James Edwards III Joins To Discuss Confusing Season From Monty Williams, Cade/Ivey Success

James Edwards III Joins To Discuss Confusing Season From Monty Williams, Cade/Ivey Success

In today’s episode of Locked on Pistons podcast we’re joined Again by James Edwards II Detroit Pistons beat rider for the athletic you guys love these episodes we’ll be talking about everything from the Pistons recent wins Monty Williams and some of the future stuff stay tuned for all of that in

Today’s episode of the lock on Pistons podcast you are locked on Pistons your daily Detroit Pistons podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every Day what’s the deal welcome back to another episode of the lock on Pistons podcast per usual I’m your host Cahill you can find me over on Twitter at Cahill I want to thank you guys for Mak lock on Pistons your first listen of every single day free aveling all your podcast

Platforms if you haven’t already head to the YouTube channel at lockon Pistons hit that subscribe button or leave us a f star review whatever podcast platform you’re listening to this on today’s episode is brought to you by LinkedIn jobs helps you find the qualified candid you want to talk to faster and easier

Post your job for free at linkedin.com onba that’s linkedin.com loon MBA to post your job for free terms and conditions apply and you guys have been asking a lot to have James back on the podcast well here he is you guys seem to like our episode so James man I

Appreciate you coming back on I think they like the fact that you know we disagree on some things but we also don’t hold back you know with a lot of stuff we get a lot of I think it’s entertaining episodes I think they like it for real no I agree I appreciate you

Having me and you’re looking a little glisteny over there that podcast money I me I see the chains you got like four chains I see the the diamond in the ears sparkling a little bit you know we had to we had to get hooked up man we had to

Get see the thing is is that my boys they be going out every weekend and I don’t be the one that’s that’ be dripped out so I had to let them know that you know I was going to catch up with them at a certain point there is another

Chain I want I’m gonna get tatted next so you know it’s about to be it’s about to be it’s about getting crazy you don’t have any tattoos at all I have one on my on my I got a cross with like a basketball inside but that’s it okay all

Right loyal to theame you know that like having one tattoo is like you can’t just have like One S by itself it’s like oh you know I mean you know I think you well I think people I know you got some tattoos I I have two sleeves yeah

Exactly but see that’s what I’m saying sleev they’re always covered up though yeah well yeah see I don’t get you though I you can’t get a sleeve and just want to cover it up do you not like them no it’s just like well first of all uh

Uh it’s when well I cover them up like mainly for work but like when it’s when it’s NBA season like in the midst of the season it’s always cold you know what I mean like so it’s I’m covered up anyway but like summer league and stuff I have

Them out fair enough fair enough well let’s get into the Pistons I’m sure people don’t care about our tattoos that much but um so we’ll start with the Pistons win last night I know a lot of you guys probably thought that oh iy had a great

Game the Pistons won C’s not going to say anything about it lies I we had episode for today so we’re going to wait for today um so the Pistons win yesterday uh we’ll start there Kade and iy played extremely well I think this is probably the best they’ve ever looked

Together uh in a singular game they’ve had stretches and it’s not that they’ve played bad together throughout their time but I think this is easily the best they’ve ever looked would you agree with that you think that do you think yesterday’s game was their best game

Together yeah for sure I I wrote that last night that I thought they like flirted with perfection both together and when Monty staggered them which I’m sure we’ll talk about um yeah I mean at the end of the day and I’ve talked about it before and I think we’ve talked about

It on Twitter it’s gonna it’s it was always going to look better when they both shot well and I think that’s been like the big thing is both of them have not shot the three ball well at the same time like maybe ever um and then last

Night they both shot it well at the same time and I still think for that pairing to really work to the fullest of its potential one of them has to be like a borderline Elite three-point shooter and I mean Kate is Kate has teetered toward that uh as of late pretty much since

December honestly I know the numbers since the allstar break are big but he’s been shooting the ball well since December so I think Jade Jaden needs to um not be as streaky as he is I mean naturally that could be just who he is as a shooter but uh I think that’s

Really what unlocks that back court because Jaden gets a lot of open looks teams and I’m sure we’ll talk about spacing and stuff but teams do play off him and they go under him um he’s going to need a knock down not like what he did last night or the other night that’s

That’s that’s a lot but more often than not uh be a 36% three-point shooter I think for this to to really really work no I I completely agree I think not just for them two to work I think to make this core set of guys work those guys

Need to be really good Shooters and that’s something I’ve talked about a lot as well on the podcast that they need the space in from those two guys to really have a chance at making this you know core these core players work together but yesterday I mean just look

At the box score them hitting that the amount of Threes that they did obviously that’s going to look better on um it’s going to look better when guys are hitting that many threes but overall I thought even more than that I thought they found a way I thought Pistons fans

