{"id":157317,"date":"2025-07-09T03:12:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T03:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/157317\/"},"modified":"2025-07-09T03:12:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T03:12:10","slug":"what-chaz-lanier-said-after-signing-contract-with-detroit-pistons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/157317\/","title":{"rendered":"What Chaz Lanier said after signing contract with Detroit Pistons"},"content":{"rendered":"

What Chaz Lanier<\/a> said during his introductory press conference after signing his rookie contract<\/a> with the Detroit Pistons<\/a>:<\/p>\n

His move from North Florida to Tennessee, continuing to produce at a high level and now moving onto the NBA<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I mean just being confident, having a lot of confidence in myself taking that jump from North Florida to Tennessee. My teammates had a lot of confidence in me. And I mean I know I had put the work in and it was only a matter of time before I showed it on the floor at a high-major level. So once I saw it transpire, I just took it and ran with it. And I feel like the same will be here with the Detroit Pistons, hopefully. Just being a more mature guy, I\u2019ve been through it a little bit. So just having experience and being able to make that translate.\u201d<\/p>\n

If he thought there was a chance the Detroit Pistons would draft him<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I knew that there was definitely mutual interest. Me and my agent, we had talked a lot. So we really wanted to make sure we could get out here. I had a great workout and I had great interactions with everybody when I came out here to work out. Just a super great organization out here. And to make sure we could get out here, I had a great workout and I had great interactions with everybody when I came out here to work out. This is just a super great organization out here. And the few days that I\u2019ve been out here has been amazing. They\u2019ve treated me well, great hospitality. And we\u2019ve just been getting after in practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hearing his name called in the NBA Draft\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I mean, definitely a lot of emotions. I had a lot of my family and friends there with me in Nashville. It was just a surreal feeling. It still doesn\u2019t feel real. It\u2019s just been all a blessing. It\u2019s been happening fast, but it\u2019s just been a blessing\u00a0<\/p>\n

Being an older player, how that plays a part moving forward\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a more mature guy, I feel like I can step in and play immediately. I mean, I feel like they had a great year last year. So just being able to do whatever they need me to do, come in, make shots when I need to. And whenever I get on the floor, make sure I\u2019m playing defense, playing hard. That\u2019s a given for sure to get on any NBA floor, to play hard on defense. And when I get my opportunity, just take full advantage of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What he\u2019s looking forward to in the NBA Summer League<\/p>\n

\u201cJust having fun out there, going and playing my game, getting to mesh with the guys. Ron (Holland) and Tolu (Smith) and DJ (Daniss Jenkins), a lot of the guys we\u2019ve been practicing with. But going out there playing my game and having fun and just getting used to the NBA style of play.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Getting to play with former Tennessee point guard Zakai Zeigler on the Pistons Summer League team<\/p>\n

\u201cSuper exciting. He was my PG at Tennessee. Great player. I love Zakai a lot. So it\u2019s definitely an exciting feeling being able to play with him. And just a great opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Getting to Detroit and joining the Pistons, having his family with him during that process\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we first got to the hotel, I had all my family here and there was a lot of gear laid out in the room. And my dad took off his clothes immediately and put on the Detroit Pistons clothes and we went walking down the street. And just walking around downtown Detroit, I mean everybody\u2019s just been super nice to me and my family.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Representing his hometown of Nashville\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means a lot coming from Nashville, Tennessee. It\u2019s a lot of people supporting me back home. Family, friends, just the city. And then being able to put the Pistons on my chest, I know that means a lot to the people out here in Michigan and the Pistons fans. So I\u2019m not going to let them down. I\u2019m going to give my all every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Playing with a playmaker like Pistons guard Cade Cunningham<\/p>\n

\u201cJust from watching his film, he makes the game so much easier for the guys around him. He\u2019s able to create for himself and create for other people on the floor. And he\u2019s just super vocal and he\u2019s a leader.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been watching him since he was at Oklahoma State. And then when he got to the NBA, I\u2019ve been definitely tuned in watching him. He\u2019s a super great player. He\u2019s an All-Star. He makes the game so much easier for everybody around him. And you can just tell he\u2019s a leader from the film.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

How much pride he takes in his 3-point shot, that part of his game as a shooter<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I mean, I\u2019m a shooter for sure. That\u2019s what I hang my hat on, putting the ball in the basket. But I feel like at the NBA level, you have to be able to first make an impact on defense, and that\u2019s how I\u2019m going make my hay to get on the floor. It\u2019s about playing defense first.\u201d<\/p>\n

Growing up in a basketball household\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been playing basketball ever since I could walk. My dad played at Lipscomb and my mom played at Alcorn State. So they put the ball in my hand super early. I just remember a lot of times I\u2019d be outside in the front yard with my dad playing basketball. He\u2019s the one who taught me how to shoot. He\u2019s the one who taught me how to play defense. So I\u2019m in a special position. They\u2019re supporting me a lot, and it means a lot to be able to play at the highest level now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What Chaz Lanier said during his introductory press conference after signing his rookie contract with the Detroit Pistons:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157318,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3773],"tags":[7,296,188,3860,6,297,195],"class_list":{"0":"post-157317","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-pistons","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-detroit","10":"tag-detroit-pistons","11":"tag-detroitpistons","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-pistons","14":"tag-regwall"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114821093786830599","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}