Detroit Pistons Trade Strategy – Rising Stars | WP EP 98

Detroit Pistons Trade Strategy – Rising Stars | WP EP 98

Be very thankful I am I’m very thankful so due date February 6th we were hoping to have Bowl baby a lion Super Bowl baby but you know I I with the news of Ben Johnson coming back man I maybe uh next year we’ll be celebrating the the baby’s

Birthday while the lions are in the Super Bowl so I mean that’s that’s significant man that’s that’s free agency before you even have free agency or or the draft before you have the draft to get to have Ben Johnson coming back that’s huge for them I I said I

Think it’s the perfect consolation prize it doesn’t take away a loss but it at least shows you more so than um you know Ben Johnson whether he likes what was out there as a head coach or not you know the head coaching positions or not

I I really felt like this was him saying this is my best shot to get to a Super Bowl is with the Detroit Lions you know when you kind of look around the the field and what he had an opportunity to go out there and do and you’re that

Close and he text I’m St Brown like yo unfinished business and uh you know I I love it man I absolutely love it soon like I I have the background off set up and one piece I’m G to add I told the people last week it’s this big Super

Bowl plaque that my grandfather left to me and it had 50 Super Bowl tickets uh on there it’s it’s a little dated now it doesn’t have like the last eight or nine years on there from the time that he bought it but I’m Detroit Lions W in

There no and and I think the other thing that this says is there was so much talk about Dan kampbell and the culture that they’re creating and if you have an opportunity if you’re you’re Ben Johnson you have an opportunity to go somewhere else Be Your Own Boss and and have your

Own team and you say no to that because the opportunity here to win and sustain this that’s the biggest thing because people are so angry and salty about this loss this isn’t about this loss this year this whole resurrection and everything thing that they’re doing with the Lions is about maintaining that over

The course of some years and keeping Ben Johnson is just that big that he said they didn’t they may have fattened his pockets a little bit but this isn’t about giving him an extra monetary something this because he would have gotten that with a head coaching job

This is about him wanting to be with these guys and see this thing through and we talked so much about the Lions not having coaches who after they leave here they go somewhere else and and become a head coach or do something else this is a guy who stayed in Detroit to

Do it and he sees that if that doesn’t give you encouragement about where he thinks a guy on the inside thinks this team is then nothing else should he he he tamped down the the stuff for himself to say this team can do it and it’s not

In five years this is in like one or two he’s encouraged enough that he can do it and Washington has what the number two pick yeah I want to say Washington has a so he’s going to get a quarterback if he went to Washington he would have gotten the quarterback essentially that he

Wanted maybe not Caleb Williams maybe whoever Michael pinnick whoever is there so he would have a brand new Young quarterback to start this with he’s saying this situation is better than me starting with the quarterback that I want and the offense I can create and duplicate that he sees that path sooner

Than going and getting his own gig there’s there’s so much to read into what this means about the Lions and their shortterm future of being able to sustain this over the next couple of years Rod start the season right now bro you got me ready to run through a brick

Wall hey hey look and this what I’m saying you guys this is the Detroit news sports editor and chief the man just knows ball he knows Sports man and I love it hopefully in the future we got some cool things that we can bring to

The platform and uh be able to get Rod’s knowledge on even more but but welcome to the wward Pistons podcast now I just feel like the clouds are just kind of [Laughter] coming that wasn’t on the Lions boy I love it we didn’t even we didn’t even

Start the intro yet or do introductions it’s just sort of all right let’s just talk about sports and boom the the the the the flip switches and it’s just boom yeah look welcome to the Woodward Pistons podcast on the Woodward Sports Network my name is Brandon D AKA Detroit

Kool-Aid and I haven’t gotten to do this in some time so I need you guys to help me out as well it’s the legend we got to get the drum roll in here we already said look I got the keyboard here too we gonna play some tunes this morning it’s

GNA be a full on band let’s go with that drum roll for the legend hey yo shout out to the legend Detroit News R beer go that was the keyboard there that was my best impression of the keyboard but brother welcome to the show how are

You doing this morning man it’s been a couple of weeks it’s between the Michigan National Championship and the lions run in the playoffs it has been a couple of weeks every wed okay all right I see what you did there I mean it’s it’s just been um it’s been