Or I’m sure you know this Pistons fans have been losing their minds almost every single game with Ivy’s not touching the ball enough why is he not touching the ball like he was when Kay was out you know why is he not you talked about why is he not staggering

With the second unit so he can run the offense like there’s been a lot of talk about that I thought yesterday not only were they obviously hitting their shots I thought that was the best they had like vibed off of each other um in a minute I I I thought Cade really looked

Like a engine offensive engine uh a floor General a quarterback if you will just running the offense picking their spots uh helping his teammates get into the right spot finding looks for them and then Ivy was really in that just I’m peer attacking I’m I’m going at your

Throat kind of thing I thought they just looked really good together they obviously played really well they shot the ball really well but I thought I mean and also with the help of like you said with Monty Williams staggering them some I’m sure that helped a lot but just

The way they were playing off of each other it felt like there was a lot of uh connection and and The Vibes were there I guess is what I’m trying to say with that yeah no I agree um and and I think the Staggering played a big part in that

Because if you like in the moment it didn’t feel like both were just going bananas right like it’s like oh my gosh Kate and Jaden are just taking turns like given the Nets buckets like it didn’t really feel like that you kind of just looked up and oh Kate has 30 oh

Jaden kind of felt like it because he was hitting so many threes and I think it was more noticeable because of the slump he was in but it just felt like a and Monty talks about it all the time like it wasn’t like a force the issue

Type thing I thought everything was in the flow of the offense um I thought early on especially that got a lot of stops and were able to get out and transition I thought Ivy I mean it helps when he’s making his layups too like he had been struggling in that in that area

Lately too so yeah I think it it felt like it was in the flow of the offense it felt natural it didn’t feel like there was a over effort to to try to get those two to to get off like that um but yeah I think if I can remember off the

Top of my head when Cade was on the floor and Ivy sat like Kate accounted for like seven of 14 points uh during a 146 run and then sat and Jaden accounted for like 13 of of whatever points when he when Kate sat so um I think that’s

Probably the way to go going forward I think we’ve all known that for a long time it’s just uh we don’t get paid to make those decision we’ll be we’ll be getting into that we’ll we’ll get into that a little bit later that’s that it’s definitely gonna get brought up in a

Minute um but because I don’t want to go too crazy on this episode too long end up with the two-parter like we had last time is there anything else you want to touch on with last night’s win with Ken iy I do want to spend most of our time

In the second segment so I want to give us enough breathing time there I don’t really have anything else I thought Ivy plays fantastic hopefully he gets back three-point shooting wise like you mentioned he has been streaky um even going back to his Purdue days something

We talked about in the last podcast but when he’s hit hitting his highs he’s he’s damn near Unstoppable in the half court because of his speed and his ability to finish at The Rim so I thought Ivy played fantastic hopefully he busted out of his slump and and

Kade’s been basically since Game 12 when they decided to bench Killian Hayes he’s been pretty damn awesome so I ain’t got nothing else besides that you got anything else nope I think you hit it the the nails on the head all right so this is the topic I think everyone’s

Really waiting for so I want to talk to James about Monty Williams and this is part of the reason why I like having James in the podcast so much I’m I’m gonna just let you guys in real quick when James joins the podcast I don’t hold back with anything I like ask him

Or anything I want to like know how he feels I feel like for the most part James doesn’t try to go you know PR or you know try to you know I can’t really say this I don’t want to say this that we things get laid out so I’m I’m I’m

Gonna ask James whatever whatever comes to my mind I think it’s on a lot of your guys’s mind too so stay tuned for that we’ll talk about Monty Williams and some of the stuff that’s been happening this year and just some future stuff when we come back our partners over at eBay motors

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So I want to thank you guys again for making lock down Pistons your first listen of every single day we’re free available on all your podcast platforms if if you haven’t already head to the YouTube channel at likeon Pistons hit that subscribe button or leave us a five

Star revew on whatever podcast platform you’re listening to this on that’s another great way to support the podcast we were just the last ad we were talking about cars you know with eBay Motors James you see I got my car stolen like this morning no I missed that what

Happened bro I woke up so I woke up to go to work my brother s laugh I didn’t mean to laugh no no no it’s it’s gonna be funny because it has a funny ending um just real quickly and we’ll get into everything else I woke up this morning

Went out to go see you know drive to work my wife had left for her job usually she’s been driving me because I I’m getting a new car soon I don’t have one yet my brother gave me his car I go out there car is not there long story

Short I call the police police show up and they tell me yeah you know we found the car it’s down the street at the dude’s house so the dude like whoever stole it like showed up stole the stole the car didn’t strip nothing off it didn’t get nothing off it and and took

