we’ll leave it at the MSR. Overall, good game from him. Anything else going to start? Nope. Um I’m excited to see him uh Friday. I think I think he’s just going to again like with his um just with that injury with stuff, I think he he’s aware of the mistakes he made. You can see Anastas he’s aware, you know, so I think he’ll clean it up and he’ll be good. Exactly. Ryan says it was similar to Ivy. Yes. Going too fast in this rookie year. 100%. Yeah, that’s exactly That’s exactly it. So, yeah, we’re on the same page here, guys. For sure. For sure. All right, let’s go ahead and go to Isaiah Stewart. Perfect timing. All right, so guys, tonight Isaiah Stewart had 10 points, six rebounds, one assists, three blocks, one turnover on 45% overall, two for six from three, no free throws in 31 minutes. So, I’ll let you lead it off, boss. What did you see from Doc Pound senior Isaiah Stewart tonight? Yeah, I mean it was great to see him out there. Like I said, his his big game was last game with the two big JDs was tonight, but it couldn’t have been possible without Stu. Um his statline uh might not reflect it, but he was just huge defensively. Um there was one play where like oh two minutes left in the second. Keonte George was driving to the basket and you see Stu take off. You see Stu running to the rim to block it and Kee immediately passes it out to the perimeter and they miss that three and we get the ball. Kee would have laid that up if Stu didn’t make a drive. Kante was being guarded. He was being guarded. Um I don’t know I forget by who, but he was being guarded. Um but he he passed up the the layup because Stu was on his way, right? So um it’s those kind of plays that just it really just impacts that and you know keeps the guys out of the paint and you know three blocks is nothing to scoff at at all. Come on, man. And two for six threes. I don’t mind it. I don’t mind the six threes, especially when we’re down a shooter, like when we need the offense. So, I didn’t hate it. He made them when they mattered. Um, and then, you know, JD just got the offense tonight, but Stu was there. And, yeah, played awesome defense on Markin. It’s why Markin was struggling in the first uh in the first half for sure. Yeah, 100%. So, let’s lead it off here with what JB Bigger Staff said pregame. He said he’s the best rim protector in the league, his timing, his anticipation, always beating guys to the spot. And he also talked about his fearlessness and how he’s just he’s not afraid to get postered. He’s not afraid he’s going to challenge you every single time. And that’s why, like you mentioned, even though there was a guy on Keonte George, he felt he could score on him, but when he saw Stew there, he knew the odds went way down on that. And so for me, by the way, I want to shout out Amari Sancopa who gave us that quote. Um, after last game, I stated that the Pistons should start stew with JD, right? And I highlighted the reasons why I felt that way, but for context for anybody who missed it, we are going to address that. Well, let’s not do it tonight. We’ll do we’ll come back to it later. I don’t I don’t want to do that tonight. But I do want to address something that um Coach Bigger Staff said regarding that. you know, physicality, size, strength, versatility. Um, you know, we don’t mind putting those guys on anybody on the floor. Uh, you know, we’re confident that if they switch on any matchup, uh, they can have success. Um, you know, there is a, you know, ferociousness to them both. Uh, that kind of helps us set a tone of how we’re going to play. Um, you know, their ability to rebound both sides of the ball. You know, I think that’s one of the challenges uh that, you know, we’re pushing is we got to be a better defensive rebounding team. Uh so all those guys have to take, you know, responsibility. Tonight’s going to be stressed because we Jazz are a good offensive rebounding team. Uh but I think that’s the thing that, you know, they bring is that presence. Um you know, the tenaciousness to start the game. Yeah. So, you heard words like ferocity, tenacity, those are all defensive traits that the Pistons embody, right? That that is what exactly Isaiah Stewart is. And so, I don’t know, man. I I I I don’t really understand why how you can’t at this point see how he needs to be in the starting lineup. The main push back that I heard was that Paul Reed wasn’t good enough to be the third big if the Pistons have any foul trouble or injuries or things like that. And I don’t know, man. I just I feel like Paul Reed’s good enough to be a third big personally. But even if you don’t think he is, you still got Total Smith, right? But even if you don’t think that’s enough, I still think the answer is not putting Tobias back in the starting five. I think you leave Stewart the four and make a move for another big at the backup four or five. Right? That’s what I think you should do because you see the impact that Isaiah Stewart has in that starting lineup. It’s much more ethical to do it that way. Trade for a backup big, leave Stew where he’s at instead of putting the bias back at the four and having St be the backup five. That doesn’t make sense to me based on the tone you’re trying to set defensively in the team and identity you’re trying to set. Yeah, that’s just me. What are your thoughts on that? Yeah, I completely agree. And you know, Paul Reed, you know, he he did get minutes tonight. They were he wasn’t the best. Again, he’s had a couple iffy games, but he started off strong. I still have faith in Paul Reed. You know, he’s one of my guys. Um, and he was out there for basically to give them rest. So that’s that, you know, people’s argument towards that are valid. Um, but we also have like Tulu, who I would love to see out there. Um, I would love to see him because he’s he’s just a dog and he can move quickly and he can defend. Um, so that’s a possibility. Maybe we do trade for a big. Who knows? That was another reason why if Tobias was healthy, he could come in because he’s also, you know, is he a perime a rim defender? No. but he stops people from getting to the rim. He He’s a good defender, I think, for JB standards. He’s a good defender. So, um yeah, I I really like what I saw. I didn’t get to see the game live. Um and then when I watched it, I knew they won, so I took a little bit of the excitement out of it, but not this game, but um the one against the Grizzlies. Yeah. But what I I saw I I really liked the two big lineup tonight, and I’m really happy that it’s working out because it’s what we need. And there’s gonna be a night where they both just pop off. Yep. Both go crazy. And And that’s coming. And if honestly, if Stu was hitting those threes, that would have been tonight, too. Right. Right. Yeah, you’re right. Um, but I like I like where we’re at with that. And so I’m not worried about Tobias being out of the starting five um right now. And that’s exactly what we need is like when a guy goes down to have someone, you know, come in and uh and and you know, keep it keep it down. I think to still would have been beneficial tonight. But yeah, I’m excited about the the two the Stew and Duran and and I really like Stew and Duran and Ron. I love when the whole dog pounds out there. That’s a lot of Yeah. Um but yeah, they had a they’ll I’ll talk about it now because Oh, we haven’t gotten JD yet, but they had the the dog pound play where Stu blocked it. Ron brought it up the court, lobbed it to JD for the dunk. Yep. It was awesome. Yeah, it was awesome. That’s a piston. That’s a dog pound play. 100%. 100%. Yeah, I love I love seeing that kind of stuff. That’s who we are. Ethan says if and I saw you post you put this up earlier. If Rudy Gobear, who can’t put you on to guards like Stu can win DPOI, there’s no reason Ste can’t Exactly. Yeah, exactly. I mean, you could argue that Stu is just as good, if not better of a rim protector than Rudy Gobear. Oh, yeah. Rudy Gobear should have none. Yeah. Four. That’s insane. Yeah. And if he wasn’t 73, 74, I mean, a lot of that just comes with his sheer size. That’s why a guy like Stu who’s 6’8 in doing this is incredible. Go ahead. I see him a lot in Denver because he’s in the division the roles and uh that man is afraid of Joic, you know, like he doesn’t go. No, I’m not going to get into it, but I agree completely like Stu deserves more recognition for his defense and I hope the NBA really starts to to push that because right now, you know, he’s still kind of the villain, the hotthead. And yeah, he’s a hotthead. We like that about him, but maybe people keep trying him at the rim because no one knows, right? Silly at this point. So, right, it’s not a fluke. He’s the best rim defender. He’s, you know, lead I I don’t think he leads in blocks. I think that’s still WBY, but he’s up there with blocks. He’s helping the team lead the NBA in block totals. Yeah, I agree completely. And And as a starter, he’s going to hit the minutes pretty defensive team of the year. So, Exactly. That’s the only reason he didn’t make all defense last year. Yeah, like we mentioned, he just didn’t have enough minutes. The fact that he’s even even in the conversation with a guy like Wimby who’s nearly a foot taller than him and they play the same position is insane. I know that that’s just crazy. Yeah. But let’s stay on Ste for a while cuz I got a lot more to say about him. Um his helpside defense. Yeah, that’s a big reason too why I want him to play with JD because so often in the past when you see JD committing for a block, right, when there’s penetration in the perimeter, unless it’s Assara sliding over at the end, jumping off, jumping out of the gym, there’s not really much help ID there, there isn’t really anybody boxing out. We talked about that a few games back and tonight that was not the case. Yeah. multiple times when you would see JD try to contest who was coming right over to box out or to swat swat it away when you know when they were trying to help out or get the offensive rebound. You didn’t see the offensive putback tonight. No, you saw Stu boxing him out or swatting the putback away. Yes. Right. And guess what that leads to? Transition opportunities, which is exactly what the Pistons do. So Steu is a great helpside defender, too. He’s good at helping the helper. Yes, he’s smart. He’s got great instincts. And once again, he helps set the tone out the gate. And we talked about Lori Markin, right? Mhm. Amazing defense on him. So Lori this this year is averaging 31. Tonight he had 25, but he shot 30%. Yeah, that’s Isaiah Stewart. He shot 8 for 22. What is it? 8 for 22 overall, 3 for 12 from three. A lot of that came in the fourth when I when Stuart was on the bench and didn’t get to come in because there was no stoppage of play. And he’s not going to call a timeout when we’re when we’re holding it down. So, right. Um, that’s when he really popped off. And, uh, yeah, and I’ll just throw this out there now because I mentioned to you, Stu, you know, he’s kind of I don’t think he’s not nearly as he doesn’t have the Draymond Green reputation yet, but one thing that you worry about Green is getting kicked out or ejected and and uh I had that sense of worry with Stu tonight just because him and Nurgkage have gone at it before. Nerk is kind of a dirty player. It’s why he had two offensive fouls and he he’s sneaky dirty. he gets under your skin. Yeah. And they did have that one where they were talking and I like that Stu just mocked him instead of, you know, throwing hands. It shows that he’s taking his role in the that he’s take he understood in that moment that they need him. So he can’t just be and I’m not saying that that’s his default, but I know that him and Nerkage aren’t besties. So I I worried that something would happen where where he would get uh teed up or ejected or get into it with him. and he was pretty close, but he walked away and he he just accepted it. And and that to me is just also huge because I remember, you know, there there were games where Steph Curry was crying because Kayman Green was just he dejected right away and he’s like, “Where’s my guy?” And I don’t think we pulled this one out tonight with Stu. It was that close. Without Stu. Yeah. I think if we lost Stu, we would not have pulled this out