A a Detroit couple of weeks of of I don’t remember it being this busy this exhilarating this um productive in in a really really long time because we we haven’t had both football teams be this good where you can look at both and say okay well this is this is something so

It’s been good it’s been good it’s and it’s uh shout out you know I’m not a Michigan State fan but you know their fans are optimistic too it’s like when you kind of rope all of that stuff in there football in the state of Michigan

Just seems to be not just on the rise but hopefully in a place of consistency where all of the teams can go out there and kind of Meet the expectations um oh man you know what Rob we talked about beforehand I really hope I really hope that that comes to

Fruition I think people are gonna like the conversation and things that we can bring to the table but we got to talk about these Detroit Pistons and you know where we got to start with rods thoughts I will start with um assar Thompson not being selected as a rising

Star of the I think it’s 11 selections that they do from the rookies can you say that he’s not a top 11 rookie I mean at the end of the day whatever it’s the rising stars it’s not an Allstar snub or something like that it is the rising stars but he’s the type

Of cat that will be motivated by this and try to work a little bit harder and I think what’s been difficult in his situation has been um his role in whether he’s been starting or coming off the bench or doing whatever he just comes out balls and just contributes but

Um I just think it’s a little disappointing given the way that he started the season that he wasn’t one of those selections but whatever they got um Duran and and um Ivy so two pistons and the in the razing star so and you know what I’m actually glad you went

There because when we posted the graphic yesterday and I saw you know conversations kind of break out all over kind of the Pistons social media world it was about yo was assar Thompson snubbed and a lot of people were talking about the fact that maybe his playing

Time kind of going up and down his role kind of changing somewhere in the mid of where this season has been um I think actually it speaks volumes to a guy named Jaden Ivy who you talk about a path to get to this game I think it

Started off a a lot harder for him and to be able to kind of prove this aspect of hey I’m I’m I’m deserving of this um at least for what I was able to put out there on tape I know a lot of people have concerns or or mentioned concerns

About is his confidence going to be hit by coming off the bench but his plan time kind of being all over the place but now with this kind of last month of just consistent play kind of being in the lineup being in the starting lineup

K kind of being out and being able to Showcase a little bit more of his skill sets and I think some areas where he’s actually grown in game I think that this is a big accomplishment for Jay na’vi like I know it’s it’s it’s you know on

One hand it is just the rising stars game but on the other hand he is there for a reason and um I’m I’m encouraged I’m encouraged by what Jay iy has shown there’s a lot of people out there who for a long time were wondering you know

Is he messed up is he damaged goods is he G to be trade bait but the organization has since come out Troy Weaver has been on a couple podcasts and talked about it as well speaking on the Detroit Pistons young core and and um the even the trade you know it’s it’s

Funny you’ve been talking about Zack LaVine Zack LaVine Zack LaVine for months for months for months man before we ever heard that the Detroit Pistons and the Chicago Bulls had some discussion but the Bulls wanted one of those core players and people were like well if we get Zack LaVine that just

Spells the end of Jay and Ivy well what kind of came out from that um shout out to James Edwards as well is that the Bulls wanted one of the four and Troy said he’s not trading one of those four for Zack LaVine and I I was like you

Know what it’s cool you you want to talk about a Renaissance you want to talk about a guy kind of rising from the asses right now I think that that’s Jay Ivy and um I’m glad man you know Rising Stars I think is fitting for a player

Who this season has continued to see his game rise as the opportunities have and I talked about this on Woodward nights last night hosted by Matt broer and shout out to my guys nick uh and the sound Boo and kg it’s um It’s a situation where Jay and Ivy all year has

Been matured all year has said the right things all year has been patient all year has just done what’s asked of him like even when we in media kind of ask him questions about yo does this bother you at all you you know how you feeling

About this he’s like you know just wait my time I have to make sure I’m ready I got to do what I got to do to get on the court you know whatever coach is feeling and none of it felt contrived at first people were like maybe he’s just saying

That but it’s like his whole Persona his whole everything it’s just like Jay Ivy is a consumate professional man and he’s a person that I do want in a Detroit Pistons uniform for a very long time Rod no and the thing that you can think about with this is if there are 11

Selections for Rising Stars can you justify three Pistons being in there out of 11 probably not they probably had trouble getting two so if it if it came down to do we give them Ivy or Thompson you can probably make a better case for Ivy and you could say Thompson