It like like maybe a four minute walk away like possibly the worst robbery attempt I’ve like I’ve ever I’ve ever I’ve ever witnessed they were like you can just walk here if you want and take it back I was like sure I I’ll come get it did they ever did they

Find the guy no they didn’t they it was in front of his apartment complex or wherever they they took some DNA or fingerprints so they’ll they said they’ll try to look for them but I mean I was like well why are you taking a car and then driving it like three minutes

Away like what’s the point yeah that’s nuts that’s lowkey got to be a great feeling though like thinking your whole is about to be ruined you have to you just lost a car and then no it’s just down the street oh yeah it definitely it

Was going to be a rough day if that didn’t happen I’ll tell you that much but well I’m glad you got it appreciate you um and if the person who stole it happens to listen to this you’re you’re an idiot but anyways all right so there’s there’s so

Many ways we can go with this and there’s so many like different directions I want to ask you about on the podcast me and you have talked about this on Twitter we’ve talked about it uh privately we’ve talked about at Piston games um but there so there’s like so

Many ways I want to go with it but the first the first rout I want to go is this and we’ll try to get to all of them before you know we get to two hours long on the podcast um first FR I want to go

Is this I know that you’re a big Isaiah Stewart guy I get it I understand well well go ahead go ahead let’s I feel like this what’s get lost in the sauce the way people talk about him makes me sound like I think he’s like an all NBA player

Like there’s people as you see on the app that think he like shouldn’t be in the NBA which is like absurd to me right like every good team in the league wants him like there’s a reason and he impacts the team the issue with st and I think

It’s primarily with young fans is how how he looks like the aesthetic of how he plays I think that’s it like I think people just like oh he doesn’t jump high or run fast he’s a little stiff like he stinks like it’s ridiculous that so it

Makes me sound like I think he’s like a future all NBA player that’s not it I just think he’s like a good NBA player he’s going to be good he’s fine Cade’s age all right fair enough fair enough fair enough but this is the rout I

Wanted to go with it so they’ve decided to start Isaiah Stewart after starting the Cade Ivy Simone assar Duran Group which had played tremendous together uh it was their best line it is currently still their best lineup of any lap that’s played over a 100 minutes together still their best line I believe

It has a plus 3.8 net rating right now I never I never felt like in the moment that that group played like tremendous did they play I thought they played like good tremendous was a little strong to me fair enough tremendous compared to the rest of the hund 100 that’s fair

That’s fair the rest of the lives that’s played 100 minutes so that’s fair yeah so this is this is this is my this is how I look at it I’ll let you go I said this in the podcast this is how I go about things does it pass the process

Test like does it make sense does it have does the logic behind it Mak sense and then you can see if the the results actually play out like there for example there’s some things that have bad process and have good results that you probably shouldn’t do again just because

They had good results one time not sustainable if it has good process and it has maybe a bad result sometimes or a bad result the first time you can at least say okay it had a bad result the first time but logically it makes sense you can see that you know that that’s

How I look at things so with the the first starting lap that I mentioned I look at it process process-wise and logically it’s okay you have two non-shooters you’re using assar and screen and roll game more you have a movement shooter and Simone and you’re

Really relying on Ivy and K to space the floor and gives them tries to give him more driving lanes that what makes sense to me and they actually they were pretty good defensively as well I believe they were hovering around a top 10 defense with that lineup on the floor with this

Starting lap the Pistons currently have it doesn’t pass the process test to me because you basically got three guys on the floor that while Isaiah threw it does shoot well defense I believe Monte even SP spoke about this like yesterday I think that teams are leaving him open

Still they’ll rather him take a three than someone else or give up a cade or Ivy Drive so it doesn’t make much sense process-wise to me and then if you go like numbers wise on the season the three guys and Isaiah Stewart Jaylen durar Thompson they’ve played 313

Minutes together that Trio is a minus 8.71 on the floor the fiveman unit of Isaiah Stewart Ivy durren assar Thompson Kate is a 8.43 net rating on the floor so with that said my question I know this is a long way of me getting here and if you

Want you can give your opinion obviously on the star lamp as well the long-winded question I’m trying to get to is does Monty Williams look at lineup data do you do you guys know if because I know in the offseason it was something that Pistons fan he said a

Comment obiously I don’t remember what the exact comment was but I had a lot of people feeling like oh God he’s not really into analytics blah blah so I guess that’s my question do you has he spoken about analytics at all do you hear anything about that is it something

They look at or what’s the deal there and obviously like I said you can give your opinion on on the lineups as well like I know he gets analytic um like he gets stuff sent to him every day I don’t know specifically if it’s lineup based um I feel like I’ve heard him

