Give Trajan Langdon a Chance, Detroit Pistons Free Agency Preview | POP Podcast

Give Trajan Langdon a Chance, Detroit Pistons Free Agency Preview | POP Podcast

on today’s solo bonus edition of the Palace of Pistons podcast I’m talking a little bit more about the Quinton Grimes trade and why everyone needs to kind of settle down with traan langden also previewing free agency for the Detroit Pistons who’s coming to Detroit Tobias Harris D’Angelo Russell plenty more names to talk about we’ll get into all of that and more right now good evening everybody and welcome to another exciting night of NBA basketball the Pistons are digging in they got the St they got the big man they got the better basketball team no doubt about it P need a three and they have just another 3 seconds to do it here’s johy Phillip here it is he’s got it he’s got it johy Phillip hits the three over time amazing out about Detroit [Music] basketball all right trying out something new here on the Palace of piston podcast a solo podcast as a bonus podcast if you didn’t get a chance to check out our last podcast the support on it has been absolutely incredible the uh number of people that have already checked it out within hours of it being released truly is mindboggling so appreciate everyone watching listening the show supporting the show if you haven’t had a chance to check it out talked a lot about the NBA draft Ron Holland and Boby clitman also hit on the Tim Hardway Jr Quenton Grimes trade going to talk a little bit more about that one here on this show as well but before we get into it I do want to give a shout out to our sponsor bet online bet online is your number one source for all your sports betting needs this season from baseball golf soccer right to all the top fights in the UFC MMA and boxing every stat every matchup and even live odds and spreads while the games are being played when the game’s over head on over to our online casino and get in on a game of blackjack or poker or unwind with one of our over 150 slots games head to the website today to get in on the action use promo code believe bav for your 50% Free Bet credit on your first deposit up to $250 again the promo code B bav for your 50% Free Bet credit on your first deposit of the $250 bet online the game starts here okay so before I get into the Piston stuff the news that the Atlanta Hawks in New Orleans Pelicans were making a trade just dropped literally moments before I hit the record button uh for this show so I wanted to just give some very quick thoughts on it right the the Pelicans they get dejonte Murray from Atlanta and the Hawks get dys and Daniel Daniels Larry Nance the Lakers 2025 first-rounder and a 2027 first first round pick so two firsts Larry Nance is probably going to get traded again or or bought out and then a flyer on a young guard Prospect in Dyson Daniels is the Coupe for deante Murray I can’t say that I’m a little surprised because I’m not I think the general consensus was that Murray was you know the goal was to get the four first round picks back that uh Atlanta gave up to get him from San Antonio originally that’s just was never going to be the case which is why you know months ago when we talked about oh I think Detroit might have you know at least a chance at it I think if you look now and if the Pistons were truly motivated to get a deal done he might have been able to sneak their way into those talks but it doesn’t seem like that’s the direction that tran langon and the Pistons are going right now looks like they are in a different mindset and I think that that’s completely fine but real quick I like that trade for the Pelicans I don’t think two first round picks is all that much to give up that Lakers first you know they’re going to be a a playoff team so you’re talking about a pick uh you know very late teens maybe even in the 20s I’m fine with giving that up if you’re a team like New Orleans who feels like you have a chance to really compete and they do have a lot of talent there right obviously Zion Williamson who was playing incredible basketball last season before getting hurt in the playin they still have CJ McCollum they have Trey Murphy they have herb Jones I’m not sure what they’re going to do with Brandon Ingram he might be traded he might get them something else that they need it’s not like they’re just going to give him away for nothing and they might just end up keeping him to keep uh you know that Talent there and give them a little bit more of uh you know star power quote unquote uh as they look to seriously be trying to make a deep deep push I like this for them you have a star franchise player in Zion you have a couple other significant pieces double down you know I I really don’t see the downside for them in this movement for Atlanta right recouping some of the assets I’m not sure what they’re going to do with Trey young you take a flyer on Dyson Daniel see if he can potentially break out there uh in Atlanta with a much bigger role but you also get two first round picks from it that you you you’re going to be able to use in some way shape or