Can get into the game next year um but again I think it it if it came down to that one or the other then I think it probably should be Ivy especially given the fluctuation in kind of Thompson’s role dropping a little bit and Ivy going up in the past in the more

Recent um time time frame that we’re talking about but yeah I think that’s a boost for Ivy and just what he’s able to do and maybe that helps his trade value a little bit just to say hey Rising Star it’s it’s something that’s there um but

Yeah I think it’s it’s it’s critical to think about just where he goes and and if he is in that under that umbrella of protected players that we do not want to trade then that says something about the way the um the franchise thinks about

Him and then even in the the idea that um Monty was talking about yeah we just had to start over and try some different things and this is the way that Ivy responds then that tells you what type of person and player he is is that okay

You give me I I haven’t had opportunity you give me opportunity I per I perform and kind of show you what I have and maybe that you were wrong and you didn’t really see the true me on the court before that and now he’s he’s starting to flourish a little bit more that’s

Encouraging to see too yeah that’s very very encouraging man I’m glad that you started there with the rising stars you know something else that I want to you know the theme here just seems to be you know Rising you know Jay iy and what type of season he’s had Jaylen durran

And Jay iy making this game and Jaylen durran it wasn’t easy for him necessarily either you know he kind of had some injuries earlier in the season for them to be able to establish themselves and kind of build off of what they had last season and they’re looking

Mature their games look like they’ve taken some steps forward in a lot of ways but obviously as second-year players still trying to get acclimated to not just the new players on the team but also Kade Cunningham it’s going to take some time and uh Monty Williams spoke about that yesterday at practice

As well saying you know when Kade gets going when he gets back in Rhythm it’s going to be good but obviously it’s going to take a little time to kind of mesh this especially with how proficient I think this team looks when Jay Ivy is

Going as well you know but um you know I’m talking about Rising since the Detroit Pistons have made this trade with the Washington Wizard sending out Marvin Bagley and Isaiah livers in return uh for um Danilo galinari and muscala the Detroit Pistons Rod the Detroit Pistons are three and four since

That trade in the last seven games with an opportunity to climb to 500 since the trade what are we seeing I’m I’m I’m taking it all all that I can take man I’m taking it I’m gonna own this like got it’s like bro man these these Detroit Pistons I

They’ve played better uh you know they beat the Oklahoma City Thunder it was their first win over a team over 500 they outrebounded they out assisted and in my opinion they out hustled and that’s been one of the things that I’ve kind of seen uh pick up since that trade

As well I don’t know what the conversation is in the locker room that’s one of the things I’m GNA ask Monty Williams at the next media availability I’m at but um what are you thinking man about this trade about kind of this mini Resurgence and um you know

Is this something that you think will be sustained sure doesn’t matter do doesn’t matter in the big scheme of things though if you’re not you want to see it be sort of progressive would you would you rather see a win over the Wizards on the road or would you

Rather or no that that Wizards game was at home um or see the wind or the Thunder I’d rather see the win over the Wizards probably yeah because you can’t really call that one a fluke as much um and maybe you can’t call the Thunder one

A fluke either it’s just beat the teams you should beat and I and I I can say hey you’re making Progressive steps but when you beat the Thunder it’s easy at least on that side to say oh okay yeah it was one game they just kind of got

That together but if you beat the the Hornets and wizards back toback it’s okay all right all right cool so it’s I don’t know you can take whatever you want to out of that you can say the Thunder Wind is the second day of a back

Toback you had every reason to kind of mail that one in uh and you didn’t so the trade itself sometimes it’s just it’s clearing things out and and putting people on notice that things can change immediately and you can be gone we’re looking at at other options and your

Brothers that you started the season with are not here anymore a couple of them because we made this deal and we’re trying to to improve the overall roster but it it has that feel certainly that they aren’t done you don’t really feel comfortable until after the trade deadline that think that you’re you’re

Safe as it were with where you are on the roster so I think it’s it’s a little bit of uneasiness coming up to the deadline and you’ll see if this trade really pays some dividends but it’s expiring contracts you know these guys aren’t going to be around very much

Longer it’s just what’s the next um the next shoe to drop on what they’re going to do with this roster yeah yeah but you know another player who’s also come back and contributed nicely and his first game back Monte Morris the Detroit P Pistons actually got out there and and