because of his defense. And like you said, he had tap outs. Some things that don’t record his rebounds. He was under there to help to help uh Yeah. make sure that if if if uh someone else didn’t get it, he did. He got in the way. Um so yeah, he and yeah, with without him on market in it would have been tricky. I think going going earlier. So he’s just his statline isn’t as pretty as his last game, but we know the impact that he had. That’s what it’s all about. It’s all about impact. I want to get to this because this kind of leads me to my next point about Stu. Ethan says, “My push back against Steu as a starter over Tobias is that Tobias can be a playmaker with the ball in his hands at a much higher level.” I think that is a very valid point. But here’s what I will say about this. We know it’s still you get more defense and we know it’s still you lose lose a little bit of offensive creation that Tobias provided, right? But here’s the thing. If you’re going to go with still with the four like I think they should, you have to have another creator offensively. But guess who’s coming back in a few weeks? We just talked about how Duncan Robinson is not the answer longterm at the two. Mhm. We know that having Jaden Ivy on the court makes it viable to go with Stew with the four because we know Stu isn’t a creator. He can he can score in the paint, right? When you when you get him the ball, he can score. But you need more offensive creation if you’re going to go with Stu instead of Tobias. And that’s what Jaden is going to provide. So, in my mind, let him go now. Let him get the reps with these guys now. So, that way when Ji comes back, it’s an easier transition. Yeah. Because I think the point is valid. I think that I think that that comment supports your thoughts about Tobias coming off as the six guy to help come in and control the game when the guys need rest or to get control again. I think that that is a valid point. It’s also why I wouldn’t mind seeing him in for Duncan if that’s needed to just to get us to where we need Jaden, but um to get Jaden back. But yeah, I can also see him coming off and you know being you know our main guy for the second unit. So Yep. Exactly. Yeah. So I I think that’s the answer. I think you don’t you don’t put Tobias back in because you have Jaden coming back who’s going to be able to give you that offensive creation and you still have Stu to help you set that tone defensively. I think that’s the answer. So, I do think with Steu starting, like I mentioned, they do need more offensive creation. I would even mind having a guy like Ron in there more often because, you know, Ron’s not an offensive hub, but he can handle the ball. He can shoot the ball from long range. He can give you a little bit of creation off the dribble in a lesser capacity of a Ji can, right? So even guys like him I think can help solve that problem. But once again longterm I’m definitely starting Stu because he gives you the defense and when you get Jaden back you have the offensive creation there and then you still have the offensive punch off the bench with Tobias Harris. It’s just a better allaround fit for the construction of this team and that’s why I would kind of go with him there. So I don’t think putting the bias back in the starting lineup in I don’t think that’s the answer. You got to set that tone with Steu. You have to do that. You see the impact that has and you know just I think that’s the best way to go. But either way, I think it’s the perfect time for the Pistons to experiment with these guys, with these lineups. It’s a lot of opportunity, a lot of, you know, versatility. That’s a good problem to have. So, I do like that they are experimenting now and seeing what what what looks the best. Yeah, that’s all I got on Ste. Anything else on Ste? Nope. Just love him. Yeah, we could go all night. Right. Right. We get to talk about everything good he does and he doesn’t. And he had one personal foul tonight. I’ll say that. One foul. 31. 31 minutes and one foul as our rim protector as our defender on Lii Markin. So, Right. Right. Yeah. And that foul was on Nerkage. That was the one where they got in trouble. So, uh he did it. Uh he was great. So, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. For sure, man. Shout out to man. All right, guys. Let’s go to JD Jaylen Duran, man. Tonight, he had 22 points, 15 re No, no, I’m tripping. My bad. 22 points, 22 rebounds, three assists, one block, only one turnover on 10 to 15 shooting. Good for 67% overall, two or four from the free throw line. The only black mark, you can see he was annoyed with himself when he missed him. Um, in 35 minutes, so take off. We got a 2020 game this early from JD. You called it. You called those 2020 game. I knew that he was going to have multiple this year. I’m so happy it’s, you know, within the first 10 games, you know, game eight. Very proud of him. He stepped up where needed. He was under the basket, but he was getting the rebounds and he made the decision to go back up with it and, you know, he either made the basket, got fouled, or he kicked it back out. So, um, he I think he made smart decisions. He was where he needed to be. He did great off the screen and rolls. He did he did everything right tonight. Um, I I’m thrilled. I’m thrilled at it. Two personal fouls for him as well. Like that’s huge between our two big guys starting only three personal fouls is incredible. And we he was a big reason why like we heard JB mention it and I knew about it before the game as well that the Jazz are great rebounders. They’re second in the league at offensive rebounding and they’re top 10 at defensive and we outrebounded them tonight on both ends. Um, so that’s just that’s just big and you know a lot of that that’s more than how many we had we had 30 oh no we had 40 sorry 52 rebounds total and 22 of them were JD. So that’s insane. Yeah, that’s about 40% of the boards total. Yes. Wow. Yeah, that’s crazy. Awesome. That is crazy, man. Um, insane. Yeah. So, 12 straight points for the Pistons in the second quarter. Yeah, let’s just start there. Awesome. And he did it in different ways. It wasn’t just the lob play. The lob was there, but he’s he’s And I’m noticing the little things with JD, man. He’s just becoming a higher IQ player. At least he’s just focusing more on the IQ. The way he’s just setting screens, turning into a statue when he gets there. Doesn’t move until K makes his like he’s just he’s just he’s just playing much smarter. Even the way he’s defending at the rim, going straight up, not trying to always get the block, but just making sure that he’s not allowing them to score or make the shot difficult. Just the small things that he’s doing, he’s committing to the defensive end to be that guy defensively as an anchor. And I think that’s really really good to see. Um yeah, he he was great. He he had a nice lefty finish. Um he he was all over the boards like you mentioned, cleaning the glass up offensive and defensive, and he even went to a little mini fadeaway. Yeah, it was pretty. It was pretty a few times. Yeah, that look it looked pure. So, even though he can do that, I think we he’s going to be more focused on what he’s doing and show flashes of these things and work on his game in the offseason to continue to get better to showcase that in the future, but you see it’s there. Yeah, you see his ceiling is is ridiculous. Go ahead. Yeah, he had another grab out of the air block too on Kante at the end. That’s like his third of the season where he just grabs away from these guys and that’s just phenomenal defense. He did keep his arms up straight. Um, Kante was all over the place, you know, so I’m glad that he didn’t get called for a foul there because it wasn’t one. Um, and just like he was just like Steu has been the hype man. Ron has been the hype man. Kate of course has been the hype man. Like Duran’s 12point run and and how he played the entire game just really helped keep the momentum up. Yep. So, um, just just fantastic job from him. And we talked about his slow start last year and and has all have all of his games been perfect? No. But like he is he’s doing so much better and like he’s not, you know, getting into foul trouble early. He’s he’s doing what he he needs to do plus some plus these fadeaways. He’s he’s confidence and those fadeway that fade away came in his 12 uh point streak like he was feeling himself and so just to have that confidence boost is huge. And uh yeah, he should be very proud of himself. I’m I’m curious if any if anyone out there has seen any of the postgame stuff if if him or Kade got the belt because I could see it going to either. Great question. We’ll see. Yeah, that’s a it’ll probably that’s a tough one cuz Kate closed, right? But JD was just there throughout too. Yeah. He had the whole the whole game first half and second half. They may they may share it maybe like half and half. We’ll see. Few comments we want to get to here. Organic says deuces across the board downtown for Duran. Yeah. Two into two. I love it. I love it. Um, yeah. Detroit Drew says, “Allar that man.” Devon says, “No one saw JD bricking out like this this season. I just hope he proves haters wrong and becomes remember.” Well, some of us did. Yeah, some of us did. I called JD being an all-star beginning of the year, right? I said, “This is he’s going he’s going to break out if he plays smart, if he just continues to be available.” because that’s been the biggest knock on him is can he be available? And can he give the effort consistently on the defensive end? And now we’re seeing just like with Kade, can he close? Can he handle? Check. Check. Turnovers down. Check. Check. Now we’re seeing JD taking those jumps. Can he stay in the floor? Check. Can he be consistent? Check. Can he D without fing? He’s just these guys are all growing incrementally. That’s why Tan said, “Let’s just not make any trades and let’s focus on the internal growth.” And even though we have issues right now with our bench a little bit, we still see that these guys can overcome that because they’ve gotten better, the young guys, the core guys. So definitely want to shout JD out, man. And also, this is the why when it comes to even more so now that I think he’ll be an all-star this year is because if he keeps it up, right, brings the energy and stays disciplined, he’s going to average a hefty double double. And honestly, having Stu alongside him, yeah, in that starting lineup, it will enable him to be more available and avoid the foul trouble. It’s a lot easier for him to stay out of foul trouble when you got Stu there as opposed to Tobias there who tries as hard as he can. He’s just not the defensive presence. So true. So, it’s like it affects JD, too. Mhm. If you can have him on the court longer and not sitting down with 10 minutes in the first quarter cuz he’s got two fouls cuz he’s trying to hold off Evan Mobley and Jared Allen or Miles Turner and Giannis or Mitchell Robinson and Cat when you got another dog there with you. It makes it easier for you to foul or to defend without fouling and you’re not as suspended and tired defensively. It just helps everything. It helps other players having Stu in that starting lineup. That’s what I’m saying. So that’s the domino effect of Steu being there is not just him and Tobias. Yeah, you’re seeing with other players how he can be impacted negatively or positively as well. And since we’re defensive team, it just makes sense to have him in that role. So got to shout out Steu because he’s so impactful to this team, man. So JD was amazing though. JD was amazing tonight. I want to address this comment. Dian Caesar says, “My biggest fear with JD is that he might be a contract year merchant.” I don’t think he is. I think that he was given a a um I understand maybe some concern, but I don’t see him that way. I think he was um you know, they just want to see how this team as a young group can grow together and they were aware of JD’s slow start last season. So, I think it’s just Tjan being not cautious, but just a good financially smart at this point. there’s they’ll obviously Ivy and Duran are are both players I want to see grow with this team and them not getting the extension doesn’t mean that they’re not. It