Laz Jackson shares insights on Detroit Pistons, Cade Cunningham’s success, and more!
Hello and welcome to your go-to Detroit Pistons podcast the Pistons pulse co-hosted by me Bryce Simon of Motor City Hoops a former D1 Hooper and current teacher husband and father of three amazing kids I’m Omari Sano for the second Pistons beat rider for the Detroit Free Press and of course we’re
Both to always be joined by our producer West Davenport and if you aren’t listening to him over on the Detroit Bad Boys YouTube with the pin down with Blake Silverman you guys need to be checking that out but today guys we are blessed we are honored bringing out of I
Think in his ownwards semi retirement we are joined by the man the myth the legend the goat of Pistons content creation LZ Jackson LZ what’s going on I’m I’m happy to be here I’m excited to be here thanks for thanks for inviting me Bry and Omari I appreciate it I’m
Glad we could find a time that actually worked trying to do this for like a couple months now but you’re a busy man just just catch us up man how’s life how are you doing Bryce we’re doing potty training going that’s why we can’t get you on the Pod because you’re trying to
Get the so LZ only you and I understand this Omari West maybe someday LA right now me and my wife are having a station so all three of our kids were with grandparents we didn’t leave the house we’re staying at home just me and the for days if you
Guys aren’t watching on video go check out YouTube Just To See L’s face because he gets it he understands what I’m talking about here Joy like like I have a station every day so I can’t relate you know how is the potty training going last cuz that like straight up that can
Get like stressful that was some of the more like stressful times for me we’re making good progress he will sit on the toilet and it but he won’t let you know if he or not so you be like wanding around and you like see him and you’re
Like you have to go to the bathroom he’s like no he like no you do I see you like come on let’s go but we gotta we gotta get it right because he has to be potty trained to get into this monor school and I’m not g this is the last thing I
Promise but like that’s in August and so I was like all right we got we got we got a timeline TI like we got to make this thing work so that that’s what’s crazy people don’t understand the stress of Parenthood like it’s not just potty training your child to not get judged by
The other parents on the Block you can’t send them to school until they are potty trained like we we went through this with our youngest you want to go to preschool next year you got to learn to to get on the Pod and so I’m glad L to
Have somebody on the Pod that can share these experiences with me because omari’s over here just living the bachelor life waking up going to bed going out whatever he wants to do and I’m like you don’t understand bro so L I appreciate it anything what else is is
Good how’s the misses how’s life how’s everything going update everybody Life’s good Life’s good I appreciate everyone’s concern things are things are going well like job’s good like the only thing in my life that’s going poorly is the Detroit Pistons yeah and that’s how we brought you on to have this therapy
Session yeah Amar some I think how said it in your comments like of like we gotta bring LA on to talk about the 10 win Detroit Pistons like this is we absolutely do we absolutely do we try to get l this thoughts of This Disaster of
A season for months cuz we just need to hear it we need to hear it man like we know we haven’t you haven’t been potting this season and it’s probably been nice to have to talk about this team as often but we had to drag you out of the out of
Your comfort zone and we just really have to talk about this awful team just so hey we glad we finally made it greatness and in a peak behind the curtain we have had we’ve tried to have LZ on and because schedules are crazy and all of that we haven’t been able to
Make it work so it is we are going to talk Pistons now because it’s awesome that we got him so l just let’s start with the most recent game on Saturday we’ll work from there and we’ll just riff off of that that’s kind of what we do and that’s what’s great about having
You on you you’re an expert and a pro at this as well the Mavs game up till halftime was all right assar doing a pretty good job on Luca I think the team in general doing a good job on Luca Luca gets it going second half is just a
Disaster where do you want to go with that aar’s defense maybe how Cade played kind of going toe-to-toe with Luka for a bit where you want to start so where actually I want to start is with Jaylen durren okay the shove and the technical yeah the ejection and I think it was it
Was a very like young guy thing but I also think that he’s falling into the Trap too often of letting offense dictate his defense and he really was having a tough time getting it going offensively against like Daniel Gafford and white Powell and I know that had to
Be really frustrating for him he was in foul trouble like most of the game and so I I want to eventually get to a point where like he’s better defensively and his and his offensive effort and his defensive effort are like not like directly tied to one another you know Ry
W at the beginning of the season right we talked about how the major thing we wanted to see from Duren this year was Improvement on the defensive end Y and we kind of haven’t seen it I forget who it was someone pointed out to me that
Like assar has more stocks than Duran is like that that is very noticeable right like yes assar is a already an amazing defensive player but like you would you would still think that Duren would be impacting the game defensively like at at like at that level and that that
Hasn’t been the case and that’s dur his growth area right it’s just he has to I think the biggest factor for his growth going forward is him just bringing like that defense first approach and not the offense first approach because he’s growing offensively this year for sure
But if you’re not a yic or even like a shenon level guy like you gotta you know you got to be defense first and that just hasn’t been the the pro so far real quick here LZ Jaylen Duren not only does thear have more stocks J Duran has 63