Got a w and his returned and honestly you talk about a player that if you have him in the beginning of this season to start this year I think the Pistons fortunes are a little bit different Rod he’s that’s a Pros Pro as in the words of George Blaha I’ve liked what I’ve

Seen from Monte Morris I I’m hoping you know when Kay Cunningham gets back I don’t know you know again I don’t know necessarily what the lineups will be because uh when Monte got back with Kade Monte was still on a a minutes restriction according to Monty Williams

They didn’t want to kind of rush them back and um with Kade Cunningham as well similar thing he said that they’re trying to pay a little bit more attention and a little bit more mind to what Kade Cunningham has been through that that surgery last year wasn’t just

Some okay he got a surgery that’s that’s good to go it’s something where all summer he worked and pushed hard to get back to this point and they want to make sure they’re not over stressing that leg especially if they have according to them big plans uh you know ahead

Especially with trying to get in the right players um before the trade deadline as well as the most pivotal offseason uh with this restore to date you know I don’t think that you will have one more pivotal next season or any Seasons after this one this is the year

That I believe they need to get it done but Monte Morris man just what have you liked what have you seen how have you uh seen him kind of affect this lineup man and and do you think that’s a player that they should bring back or because I

Know he’s only one of those expiring I know that uh there were like a little bit of rumors that other teams contending teams are looking at them and obviously if the Detroit Pistons are going to kind of lock down their core you know their young corn say we’re not

Trading these guys then it really does fall in my opinion on people like Monte Morris and even potentially uh aoan bonovich he’s not expiring this year but maybe even Alec Burks as some of these targets going out but I just it’s it’s so weird because I know that they want

To be able to keep their veteran Talent as well they don’t want to get younger anymore yeah it it’s just there are a lot Monte’s decision to me is kind of pending on what you’re doing with Killian and I probably shouldn’t say it that way because people are gonna

Think that means I would rather have Killian than Monte I think Monte is you don’t know specifically what you have you’re kind of theorizing what you have based on his past performance and where that can hurt you is sort of a Joe Harris situation where hey this is Joe Harris’s bio this

Is who he is and this is what he’s going to bring us and then he gets on the court this year and he’s not quite that so I think you almost have to say you you make a decision on that and it’s a numbers game and I think you go by what

Monte’s overall profile is and stick with that I think Monte over let me say that clearly I think Monte over Killian for what we’ve seen from Killian just the numbers have not been there this is a better year for him but it might just be what contract is and blah blah blah

Blah blah blah blah if you think that’s a bigger deal y y and you know obviously somebody who’s good in the community somebody who wants to be here that’s that’s that’s one of the uphill battles that we already have to fight is players wanting to be here not just as it

Relates to the Detroit of things because I think he gets cold in Boston it gets cold in New York it gets cold in Chicago but the health of the team you know this squad where are they headed are they going to be built up the right way does

The organization are they in lock step now are they Beyond some of the maybe the ups and downs some of the misses is Troy Weaver in terms of some of the things he’s going to do are they going to be more solid as it relates to putting kind of less incremental and

More impactful players around this young core you know that’s something that I’m hoping to see um as we move forward but I do want to talk to you about this the Zack LaVine of it all supposedly what the rumor is is that people and other teams out there aren’t necessarily

Willing to give up assets um for Zack LaVine a young assets capital and such which kind of puts the Pistons in the driver’s seat as it relates to this trade because they’ve been one of the more active teams at reaching out um there’s also been rumors

About you know miles Bridges and I know that there are a lot of people who split on that with some of his uh kind of history in his past and some things that popped up the last time that the Pistons were going to potentially Target him there’s been Tobias Harris noise and

Things of that nature you know what is your feeling right now about Zack LaVine or about where the Pistons SHO should go from here to be able to augment this team I’m going to stay on the Zack LaVine train I think um as I said in the very beginning when I started talking

About this the dude is an All-Star the dude scores and that’s what you need is a scorer and it’s it’s what you thought you were getting from buan and if you end up having to trade buan to get him to me that is a a something on the court

Of a an upgrade obviously the issue with LV is the injuries and obviously the issue is the contract where he’s due um he’s on 40 mil this year 43 46 and 48 that or 49 in 2627 that player option you are you are spending all of your C money