Mention like certain lineups have been well analytically but don’t hold me to that um I I mean yeah listen like there’s analytically like there are better things that they can do for sure my question to you is what is the do you have the lineups in in front of

You or I do yes do you have the ones that um do you just have ones that go against that that say St stinks or do you have multiple okay that’s that’s my fault actually you know you’re right that’s my fault because the lineups with stew on

The floor and assar off are good as well like if you if you take assar off and put Simone on there it’s good line that’s what I was goingon to ask you what is the stew what is the stew s stew at the five with Simone look like I can

Look that up right now for you at the four because then I want to ask you why aren’t people saying the same thing about because I I know they’re good I just don’t know how many minutes they played because then my question is why are people not asking the same questions about

Duran so the minutes with so actually you talking about stew or no you said stew at the five my fault Ste at the five with Simone which I think are very limited minutes but I think they’re like very good minutes like something I’d want to see

More of to be honest with you so I can get that up for you right now but I think to answer your the question real quick while we I get this data up here the answer to the question I think is I don’t think people to be honest I don’t

Think people are really thinking about getting rid of durren I think a lot of people are looking at it as either Stuart or SAR and the process there goes s’s higher on the priority list he’s a core four member he then takes priority over that so therefore if a lineup’s

Working with him you take that priority over I get that yeah yeah I’m not arguing that I get that right so to me and I know the numbers don’t back it up but I it’s kind of like an itest thing in certain situations when they start games I think

They’ve been pretty good defensively I think they do like maybe their second stint in the first half doesn’t go as well so it kind of deludes the numbers uh they can’t finish so that stuff happens but I do think they start halves well with that group defensively and if

That’s like what you want to do and you’re trying to build an identity like I’m not mad at it like listen at the end of the day season is is done right but I also think that there’s this misnomer that like Kade has been struggling with those guys starting like

We’ve just both said that Kate has been ridiculously good he’s still finding ways to score um him adding the three ball has significantly helped uh negate any spacing right so I think a lot of people and I know I know a lot of your um uh what’s the word a lot of your

Concern is rooted in doing what’s best for Kade right like it it like it is what it is um but also I think we’re just simply ignoring that Kate’s been really good playing with those guys right like um he’s been fine like are there could it

Be easier on him sure like of course it can be uh but we’re not talking about a guy that is absolutely like struggling with this lineup in there he’s really freaking good and it’s because he’s gotten better the three Ball’s falling like that’s massive for him

So I don’t I understand the logic of um Simone starting over Cade or starting or I’m sorry Simone starting over assar or Stu I’m not I’m not arguing the logic of it um but I also think that it’s important to note that the team team rebounds better when both of those two

Are on the floor um I still think Stu is 1B best defender on the team and we talk a lot about open shots okay yeah he shoots a lot of open threes Cleveland game he a lot of contested threes but you know who else shoots a lot of open

Threes Ivy and thear like it’s not just I think my issue with is like everybody’s just like piling on Stu when he’s the one that’s hitting the when he’s open he’s the one hitting the threes other guys not hitting the threes when they’re open right like I just

Think it’s kind of just disingenuous because I think and it goes back to what I said earlier the aesthetic of how he plays just thinks make people think he stinks I think that’s a huge part of it um but I’m not arguing that whether he should start that’s that’s I understand

I understand that logic and I get it I also think they’ll probably address that in the offseason at some point but for those who don’t think Stu’s like a good NBA player or a valuably valuable NBA player I just I have a tough time kind of talking basketball with you to be

Honest because there’s more than just points and um how it looks right and I think that’s sorry to I know I’m going on this but like I think that’s probably why Jaden deserves praise and optimism right but I think you would maybe agree that the Jaden Ivy Hive exists because

Of the Aesthetics of how he plays correct yes so it’s the opposite for St so it’s that’s just kind of what I’m saying I just think it’s a little anybody who just dismisses him as an NBA player is absurd it’s absurd to me and that’s a lot of where my um I guess

Confrontation on the St subject comes from it’s it’s not saying he’s going to be a future Ro NBA player I think he should for sure starts like if you don’t think he like is a valuable NBA player I think you’re like it’s it’s hard to have a basketball conversation with you all

Right so my first of all I agree he’s not a bad basketball player I don’t think he’s as good as some people think is but he for 100% is not a bad basketball player he’s a good player yeah this is the the thing that makes it like even more confusing for me going

Back taking it looping it all the way back to Monty Williams is that Monty he even said this after one of the games I was there I was I was I was in the post game like last week with you where he you I think it was I forget who the girl