just means like all right like let’s see what you can do at this young age because we know you can do better and JD is doing better already. So I don’t think it’s I don’t think it’s a it’s a contract year thing. I think it’s just JD he he recognized what he did wrong last year. He’s fixing it the first two games foul trouble fixing it. He’s learning as he goes and he’s only, you know, again, 21 um and he just has to be reminded of some things, but I think he’s really holding it down and this is the kind of player he is. 2020 nights are going to be more common for him. Yep. 100%. I totally agree. I think the offensive rebounds with a guy like Steu available, the the the tap outs, keeping the ball alive, those are rebounds. Tap, offensive rebound, miss shot, like that’s you can really eat on the glass having another guy there with you. Um, Zion says, or not Zion because you just mentioned that one, but I wanted to cite this here. Um, when it comes to, we’re gonna we’re going to get to this organ. He says, “I need you to keep it a beanie seagull. Keep it a buck with Caris tonight like you did with Duncan.” I got you, bro. I got you. We’re going to we’re going to get to him, too, for sure. Um, but yeah, I definitely just think that it’s important to keep that in mind, man. Like, it’s a domino effect with these guys. And if you guys watch the pregame, if you watch the pregame, Natalie Kerwin asked JD about Starting and he was raving over it. He was raving over over St. Like, “Yeah, man. When we when we play together, it’s it’s the dog pound.” Like, we he said, “We don’t think he doesn’t think there is a more imposing front court that has the athleticism and skill more so than those two.” And I agree as far as as they’re both bruisers, but you got Stu or JD who’s just a freak freak athlete. Yeah. And you’ve got Steu who’s not a freak athlete, but he’s such a smart player. Yes. So, you could just hear Jade. You could hear in his voice. He went and he was he was kind of going on and on and on, too. Like, it was a very direct question, but he was just kind of going on and kind of just gushing about him. So, you you can see that once again, he wants you can see JD wants to have another guy there with him that is going to bang, that’s going to, you know, so he doesn’t have to do so much by himself, so to speak, in that painted area, which he can do. We’ve seen him out muscle Jared Allen and Evan Mobley together, both of them. But nobody wants to do that every night. So he he just makes more sense to have a guy like that with you. And I think I think it’s going to come a time, maybe not tomorrow, but I think it’s going to come a time where that is a starting front for this team. Yeah. Yeah. I I I completely agree. And it’s exciting seeing them excited because that’s part of our culture is the bad boys, the the dog pound, the defense, the the grit, and they both have it. So, um, that’s just exciting to see that they’re thrilled about it and they’re looking forward to playing together and so, um, and you can see JD was just really loving what he was doing out there. He looked very confident. So, yeah, I’m just super super impressed by him. I want I do want to come back to Z now because I know you already mentioned it and commented on it, but it wasn’t like cuz so JD started off bad last year. We know that like mentally the discipline wasn’t there, the energy wasn’t there, and he called himself out. Yeah. He said, “I was playing soft.” He He said that it wasn’t like he really reverted back to that at any point in the season. Once he got over that hump, he pretty much maintained it and he had a slow start the first two or three games of this year, but he seems to have erased that already. So, I don’t even think it’s because it’s a contract year because he showed second half of last year that he was turning into a different player. If it was like that all last year from the first 10 games through the whole season and then you see him like this this year, then I’m like, “Okay, what’s going on, bro?” Like, that’s too much of a of a of a switch, right, for you? You know what I mean? In conjunction with the contract gear, now I’m like, “What’s going on?” Now I’m kind of side eyeing. But the fact that he was doing it last year, well, before we even got to this year tells me that it’s more so about him wanting to become a better player, period. I’m sure that’s part of it, but I don’t think it’s the only reason. Mhm. Right. And I I don’t think it’s situation where he gets paid and now we’re seeing JD from last year first 10 games again. I don’t think it’s that kind of situation. Yeah. And I understand the concern though. Go ahead. And there was no other extensions given. Tan hasn’t promised anyone anything. Right. So just uh even the guys that we did send in offseason have like what like a one-year guarantee. Like he’s not promising anything. So um and I like it. I like the I like the concept of go out there and prove it. Right. When we know JD has it, they know JD has it. They said go get it. Check this out. Sarah just thought of Jokic and Aaron Gordon when Duke said JD’s quote, right? They do love each other and they do work very very well together. But it’s hard to compare those guys because those all four players are completely different from each other. How you feel about this? It’ll never happen. But how do you feel about this? Oh my god. Remember what I said? We were talking about this a couple weeks ago. He had a 50-point game. So, the Nuggets pre Aaron Aaron Gordon had a better second half to the season last year and Nuggets fans were like kind of going we were like, “Okay, either MPJ or Aaron Gordon’s leaving.” It’s hard to believe now, but that’s what that’s what we all thought he was leaving. And I thought to myself, MPJ better not come near Detroit, right? I will take Gordon in a heartbeat. Heartbeat. But it all worked out because uh Gordon’s doing great. He’s Yogic’s best friend. One of the only guys Jogic has brought to Serbia. I think he’s only brought Bruce and uh Bruce Brown in right with him. But uh and then MPJ’s off to the Nets. We’ll see him Friday. So um but yeah, I I mean Aaron Gordon on our team would do wonders, but him and Yogas truly have a connection. So for sure. Yeah. Truth over Motion says that game versus Cleveland though, what we got to do to beat them and especially handle Moy in the seven. That’s That’s kind of my whole point. Truth over emotion. It’s like Stew wasn’t starting there. Yeah. So JD was having to battle against Jared Adam and Evoli. That’s kind of the point. That’s kind of the point. I want to see how they look. Mono Mano. When you fight fire with fire, that’s what I want to see. Go ahead. We did bring That was the first time we saw the double big lineup. He did. We see them together. Okay. That was the first time. But it’s funny because you called them the Bruisers and George Blaha called them the Bruisers in the beginning of the of the game. um Isaiah Stewart and Jaylen Duran. And I was thinking to myself, I’m like, other two big teams you wouldn’t necessarily call the Bruisers. Like Jared Allen and Evan Mobley are very good players in their own respects, but they’re not bruisers. So, that’s that’s kind of where I’m at there. Um I’ll say this, too. For the Cavs, I’m just say two big lineup. And for the Cavs though, it’s just offense. We just got to match their offense and because we’re doing we I think we do pretty well in the defensive league, but we need to match their offensive output if we do them in the playoffs. And the thing too, they’ve been together for a few years. Yes. Yes. They played together. Yeah. So, I just think once again, that’s why you got to do it now. Yep. And you got to do it now. Is a JB defense. JB built defense and then, you know, they finessed their offense with uh Atinson, but a lot of it was built by JB. A lot of those guys were JB’s guys. So yeah. So honestly truth of emotions I think they they need to keep Steu in the lineup and they got to get healthy because we also didn’t have Jaden Ivy. Yeah. We were also down players. So if we have a lineup of Kade, Jaden, Nar, and Stu and JD if they can play, you know, when J when Ji comes back the rest of the year. Yeah, I’m I’m okay. I’m confident going into a series with the Cleveland Cavaliers that we can beat them. Absolutely. I agree. I am. I think that’s the difference. Torch Lord says, “Ben Wallace was really good, but I think he got even better when Rasheed joined.” Yes. The defense went from good to unbelievable. Yes, we had Meor. Y Me Kor was a good player. Mhm. But he wasn’t a dog defensively like that. He was a he was a great scorer. He was an all-star with the Utah Jazz. I’m not even taking anything away from him. Yeah. But it was no question when Rashid got here who was going to start at that spot because Rasheed Wallace was a much better defender. He was just tougher mentally and physically. So I So to your point, Torch Lord, having two guys in there who have the same mentality and can also match that with the physical gifts and the strength and be bruisers like Boss is saying, it’s just going to make the whole defense better and it’s going to make those guys better individually just playing alongside each other. Yeah. So that’s where I’m at. I think George, that is a great point. 100%. And I’m also I was sad he had to lead too. I would have liked to keep me as a backup as a backup big but we could only afford to pay Rasheed or Our since we had just won a ring in 13 14 years as soon as we got Rasheed we couldn’t not pay him. Yeah. So yeah, it was one of those situations. He thrived and that’s all you can ask when you give up a player, you know that they that they do thrive in a way, you know, and no slander. This isn’t any I loved him as a player on this team, but it’s no coincidence that as soon as we got a guy like Sheed, that’s cuz think about it since since you mentioned it. We going to talk about it real quick back down memory lane. You guys remember 2003, right? Be the year before we won, we played the Nets in the conference finals. Played them 0 in 04 in the semi-finals, but 03 conference finals. We didn’t win a game in that series. If you remember, Okur missed the last a shot at the buzzer in game one. He remember he just he just couldn’t put it in. He was so mad because he fell to the ground. He was so upset. That I’m not blaming the series on him at all. But we just didn’t have enough toughness against guys like Kenyan Martin for example, right? Who’s a dog in that painted area like but we have Ben, but we but we needed a little bit more to sustain that. So once we got Sheed, it still took us seven G games the following year to beat them. Yeah, but we beat him. Mhm. I don’t know if we beat the Nets that following year if Ok is still the starter as opposed to having the depth of having him as the backup. Yeah. I don’t know if we beat the Indiana Pacers in 2004 when Taan blocked that shot or Reggie Miller if Meor is starting at the four. You see what I’m saying? That’s that’s the only thing I’m saying is that when you have two guys who have the same mentality, it just makes it easier on the other guy. That’s that’s all I was saying. So, I loved Okore, but you know, it’s the reason that when we got she, we were able to win a championship. It’s just it is what it is. And while we’re on the 03 04 years, I want to bring up a stat that they brought up at the beginning of the game on screen. Uh that we have 116 uh stocks, steals and blocks this season. Um and that’s the second of all time, second to for the Pistons, second to our 94 95 team. And then it was also the 0203 team, I believe. It might be 0102. But then the last one on the list was the 03 04 championship team with uh with through seven games had 106 stocks maybe 102. Okay. Oh no over 100 and we’re at 116 right now. So it’s just like it just totally goes into our culture of defense that we forever. So I just thought that was a really cool stat. I always love talking about the 0304 team because that’s my team, you know. So um my graduation year is 04. Like that’s the that’s that’s prime time for me for sure. Truth over. Go ahead. Finish finish. I was just saying that’s the Pistons I fell in love with. So whenever I see a stat and it