Over the next few years and putting them on a guy who is habitually injured but he’s an Allstar um where have we seen that before that you’re you’re you’re taking on a huge contract you’re giving up a couple of promising players and injuries are a concern and a lot of fans said Blake

Griffin 2.0 it a a lot of that is just you’re going down that same road with Blake again and Zack LaVine is not Blake Griffin and he’s probably not g to have an all NBA season again he’s steady but is he plus million dollar steady so you know what this reminds me

Of because we talked about we talked to we talked about this a little bit ago when we were going through and we were saying who’s available who would you be able to go out there and get and we we looked at Washington and we said Jordan

P would you pay 40 plus Mill for Jordan pool so I’ll just give it to you straight like this would you rather have Jordan P or Zack LaVine I I would rather have Zack LaVine so if you rather have Zack LaVine in that case then you You’ Pony up the

Money and just say hey this is it is what it is we have our Allstar to put next to Cade he’s not a great defender we’ll live with that but he’s Zack LaVine and we think that bucket getting proficiency is going to be there for three more years after this

Year man that’s a you know what sometimes we think of these players in these deals just in a vacuum and we say Zack LaVine for 40 million when you start to ju to POS that up against the other players out there from the kosas to the Jordan pools uh to even you know

Uh man it’s making cam Johnson look cheap right now but he has not had the season uh commiserate of even the bag that he got either um honestly if I could if you know me man you know me I got the I got the picture right here man

If I could wave the magic wand and have one player return or come to this team it would be Jeremy Grant right now I don’t know what it would take to get him because obviously Portland is not just in the business of saying hey let’s just

Help out the Detroit Pistons with a plus player who’s not injury-prone with a plus player who can play two ways with a plus player who can hit the three-pointer pretty well that’s not how this is going down at all it’s not at all to get him they’re it’s gonna

Require I think a hall I I really do I don’t think that he’s a yeah you think a hall for Jeremy i i as it relates to Hall I mean I think one of those young core at least one of our one of those four players

That um Troy Weaver said he didn’t want to give up I think he would take that what what is your thoughts on that actually maybe maybe not if it’s if it’s is the demand higher for LaVine or for Grant right now it’s probably for Lavine you know they said that a couple teams

Are kicking the tires on LaVine are teams kicking the tires on Jeremy Grant I haven’t heard one rumor there you go so so same contract frame going through 2728 and Jeremy Grant is next year 30 32 or no he’s got an extra year 32 30 32 34 36

I can I can take that medicine a little bit better than Lan contract he’s not an Allstar but you’re you’re you’ve got similar sort of yeah similar sort of effect and it gives you some some flexibility so here’s the deal also that goes with this you have toay and they’re around

The same age look is turning 29 this year Jeremy is turning 30 okay so the the the issue is you’re going to have to pay all of your young players coming up soon you’re gonna have to pay cage or you you already gave um as a steuart his

Uh Duran is coming up too all of these young guys that you have on value contracts right now you’re gonna have to pay in the time frame of this Zack proposed Zack LaVine or Jeremy Grant contract so at some point you’re going to be hurting does it prevent you from keeping one of

Your Untouchables that you’ve determined for right now because you went out and got this guy so that’s the other thing to think about does does that 49 what what do we say 49 mil for LaVine in that last year yeah does that prevent you from keeping somebody else whereas you’re talking 36 in

Jeremy Grant’s case that’s an extra 13 Mill you know what that’s that might make a difference that’s a crucial that’s a crucial point because we’re talking about the players you keep right now to acquire them but down the road and very soon these guys are going to

These young players that you want to keep are gonna have to be paid and you know fans would be absolutely livid if this core for Absol actually worked out but then they wound up having to get rid of them because somebody like Zack LaVine was on this roster whose contract

Went for 4 to 49 million in just a few years so that’s that’s part of the thought process is if you you get down and you Kick the Can three or four years anyway where you’re gonna have to get rid of them then just go ahead and do it

Now and take the bigger risk for what you’re going to have to do so if you’re saying you have to throw one of those people in to get Jeremy Grant for the lower price then just do it now or you can just say we’ll ride with it and when

We have to make that decision down the road then we’ll make that decision down the road because maybe one of these guys that we think is going to be really good won’t work out and we won’t have to pay them you you can play Kick the Can too

So it’s it’s a couple of different ways that you can look at this it’s just what your philosophy is and and maybe given those options I might lean toward let’s see what happens when we get there um but you’ve already at that point committed yourself to Zack LaVine or a