Was that asked the question I I want to give Natalie kwin there you go um she asked her about asked him about staggering guys whatever and he basically came out out of his own words and that’s the big thing I say on the podcast like it’s not cuah Hill saying

This it’s not Pistons fans saying this are making this like these are things that are coming out of Monty’s mouth himself we’re just holding him to his words he says himself after the game I probably gota get Stewie out of there earlier and get Tech in there to get

Some more spacing out there and we want Ste with the anchor as the with the backup unit when you say those things and then you have lineup data that says oh the starting Lup with tech works really well it’s just like okay instead of like apparent if like the rotation is

So hard for you like to do why why why is it like The Simple Solution would just be okay does make Stu the backup five then and does start Tech then and now you have like it’s like that’s the easy solution Stu would be great as the

Backup five well I think that’s where the main concern or main issue with Stu is that’s it’s not really him individually it’s how they’re deploying him like they it’s it’s kind of like the same thing too much go go ahead go ahead no no I was going to say I think that’s

The the conversation for people that like are um speaking like that are having real basketball conversations but I see a lot on the stuff that just says like he stinks like so you know what I mean like I do I can have the conversation with you about tech starting over him

Like I like I’m don’t disagree I understand where that comes from so that’s kind of the difference to me I don’t know why Monty does that and I don’t even have an issue either if you like start the game with the five that he’s been starting with and then you

Bring Tech in at the four minutes in and then like do a rotation I think most people would be fine with that right like as long as there’s an extended stretch with with tech with the starters um yeah it’s I mean it’s interesting I wish I could

Explain to you why he often says things and then they don’t happen or um he changes his mind or whatever the case may be um that only he can answer that um I’m not going to ask him in a like why are you lying like that’s not very professional like you just hold

Him to his word and you write about it and when it doesn’t happen you write about him saying he was going to do it and didn’t happen or when it works write about how it should have happened sooner right like I couldn’t I can’t tell you

Why I think only he can tell you that um but it’s definitely yeah you’re not it’s it’s definitely more than just the other day like that’s it’s laughing I’m not trying to like be funny like it just like he said he has said things and um they just haven’t happened so

Yeah it’s uh that I think it’s only he can answer it’s just it’s so funny to me and then we’re gonna go to ad because I want to cut this off around like 35 36 minutes I want to get enough time to talk about what we want to talk about next so we’ll

Go as what is this so funny to me because I’ve recorded all year and the the most confusing part of the Piston season hasn’t just been like the losing that no I agree it’s not it’s not the losing it’s not like all that I I said

Like time I don’t know if I’ve ever witnessed and I like again this is not me making this up like I’ve said this is like coming out of his mouth I’ve never witnessed a coach come out repeatedly and say something that he has to do it he acknowledges like one of the

Faults and like all that and then completely does the opposite routine routinely does the opposite over and over and then when you get asked about it after the like the other night I told you already like the other night when I was I was like I was like I don’t know like what’s

Going on here like I don’t get it it just doesn’t make sense but yeah I mean it’s a I I agree it’s it’s of of many confusing things the season that is near the top of the list it is it’s hard to kind of gauge one it keeps you on your toes like

You don’t know what to expect night tonight which is kind of fun in a losing season right like at least covering like being there every day like I do kind of like like what’s going to happen tonight um but certainly like it is a it’s a thing like yeah you’re I think

You’re spot on it’s very it’s it’s it’s different than I’ve experienced I’ve covered um two coaches prior to money in my seven years and uh it’s it’s definitely different for sure all right so we’re gonna get to ads and then we’re gonna we’re gonna try to cut this off

Around 37 minutes that’s where I’m trying to get to um so we’re gonna cut this off and then we’ll get into the next talk that I want to get into um but we’ll talk about all that when we come back when you’re hiring for small business you want to find quality

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Screw the intro into the third segment we’re just gonna get right into it wait wait before you before you uh before you get going I love how you just I asked you to find a statistic on something and you just oh oh my fault my fault I have

It right here I swear to God I have it right here I my fault so they played Isaiah Ste and Fon have played 27 minutes together without Duren there now that is a small sample size but they are like there are plus 20.3 so in those small minutes they do saying nobody

Nobody tweets all day about wanting to see more of that that’s all all I’m saying like there is a small Hive you look there is a small Hive of people that I’ve come into contact to that do say well why are you benching a s St you

Should just bench Duren and just start stew at the five that that that is that has started to happen as of late I won’t lie what are your thoughts on that aside all right no no no take the future aside you want the Pistons to win as many

Games possible from here until the end what are your thoughts on that my thoughts on that is that I can see the logic so I’d be like I If that if the actual point was we’re gonna try to win as many games as possible the