form the 2025 uh first round draft pick valuable for a draft class that’s talked about to be a very very talented draft class not going to go too in depth on that trade just wanted to share my thoughts since the news literally just broke uh right as I was getting ready to record this want to get into what I think is a really interesting topic and that’s Tran langon took over oh just you know a few weeks ago as the Pistons president of basketball operations you I think he’s been there now just coming up on a month as the team’s new executive and I’m gonna be honest with you I’m a little bothered by how everyone is reacting to his first moves as the Detroit Pistons president of basketball operations firstly he decides to draft Ron Holland with the fifth pick not a guy that myself personally was targeting for Detroit but let’s face it you got to give this guy a chance and this is the first real point that I want to make and I think you know fans tend to forget this fans grow attached to the guys wearing their team’s uniform the front office doesn’t have that attention Tran langon didn’t draft Jaden Ivy didn’t draft Jaylen durren uh he didn’t trade for Quinton gind so there is no attachment there he is trying to build the roster the way he sees fit he’s trying to build a team the way he sees fit here in Detroit and this is a team that 114 games last year let’s not act like this was a team on the rise that made considerable strides and just kind of hit a wall and needed to shake things up and bring in a new voice this was the worst team in the league and was a bottom three team in the league for the past four years uh they had to make some serious changes right and at least trejan langon has been very very honest with his plan for Detroit he’s not hitting uh the what he feels is going to be necessary to build the team the way that he wants to he’s been honest in saying that he feels it’s going to take time and that he wants to to build through Wings langon has told us that the plan is to acquire salary from other teams and have that salary attached with assets that the Pistons can then use I don’t think he has done anything that is uh you know super crazy or or he should be getting bashed for in these first few moves that he’s made as the team’s president of basball operation and let’s face it the guy here before him was the complete opposite Troy Weaver never had a plan yes he’d come in at every media day before the season began and say hey the goals to compete this year the goals to be better than we were last year and that’s great that’s great in a vacuum but what did Troy Weaver ever do to make that possible the only thing that we know Troy Weaver wanted to do was to be tall and why did he want to be tall because the Cals were tall and the Bucks were tall and they’re division Rivals so you have to match them because I guess the games against your divisional opponents uh count for two times the amount that a normal game would Troy Weaver never put a roster around Kade conningham capable of not winning not making the playoffs not making the play in but just competing just having a chance to compete he failed to do that time and time again and Troy Weaver was given a ton of leeway even this off season even before he had been fired people wanted him back for another round in Detroit they wanted to give him time to execute his plan they wanted to give him a fifth year as the team’s general manager absolute Insanity meanwhile trean langon has made two draft picks and has made two trades and he’s getting murdered for it online let’s talk about the Quinton Grimes trade for a moment look to be honest with you Quinton Grimes didn’t really want to be Detroit was not super super thrilled in Detroit he also only played six games after being dealt to the Pistons wasn’t healthy all year last year why does he get a pass from the Pistons online community when we talk about all these other players being injury-prone and that being a problem the Pistons seem to get guys that are going to show up and play why does Grimes get a pass he was hurt in New York he was hurt in Detroit played six games for for the Piston shot 21% from the field 14% from the three-point line oh he’s a Surefire 3 and D guy fits seamlessly with Kade well he didn’t do that when he was here wasn’t doing that in New York that’s why he got traded let’s face it you know the Knicks were a really good team if they thought he was a helpful player they would have kept him right that wasn’t the case so I don’t know why we’re overvaluing Grimes um I saw a tweet earlier I don’t remember who it’s from and you know it’s not like I you know I’m looking down on this person or anything like that because I’m not I don’t like taking you know singular tweets or singular opinions from a person and just you know say you know saying that their their opinion isn’t valuable or whatever but this one irked me because the Tweet essentially said Quinton Grimes was a season removed from being a top 15 starting shooting guard in the league uh so not last season but the year before that Grimes averaged 11.3 points