It’s it’s a tough tough choice to to try to figure out which way you want to go on man that’s a good point and supposedly the Detroit Pistons have kind of um at first it seemed like Boon was an Untouchable they you got to give us a

Wow wow wow deal um the latest report was that they’re willing to entertain offers for I think a a first round pick or a player of similar impact that I don’t think is going to happen I don’t know why unless unless there’s another team out there that just has a hole at

Where they want to be able to plug boan bonovich into that lineup and they have a surplus of a player that they think you know what we have three or four bigs right now or we have three or four wings right now like how the Phoenix Sons were

A few years back underneath Monty Williams when they had UB and cam Johnson and a couple guys that could play that Wing position you know but I just I don’t see where he gets traded for necessarily an impact player unless there’s somebody out there who’s looking to get from underneath a big big

Contract and in that case they would have to make sure that a first round pick as well probably is coming back to the Detroit Pistons um just to satiate the deal a little bit but Bo banovich I don’t think he’s going anywhere but it was interesting to me to kind of see

That report kind of pop up out of nowhere as we get a little bit closer to the trade deadline because earlier in the season it was that effectively we’re not trading him now it’s hey we’re willing to listen to offers and I’m wondering how much of that has to do um

Since Troy Weaver has come out and and kind of publicly stated what the core for is that’s something with the the Untouchable or what he wants to keep together that’s something I wasn’t hearing earlier in the season when they said boan was untouchable now that they’re saying hey this is the four we

Don’t want to trade this any of these guys for LaVine now us sudden I hear Ban’s name kind of pop up um what do you think man the prospects of boan bonovich uh potentially on the market or potentially on the move with them kind of I i’ say kind of backtracking a

Little bit on their earlier stance on him yeah I think you’ve got to assess his value and say whether he’s going to be a long-term piece meaning you’re signing him to a new contract um yeah because his value has slipped so much from what it was even last year that if

You would you were trying to get or the reports were wasn’t there a report they were getting two first picks people were offering two first round picks for buan yeah so now if he’s down to one pick then have you let his value slip so much that it’s just uh

Decreasing um uh asset that you’ve got there that you’re not quite getting the same and when does it get to a point where it’s now it’s a second round pick that his he’s valued at so you just got to strike where if he’s not gonna help you

Immediately then you just got to move on from that even though it’s a the whole point was that it was a value contract that was easily movable the more time that comes off that contract the less valuable he’s going to be and now that the value of that pick is so much less

Than it was so it’s sort of are you winning are you getting to the playoffs are you doing what you thought you were doing with this pick then if not what’s the point then what are we doing so that’s the frustration that I think a

Lot of fans have is you need to to turn over every leaf sometimes you need to just do things just to do things and that’s why the um the mascala trade just felt like okay we’re doing something at least we’re clearing out the decks and making sure that we’ve got um something

For it we’re getting future cap space but we didn’t use last year’s future cap space so what are we really going to do with this year’s future cap space that’s that’s the thing with a lot of people out there man they’re worried that the Detroit Pistons aren’t going to

Necessarily use the cap space the right way I wrote an article just asking the People based off a lot of the conversations I’ve seen you know should do you want should Troy we I already know the answer they’re going to say but should Troy Weaver get the opportunity

To spin this cap space should he be the guy in that chair uh to do so at seeing that we haven’t necessarily gotten a good track record if it was like should he be the person making the draft pick I think that’s an automatic yes because he’s shown he has a good proficiency

With that um but with that as it relates to the last few free agencies for me it’s a little mix you know I thought Jeremy Grant was good and a lot of people were screaming to to get him out of here and bring in a a three-point

Shooting Wing even if he couldn’t play defense that well they brought in BO bonovich I thought that that was a pretty good deal in the free agency as well but when you look at the overall moves have the free agency signings the vets that they’ve brought in that they

Thought will help move this this young core into being more competitive and and a little bit more wins a a lot more wins in the win column has that happened they haven’t you know and so it’s making a lot of people uneasy about what to do

With this cast space after like you said they had a boatload of it last year they’re G to have a a boatload of it you they had a boatload last year this is going to be you know a cruise ship full of a cap space and it’s like you know my