Total stocks 23 steals 40 blocks assar has 68 steals like and he and he has 59 blocks so he almost has more of each individual stat than turn has total so I’ll let you cook some more on this because I think it is important but that is fascinating I’m so glad you brought
That up yeah no and and to omari’s point like you can see the work he’s put into his like footwork offensively yes you can you can see the results when it’s something he like wants to put the effort into and so you you hope like down the line he puts that effort into
The defensive end and Omar you invoked like joic and singun I’m thinking of like even like damont sabonis right sabonis time All-Star like another like huge triple double guy and the Kings aren’t going they’re making they’re probably going to make the playoffs but like no one expects a lot of them
Because the defense is so poor right it’s like if if you want to have long-term success like it has to be you don’t have to be like an elite level defense but you have to hit like a BAS level of confidency that we haven’t seen
From Jaylen at this time so so there’s a lot of issues with this roster LZ and we want to talk about all of them with you but do you think this ranks higher than maybe what people have given it credit for I feel like in the last month this
Has become a conversation our last episode we talked about NBA draft stuff and we talked about Alex sawar and potentially drafting Alex sawar and then maybe you trade Jaylen Duran because like do you think this defensive anchor type big if he’s not going to be that do
You think that’s one of the bigger quote unquote issues or something that needs to be solved whether it’s him or some other option I do I do because because he’s such a perfect offensive pairing with Cade like you would like to be able to keep him around but if he never if he
Doesn’t progress to that Baseline level on the defensive end that makes it a lot tougher to keep him around right and so this like as as a guy who like I know the phrase core for has been very overused sure with pist but as a guy who I think pairs really
Well with Cade which is what like what I’m thinking about in my mind like matters for this Pistons team like what what goes with Cade is like you’d like him to be better on defense because offensively like he’s a perfect match with what with what Kate plays and Amari
I know you want to get in on this I was going to say real quick there’s a a play in this game against the Mavs where he gets blocked by Gafford at the rim and afterwards they’re both about the same spot on the Baseline and Gafford beats
Him down the floor and gets a wide open dunk essentially because durren didn’t Sprint back and and I’m glad you tied this all into because I don’t think we should over judge what happened with the shoving it it was frustration right like it was the offensive frustration the
Foul trouble and then he’s not doing well defensively and all of that Omari where you at with Jaylen dur we’ve talked about him a lot but I think LZ brings up some really interesting thoughts here just with the defense his pairing with Cade all of that yeah to be
It’s just got to be a fundamental shift in Darren’s approach uh because even on offense right like he is such a good his chemistry with Kade is amazing obviously and you see some of the things he’s doing passing wise and you know I think offensively he can really be a monster
On the current trajectory he’s on but just in a modern NBA like if you’re big and you can’t play defense like you pretty much have to be yage for it to work right like you like especially when the playoffs hit like you’ll just be destroyed and I think at this point you
Know for both teams dur would probably be a backup you know simply because of his weakness on defense right now uh you know so to me that’s or not just to me I think you know it’s pretty clear across the board you know he’s he’s got a fil
Change his approach to the game where you know it’s just clear like you see the dunks sometimes he sticks his tongue out at the the bench and whatnot like that’s what that’s what gets him going but you know it needs to be the the block shots and things like that too and
Just in in two seasons we have not really seen that aspect of his game outside of a full of games like earlier this season in Miami and Charlotte for example yeah and I mean you guys both brought it up it’s intriguing because of the Improvement we’ve seen offensively
Right and can he then translate that into defensive Improvement I don’t know I I do know this we got to bring laon more often because we have more live viewers than we have ever had on the podcast draft reaction trade reaction free agent anything so everybody watching live thank you if you’re on
YouTube hit the like hit the Subscribe if you’re over on Twitter find some way to to support the P you know either go to Apple Spotify on the YouTube like subscribe give a rating review all of that different type of stuff all right LZ you’ve talked about defense so we
Could talk about assar or you talked about duren’s chemistry with Cade obviously we could go that direction as well you’re giving up some engagement here so I’m gonna keep letting you be the man of choice which way do you want to go so the the second thing I wanted
To talk to you guys about was assar right so yeah over the last seven games assar is shooting four threes a game right he’s like shooting like 30% on them but he’s just shooting four threes a game which is something that we hadn’t even like he had even looked at The Rim
From Beyond The Arc like prior to the all-star break it felt like and so I’m I’ve been really encouraged that he’s looking is looking to take those shots when they’re given to him once again less encouraged by the results right but like that’s a work in progress like
We’ll see how that goes and you could you could really see how like I I noticed it in the Miami game that they lost like he got some hard closeouts from Miami Defenders because he’d been like he’d made like I think they showed during the broadcast he made like six of