brings me back to them and how they played, love to see it. Love to get into it in a game and just especially in an era where defense was I don’t know offense wasn’t as productive. There weren’t as many whistles, you know, it wasn’t as high scoring. So to know that we’re keeping our defense at that level is cool. Right. Right. Exactly. That’s very true. I told y’all boss be all over the stats, y’all. Told y’all she’s like a She got it all down. Listen, um, Truth Over Motion says Memo is like Lori Markin in the day. A lot of similarities there. Right. Right. So, wouldn’t you love to have a guy like Kim on your bench? Yeah. It’s not going to happen today, but that’s essentially what we got when we brought in Rasheed and had Memo go to the bench. Yeah. So, it’s like, yeah, give me that all day long 100%. Um, so yeah, we’ll leave that there. Y’all know how I feel about Memo. We ain’t got to go there, but y’all know how I feel. Just making a point as far as having those two bigs that are really, really good together that have the same mentality and all that. All right. I’m Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He called me out n Z. Yeah. 04, bro. 04, man. 22 years ago this year, which is crazy to think about. I’m getting old. Oh, man. Okay. Okay. Organic is a little older. Says 03 stand up. Hey, you you old, man. You old, bro. You older than me. Um, okay guys, let’s go ahead and get this on bench, guys. Um, and then we will call it a night. So, let’s go ahead and start with Bball Ball Paul Reed tonight. He only played seven minutes. Yeah, he had two points and one turnover on one for two shooting and that was pretty much it. He really didn’t get a chance to to get warm, but what were your thoughts you saw from Par tonight? Yeah, I mean, I know he can do better. Um, but he Yeah, like you said, didn’t really have a chance to get warm. He was basically a filler while we rested Jiren and Stu because we knew that the Jazz weren’t going to go away, so we needed them at the end. Um, for sure. So, h not worried about him. I I I know that he’ll return to his form that we know him as. He did have that nice he had a nice reverse layup. He did. That was nice. And he, you know, he cleaned it up and you could tell he’s frustrated. He’s he he’s an emotional guy and I just love to see he’s always trying. He’s always giving effort. The effort tonight just led to some like, you know, the the deflection off of his foot for trying to get the ball. And, you know, that was a Jazz possession. He had a um he had three fouls. in seven minutes, which is he’s giving effort. He’s not out there just buming around. He is trying. He gets frustrated. He’s going to be an up and down guy. He’s our third string big. It is what it is. And his his minutes haven’t been consistent. Exactly. That’s that’s part of it, too. It’s hard to catch a rhythm when you’re playing seven minutes a game and you’re trying to make an impact and sometimes you overdo it a little bit. You try to make an impact and you end up hurting the team sometimes or you just can’t get a flow. It’s hard to get a flow when you’ve been sitting the whole game. So, I’m not going to hold that against him. I I do think with consistent role and cons and cons consistent minutes that he can be the third big on this team. I do I 100% feel that way. Um but yeah, I think I’m I’m not mad at him tonight. He didn’t he didn’t he didn’t do anything wrong. He just didn’t get enough opportunity. Yeah. If he had 28 minutes or 25 minutes or something like that, 20 minutes and he didn’t look good the whole 20 minutes, that’s a little bit different. But 7 minutes, come on. Come on. He is someone that I mean, he does like he’s talked about it. He does try to come off the bench ready. But I feel like when you have what, three, four games in a row where you actually really are producing and doing great and then you see the three, right? It’s tough. And but I’m again not worried about him. Yeah. Especially because it wasn’t like he came in and everything fell apart, right? That wasn’t the case. So yeah, he did his job. 100%. 100%. Real quick, Oena says, “Hey Sarendus, is JB overusing K too?” I would have liked to see more Danish Jenkins, guys. Yeah, I wanted to see Danish tonight. We talked about him and he’s not going to have a crazy stat line, but you know, he can come in and settle things down and that is what we needed in that first half. Um, they tried Carris. We’re going to get to Caris actually. You know what? Let’s go into Caris now. But I would have liked to see a little bit more Danish Jenkins in this game because every time he’s coming to the game this year, he’s been able to settle down and impact in a positive way. Whether second guy’s up, knock it down the open three ball, whatever. So, I would have liked to see him free Danis, coach. Free him. Yes. And I’m gonna say to Abina, too. We haven’t until we secure until Ivy comes back, we secure more offense um that’s not Cade, will he get the minute? So, he’s in there and Kate’s in there because he wants to be he’s not he doesn’t want to sit on the bench and let the team fall. He wants to go get the job done, which is why he did in the fourth. So, if if other guys were stepping up offensively, he probably would have been more around the 32 minute mark, I think. Yeah. And see, like sometimes though, like I understand you want to play, but sometimes you got to be protected from yourself. It’s a long season, bro. Yeah, it’s a long season. So, sometimes you need to just sit down and and and get the rest you need so you can be fresh for the rest of the season. And because we’re trying to make deep playoff runs, too. It’s not just about the regular season. Okay, we finished fourth in the East. Okay, cool. Then what? Are we healthy? Are we are we in a rhythm going into the playoffs? Are are guys fresh? Are we having any injury? Like, what’s going on? So sometimes I think you got to protect these guys from theelves. And I think Danish Jenkins should have been part of that plan just to get him some minutes cuz he’s not going to really hurt you. He’s going to either keep the lead or expand it. He’s not it’s not going to be where he comes in and two minutes into the game’s another timeout and he’s got to go sit down cuz he’s just hurt. No, that’s not Dana Jenkins. He’s ready. He’s ready to help this and he’s shown it. Yep. He’s shown it. So that’s what I would have done. That’s like and I’ve told you I don’t coach like JB, but I would I would in some of those minutes when we needed something, I would have experimented a little bit. Put him in for three minutes, see what he does because even if Dennis I know he can provide offensively and he should get the chance to, but he also just like the way that he, you know, handles the ball, keeps it nice, like I do really um I do just yeah, really like him and I I don’t know why JB’s so hesitant right now to play the deep bench. I feel like they all should be getting minutes, but also like, you know, we’re not closing out games early enough for that as well. Yeah, and I agree. I just want to answer this question real quick. Do we really expect a healthy season from Ivy? Um, but then a few weeks ago, um, this guy, this guy Eric came on. He had more info about the injury that Ivy had, and he explained that one in five guys that that break their leg like Ivy did get that knee injury. And here’s the difference that they caught it early. and that’s why they took care of it early, right? So, the reason that they they could have pushed it, but but even, you know, this was more of a preventative for the future. So, yeah, it’s a bummer right now, but it it really catching it early, getting it treated early is going to help him return to his form. So, I I am expecting a healthy season for him, but I implore you to go watch that video um because he gave a lot of good info about the injury and why this was necessary when it was great. It was a great breakdown for sure from a professional. And just so you guys know, like this this what’s going on now is not like uh oh, what’s going is this related to what happened when he got hurt? Like this is him overcompensating and coming back too early. Yeah. The inflammation. He had a procedure done in about 15 minutes to get that taken care of. Yep. Now we just got to be careful. And he was just on the bike today ramping up. I want Yeah. And did he was the most energized off the bench I’ve seen him yet. Yeah. He’s excited. I feel like that’s good news. He feels I think his return is coming. I’m not saying it’s going to be right at the four week mark when they said they reevaluate, but I think it’s going to be soon and he’s pumped. He’s ready because the first few games, you know, he was looking frustrated all this like now he’s up. We talked about that. Excited. So, I I was excited. I was telling you what I was telling you. Thank Yeah. Remember I was saying like he’s he was looking like that cuz he was just frustrated like man he he’s looking at the court. He’s looking at the game analyzing and saying, “Man, if I was out there, man, this wouldn’t be happening.” Yeah. That’s that’s what that is. So to your point, the I can I I can verify that he is on track. He’s doing well. They’re ready for this to be over so he can get in the court and do his thing. Yeah, for sure. So I expect him to be come playoff time, I expect us to see a very close version, if not a better version of Jaden Ivy that we have seen the beginning of last year and in preseason this year. He’s going to be just fine. He’s just got to catch a rhythm and he’s got to trust. That’s the gonna be the biggest thing for him is just being able to trust that leg and not overcompensate because that’s how you can really kind of fall into the trap of getting hurt other ways. You overcompensate on the other leg cuz you’re kind of scared to push off. Do I have the same burst? Once he had if he has that trust and I believe he does. He’s going to be just fine. Yeah. Just fine. Yeah. And just to go back to what we where this started in terms of who we need right now, um said JB needs to prioritize developing young guys like Dennis and Chaz, not overdoing minutes for underperforming bets. I actually agree and I’m not saying that it needs to be a ton but get them minutes because one of them both of them are have the ability to provide the spark and you know again I’m hoping against the Nets the 0 and seven they might be 0 and8 now Nets I’m hoping we develop a lead that gives everyone the confidence to play the deep bench because they deserve it I want to see it we know what they’re capable of so I completely I really do agree with you and that just kind of goes I’ve talked to dudes That’s the way I would coach is I would kind of experiment in this weird between time. Yep. So, um, so yeah, I I do agree with that and I know we’ll get into some of the guys they played instead. So, yeah. Yeah, we’ll get there in a second. Just want to shout you out. Um, give you some flowers. Getting a lot of comments about how much of an addition you have been to the show and I could not agree more, guys. Hasn’t she been amazing? Super. Hasn’t she been amazing? It’s been easy. It’s been fun. Deuce is great to just talk to about the Pistons, you know? I just um my friends who aren’t really tapped in the NBA are probably like thank God because I have to explain everything in order to talk about the game. I have to explain the backstory, all of it. And then you guys have been great too. You’ve been so fun to just, you know, read your comments, see who’s on the same page. I love the perspective. So, thank you so much, guys. I really appreciate it. 100% 100%. We are just getting started, y’all. So, much to come, but okay. So, let’s go ahead and get this some more um bench guys. We get a few more and we will call it a night, boss. Let’s get to LeBron Doll Jr. man tonight in let’s see he had nine points, six rebounds, four assists, two steals, one block on four7 shooting, one of one from three in 28 minutes. So guys, by the way, Duncan Robinson also had nine points in 28 minutes. But once again, the impact on the game, right? Right. And what’s not to get on anybody, but just to show you, to illustrate, to compare, you had Duncan Robinson had two boards to go