Worry as well man I told people like I want to see kind of what they do with this trade deadline as well because it would give me a lot more confidence heading into the free agency the off season where you know at the draft when they know you know where they slot

They’re able to pick a player and trade that player if they want or if they think that it’s a player they that they want to keep that can do that I’m leaning to the side of kind of draft a player for another team package up a

Trade and try and get a couple players in here you think can add to this overall NBA Talent base not young guys man shout out to Chuck Brewer last night when we we did a piston segment on Woodward Knights and he was saying you know it’s different today in the NBA

Because before you used to be able to go in and kind of select your one player you know you know that player is going to come in with maybe two or three years worth of of NBA experience now you got the lot of oneandone players who are

Coming into the league and their first two or three years in the league is about you know their first two or three years in the league is about learning it you know before they’re ever able to actually make a contribution and there are some young players who are ahead of

Schedule there are some players out there who they hit the ground running but largely when I kind of look at this thing it’s a lot of Hit or Miss is with these guys and over the the time over a span of time I see some of these players

After like three four years start to actually hit their stride so I’m hoping that there’s a lot of NBA Talent on the Detroit Pistons ra radar to be able to add to this roster and uh kind of move this team into a place of winning um but

One player in particular man you know with this core for there’s things that I could say I want to see this person do this better I want to see that person do better with assar Thompson I wanted to get your thoughts on this before we kind

Of wrap things up um with a Thompson there’s a lot of fans out there who obviously they know that his shooting is down but they believe he’s not being used necessarily the right way they think that there are better ways to get a little bit more out of this player I

Think he’s one of the few players on the team that has this kind of innate helps side his instinctual helps side defense I I think that he’s one of the few players on this team that actually cuts and feels the empty space so when there’s a pick and roll at the top of

The key and it creates that void on one of the Wings I generally see assar Thompson kind of cut in and he kind of gets the ball and gets that Baseline dunk or or an attempt at The Rim um I I but I really believe that he’s the type

Of guy who if you put the ball in his hands or if you use him in a pick and roll I think you get even more out of his skill set because of how athletic he is and how he gets to the rim and he can draw some fouls man he’s not necessarily

A player that I’m looking at kind of going up has a tent he’s not necessarily player that I see kind of shying away from contact I I wanted to just get your thoughts on on a start Thompson and and what what would you want to see um to be

Able to get the best out of the type of player he’s showing himself to be right now while they still try to work on things like his outside shooting I know at practice I’ve seen him working on his mid-range game a lot more than I did in

The beginning of the season in the beginning of the season I saw him doing dribble Drive stuff and I saw him practicing threes and the portion of practice we could see that’s not to say that he wasn’t working on midrange in the parts that we’re not able to see but

More lately I have seen them working on that mid-range shot that mid-range game kind of the space that the defense gives them you know they kind of back up a little bit when he’s at the three-point line if he could step in and be something reliable or step in and find a

Way to get to the rim similar to like Jay and Ivy I thought that that would be a good addition to his game as well yeah and think about ivy too is it’s interesting that you mentioned that is coming in he was just kind of a here’s

What his game is but there’s so much room for him to expand out and to be more and that’s what I feel about aars game is it’s not quite defined yet he’s not a certainly not a perimeter shooter as his primary Forte but he can do just

Things with the ball he finds buckets he’s the guy at the the the gym the Lifetime Fitness or wherever you play pickup ball who he gets buckets it it he might hit a jumper in the corner then he’ll drive then he’ll figure something out he does good things on defense he

Does so many good things that it’s hard to keep him off the court and that’s the the quandry that the Pistons were in was that well we he’s not three-point shooter we can’t put him in the corner but he does so much stuff on defense

That we got to find somewhere to put him on the floor just to to so he can be himself that’s who he is that is his profile is just a a player just an all-around guy um I will say the name Stanley Johnson he’s maybe a more improved Stanley Johnson in the sense

That he can find buckets in different ways that Stanley couldn’t um but he had the same defensive Instinct Stanley could lock you down and assar has the same sort of potential to do without the the same physicality he’s just a different athletic Guy where Stanley was a bit

Bulkier and he could he could bump you and take you off your spots and he could guard LeBron I don’t think you want um assar guarding LeBron so some similarities but some differences there too but I think assar game is just still to be figured out he’s still very raw