His last 12 threes or something and so like when he’s able to draw Closeouts you can really see the like downhill playmaking you can see the rim pressure you can see all the all the great stuff that’s about uh his offensive game but that doesn’t get to shine when guys just
Like kind of lay off him and like let him shoot right and so I’ve been encouraged by the shot the shots I think like in a it’s in a place that’s improving and I it honestly like him being willing to just like take this time at the end of the season to try
This stuff is really encouraging and it’s something I think to build on for next year right LZ I’m curious to get your thoughts on this and I tweeted this in Miami like a star his interior shooting like short mid-range mid mid-range pretty much anything within
The free throw line he’s like one of the better Shooters in the league uh he takes more of those shots than a lot of people and he makes a lot of them he’s got that turnaround jumper like his touch in that range is pretty good he’s not a good free throw shooter pretty
Much anything but behind the free throw line it just completely falls off of a cliff I guess what do you make of that in general just to just see a guy who kind of has that type of shooting which is really especially in the modern NBA
Is pretty unique does that give you any encouragement going forward that he could figure out the three-point shooting or do you not even see the correlation just because he is so bad at the line right now real quick last I’m just going to give number 54% % between
3 and 10 feet those are 28% of his attempts and then he is 46% between 10 and 16 feet doesn’t take a lot of those but those are kind of the numbers to back up what Amari is saying there so go ahead last so to me this is this is like
Kind of like a Bryce the Scout question in my mind because the the jumper when he’s not thinking about taking a jumper looks a lot different than the jumper when he is thinking about taking a jumper it and like at the beginning of the Season it was even worse worse right
It I thought his shot was very regimented right it was like feet arms hands elbow like extend like you you could like see the gears like turning in his head and like over over the last couple stretch of games you see maybe those gears are turning faster but the
The shot is still kind of a little like piece meal mechanical yeah yeah mechanical is a great work well because the mid-range L he’s just jumping as high as he can and I’ll be honest I love to give credit where it’s due W is the one that brought
This up to me is maybe they should let him jump higher like I would love to know the height of his jump on that mid-range jumper compared to the height of his jump on that corner three specifically earlier in the year I feel like they had almost got him and I’m not
Blaming them I realized they had to break down his shot and start with the foundation I’m not blaming the Pistons or their development I’m just saying it’s like he barely jumped off the floor with the corner was like maybe you just let him be an athlete right like we’ve
All played with these type of players these these guys or girls that are really good athletes and maybe the jumper doesn’t look great but they just find a way to make enough shots and I just kind of wonder if just let him jump and shoot it and because I think you’re
Right I think he’s overthinking it it’s very mechanical the free throw percentage still makes you a little bit concerned I don’t think he’s always going to be this bad you know where are you at last like what do you think in terms of like it’s going to improve a
Little bit even if it’s just the corner threes yeah I I do think that there is something to the like let him jump on his jumpers I wonder from a like offseason mechanical standpoint if like I don’t know having him jump 3,000 times a day is like maybe not good from from a
Longterm perspective yeah um and like that’s that might be why they’re repping it that way but yeah I mean he looks so much more comfortable when he’s able to shoot like the way his body like wants into and so I I do absolutely think there’s like some some there there but I
Also think it’s possible to transfer that comfort Fort ability or to expand that comfortability that he has like to a more to a more mechanical shot right I I think you I think he I as he practices it more and gains comfort with it I think like that’s that’s what we’re
Seeing from the beginning of the season to now right like he’s gotten more comfortable with the more set shot and we’re seeing elevated results still not good results right but but elevated shooting like 177% or something from three on the year earlier this year and
So like even 30% is a big jump yeah is interesting cuz he’s almost like a case study of you know as we get deeper into you know I guess computerizing basketball and we break things down to like the you know almost just like the sales of the game right and you read
About overtime Elite all the all the technology they had to get guys jumpers right like I wonder if this offseason you just I don’t want to say like throughout the book you just tell thear like just go out and shoot like don’t worry about mechanics just shoot till
You feel comfortable and if it could help him to just get away from Maybe what the perfect jump jumper should look like like don’t even think about that cuz there’s a lot of good Shooters who have bad mechanics I mean you know I think that’s to an extent that’s even
Subjective right because you have guys like a lot of people question if how Burton could shoot even though his sample size in college was like 41% high volume like just statistically there’s no reason why you would ever question if he could shoot because he had all the
Markers of a truly great shooter but people at his for and they’re like well he’s like going to be able to get that off it’s like do you just tell a Sor like don’t even think about that like just take as many jumpers as comfortably as you can this summer and then come
Back and does that help you the the the form is messed up like H’s form is crazy like I watch the three-point competition and you get the zoomed in version and his hand starts like over here and then gets under the ball as he’s like I think