along with his nine points, right? Ron Holland had six boards, forces, two steals, and a block to go along with his nine points. So, the impact once again is what we’re talking about. If you’re going to play that many minutes, you got to bring it on at least one end of the court consistently. So, go ahead. I’ll let you take off, boss. Yeah, I mean, that’s exactly what you had that same point I did. uh because we’ve talked about it and you know I even mentioned earlier the show I was like who who would have done better and you said Ron I was like yeah that’s true I go with Ron he played 30 seconds less than car uh not Caris Duncan um he had two early fouls and then played great the rest of the time play of the year for me with the block the block was it on George right yes beautiful ball before he hit anything else and that’s the way to do it took it up and slammed it down and man oh man screaming I I mean, like truly the play of the year and we’ve had lots of good plays, but man, and you could tell he just wanted to get going. That’s why, you know, he missed a couple shots at the rim early. He just wanted to get going because he’s that’s who that’s who Ron is. And then, of course, he finished it off. He he had that that three. The rest of the baskets were, you know, at the at the hoop and they’re one of those again where Kelzer might be like, “Oh my god, he’s flying. He’s out of control.” But then he finishes it because that’s who it is. But, um, again, I loved what I saw from him. the stat line um doesn’t do it justice enough. I mean, still impressive, but more in terms of points because we know that he’s capable of more. So, I mean, I’m just I just again loved what I saw and and we talked about it because, you know, we talked about Ron coming in for Duncan in the starting lineup, but yeah, he did have his early he did make up for it, but he had early shooting trouble and early foul trouble and he made up for it. That’s my only concern about like is you know better off the bench that way. But I I think you know he he deserved to be out there more than Duncan did because he brings both offensive and defense right now. So just just always impressed with Ron again play of the year. I mean I’m just gonna I’m I’m gonna rewatch that tonight for sure. Yeah. Beautiful. And Zion, this is kind of the point. Zion says Ron and Duncan have different roles. A guy isn’t chasing Duncan around the whole play to prevent an open three from Ron. Right. But that’s the thing. Ron can be impactful in more ways than just running around screening taking shots. That’s kind of the whole point. And he’s hitting because if if Duncan’s not scoring the knocking down the three ball, he’s not really giving you much else. That’s the difference. That’s why he’s able to stuff the stat sheet outside of nine points, which is what I was saying. He can give you so much more if his offense isn’t there. And the play that he had was the epitome of who he is, a twoway potential star. Mhm. He saw after the pump fake, the shot was coming and he was ready. He anticipated it and was ready for it. He wasn’t worried about a pump fake and getting drawn a foul. He knew it was coming. Yeah. And he did it without fouling and showed his athleticism off on the other end. Ball handling. Didn’t dribble out of bounds. Under control. Yeah. Like so this dude man is a two-way potential star. Yeah. Straight up. I I love Andic said he is that auto jump start box Triple A brings when your battery dies, right? He comes in and gives you that spark. You know he’s going to try to be the spark plug like Organic also said as soon as he comes to the game. just sets the tone for the second unit. We don’t need two guys to set the tone for the second unit. We need We should have one for the first unit and Stu and another for the second unit and Ryan. So, Ryan was incredible. Go ahead. Yeah. No, I mean, I have nothing to add. I mean, again, he’s he was just so good and and again, like you’ve talked about the spark plug just, you know, again, I I’m curious. I’m curious to see how he would perform in a starting lineup just because I want to see it um if he does get the spark going because one of our biggest faults is the slow starts. Maybe we don’t have slow starts if we have energy like Ron on there and you know Kate’s talked about having Ron and Assar on both sides um of of him on the wings and how those guys are unstoppable. So I think that um it’d be I would like JD or JD JB to explore that. I don’t know if he will. Um, I think they’re still just riding out the the days. Maybe they know more than I do, more than we do about Ji’s return, if it’s worth it or not. But, um, yeah, I just like whatever wherever he is, he’s performing and that’s he’s still I I talked about it. He’s our most consistent player so far. Yeah, he’s plug and play. He’s plug and play. You can put him anywhere within the unit and he’s going to find a way to impact the game. Yes. Yes. That’s why I love it. That’s a basketball player. That’s a winning player, right? The same with Steu. You saw him with the second unit. He was great. defense defense was great. First unit, same thing. Three blocks again tonight. Like, so those kind of guys are rare. You you don’t you don’t trade those kind of guys in a package for a star. No, those are these are the guys you need to win championships if we’re trying to get there. For sure. Here’s Johnny says, “My draft reaction video to Pistons drafting Ron Holland is legendary, FYI. He was and is my guy.” Well, shout out to you, bro, cuz you were one of the few. You were one of the few cuz I’m I’m going be real. I didn’t really pay that much attention to that draft. I knew a couple guys like Modus Buzz, Don Connect. I was thinking, okay, maybe get a spacer with Connect, another wing with Buzz. To me, Ron’s a better version of Buzzale. Yeah, that’s kind of Tjan uh my faith in Trajan was really born after we saw what Ron could do and what he brings. Yeah, it’s like Trajan with the pick for Ron said, “Hey, I’m bringing Detroit basketball to Detroit.” Right. That’s a great way to put it. I think that’s you’re dead on with that. Pety says they are dog pound forward. Yes, they have the same mentality. When you got all guys who have who had the same mentality to do it to do it the same way, yeah, you don’t mess with that. You don’t mess with it. If it’s producing on the court and they got a good camaraderie and a good vibe, you don’t mess with that 100% at all. Zion says, “I can’t believe Ron didn’t go number one.” I mean, we may look back a couple years from now and be like, “Yeah, yeah, that that could be the case.” I mean, cuz who is who is definitively better than him in this draft? Definitively. Yeah. Yeah, I’d say the closest is his buddy Matez just for what he’s doing for the Bulls this year. Right. There you go. Good point. Better. Good point. I think um so but yeah, I agree with that. That’s that’s a great point. I I think you were dealing with that cuz they’re playing well. The Bulls are playing well right now. I think we’re better than him, right? Yeah. I think in the seven game series, we beat them, but you got to give them credit. Um yeah, Ethan says nobody. I think Ryan might be the best player of that draft. He’s Yeah, I think so, too, man. I’m starting to lean in that direction because I’m looking around not really seeing a lot of guys who are impacting the game the way that he is and maybe getting more opportunity. I think Montas starts, right? Does Misella start? Uh yeah, and and he he fits well with them and I think he would have still been a good fit for us. Montas was who I was expecting. But again, like Montas has that dog. They’re very similar. They’re buddies. Um but uh yeah, I see I see Ron the way that Ron impacts is the same that Matas impacts, but differently for the team. They’re very similar, but they weren’t um they also weren’t the number one pick. So, right. Exactly. Right, bro. We talked about Reese Shepard. Hey, shout out to Jeremy Hart, man. Who has a player he has developed in Dana Jenkins, who I think is just as good, if not better than Reed Shepard, right? I think he’s better, right? But Reese Shepard went ahead. We saw it. We saw it. We saw Reed Shepard. He He’s not a He’s not a point that can make the right decision. Dennis already is. Dennis take the shot and we need to pass it. Reed tries to be the hero. Dennis doesn’t 100%. I feel like with Reed, it’s not to get on him, but re if if it’s if the initial play is not there, he’s just chucking. Yep. He’s chucking it. But Dennis knows how to make the secondary and tertiary decision out of it if it’s not there. And that’s the difference for me. And he’s a better athlete and he shoots just as well in my opinion. He’s a better player. But to think that Reese Sheper went above both Danish and Ron and we got both of those guys. Shout out Tan. Shout out to you, bro. For real, man. Oh, man. All right. You They’re saying he’s Jimmer Pette. Wow. Yikes. I won’t I won’t do that to him. I won’t say he’s like that cuz I won’t do that. But the point is taken that I think he went way too high in that draft. Reed is the love child of Dana and and Shepher. I’m dead. I’ll take Ryan over any of any of the other guys from that draft. Oh, was Castle in that draft? Stefan Castle. Okay. If so, I’m not mad at that. like he’s a he’s a good player for the Spurs. He’s holding it down. He’s doing well. There’s just a young team also. So, um but yeah, I just think you know it’s apparent cuz like Danis can come in and take control with guys like we have and Reed Shepard is struggling in that role as starting point with who he’s surrounded with. And I think that with the playmakers he’s surrounded with in Houston, he should be able to Good point. The right place. KD Sar I mean come on man. Like if Yeah. We’ll leave that alone. leave that alone for sure. But yeah. Yeah, I I totally agree. Yeah. So, I definitely think Ryan has proven the doubters wrong. I’m not saying I was a doubter, but I slept on him. I slept on him. I really didn’t know who he was um before he came to this team. So, shout out to him. Shout out Tan for making that pick. Yeah, sounds good. All right, so let’s go ahead guys and move on to And this is it was a comment that Organic posted earlier um regarding he made Here we go. He said, “Deuce is saving caris for last like the crescendo of a good movie.” I wasn’t intentionally doing that, bro. I was going down the line, but that is hilarious. All right, but that is um who was last? That is coincidentally who was last night. On Javvante, he got some good minutes. You want to touch on Javvante real quick? Let’s do that first. Let’s get Let’s get to Javvante Green first. Yeah. And then because you know, organic pointed out. So, we’ll crescendo this thing over to Caris Levert as we as we get there. So, let’s go to Javvante Green first. So tonight guys, Javvante Green had three points, three four rebounds, one assists, 03 from the field, 03 from the three-point line. So all of his shots were threes, couldn’t give me the ball. Three, four from the free throw line in 23 minutes. So what was your reaction to Javvante Green tonight? Um, I love Javvante. He’s been such a good pickup for us this whole season. If this is his off game, okay, he still, you know, he still played enough minutes where J uh JB felt that he was doing enough for defense. I think he had, you know, some decent plays. He made the right decisions on giving the ball up when he was going to give it to him. He he knew he knew he was out there to just, you know, help space, help out, um help play D. Uh yeah, not not a good game from Devonte overall, but um not worried about him. Kind of like the Paul Reed thing. I think he’ll bounce back great on on Friday. And so and you know, again, he wasn’t the weak link of the of the team. We everyone kind of just fell apart at points, but um yeah, not not not a pretty statline, but he was out there to help on D. And he had more personal fouls, but he did have, you know, they trust him. They trust him on defenses because he’s a good defender, right? Yeah. He didn’t play well tonight. No, he didn’t he didn’t have a good game, right? I’m going to call guys like Duncan Robinson all that. I got to be honest, right? He didn’t