and shot 38.6% from the three-point line did start most of the games that he played in with the Knicks but to say he’s a top 15 shooting guard starting shooting guard uh you know two seasons ago it’s blasphemy it’s revisionist history and to be quite Frank it never was and never will be true so we’re doing a lot there to uh defend this guy and it’s not even defend but go to B for this guy when quite frankly there’s just no need to and and I don’t want to necessarily repeat what I said on on yesterday’s show but I I will mention it here the Pistons have a lot of guys that need developmental attention and specifically they have a lot of guys that are two three fours wings guards that need developmental attention and need developmental minutes and Quinton Grimes would have fallen in that category you have Ron Holland you have jayen Ivy you have assar son three major major major pieces that need developmental minutes that need developmental training at at this those spots the the spots that Quint Grimes would play the two three you also need to have some veterans on the court that play those positions someone like a Simone fio who we’ll talk about later someone potentially like Tobias Harris we’ll talk about later where were all the minutes going to be for Quinton Grimes I’m not saying he wouldn’t have been in the rotation I think he should have been I had him penil into to be in the rotation but let’s not act like this was a 30 minute a game guy that the plan was for him to be a top five top six rotation player for Detroit that wasn’t the case not not not that we had seen certainly not that we seen and obviously wasn’t in the plans for langon so for langon to go out and execute on his plan and to get a guy in Tim Hardway Jr who gives Detroit floor spacing one of the first things langon said he was going to address for this team was floor spacing was three-point shooting uh is a contract that the Pistons had the cap space and the cap flexibility to absorb as part of lon’s plan oh and the Pistons got three second round picks in the deal one of them being Toronto’s second round pick next season and although Toronto spent about $250 million on their new core of Scotty Barnes AR bar an Emanuel quickly they’re not going to be a good team next year they’re going to be a bottom 10 team in the league that pick is going to be valuable it’ll be called it’ll be labeled a pseudo first round pick it will have value whether Detroit decides to use it or they do something else that langon can do he could be compiling all these picks to trade them for an actual first round pick or to trade them for a player of real value so why not give langon the same respect and the same patience that fans gave Troy Weaver for four years here I don’t get it I’ll say this again I also said it yesterday I understand being anxious and wanting to win I understand that desire after essentially sitting here for four years with nothing to show for it but that’s not tran langan’s problem right now that’s Troy Weaver’s fault lon’s trying to write the ship and he’s kind of made it clear that he’s not planning on skipping any steps in order to do so he’s been very open in saying he can’t guarantee that this team’s back in the playoffs right away they’re going to take time to fix this and so I think everyone needs to be a little bit more graceful in how they approach this offseason for Detroit because this isn’t Troy Weaver anymore and this dream of going out and getting two big-time impact players Allstar level guys to put around Kate Cunningham it’s just not realistic anymore it’s really not it’s not what Langan said the plan is and he proved that by taking a little bit more of a project in the draft in Holland so let’s just give langon a little bit of time before we start crucifying him for trading the eighth or ninth man on a 14- win ball Club all right let’s talk about free agency here uh this is the last thing that I really wanted to get into but there’s a lot to cover right free agency starts on Sunday Pistons are after the Tim Hardaway Jr trade projected to still have over $51 million in cap space second most in the league behind the Philadelphia 76ers first things first for Detroit order of operations here they need to be getting extensions done for Kade Cunningham and Simone from teaco those that’s the first thing that I would be doing if I were the Pistons not that they technically need to sign them first but you need to have them agreed upon because you need to know that langon believes Kade Cunningham is the franchise guy and you need to hand him that rookie scale Max extension fio you know I I I talked to some people lately and they’re wondering is fento going to be back new regime new office is fonio as much a part of their plans as he was under Troy Weaver well I can’t say that for certain I will say it would be really bad Asset Management to let funio walk for nothing he’s 28 years old clearly fits a need on the team with his ability to play the forward spot shoot space the floor and defend and he’s going to be at a rather friendly price he’s not going to need $25 million I don’t think he’ll need even $20 million a year I think you’re looking at 12 to 15 million a year and to get a guy that can get you 15 points a game and shoot 38 39% from the three-point line and can defend a couple positions and is well liked by your franchise player Kate Cunningham that makes all the sense in the world you have a lot of young guards you have a lot of young Wings you have a lot of Youth on the team you need to have some veterans which is weird to say for fono because he’s only going into his third year in the NBA but he’s 28 years old and he has overseas experience he’s not he’s not a rookie he’s not a young guy he he’s been around even if he hasn’t been around in the NBA for super super long so that needs to be the first priority for Detroit the other thing we’re going to have to understand here in free agency and it’s been proven today on Friday with the Mavericks and pistons trade is that the Pistons aren’t going to do everything through free agency they’re likely going to be involved in it in more deals in more trades and that might mean some of these core guys that I may have already mentioned jayen Ivy Jaylen durren Isaiah Stewart those are all guys that could be involved in deals not reporting that not telling you what’s happened happening I’m just saying it’s not out of the picture I I’m not going to say all of them are gone or anything like that I don’t think that’ll be the case not right away at least but it wouldn’t surprise me if at least one of them were dealt there’s been some different Scuttle whether it be about any of those three names that maybe the new front office isn’t as convinced on them as the previous regime was and I think that that might be fair at least in someone like Isaiah Stewart’s case with all the resources that were poured into him and the minutes that were poured into him and the way this team was honestly more so built around him than it was gate Cunningham but I’m just saying we have to keep an open mind on that the the Pistons are likely going to be involved in more trades and they may not include any of those three players it might just be more more salary dump type trades but you know I don’t think langan’s just going to sit back for a year or two Troy Weaver got away with that and and even if that doesn’t you know even if that doesn’t mean the Pistons aren’t going to win a lot of games next year it’s not going to be because langan’s not laying the foundation for his plan you know he he’s going to be doing things that just not may not directly result in more wins than losses right away let’s talk about some of the names the Pistons could be interested in we’ve already heard uh the team the guys at the Detroit was interested in guys like Malik Monk and Nicholas Claxton well those guys have already resigned extensions with their current teams monk went back to the Nets excuse me monk went back to the Kings and Claxton went back to the Nets so who’s out there for Detroit what do they need well I think Detroit could use a veteran guard someone like tyus Jones or Mark Al fultz makes sense I’d throw D’Angelo Russell in there but as agent is Aaron Mintz so I would say that if you know the story then you know the story and I would say that makes it a little less likely that D’Angelo Russell is a piston those are all more point guard is type names another veteran guard that the team’s been linked to previously was Gary Harris not sure how necessary he is when I look at you know the two spot for Detroit we’ve got a lot of guys currently still on the roster buying for minutes plus the addition of Tim Hardway junor on Friday I think if they were going to make an addition uh at the guard spot it needs to be more of a veteran point guard Kate Cunningham and Marcus saster are there but a guy that could play also alongside Kade or in or lead the second unit I think makes sense you know I’m not sure how tied uh this new front office is to Marcus Sasser I’ll be at him being a first round pick in the 2023 draft moving to the forward spot one name we’ve heard a lot and I think there’s a very good chance he is a piston is Tobias Harris I just uh where there’s smoke there’s fire there let’s put it that way and I think there’s a good chance Tobias Harris will be a Detroit Piston I think he’ll be a Detroit Piston rather soon some other names Naji Marshall has been linked to Detroit I’d like that a lot obviously there’s a connection there with Tron langon and the Pelicans and then another floor spacer type Wing that I thought Detroit should have gone after last year even is Doug mcder just a guy that helps make the roster make a little bit more sense a veteran that can space the floor shoot the basketball provide a little bit of a scoring punch I think those kind of guys make sense and then the center spot because there have been some rumors that the Pistons might be the market for a starting level Center don’t know what that means for Jaylen durran don’t know if that means they kind of want to slow things down with him play him in a smaller role make him learn from the bench make him