Back to it I wasn’t doing it at the time but I’m like no wonder people question whether he could shoot off the bounce or over a contest because it’s a very unique form I agree like I’m with this zamari like let him be athlete you drafted him number five because he’s a
Crazy athlete and a crazy worker just go let him be an athlete and kind of figure it out naturally Les I want to ask you about his defense though because I think he burst onto the scene started at Summer League he works hard the defensive playmaking he’ll take tough
Matchups I thought the last couple games were some of his more impressive like on the ball against different level of stars here but I thought he made Mel bridges’ life miserable and that Pistons went over the Nets and straight up Luca may have eventually figured it out
Because he’s Luca he had Luca frustrated as all get out in that first quarter first half and you could tell he was sick or whatever you know early in that game they were showing cuts of him to the bench what have you thought about aar’s defense what does that mean for
The Pistons big picture all of that kind of moving forward irregardless of the offensive quote unquote concerns yeah he’s he’s the best perimeter defender on the team just like Point Blank period and went and has the potential to be like an all Defense level Defender at
That spot and so that makes like that is a possibility that like makes him really intriguing and makes you want to keep him around I agree I thought so I Bryce like I have to ask you this but like I thought the Nets like did not have too
Much structure to their offense yeah so like that that makes defending a lot easier when it’s like all right like after 14 seconds it’s like all right guys like let Denis Trader cook or like let Mel Bridges cook is like okay like all I have to do is stop this guy
One-onone like deal like I don’t have to think about anything I just just like me and my man like that’s a lot easier but but he’s been really impressive he’s really impressive the the contrast between him and Jade iy getting around screens is just always just like really
Like Stark relief to me we see the you see the athleticism like let him be an athlete you SE that in some of the the plays he makes around the rim he had a huge block who was that on I think it was on the Brooklyn game on somebody had
Like a step through he threw it into third row it’s like like not everybody can do that and and so it’s just yeah I’m I’m really impressed with what assar brain has a Defender and I think that makes him a more I’m not going to say
The word core but a more Salient piece of this team moving forward yeah we we got to get to this core conversation and offse we’re gonna get to but we got we gotta talk Kade we went 20 minutes we haven’t talked Kade Cunningham who kind of has been hooping recently so we want
To get your thoughts on him we got to talk Jaden Ivy obviously maybe a few other pieces and then we will step back and take a bigger picture we got to go to a break Amari whenever we come back let’s ask Laz his thoughts on Kade Cunningham all right we’re back with segment two I tweeted this last night um I didn’t tweet it I put it in my story actually but going into last night’s game pretty much since November 30th if you cut off his first like 18 games of the year but he was
Still getting his form back he’s averaging 23 points seven assists three turnovers and he’s shooting like 48% overall 38 from three 86 at the line so you’re talking like a guy who’s bordering on like Elite efficiency for a guard like the three-point shooting can still improve a bit but like 38% in that
Span is great and then last night like I feel like this week it’s not like a breakout week cuz he’s been good for a while but you just look at what he’s done and then they go shot for shot with Luca in the first half last night you
Know keeping the Pistons in that game where Kade is now how close is he to maybe the ideal version of where you wanted to see him coming into this season where he still had a lot to prove basically in in every facet of the game
Yeah I think so the the caveat you put in there was like for this season I think that’s a really important point right like again I know I like I’m kind of sick of hearing this too but like functionally this is like year two and a
Half and so you’d still you’d still like to see improvements in terms of turnovers and other areas but the biggest thing for me for Kade at the beginning of the season was the shot because him being able to shoot off the dribble him being able to shoot pull-up threes changes entirely like how
Defenses have to account for him and once you start having to go over on Cade that opens up the passing right that sucks in defense that that causes help rotations and so like to me like that was the big thing and now you can R you
Were seeing a little bit of the thing where now Ivy has the ball and it’s like a skip pass one pass away to Kate on the wing and you feel good about like the defense allowing Kate to like take that shot right as opposed to like when he
Was shooting 32% it was like it was kind of iffy but yeah I think Kate has made real strides over the course of the season I’ve been really impressed with Kade he shot like I think he had eight free throws last night at well which is
Always like a big which is always a number I’m paying attention to partially because like you know we’ve always complained he doesn’t get enough calls he doesn’t shoot enough free throws but also partially because like Amari said you should shooting like 88% 87% of the line it’s like those are those are
Essentially like free points if you can get them and so yeah I’ve been really impressed with what Kate has done particularly after the All-Star break but the turnovers are still a concern and then one thing that showed itself in the Miami game was the lack of strength right he doesn’t create as much
Separation as you might like that was also a good contrast with LCA right like Luca is just his shoulder in the guys and guys are just like moving off of him and he can get also a guy who is way bigger in person than he is like on TV
Like he’s like he’s massive like I don’t think it’s hard to understate to like just how physically opposing he is compared to to most players like nobody can really budge him out the way but not to cut you off last no no but but you can see the difference in their games