Rest of the year I could at least come on here and say I see what you’re trying to do I get it and we’ll see how it goes I my my reservation would be not having a lob threat for Cade that would be my reservation outside of that def yes the

Defense would like get infinitely better I think yeah so that’s just my only point right like there are samples out there again I like you said it is a small sample size but there are samples out there that suggest that there are lineups that potentially could be better

Than the one you tossed out there uh that involves Stu and that’s all it is it’s like people just act like the guy’s trash and it’s just like it’s makes like I think he’s a Hall of Fame player and I don’t I just think he’s a solid NBA player

I think the core issue if you to be if you just want to boil it down it really it comes down to Ste because like I said earlier with the priority of AAR over and Duran over him whatever which is something I wanted to ask you about but

I think that removing that the biggest issue is this that Trio together like to be honest I said in the podcast like three days ago like at this point I don’t care which two you pick you could pick stew and thear you could pick stew dur whatever two you pick go ahead but

Those three together we have over 300 minutes of them not being good together it just doesn’t mate it doesn’t make sense this the trio can’t keep happening I don’t think that like that’s the biggest issue whatever two you could honestly make a good lineup out any of

Them to be honest no I think that’s I think that’s totally fair I just my thing is like more people aren’t saying that they’re just they’re just picking on one guy which is like odd to me but it’s all right I get it all right so we

Don’t want to go too long here so I’m gon ask you these questions I guess try to answer them as fast as you can with as much insight as you can but I don’t want to keep you here forever so let’s try I’m going to try to get through all

These question kind of you yes you’re welcome you’re welcome um okay so first question is I guess you kind of answered it it has Monty I mean you did answer but I’ll ask it again so you can just relay it how confusing of a season has has been from Monty Williams and the

Staff like themselves like the players have been dis some of the players have been disappointing obviously the front office but just the coaching staff itself has it been as as confusing and I won’t sugar cat as much of a failure to me to Pistons fans as it seemed like

That as much to you as well yeah I mean yeah they have 10 wins and I think they’d have more if some there were different coaching decisions personally like I don’t get I know this is a this is forbidden on this podcast but like I don’t understand why Killian Hayes was

Playing more minutes than Jaden uh for a good chunk of the first half of the Season or Sasser at that point um yeah obviously it’s taken like he’ll stagger he has staggered Kate Ivy like here and there like once every few weeks it feels like like I don’t understand why that

Hasn’t happened sooner I mean he kind of said it last night that he’s been worried about playing Kade huge minutes but kade’s been fine um and at some point he’s gonna have to play Big minutes regularly and I think he’s been handling it well like obviously he’s he

He only missed like a week and a half with the knee or two whatever it was and he’s playing the best basketball he’s maybe ever pulled played right here over these last couple like two months so yeah I mean I just think like I to me

It’s there were guys in the rotation for a long period of the season um that as we’ve learned may not be NBA players right and um again some of that is on the front office with who is available but he Al there are also ways to not play Killian Hayes and play

Jade Ivy more there’s after a while when livers was struggling there was ways to get around that um ways to get around wisan who I should say like played really well last night um yeah I just I think there’s yeah and then factoring like him sounding like he

Was going to make certain changes and then it didn’t happen yeah I mean it’s definitely been um I think confusing is the right word yeah I think that’s a good way to to put it all right the next question I ask is is it wrong for anyone

To be asking for him to be losing his job after this season no the team has 10 wins even even first year into the long contract you don’t think people are being too hasty or too quick you think it’s fair for people to be saying yeah

This has been pretty bad you might need to move on I think that is fair to say yes okay next one next question we’ll leave Monty Williams alone now because now it feels like I’m piling on whatever no whatever you want to ask I’ll answer

It yeah I think it’s I think it’s fair to say all right um the next question I have is this um this is and on the side if you’re watching this on YouTube you see future outlook this is why I really wanted to ask you in the final segment

If this takes you a while and and we’ll leave this as last segment or question that’s fine um I talked about this there was a piston space yesterday I joined and I was telling them this um because I don’t feel like a lot of people really talked about it I’ve been thinking about

It I haven’t talked about it yet because it involves the offseason we’re still in season I don’t want to run out of content you feel me so I haven’t really BR I haven’t really broached it yet but I’ll ask you so the Pistons have a lot of cap space

This offseason right and Tom gors has said changes have to come Troy Weaver said changes have to come like all this stuff like we’ve heard that and maybe Troy isn’t here to make this decision but it we’ll see if you look at the current roster so

They got a lot of cap space they’re gonna have like a top three pick hopefully like that’s the Hope um and you have let’s a very uh confident thing for you to say for a team that always falls to five but all right yeah wish existence top so top five pick let’s