learn from an older player not 100% sure there but there’s rumors doesn’t mean it’s going to happen there’s rumors that they’re going to look for some starting center help so who could those guys be a couple names that stick out to me Isaiah hartstein from the Knicks Jonas Fen unas from the Pelicans uh not a starting level Center but another Center that I think could be in the mix especially after all the moves that the Knicks have made and the money they’ve committed to Mike Cal Bridges and now ogan anubi on his extension precious auua I I thought he had some really nice moments for New York last year better than he ever looked in Toronto and I’m not sure if that’s a byproduct of playing for a team that had a lot going for them and he just arrived in that environment but even in the playoffs I thought atua made a nice impact for the Knicks when he got in and he certainly did in the regular season after being dealt there from Toronto so looking at more of a a value play I think auua could make some sense for Detroit wouldn’t be comfortable with bringing him in as the starting center though that’s really all I got free agency starts on Sunday not sure how quickly we’ll see deals made by Detroit I think we’ll see them in some rumors pretty early on and I’m interested to see how aggressive langon is in the free agency market this a team that even after the Hardway junor trades has a ton of cap space to work with like I mentioned earlier second in the league in projected cap space $51 million they’ve got a lot of things they can do and as they try to get better maybe they won’t win 35 40 games next season but they could still add some pieces to make this roster a bit more functional make things work a little better and satisfy their franchise guy Kate cunning so I’m interested to see what everyone else thinks particularly from today’s discussion on the free agency front I’m curious to see who everyone thinks the Pistons should be going after what areas on the roster need to be addressed the most for me me I think the veteran guard spot and I think they need a starting level forward or at least a a high-end backup level forward and I think depending on how they view Isaiah Stewart they need to get some Center depth you know I’m not sure on Stewart I don’t know how this organization wants to utilize him if they keep him do they view him as a forward the way that Troy Weber did or do they view him as a center and does that impact Jaylen Duren and how does that impact Isaiah Stewart’s role you know does he come off the bench as this team’s backup center I know he has value across the league interestingly enough the Pelicans have been a team mentioned in the past as a team interested in steart don’t know if that’s directly connected to langon that could have been more David Griffin I’m not 100% sure but maybe this team feels very strongly that they like isaah steart still despite the change in leadership so let me know what you think let me know who you think the Pistons should go after in free agency if there’s any other contracts that the Pistons could go after as Treon lton continues to take on uh distressed contracts with assets attached to them very curious to see what everyone has to think and we’ll see what the future holds maybe I’ll do some more of these solo podcasts depending on how everyone views them if they like them but I appreciate you coming along I appreciate the support like I said the episode we dropped on Friday the attention it got right away was incredible and that was you know days removed from the draft we didn’t get one out right on Thursday morning uh you know we we in years past have gotten the podcast Out hours after the draft we didn’t have that this year and you guys still came out and supported us in droves and I appreciate that if you haven’t already subscribe to Palace of pistons.com Link in the description of the show wherever you’re listening or watching from if you’re watching on YouTube please take a moment to like the video and subscribe to the channel That helps us out tremendously it’s free of charge for you you’re listening on Apple you’re listening on Spotify leave us a rating on the show follow our page it helps us just as much and it’s also free well that’s going to do it for this bonus edition solo Edition podcast here on the Palace of Pistons podcast page for myself Aaron Johnson thanks so much for listening again make sure to use our promo code ble for a welcome bonus with bet online thanks so much we see you guys next time take [Music] care wit

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On this solo, bonus edition of the Palace of Pistons Podcast, Aaron Johnson is back to talk about the Quentin Grimes/Tim Hardaway Jr. trade. He shares why he feels fans need to give Trajan Langdon time to execute on his plan as well as how Langdon and former general manager Troy Weaver differ. Then, he previews free agency for the Detroit Pistons, discussing potential options for Detroit such as Tobias Harris, Isaiah Hartenstein, and Tyus Jones.

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