There were a couple possessions in the third quarter I think where I think it was a mud that was guarding him and Luca just like gently nudges Amud exactly into the spot he wants him to be in and like steps back and Tak like a 17-footer
It’s like it’s just him in the gym by himself at that point right and we’ve seen Kade like hit that level on occasion but we also see how much harder Kate has to work to to create that separation just because he’s not as strong as as as a guy like Luka he can’t
Get guys off balance like Luka can which is which is like no no shade right like Luka’s like a top three MVP candidate right like saying your guys’s not as good as that guy is like totally fine but it’s also something I’m I’m paying attention to and you you know that
That’s an offseason thing right like adding strength is an offseason thing for sure so so let’s just stay there like do you think that that is another priority for him this offseason like what what would be the number one thing we can talk about his defense which I
Think at times he’s shown a little bit of growth at times I’m like man Kade can can we get a little bit more locked in there have been stretches where the turnovers have been better has it necessarily been the three games this week where he’s been unbelievable
Scoring the ball shooting the ball even almost averaging 10 assists but is up over four turnovers again but I think I looked maybe post All-Star break or since he came back he actually was somewhere in the twos and so we’ve seen it be better at times what what would it
Be for you lad the strength the turnovers the defense what what would be like number one the thing I would work on the most this season if I was Ashton would be be strength with the ball in his hands right there are a lot of times
Where you can see like he’s in Rhythm he’s in Rhythm and then he gets whacked and then like throws him off his rhythm is like no you need to be strong enough to absorb contact from other people and still be able to get to your spot and do
What you do what you need to do so getting stronger like while I’m dribbling would be a huge point of emphasis for me this offseason if I were kid you you brought up the free throw attempts I also want to talk to and Omari I want to get your thoughts on
This as well because I have my opinion you know in this three- game stretch he’s got to the line almost seven times a game what do you think the quote unquote issue is or do you think there is an issue with him either getting to
The free throw line Laz or some of the times he gets there there around the rim and isn’t able to finish like is he not getting calls is he not creating contact should he just take contact better what what are your thoughts on that so I
Think some of it is he’s not getting calls obviously but I also think a big part of it is that his because of his lack of strength it doesn’t look like he’s like he he’s getting hit and losing the ball but it doesn’t it’s not it looks like he’s naturally losing the
Ball and then he gets hit versus like oh it’s it appears that like him getting hit is what caused him to lose lose the ball I also think like the lack of athleticism around the rim to me this really showed itself in the Miami game where like there was that stretch in the
Fourth quarter where he like yeah was putting his head down he was getting all the way to the rim and he got blocked like two or three times it’s just because he he can’t he doesn’t Elevate easily like in traffic which is like you know a thing we knew about him right but
I I do think if you if you get blocked and you’re kind of like still on the ground like it it does look like less of a foul from a from a referee perspective right but I’d be curious to see what Omari says because Omari is the one
Who’s actually like watching Kade like in person right real quick I mean there’s less lower body to take contact in those situations right whenever you’re not getting off the ground so yeah Omari what are your thoughts in terms of just need to get stronger just needs to finish needs to get the calls
What is it yeah I wrote about it a couple weeks ago when we came out of Allstar break and those first two games like I think K had like 55 points and like zero free throw attempts or something like that which you don’t that you don’t usually see that from like
Guys have the ball BU as Kad have two complete games where you have the ball a lot scoring a lot not getting to the line at all I dove to the numbers just to kind of make sense of it and that was different from the norm this season Kate
Has gotten to the line much more the season than he did as a rookie and when you look at his shot profile I think that explains some of it Kate does take more shots from mid-range and a lot of guys you look at Players like hbert and
Some other guards who are a little bit more shot heavy and don’t get to the room as much and you know they’re not taking eight n free throws a game you see that more so for guys like James Harden obviously guys like embiid and jannis who are living in the paint but a
Lot of guards are not quite at that level and usually the ones who are guys like Jah like jayen Ivy is actually one of the best at drawing files this season you know but guys who live in the paint and K is not that type of player and I
Don’t know if he ever will be so he’s averaging about four and a half free throws this season even with an improved whist I don’t know if he ever gets much higher than like five and a half or six like that might be his max so that’s still you know pretty big difference
Something he could shoot for but I just think with his shot profile and I think just the fact that he’s a 66 guard who I don’t want to say he doesn’t play like he’s 66 but he’s not like a super super physical guard you know and he could add
I think if he adds strength that would help but you know I think people should probably lower their expectations long term probably for what his growth level is there cuz you look at the shot profile I just don’t know if he’s the type of guy who’s ever going to get to
That level so there’s still some improvement he can make but he’s already improved a lot and I just don’t know if he’s ever going to improve significantly more than where he’s at right now outside of just getting a better whistle so always learning says take K takes mid-range because he struggles at The