he didn’t have a good game. We talk about how if you’re gonna play that many minutes, you got to be impactful. Um he was he wasn’t Ron Holland tonight as far as impact. Yeah. But he wasn’t Duncan Robinson either. He was kind of in the middle as far as the impact on the game. Even though he didn’t score as much, he was just a little bit late every play it seems like on the ones where he got scored on. And honestly, I’ll say this too. I don’t want to see him gambling defensively. There was a few plays he was trying to play the passing lane, didn’t get to it, and now the guy is just right open for the open for the hoop. Right? That that kind of thing is what you don’t want to see. That’s how that’s how uh Paul Reed got one of his fouls, which shouldn’t have been a foul, right? He trying to help out. Those kind of things I don’t want to see him do, right? Just just play solid defensively. We always talk about, you know, not needing to hit the home run, which is trying to get the steal and the dunk. Just be solid. Just get the stop like Tim Hard Jr. did last year for us so often. Just get the stop or force him to a tough shot. That’s the only thing about the degree I was like, you ain’t got to do that, bro. Just just play solid. Go ahead. I think it was because he knew that he wasn’t having his best game compared with others, so he was trying to provide that spark. But I agree because I mean it it didn’t work. Um, but he still, you know, I uh what did Ethan say? Ethan said he provided what I expected from the start. The shooting he provided in previous games was a bonus. I just I think this was his off game. The other games are more him. I agree. So, um, uh, and hopefully, you know, again, that’s why I think he was trying to take some risks, kind of putting himself out there, but it was because I think he he knew that he previously he was providing the spark and he was doing his job and he was just it just wasn’t there for him tonight. We all have off and like, you know, and I’m going to be that I can’t be mean to any of these guys, even Caris. We know. We know. I’m just going to say they had an off game and if he wasn’t Yeah. Here. Organic. I am an optimist. Thank you. She is. She is. That’s why she’s here. If it was game eight and this is how he’s playing through eight games, then I’m then I’m then I’m like, “Okay, you’ve had chances.” But this is game eight and he’s played great out of six out of eight of them. So, yeah, he’s allowed to have a bad game or two. He’s played every He’s played pretty solid minutes every game this year. So, to your point, they trust him. Yep. They trust him defensively. Tonight, he looked a little bit uncharacteristic like organic mentioned getting beat on back door cuts. That doesn’t usually happen. Yeah. Yeah, even him gambling for getting the passing that doesn’t usually happen. Yeah, so like to your point, I think he was trying to do a little bit too much, but as a vet, you got to know better than that. Like I let I’ll let Ryan get away with that last game, couple games where he didn’t play well or, you know, he was trying to make up for it and he was kind of making it worse. As a vet, you got to kind of know, okay, let me just settle in and be solid. Not having a great game. Let me not try to overcompensate now and try to have a great game. Let me just have a solid game and just play straight up. So that’s the only thing on him. But like you said, he’s allowed to have a bad game, too. So, I’m not mad at him. He’ll bounce back. He’s going to bounce back on Friday. Watch everyone. I just have to eat my words a little bit because I mean, I told people I like, “Go watch how he plays defense. He doesn’t let people go by. He doesn’t let people shoot.” And that’s exactly what he did tonight, right? So, it just wasn’t him from what it wasn’t him. Yeah. And that’s And that’s okay. That’s okay. All right, guys. Crescendo time. I know y’all waiting on this. All right, guys. So, let’s get to our last guy for this for this game. Caris Levert. Caris Levert guys. So tonight, Caris Levert finished with 10 points on two rebounds, one assists, one steal, three turnovers on three for eight shooting, 205 from three, two from the free throw line in 19 minutes. Boss teed off. Terrace, he got me so excited. Real quick, real quick. You say hi to Ashton? Yeah. Yes, sir. My dog. Hey, 67. 67th. What’s going on, bro? We talked about it last year. Uh last year they had Kaden 67th overall player in the league and now he’s going to be at least um second team allNBA. So, they are eating a crow like we just talked about. Shout out to Yeah. See. Yes, sir. You know it, bro. You know it, bro. Let us know your thoughts on tonight’s game, bro. What did you see from Kade, you know, from the workouts y’all put in? How, real quick, how was it for you watching Deuce take over these last two games? 19 straight 19 points in the fourth quarter these last two games closing. We always know AB everybody else said K can’t close. K got these turnovers. He’s not a point guard. So, how is it for you dog watching him these last two games now just take him over. So, we’ll come back to you if you’re still here. If you want to chime in, by all means do that. We appreciate you showing up, bro. All right, boss. Take off. I’m sure you’re gonna need a a nice thing a nice way to end after this curious conversation. Right. Oh, man. Go ahead. Go ahead. Get to I’m gonna pop off of what Ethan said, too. So, Oh, no. That’s not Ethan. I’m still giving Caris grace. Remember, 20 plus games last year for our vets. So, I’ve been saying that, too, and I’m still going to say it. Except Caris had a great first half. He hit two backto-back threes. He made good calls for a while. What his mist what he was doing, his mistakes, he would make up for. So, I was okay with it. And then it just kind of went downhill. Y um and for me, I I’ve been a care supporter. So for me, the most frustrating thing about Caris was like I was watching him do this and be like, I know you’re better than this, right? I know you’re better than this. So that’s just kind of where I’m at with Caris because I I I can’t say anything about him yet because it’s not this isn’t Caris to me. This isn’t the levert that he’s going to be for us. Yeah. So I’m going to give him grace as well, but also it was rough. It was a rough second half. I’m happy he got minutes. I think like just getting minutes at least that’s an improvement. Yeah. But like like we’ve talked about like maybe his minutes should have been cut by five minutes and we threw in Danis. We threw in something else. We experimented a little bit more. Um but I I like the first half, didn’t like the second half. Um and I just hope you know whatever it is he figures out because I know that he can. I’m just going to give grace to him like Ethan. Uh okay. And yeah, and I know I know I know I know the critics and stuff, but I was just more for me it was just more just like he I was disappointed in him because I know he’s better and I’m excited for him to show all of Detroit fans that either doubt him or don’t know him yet. I’m excited for him to pop off and for them to see what he can do for us. So that was just more for me is like he started strong. If he would have finished strong, it would have been a Caris game. But right there is half and then nothing. So for sure. For sure. Take it over because you’re gonna have the better criticisms for me because it’s just hard for me. I’m keep it a stack. You already know. Yep. You already know. I I can’t I can’t lie. I can tell you what my eyeballs can see. Before we get there, guys, if anybody has not already been um hipped to Ashton, the trainer. This is K. Cunningham’s cousin and trainer who has been with him since day one. And he has always supported us, you know, since we started a few years ago. And so we always give it right back to him. So everybody drop some a fire emojis in the chat for our dog Ashton the trainer. Go follow him on Instagram and Twitter. Ashton the trainer. So Ashton AB says it’s beautiful to see bro. He works his ass off and wants to bring a championship back to the D. See that’s what I’m talking about. And we talked about a little bit last show, but we know there’s some players around the league who are going through some problems. Some superstars going through problems. When you got a K Cunningham, you ain’t got to worry about a guy getting suspended for conduct detrimental to the team. Yeah. Like not only is he supreme athlete, but he’s a supreme human. He’s a supreme person that cares about everybody else and puts them before him. So to see him doing this now, when when he first got drafted, Ashton was one saying, “We going to turn Detroit up. We going to turn Detroit up, right? You didn’t see him getting upset cuz he didn’t get drafted by, you know, the Rockets and playing in Texas.” Like, he wanted to be here. He wanted to be here. So it’s it’s just so nice, guys, to see him being able to reap the benefits. And not just him, but his family. AB, Ashton, Canon, Canard, Jaylen, his parents, K, like everybody. It’s just nice to see them all be able. You said who? Riley. Oh, Riley. Everybody. Yeah. Yeah. Baby girl. Everybody. All of them. So, it’s just nice to see that, you know, they’ve embraced us and we’ve embraced them right back and they have gone through it. They didn’t jump off the boat, right? Like Kay said during the streets, they don’t jump off the boat. that would have been a time for him to really have that suspension that some players may have getting that’s detrimental to the team. But he said he he just stayed right there and said, “Nope, we gonna be all right. We just got to stick with it.” So, a shout out to you, bro. Shout out to the whole family. You guys are representing the city of Detroit very, very well. And we couldn’t be happier to have you all here, man. And whenever you’re ready, bro, I’m ready for you to come on the show, man. Come holler at me in Boston. And we’d love to have you on for a little bit like we did a couple years ago. It’s about time, man. So, let me know. All we have to do is just let me know. let us know, man. We got you. We got you. But once again, shout out to AB, man. And the whole family. Y’all saying AB the goat. Yes, sir. All the fire emojis. So, as you can see, bro, you still getting the love on a regular basis. We always, you know, talking positive about the you guys cuz y’all deserve it, right? We call like we see it. We don’t just gas up. You know this already, but we don’t just gas up. Boss know I keep it a stack. Sometimes I’m blunt to a fault, right? But I’m I’mma call like I see it. So, y’all know what it is, man. So, love. Love. Okay. Now, we’re going to switch and go to what I saw from Caris Levert tonight, man. Okay, so I’m gonna keep it real with y’all. Y’all know I have been very much so in defense of Caris Levert, right? Because I’m always saying like you can’t judge a player first four, five games of the year. Like I do, me and King always kind of do it in 10 to 20 um game kind of increments, especially guys who are new, right? This is we know last year Malik wasn’t swinging out the gate. THJ wasn’t on fire early. Tobias Harris struggle early all guys who were new here right so we’re not I wasn’t going to just panic because Caris wasn’t playing great out the gate but after about four or five games even though I have seen some incremental growth from him and he’s getting a little bit more comfortable I want to see more I want to see a little bit more he had an uneven game tonight for sure right now to his credit he was the Pistons leading scorer early in that in that second quarter he had 10 points and I think Kate had like six so he was balling early but we still like come up like with Sorry. It’s kind of the the up and down. The up and down. He makes some great plays and then some questionable plays. Go ahead. I just have a quick question. Was this the first game he wasn’t on minutes restriction? Restriction? I don’t know. He played how many tonight? How many he played tonight? He played 19. So, he still didn’t play a ton. I think 20 minutes is his is his thing. And I’m glad that he hit that, but I was thinking about that because again, like that’s also a rhythm thing when you know that you have