Leave it there top five pick could be six now no don’t don’t don’t speak that out loud all right go but uh if you count down you got Cade that’s one so you got Ivy that’s two assar Duren Stu Sasser Tech and Grimes those are eight

Players that you can correct me if I’m wrong you can assume are probably gonna be on the team next year like those guy those are guys they want to bring back they’d like to resign Tech theyd like they have intention assuming everybody um in charge is still in charge yes I

Would those yeah okay so and again we could get into like Troy but that would take like another 30 minutes but let’s just assume that Weaver is back um those eight guys return those are the eight guys you want to bring back you have all that cap space plus a top five

Pick unless the front office is going to be okaying Monty to run a 13-man rotation again you really only have two spots left and you wrote about having like a ninan rotation or eight man rotation like eight man yeah so like really you could just have a rotation

With those those guys but you could extend it to 10 so that’s two guys and I want to say I don’t mind 10 if you got 10 players to use right I don’t mind I don’t mind all benches if it works we just had a lot of evidence that it

Doesn’t work with this specific team well that’s another thing we could go into but anyways so you got those eight guys you got all this cap space you got a future pick coming in too how is it really possible for the Pistons is this not is this something that you thought

About how is it possible for the Pistons to really make big changes to this team with only real two spots really in the rotation available with one of them probably being your top five pick and you got all that cast space so how how are they going to improve this team

Basically it sounds like there’s a likelihood that I don’t want to say run they’re running it back but like it seems like there’s a large chance that they’re running her back unless they make some moves involving some key players so what’s your thought on everything I said right there and then

We can wrap it up I know I went too long and I’m want to let you out all right let’s start here how many players of the eight you named are Untouchable to you two I’d be curious to hear which two Kaden assar okay so there’s that if somebody of

Great significance becomes available like I think that’s on the table and wait wait let me confirm this you’re saying think on the table is that confirming it or are you asking me what you want me to repeat what I said no yeah what you think you think like you’re saying I

Wouldn’t be surprised if the Pistons at some point traded one of their core four or five pieces I wouldn’t be surprised you think Weaver would do this I think if the team needs to be better next year I think weaver or whoever is in charge next summer doeses it see I think

Someone else could but I feel like go ahead go ahead I don’t want to cut you off but I go ahead go I think I wouldn’t put it I think Troy is at a point where he would do it if the trade was right um so there’s that I

Think one thing people when they hear cap space I know people who have listened to me or read me like are tired of me hearing it like you can make trades and I think people forget that me and John Hollander did a piece on it a

Few weeks ago the CBA is changing teams have to are going to have to get rid of some really good contracts to to avoid the tax and the Pistons are right in the situation where they can take on that money without having to give up anything

Other than like a a pick or because you got to give up something like a second or a player they don’t want anymore whatever so there’s that out Outlet there’s free agency um like I know everybody’s kind of like I mean we could talk about Tobias Harris because that’s

The name that’s been out there I think everybody’s assuming that like if we sign or if like if they sign if if we were running a team right that’s what I was going to say if we were running a team and somebody said what if we can get

Tobias for two years but we pay high on those two years would you do it how how high we speaking 35 million two years 7 million probably do that like I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a deal like that let let Tobias get his money nice maybe final match mive Payday

On a small deal he’ll still be young when that not young but he won’t like he’ll be like 33 34 he’ll have another contract in him um like I wouldn’t be surprised if they go that route right I think a lot of people would be would be

That would be palpable for a lot of people um yeah like I think I don’t I wouldn’t put put it past them to make a a trade I I just wouldn’t um yeah and I think they round out the roster with proven role players all right well that’s that’s basically

All I wanted to get you to say that but I also wanna I also want to say this right um and we’ve talked about it this whole thing doesn’t work if one of if not two of the guys that you drafted pops and like that’s who’s goingon to like I

Think fans think like for them to turn the corner somebody has to come in and be the best player no you want Kade to be the best player you want assar to be the second best player you want Ivy or Duren that’s what makes this work that’s

Why you rebuild um and for all intents purposes Kate is looking to be like that so now you you no longer play around and you fill in the gaps around him like that’s that’s that’s is how this was always going to have to work like one of

Those guys were going to have to pop you don’t you didn’t like yeah if you can bring in kawh Leonard of course you do that but like realistically you look at Oklahoma City you want Kade to be Shay you want him to be the guy and then you piece around

Around that like that’s what this is about you don’t you don’t need to bring in somebody who’s more proven than him or more on a higher star status than him to to make this work if you believe in him and I think most of us now I think

There are no questions regarding Kade and what he can be so I think that’s a big thing um one thing I want to ask you I’m curious because you were a proponent of them spending money this summer now now seeing that the Rockets are going to be fishing with the Pistons