Rim Yeah I mean I think you know LZ started off Omar you’re saying it like it is kind of just who he’s going to be I think that’s why I’ve always encouraged and wanted to see him take more threes even if he was shooting at 32 33% part of his all round offensive
Game was going to have to be him down perimeter shots I want to ask this question from Aruna and then I want to talk about Jaden Ivy we got to get into him as well but he says for Kade what assist to turnover ratio are we looking
At so Laz where where’s kind of that point I mean you can go two to one like I would say somewhere over eight and under four right like I think I can live with somebody over eight assists under four turnover sorry but like I I don’t want to in four turnovers somebody that
Handles the ball as much as him you’re probably going to be in the yes something in the twos would be ideal but I don’t know that we’re going to get there yeah so it the reason I made the face Bryce is because like literally I was gonna say eight and 3.5 right
Literally the exact same thing I was gonna say yeah it’s like that that seems reasonable from a guy who handles the ball as much as Kade does but doesn’t play at a super high Pace like a Halle Burton or fox or something like that but
Also a guy who does does he still has like the the the Casual turnovers right like he dribbled off foot and like Derrick D J got a dunk out of it in the second half and that was annoying but we’ve seen a lot less of that like over
The course of the year right and so excising those I think will do a lot and has done a lot to keep his turnovers like in the normal lead ball handler range do you think he’s going to like I’m starting to get a little concerned that these kind of lack ofical ones
Actually are going to be harder to rid him because we’ve seen this since day one and it is two and a half years years I kind of thought maybe he would have figured out the Lac ofical like careless ones and we haven’t seen those ones yet
Do you think we’re going to I I do I do I think like so we forget like kade’s still like under like 23 right yeah there he had he had a twoy turnover against Dallas where it was like a 301 break with like him assar and dur he’s
Like I’m gonna throw a lob yeah’s like I’m not gonna I can’t catch it so bro I’m sorry it’s like you’ll get those right but like if it’s you know you would hope that like 25-year-old Kate is like let’s get points out of this like we don’t have to do something cool like
Let’s get points and and I think that will like that maturity will assist in cutting down like some of those turnovers real quick Amari Michael says right Donas is a turnover machine you just live with it to agree I also want to point out Donas is a turnover machine
The rest of the Mavericks are not every other player on that team is not and that’s why as a team they’re low turnovers because they’re C doesn’t turn it over their wings don’t turn it over and that is a little bit of an issue right now with this young Pistons team
Omari where you at Cage’s turnovers assist to turnover ratio kind of where would you like to see him get to over the next let’s say two or three years yeah so like going back to what I was I was saying earlier I have the stats in
Front of me now since November 30th so cutting off the first 18 games yeah he’s averaging 7.8 assists and 3.1 turnovers which to me is like perfect I mean I think if he’s that for the rest of his career like that’s completely F and I think his turnover issues have been a
Bit overblown in general this season like it was not overblown for the first two like months when he was like leading the league and turnovers like a wide margin but since that he’s cut down so much that it’s really like like it’s not a non story you can always improve but
Like of all the things he needs to improve I think that that’s pretty far down the list at this point as far as just like the most glaring issues like at this point it’s more so like tightening the handle contining to prove as a shooter defense like a lot of room
For growth the turnovers are not as concerning I think it’s more glaring in games where like K does have the occasional off night of course but when you have the an off night and then you also have like six turnovers and you have one of like the final two minutes
Where we’ve seen that happen enough this season to where those wom stand out you know I think that those moments color probably a more negative picture of where he’s actually at in his career than he probably deserves I think along with that like you have guys like Harden
And Luca who have also been high turnover guys but they’re also like two of the the singular most impactful offensive players in the game so it’s probably easier to live with it when it’s like a Harden or Luca who’s playing at the MVP level and K is not at that
Point yet you know and I don’t know if he would ever quite be that level of score but he could probably be a much better Defender than those guys too so long story short I’m not really concerned about the turnovers I think he’s largely solved a lot of it and for
Him it’s just rounding out the rest of his game so that the turnovers don’t stick out as much because he’s just impacting the game in so of the other ways again thank you everybody watching live this is by far our best turnout we have over 750 people watching live
Whether it’s on Twitter or YouTube right now so thank you guys so much again hit a like button hit a subscribe button go check out it on the Pod and and lead a rating review all of that just help us support continue to grow out the Pistons
Pulse L before we go to our next break let’s talk Jad iy like this has been a very interesting you can go as far back as you want you can talk just about last night’s game wherever you want to take this because there is a lot to the Jay iy sophomore year convers
Where are you at where do you want to start off with this so the place I want to start is Ivy’s 3point shooting okay since like in the calendar year 2024 I think she’s shooting 35.8% so we’ll call it 36% from three and like that is something you