And um the skill set is there that he’s just a ball player and I think that’s the key yep I uh sorry about that was uh texting one of my social uh social leads here um yeah it with all this Ben Johnson stuff man it’s been uh it’s been

A whirlwind over here but no I agree with that I agree with that I one of the coolest things is year has been just kind of sitting back and really looking at how these guys do when they get their opportunities and I absolutely love that assar Thompson every time he gets his

Opportunity to go out there he his his prowess doesn’t change like the way he attacks the way he tries to play defense none of it changes and I think you said something important there too one of the things that I have I I initially thought

Okay he’s gonna be able to guard kind of whatever Wing is out there those bigger kind of three four hybrids have kind of giving him fits I I want to kind of see him play more like a two three I think that it puts him in a position to give those

Guys fits especially with how you know when you look at this Detroit uh this Detroit Pistons lineup there’s a lot of tall players when when you factor in you can run K Cunningham out there Jay Ivy out there um I know a lot of people don’t want killing hay necessarily out

There but he’s still at 65 um you put AAR Thompson there and then Jaylen durren and and in guys like Mike muscala like I know Isaiah Stewart is a little undersized but his wingspan his reach and things of that nature I think it puts him in a position to where

He can find himself matched up with players that he can potentially dominate from a physical standpoint and I’m hoping to see him being put more in a position to do that uh to try and get his best like I said I don’t see too many players that can realistically

Match up with his athletic with his mix of athleticism and physicality at the two3 spot I think that he has to learn like Troy we said when he drafted him the nuances of the game he definitely has to do that that that’s one thing they said they said his defense they

Believe is ready to go day one to defend the players that they want him to but offensively obviously he’s gonna have to learn the nuances of it and Marcus Sasser who he’s just been on a tear I don’t want to leave him out of uh kind

Of this rookie talk this core talk that we were talking about he’s been looking really really good and I got to ask him a couple weeks ago you know are you hitting your stride how you feeling about um you know this NBA game he said n I’m still learning I’m still learning

Uh because I I I talked to him you know he was the leader of that team of Houston he was the older player um he’s he’s the same age if not older than a lot of the young core and I asked him you’re like you know do you find

Yourself lending your voice a little bit more uh since you are one of those older players and he said no he’s like some of these players they’ve been in this league longer than me I’m still trying to learn from them he said you know where I can encourage I encourage but

I’m still trying to learn and I think that that’s that’s one of the most crucial Parts here the piss are in this kind of weird conflict right now where it’s like you want to be able to augment this team get them the right players right now but you also don’t want to

Block their development they’re learning their ability to step in and to feel those roles you know what I mean because if you have a core four you want those guys to be the guys so all of a sudden even if there’s another player that’s available you got to stop and think a

Little bit like well do we really want that player who’s going to now play in front of our guy who we need to get this experience I don’t think that they thought they would be losing this way but I also believe that the experiences as long as they’re playing it’s

Invaluable what the young core is getting this year man yep no no that’s good stuff so all right I think I’m that’s all right man any last words from you no no I think we covered it all I appreciate you greatly for being here and you people as well man hey again

This is this is free agency time man put in the comments if there’s any if there’s been any other names that you’ve seen um how you feeling now about Zack LaVine because I’ve seen people start to cross over rod first it was like why y’all talking about Zack LaVine now I’m

Starting to see people like wait can we please get Zack LaVine is it a real shot it’s it’s risky it’s it’s not an easy thing but we said that from the very beginning is that it’s a lot of you got to do something you feel like you got to

Do something you don’t want to do something crazy but there is a ton of risk that goes along with Zack lvan yeah well all right then hey look man thank you guys for tapping into the Woodward Pistons podcast on wood Sports Network your boy Brandon D AK AKA Detroit

Kool-Aid and we got to get the legend drum roll out of here man y already know what time it is hey yo shout out to the legend and thank you brother Detroit News Rod beard gotta salute every now and then because he is the chief the sports editor and chief I

Love it man thank you brother all right bro enjoy thank you all right till next time you all

Rod Beard (Detroit News) and Brandon @DetroitKoolAid Dent (Woodward Sports Network) discuss the Detroit Pistons chances to hit the ground running. Like , Subscribe and leave your comment below!

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Woodward Sports Pistons beat reporter Brandon @detroitkoolaid1585 Dent and Detroit News assistant sports editor Rod Beard.

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