a limit of time. So, yeah, that’s true. No, you’re right. That’s that’s a good point. Uh, organic says Blaha actually called him careless by accident tonight. Come on, man. Blah was calling Philipowski markin. That’s true. That’s true. It’s It’s year 50 for George, man. We got to give him a break. Legend. We love No, we ain’t doing that. Yeah, we ain’t doing that. I’m just saying. Yeah, he’s he can misspeak about anyone. I’m not going to take it at heart. Come on, man. 50 years, bro. That’s That’s twice as old as most of us here probably been alive. So, we ain’t going to do that. Um, but I get I just want to see a little bit more consistency. Yeah. With Caris. He has some really he has some nice flashes, some nice plays, right? Nice lefty scoop um at the rim, backto-back threes like Heisenberg mentioned, but then you as soon as you would think he’s going to really go off and pop off, bad turnover, caught in the air trying to make a pass or illvised air ball three. Right. Right. So, I just want to see some more consistency from him with his decision making. We know the talent’s there. Right. And I’m not even panicking. I’m just acknowledging what I’ve seen because I’ve given him some rope the first few games when y’all were trying to jump off the pole with him, right? But I’m like, “Okay, yeah, you gota you got to show us a little more now, bro. Like, come on. We It’s time to catch a rhythm now. You’re a vet, right? You played for Coach Picker Staff before.” So, not that we’re panicking, but just show me what you’re made of. Show me what you’re made of. And I think with time, he will continue to do it, even if it’s not as quickly as I and many of you guys here in the chat want to see. But I’m not I’m still okay with Caris. I think he’s gonna be okay. Yeah, I agree. And that I mean that’s kind of where I’m at too. And I know it wasn’t, you know, perfect, but thinking about the men’s restriction, he’s still, you know, he had more points. He had 10 points. He was double digits, you know, like Yeah, he’ll get there. And uh I do, you know, it is it feels like game eight, but he has only played is this his four or five, right? Yeah. One of the two. I think it’s just he’s played half the game. Okay. Yeah, cuz he played the last three, right? And then was played the first one, I think. Right. Um, so I mean he had like his best in the second quarter and then like his worst. So he’s going to find that in between and and uh I just advise no one to panic like Ethan said. Give it give it 20 games and his role is going to change too when Ivy comes back. Like we’re going to see some things shift. Um and I think you know JB playing him for 19 minutes was big too. I do like I think that that just showed that you know Yeah. He was just kind of split down the middle in terms of what he did tonight. Yeah. And I talked about it’s just a little disappointing because we know where he can get. But Right. And then too like I I don’t I think I think a lot of people for whatever reason thought that and I could be wrong but it felt to me like when when we got him people thought he was just going to be Malik Beasley. That’s weird. And he’s not like that’s they’re two totally different players with two totally different roles. Like Bees is a catch and shoot guy who can put the ball on the floor in spots. Yeah. But Caris is more a guy who’s getting his offense off the dribble. Yeah. And can make plays, you know what I mean, for others at times. It’s kind of the reverse offensively with those two guys. We know Caris isn’t the shooter that Bees is, but I feel like Caris has more playmaking abilities once he’s comfortable. So, cuz I hear a lot of people saying, “Oh, we need Bees back. We need Bees back when it comes to Caris.” It’s like I I feel like we could we definitely need Bees back. We could use him for sure, but not because of Caris. We just need bees back period. Yeah. Right. So, go ahead. I didn’t pay attention to it too much. Um, but the fact that it wasn’t super unnoticeable u or super noticeable is probably a good thing, but he is a defender, too. That’s true. Maybe did shape him to be a defender and he did have a steal and um Heisenberg mentioned he took guys some guys off the dribble. So, um just you know, not not a perfect night, but he did have his impact out there. So, right. Uh yeah, but yeah, to to think he’s just a totally different player than the shooters that we lost last year, even to THJ, like he’s that’s just not Caris. Carris is a better mid-range. He’s better at getting to the rim. Um the fact that he hit two threes is actually very impressive to me because I wasn’t expecting that from him because I’m expecting him to get, you know, his paint his points in the paint or in the mid-range. So, yep. Um so, yeah, I think he’ll be he’ll he’ll figure it out. He’ll be okay. But I get why some people are a little anxious and a little disappointed because it was kind of like an up and down like a dopamine hit and then it’s like oh finally because even I texted you I was like it’s a game and it felt like that for a solid four minutes. It felt like it’s going to turn into a carrot game and it didn’t. But and again I will say a lot of weaknesses in a lot of areas. So sometimes when nothing’s going for a lot of guys it just feeds off as well. Yeah if popping off we would have I think would have been been a different vibe for tonight too. But there was something about tonight that didn’t just didn’t see everyone get going. Right. Right. Let’s get a few comments in here. I think your point is very well taken. Doug says, “I just won, Jay.” I do too, bro. I think when he comes back, it’s just going to change so much. We’re going to see the offense look a lot more robust because of his dual threat ability to be able to handle and create for others and shoot. Like, so not too many guys on this team who can do all three of those things. So, I think him coming back is going to, like maybe Ethan says, make it a little bit easier for guys like Caris to really get going, right? So, we’ll see. We’ll see how how that plays out for sure. Um, let’s get to this too. Um, Mark Glenn, shout out Mark. He says, “Man, Deuce, I was at the game today. When I tell you Stewart is always the is always the difference maker, man. What he did protecting the rim gave us that spark and we kept feeding off his energy. He big time.” Exactly. The impact, guys. The impact. And he fits the identity for the thousand time. Y’all probably tired of hearing me say it, but Isaiah Stewart fits the identity to a T. And he fits with this starting lineup. and he fits with Jaylen Duran. It just he just fits all around. So, I hope he does continue to start and I hope that if we need to go get another backup big, we do that as opposed to putting Tobias back at the four and, you know, putting Stew back at the five off the bench. It it doesn’t make sense to me. I think it’s glaringly evident how important he is to helping us set that tone early in games and hit first like we want to do. So, I like this question by uh organic Lindo. Would you guys rather develop Thanis for his upside or see Caris get extra minute when he’s struggling? So now I think that is situational organic. I think that is situational. I do not think Stu starting alongside JD is situational. I think he should just start. But I think this is situational cuz Caris is a little bit bigger. He’s a little bit bigger. So I think in certain matchups if if the backup point guard or shooting guard is if they if they’re going big with a second unit, maybe you want to go with Caris, right? But I think if you’re playing a speed like if you’re playing against a Boston Celtics who has a Payton Pritchard or something like that, man, I’m putting Danish in the game. I’m letting him go. Yeah, I’m letting him go. Go ahead. I think this is in reference to tonight, too, cuz we were like, we both me and you both said we wanted to see Dannis and then Caris got almost 20 minutes. Um, I would say I think the way that he performed in the second quarter is what gave him the rest of his minutes. Um, I think if he didn’t come out and perform like that immediately, then I don’t I still don’t know if Dennis would have gotten into play, but that’s when I would like to see him. Um, I also wouldn’t mind a Dannis and Caris combination because that’s um just another spacing for me. I I don’t know if that’s my favorite, but I I don’t see I don’t see Danis being in there and Caris not. Like if Danis is in there, it’s because another the other unit is usually. Um Okay. So I I that’s a hard one for me though because I would love to see Danis. Yeah, I think a lot of people are develop Dannis and I’m glad I’m glad you guys see it. Go ahead. Yeah, same. And that’s where I’m at. But I don’t think that Caris um this isn’t gonna be his regular and I I just think that JB wasn’t unless we had a big lead, he wasn’t gonna play his deep guys, but if I was in charge, I would definitely put Danis in in the second half. And I don’t know if it would be for Caris, but I would just have gotten in some minutes. So yeah. And then too, Caris makes 16 million a year. You know, I hate to bring up money, but some that does play a part sometimes as far as not always because I’m saying start stew over Tobias and we know who makes more. You know what I mean? So, not always, but I’m just wondering how that may play a part into it as far as just wanting to reap the benefits of using that cast space. Right. So, go ahead. He may just be trying to warm Caris up to get in the lineup more. Again, he was he was injured then he was on min uh restrictions. So, he’s probably just trying to see where Caris fits into this lineup right now. And Caris is a priority over Danis. Yeah. is so um but yeah I mean I would love I would love to see both not not keep caris in a struggle but Caris Caris coming in and doing his job and doing it well and being efficient and consistent like you said consistency and then um but I I’m hoping for a Friday game against the Nets that will allow everybody on our on our bench to play. So yeah and then I think that’ll happen for sure. Yeah. I want to get to one last comment we can call it a night. MB Well says, “Is Jaden really needed as a player or as a player to package for a major asset?” The la the former, not the latter. Definitely as a player. I don’t understand like, and this is not against you and me, well, I just I don’t understand why people don’t see the fit with Jaden and Kate. I don’t I don’t think they understand how well he works well with the skill set that Kate has. Yep. He’s a Because people always say, “We need more spacers.” You know, Kate needs spacers. That’s fine. But when guys are catching the ball out of a double team, if their shots not falling, what’s going what are they going to do? Mhm. Right. Like we know Duncan’s a great shooter. If he’s not shooting mode, then what? Yeah. But you got a guy like Jay Navy who shot 40% from three last year and can handle the ball and can make great secondary plays for others out off the catch. He’s he’s a perfect player for what K Cunningham needs. He’d have been a perfect player in the playoffs last year. They’re either going to pay for for doubling Kade or not double Kade because they know what Jaden’s going to do. Which means Kate has ISO. Yeah. All day long. Yeah. It’s the perfect situation. We just haven’t seen it enough. We just haven’t seen it enough. That’s literally the only problem. That’s where That’s where I’m going with it because Jaden Jaden Jaden Jaden and Kade have not been able to play together because of injuries to both of them. Jaden played outside of his role as a shooting guard by being our main point guard in the year and a half that Pade was injured. Yep. So, we saw good things from Ivy then. We saw him really, you know, and then he was benched for Killian Hayes. Yeah. And then uh because that could have been a good development time, but Great point. Could have been a great development time. Great point. Go ahead. But now it’s JD or it’s J uh it’s Ji and Kate and we’re just waiting for JI to get healthy again. they were in that role uh at the beginning of last year before his injury and his numbers last year were good guys and I just I want to know and again this isn’t to