Absolutely live with right yes but it is very sadik Bish where it’s like one night he’s going like five for seven and one night he’s going two for seven and you don’t know which one it’s going to be until like the first one like hits
Right and so I I I think that teams are still teams still go under on him right and you see he has a willingness to pull when teams go under I really noticed it in the Orlando game like a couple weeks ago like Suggs like kept going under and
He was just like all right fine like I’m gonna take these but they don’t always go inck I but I I really like like Jaden has Lear eared like an entirely different role year perfectly honest right like he spent most of his first season like playing on the ball like
Getting to be a primary guy get to be a Creator and this whole season has been like all right like how do I fit next to Kade and for a long time it was like how do I fit Off the Bench next to K like you know that’s in the past We’re not
Gonna talk about that anymore um and so now like you you see a level of comfort between the two of them growing and that like that’s encouraging but but I also think like you it took a while for it to be to the point where like okay they can
Play off one another instead of like a your turn my turn type of thing and I still think there’s room to grow in that area but the shoot but Jaden being able to consistently be a like three for seven guy will help a lot in that area I
Think I I have questions sometimes so Amari I’ll ask you this first and then Laz I think Jaden’s taking too many for my liking over the last month or so I want him right a Defender goes under he’s got to make him pay right he’s got
To get his feet set make him pay there’s some of these ones in transition though where I’m like no I think I would rather you go ahead and attack a close out or give a one more pass or something like that so Amari I looked Jaden right now
Is taking what is it almost eight per 100 possessions if we just go per game he’s taking right around four and a half which is what he did in his rookie season as well do you ever find yourself in the middle of the game going man Jaden’s taking too many threes right now
Or are you comfortable with the shot diet that ji has from the three-point line like both it’s like on one hand like if there’s a season where you’re going to take so many threes like this is the perfect season to do it you know along with that like I look at his last
Five games he had nine attempts last night he had nine attempts the night before that or the game before that then he had five and five then against Cleveland he also took nine and he probably doesn’t need to be floting with nine attempts a game I think I think
That’s probably excessive for a guy who is still for the most part just average from that range but with that like I still think the the three boss probably one of his biggest keys for Success going forward and also just to fit alongside Kate so I don’t find it hugely
Problematic I think for him it’s just more so taking the right threes like there’s games where he’ll get up to a bad start and then he takes like an off balance one and it’s like well that’s not going to go down you know so I also
Think with him like I feel like his first quarters tend to dictate rest of his nights like he it doesn’t S like he shoots himself into a rhythm that but just either like he’s knocking them down early or they’re just not falling at all so he seesaws a lot overall I don’t
Think it’s that concerning but he could improve his shot diet for sure all right L what are your thoughts on that just in terms of the the ones he’s taking the amount he’s taking so the amount is like okay so it’s funny I just I think the
Streakiness is just my thing right so like since the Portland game that he made seven of seven he’s shooting 25% right over the last 12 games it’s like that that’s not great but I don’t think he’s a 25% from three like three-point shooter right yeah so it really just is like like Amari
Mentioned like how how in rhythm is he able to get himself in like those first couple of minutes from from a shooting perspective Ken says apples and oranges but when talking Kade turnovers part of the defense as he’s under 23 and on year two and a half but doesn’t applied it I
Do think we applied that to Duran’s defense like maybe we didn’t you know preference it in the same way but you know last I think I think the difference there is that like we we talk about kage’s turnovers as a thing right yeah we also agree that it’s gotten better
Like as the year has gone on and we talk about dur defense as a thing and we haven’t seen that Improvement yeah over the course of the season that’s that’s the big difference in my life yeah and he has gotten a lot of minutes and so you would just hope to see some
Improvement like I put in my game notes like every once in a while on a ball screen defense you’ll see better hand activity like he’s putting it in the pocket passing window and then sometimes he’s not as active like all of those type of things the other thing is we’re
Not calling for jayen Duran to be traded right away you know we’re not just throwing our hands up saying it’s over we’re just saying like this does need to happen and if it doesn’t there could be some concerns down the road with overall roster construction and yep Ken always
Appreciate it says okay fair thanks for explaining always love the interaction guys and we’ll try to be as unbiased and fair with our conversations as possible so thank you for the question and throwing that in there but speaking of roster construction Omari let’s go to break when we come back let’s get L’s
Thoughts on the trade deadline what did he think of the trade for Simone fonio and the outcome from that haven’t saw a lot of Quinton Grimes but did LZ think that was a good deal and plenty of other moves to discuss we’ll dive into that right after This all right we are back with segment three let’s talk about the deadline and we’re going to get into Tech first I mean he’s come off the best game of his career 27 points I think he was 11 for four five from three last night and to