At the same time even do you how do you feel about like do you think that maybe they I know the process of watching the Rockets was probably a little bit better for Rockets fans and pistons fans this year but at the end of the day they’re

Going to end up both at home come April 10th so if you would have known that at the beginning there we go here’s a question if you would have known last summer that the Rockets were going to spend as much money than they did and the Pistons wouldn’t spend money but

Both teams wouldn’t make the playoffs which one would you have signed up for you don’t better not lie so look this is the thing it’s like it’s it’s not a simple yes or no answer though it’s tough right but that’s where your basketball fan comes into play because

You want to be able to like root for your team more you want to win more than once you want me tell you what it is you want me to tell you what it is I’ll tell you what it is you kind of hit on it

Earlier man I want Kade to thrive I think Kade could be amazing so my issue was I think think if the team would have gotten better players around him you said you don’t Kate has been amazing yeah but but I think he would be even better if he had okay better pieces

Around him no matter what though I’ll say this that’s fair what you brought up that’s completely Fair because they did not end up at the beginning of the year it looked like it was going like upward they looked really good and then they came back down to earth yeah but I I’ll

Say this that may be fair I’ll you won’t ever get me to excuse 10 wins it just won’t happen no I’m with you I I understand I I get you on that but at the end of the day the Rockets spent all that money trying to make the playoffs

And they didn’t okay how about this I’ll ask you actually you know what we’re running we’re running too long ask it ask it you got you come on real quick I’ll make it I’ll answer quick okay I’ll ask you this if do you think fans would

Have been more re receptive to this if two months prior Troy Weaver did pend letter saying things will change we will be better I promise and then in the offseason said we expect to be a good team we are dress shooting we expect to be this and then they end up having the

Worst season of all like I think that allowed people to pile on to the Bad season I still think people would have been pissed if there was a bad season now it just gives them something to throw back in the team’s face uh so it adds insult to injury

Right like you everybody can make their jokes they can pull up the they can Photoshop that letter and and do jokes with it like that makes it worse right people you know Pistons fans they still would have been pissed if he never said that they still won 10 games um and I’m

Not excusing 10 games and I’ll leave on this the Rockets did probably what they could have done yeah they’re going to have they would have had less wins but shenon would have probably exploded under the scene like this without spending all that money um but also in

The same vein K didn’t make the All-Star but I think Pistons fans walk away from this season nobody I don’t think anybody really has questions and if they do it’s probably like can he stay healthy for extent right like that’s probably it so to me it’s like

In hindsight we like to talk about things but we should also mention in hindsight that the Rockets could just be like stuck like this now for a little bit if green doesn’t pop or Javari Smith really doesn’t pop they can’t move off Van Ved or Brooks like it could be like

I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re just like barely 500 for the next three years that’s fair that’s that’s I think the main thing that you said is that you were right you’re right in this the main question of the year was is Kate him and I think that he whether however the

Process was that you got there I think for majority of people you’ve gotten that answer basically agre so I think that that’s basically what if anything saves the season I guess that would be that that basically is what makes it worth it so and at the end of the day

That’s the most important thing given where the organization was right fair enough fair enough 10 wins is still crazy though got people got to go 10 wins is nuts people got to go you can always be a Wizards fan it’s always you Pistons fans think they have it bad it’s because nobody

Thinks about the Wizards like people forget about the Wizards and then I mean it was pretty bad there for a like I don’t I don’t think anyone thought they’d catch the Wizards for a minute they’re like that’s true I mean yeah but that goes to show you how bad the

Wizards are they’re the worst team in basketball and have been for a while even though they had a better record than the Pistons uh they’ve been the worst team in basketball for that’s like the Pistons are bad because they do young immature things like the turnovers and stuff like that right like they

Shoot themselves in the foot the Wizards are bad because they just like play Bad basketball like there’s like no attempt at trying to play the right way more often than not I was going to say Monte Williams joke when you said young and all that stuff but I’ll leave that I’ll

Leave that in the back I’ll leave it in the back pocket we’ll leave that alone day I appreciate you James coming on man I’m sure everyone would love this one we ran a little bit longer even still but it’s it’s tough man but um appreciate you coming on man uh

Appreciate you guys making lock down Pistons your first list of every single day hit that subscribe button the was a festar review whatever podcast platform you’re listening to this on till next time I’ll see you guys later stay safe out there till next time peace out

James Edwards III of The Athletic joins to discuss the confusing season from Monty Williams and some of the decisions being made by the coaching staff. Also, Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey played a great game in their win over the Brooklyn Nets; is this the blueprint for success?

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