whoever posed the question but I’m curious of how the we should have kept Shruder and we should trade Jay and Ivy are those the same people because that doesn’t make sense to me because Ivy can I mean Shruder is a great player and he came through for us when we needed him but Ivy he’s not better than Ivy in the role that we need Ivy to be he’s not better period in opinion. Go ahead. When Ivy comes back and can be the shooting guard and move off ball and he’s going to provide, you know, then Assar doesn’t have to be the main ball handler. He’s going to be able to bring it up the court better for Cade. It’s going to make a huge difference. And they do feed off each other. And Ivy and Duran had a lob um connection as well. And Ivy, someone mentioned in the comments like Ivy and Caris might be good. Like Ivy can just provide so many more scenarios, but him and Kate are going to play so well off of each other. They just really have not had the opportunity because Ivy has had the opportunity to play where he wants to play. Exactly. The entire season. Exactly. And think about this too. We talk about closers, right? How Kade has become a closer this year. Yeah. We had four game winners last year. Two were Kade and two were Jaden Ivy. Yeah. We get we would have two closers on the court at all times in in closing moments. And we think about Jaden Ivy. We know Kade did what he did, right? Against the Heat and against the Hawks, right? But here’s the thing. Jaden Ivy hit buckets um in both of those games that he hit the game winner against the Kings. He made the shot before the the four-point play. Yeah. Right. Against the Raptors, he made the layup before the gamewinner. People forget that. This dude is a gamer in big moments. And one more thing, he’s also a good free throw shooter. Tonight, you saw when K got double team and they were trying to double and they were fouling. Assar was the only one who they could trust to hand to kind of handle the basketball because you don’t trust Duncan to handle the ball out of a double team, right? But so Assar was the one they went to, but Assar can’t shoot free throws well. But you got a guy like Jay Ivy who can handle and who can shoot free throws. Well, that’s what you want. He has literally everything you want next to K Cunningham. Man, just to go off of what you said, I have to say the two game winners that Kade had came after Ivy’s injury. The two before Kade was playing, actually, I don’t know if he was playing in the Raptors game, but he was in the in the Kings game. They trusted Ivy. Yeah, they trusted Ivy to close it out. Not Cade. Kade gave it to Ivy. He’s that. And then, you know, he he was already looking better on, you know, his turnover ratios. He’s looking better at driving the basket, making decisions, defense. Yeah, Ivy. Ivy should not be in any kind of trade packages at this time. I think he’s going to come back and show you guys him and Darren are both going to get extended at the end of this year by this team. I think so, too. I think so, too. And even the defense, like Jaden Oh, yeah. Jaden, the effort is never lacking. He’s not He’s not a great defender yet. I think he’s about an average defender now, but he’s got all the tools to be a really good defender. Yep. He’s super athletic. The the play where where Kate hit the game winner over the Hawks, the lefty scoop over like three guys. Um Jaylen Jaylen Williams and not Jaylen Williams, but uh what’s what’s his name? Jaylen uh Johnson. Jaylen Johnson. And uh those other guys over he after that shot, right? And you know how Kade came over helpside to to block the shot at the end? That was that was a pass from Trey Young. But why was Trey Young passing the ball? He had Ji at the top of the key and Ji forced him to pass the ball. It wasn’t where he was out of position and Trey Young made the shot. No, Ji was right there in front of him. So, he has the ability. He’s got the physical tools and he’s got the want to. Now it’s about getting the reps and he he I think he’s going to be above average defender in his prime to go along with the offensive that he that he gives you. So Davis says, “Here’s my thing. If Ivy never gotten hurt, this one that Yeah. We wouldn’t even if he didn’t get hurt. If he wasn’t benched for Killian Hayes, then all these if if ifs.” Yes. If if was a fifth, I’d be drunk. So I’m just saying like you got to look at it for what it is and just give these guys an opportunity. That’s what Tre Land is going to do. Mhm. You’ll see. We’ll all see by the end of the year. It’ll make sense. So, that’s all I got, man. Doug says, “Thank you, Sarah and Duce. We love you guys.” We just keep it a stack, man. But you guys, like Davis, you guys making great points as well. Like, it is what it is, man. Now, we just got to wait and see and let it play out. So, you got anything else on that, boss? Nope. We two hours in now, so I think we can call it. Yeah. I will say sadly, I’m not going to be here Friday for the next Ah, you killing me. Uh, but it’s for a good reason. I get to go to the cup game, the tournament cup game versus the Warriors. I get you can’t miss that. Steph Curry, I know you can’t miss it. I could sell my ticket for like a huge profit, but priceless priceless Curry go against Jokic. Yeah. So, um, gotta go. I gotta go. But the Mets, uh, it’s about I’ll be able to watch most of the game. I’ll, um, I’ll be on Twitter, which I have now. X, I’m Twitter. Yes. go follow her. Yeah. So, I’ll there for my thoughts because I think the game the Nets game’s at 5 or 7:30 Eastern and then the uh the game the Denver game’s at 10 o’clock Eastern. So, um I’ll be able to catch most of it, give my thoughts. Hopefully, it’s a great first half. It makes me not worry about the second half at all, which it should be against the 0 and seven eight net after Friday. Cam Johnson, who scored 40 points and zero assists. Sheesh. Golly. Not Cam Johnson. Cam Thomas on the nest. Oh, I thought you meant Cam Johnson with the I was like, “Okay, I was talking about Cam Cam.” Oh, 40 and zero. And then MPJ is easy, guys. He’s easy. Just, you know, but um but yeah, so I’m bummed out with that, but then I’ll be around. Oh, no. I’ll be around for the most of November. My next game wouldn’t be till the end, which is another honor I get to see a cup versus the Spurs. You got some good games on that slate. I ain’t mad at you. I’ll probably be gone too low key. I would never ditch you guys for like the Wizards or Hornets or anything, man. Yeah, if you did, I’d be I’d be kind of kind of concerned. But um but no, as always, we we appreciate your presence and you guys make sure you go follow the boss on X and on Instagram. Sarah Bos with a O on X and S A R L O U B O B O S, sorry, on uh Instagram, IG. So you guys make sure you go follow her. She’s got great content. She’s like the sty baby over here. You know what I’m saying? She’s got it all taken care of and making sure that we are on our P’s and Q’s with our information and facts. So, I appreciate you as always. So, with that guys, we will call it a night as as she mentioned. Up next for the Pistons are the Brooklyn Nets on Friday, November 7th. And we will be right back here to break it all down. And as we mentioned last show, guys, the upcoming match up with the Nets um is going to be the Pistons first NBA Cup game of pool play. So, we talked about that last show, guys, how the NBA Cup I think the Pistons should try to go for it. Mhm. I think they should really try to go for it, make a name for themselves, play some competitive basketball, start turn their heads around the league because people are paying attention to the NBA Cup. And we know last year the the Bucks won the NBA Cup and they weren’t anywhere near the best team and they beat the Thunder. Anybody could beat anybody. Do you remember? That’s what I was trying to tell you when Instagram. They were in our group. The only one to beat us in our group. That’s how close we were. Right. Exactly. So, we got to we got to win that group. If we win our group, we get to the elimination round and it’s March Madness all over again. and we can literally make some noise. So, we’ll see how it plays out. But, um yeah, they will do well to put themselves in that position to go ahead and try to win that. But once again, guys, we thank you for uh showing up and showing out as you guys always do. Been a very good stream. We did not mean to go above over two hours. We try to keep it about hour to an hour and a half, but it’s hard when y’all have good comments like this and y’all get us riled up, right? So, all these questions, I got to answer them. You know what I’m saying? We ain’t going to leave y’all hanging, but we appreciate you guys showing up, man. So, we will leave it there. Because of our dog AB showing up, guys, we are going to end this stream with the forgot about Cade outro that I made about two and a half years ago when he had his injury in season ending injury and I was like, “Okay, y’all just just wait for it. Y’all see y’all going to forget and y’all going to be reminded.” So, we going to end it with that, guys. But once again, uh have a great night everybody. Be safe. We will see you guys on Friday and y’all know the drill, man. Detroit verse everybody. Peace. rewind. There was a parade in my city. Number one pick dancing in the street. Everybody was hitting the gr and they were live as can be but we didn’t work on when he got hurt everyone lost it. Story lines leaking no faucet called him wash when he broke his tier. All the haters time to get it. Everybody want to be skipless. Want to throw shade. Okay, say less. Do number one for a reason. It’ll click by the end of the season. When he wins most player going to be a movie, he was raised but now he’s got him up. Let me quote Eminem. Nowadays, everybody want to talk like they got something to say, but nothing comes out when they move their liberation. Money lovers act like they forgot about K. Nowadays, everybody want to talk like they got something to say, but nothing comes out when they move their livers act like they forgot about K. Forot about K. They forgot about K. How you forget about K?
The Detroit Pistons take on the Utah Jazz in Utah, where they look to carry their momentum into a 4th straight win.
#detroitpistons #pistons #detroitbasketball
0:00 Intro
14:39 Cade Cunningham
23:01 Duncan Robinson
33:16: Ausar Thompson
40:03 Isaiah Stewart
54:43 Jalen Duren
1:14:39 Paul Reed
1:19:15 What To Expect From Jaden Ivey
1:23:22 Ron Holland
1:33:25 Javonte Green
1:37:55 Caris LeVert
1:38:19 AshtonDaTrainer Pulls Up
1:43:59 Caris LeVert (Continued)
1:53:52 Why Jaden Ivey Is Most Valuable In Detroit
2:00:00 Outtro
9 comments
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Cade has been a 4th quarter monster these last few games, second in the NBA in fourth quarter points. By the way, I seen that the Pistons versus Hawks game on the 18th will no longer be on NBC as they have Flex in the Spurs versus Grizzlies to take its place.
Everyone wants pick this team apart,be happy were doing well.
Duncan= Bojan 3 and no D lol
Holland has to start in place of Duncan when they play the 76ers else VJ Edgecombe is going to put Duncan in the torture chamber.
If JD keeps playing the way he's been playing so far, Pistons may have to pay him more than he initially asked for for the rookie extension. He will have a lot of suitors.
I was busy at work, so I only listened to the game. While listening, you normally can't get a grasp of how individual defenders are doing unless they're making big plays; today I got to watch the NBA's game highlights. Let me start by saying that I know highlights don't show you everything that happened. Listening to your post-game show made me think that Svi did everything he did against Duncan, but the NBA cut-up showed him giving out equal opportunity buckets. I understand that Cade, Ausar, Ron, and Javonte are all plus defenders and Duncan did look lost on D, but y'all really made it sound like Svi only went off because Robinson is a terrible defender, lol.
I agree. Beef Stew need to start because he will disrupt Mobley.
What up Duece. I feel like that year with Monty really messed with our guys confidence (stu,duren,auasr) I feel like they believe they're nba players now