Me I I think that tra just like a straight win for the Pistons just seeing how well he’s he’s played we haven’t seen the new contract yet Amari we don’t know what the contracts no I’m just kidding we have not seen the new contract so if he makes 40 billion this
Okay maybe I’ll change my tune a little bit LZ where are you with uh feko right now I I love love fonio like in his role right I very much think he’s like a great role wi player I think at times because he’s the best only movement shooter they have like they’ll break
They’ll bust out some sets and then you’re like okay like we’re We’ve ran like some floppy for Simone fako like twice and like like is this what we’re really doing but like I understand why they have to do it from a balanc perspective but I also like that he
Gives effort on defense after assar was Ill he got the Luca assignment and I thought he did like as good a job as you could expect a guy in his position to do right he’s that’s happened to him before he what game was that oh my goodness
When they were playing the Clippers he got the Kawai assignment okay sure I was like I was like they’re I was like okay they’re gonna put t on kawhai like let’s see how this goes and it didn’t like it went like okay right like he didn’t get
Floma which is like hey like that’s kind of good actually so I I was a big fan of the fonio trade the other thing I will say is that like yeah that’s pick like 32 or whatever but like they they can’t absorb another like young dude right like they need they
Needed a more established guy and so like yeah from a purely value perspective like I didn’t love it but from a like what kind of product are we going to put on the court like next season and Beyond like it makes lot it made a lot of sense to me yeah I mean
That’s a perfect way of saying it you’re already going to add another top five pick which maybe we’ll talk about if we get a little bit of time here in a bit but and then you’re going to add another one that you like I said there’s just
Not enough minutes for all of these guys if you’re going to prioritize Kate and Ivy and assar and Duran and Grimes and on and Sue and on down the list like there’s just not enough minutes I think fonki like this looks like a real win I
Guess my question then is Laz and I’m glad you brought up the defense because yes Luca went crazy you didn’t bring fonio to guard that guy you just brought him in to be confident and I like you can hear him on the broadcast saying like low man low man like so he’s
Communicating defensively I think he’s been a little bit better off the bounce than I thought like he’s done a little bit of that that I didn’t think so thoughts on that lastz and then also I guess we can talk a little big picture here in terms of starting lineup I think
Fonio should be in the starting lineup and I don’t care whether it’s over assar or over Sue after what we saw against the Mavs I would probably say Su because I think the defense ofar brings is really valuable so thoughts on fateko off the bounds and then also kind of
Drive that in a potentially him in the starting lineup and and where you would go with that yeah I think fonio if you get if he gets an advantage like created for him like he can definitely like take advantage of it he’s he’s well he’s 68
So like he’s bigger than you think he’s not like an elite athlete but he’s like a pretty he’s a pretty good athlete yeah and so like if if he if the defense is in rotation like he can definitely take advantage of it do I want him like
Operating like in isolation like not not particularly but you’re right Bryce like he he has been actually like it’s interesting because like every time the Jazz played against us the last couple of Seasons I’d be like that F Tako guys like not bad actually and and now he plays and you
See like a little bit of like okay it wasn’t just like when he played against us like no this is legitimately like he’s a good NBA player so no doubt I’ve also been impressed by his handle like he’s been able to take guys off to dribble a bit like he’s shown some
Playmaking chops but there’s a lot more to his game and granted I only watched the guy whenever they played Utah you know which is twice a year so I’m not sure how much of that he was showing in Utah but he’s like his handle’s been good I’ve been happy you know just
Seeing the way he’s been able to get to the rim like I’m looking at cleaning the glass now like he’s shooting he’s 24 of 36 at The Rim as a piston which is fantastic especially considering that he’s usually the best floor he is the best floor spacer in any lineup he’s in
Right so you could just see the upside from there right like let’s say you could add other guys who could add what he brings and you put those guys around Kade and then you start to see makings of a much better functioning offense I also throw out that when he was starting
Uh the Pistons were like a League average defense um so there’s a lot of evidence in favor of Simone having that type of road with this thing all right I don’t want to ask LZ about any other specific we haven’t seen enough of Grimes yet and I don’t think we’ve seen
Grimes at his best even whenever he did play like he wasn’t necessarily making shots to ask individual players I want to ask you this I want to get your thoughts and Omari obviously as well do you think the front office learned anything from the off seon the start of the
Season and then the moves that were made at the trade deadline like did you see some sort of progress I guess in terms of what they valued in terms of what they did this off season than what they did at the deadline anything that gives you some hope or think that their mindsets
Changed or progressed so kind of no but I I think they did fine at the deadline right okay like we just talked about how we’re a fan of fono like in that role I like the concept of Quinton Grimes if he ever plays but so not to sh the bad boys
The Troy Bad Boys horn but like Sean core had a really great tweet thread um post deadline that was just like hey like Troy we like it’s been four years like Troy Weaver is just a really reactive GM right and he needs to see it
Like on the floor in order to react you think back to at the very beginning of a sen as like hey like we should probably get a lob TR for Cade right and it’s like oh like okay it’s like oh it took like 40 games in the trade deadline it’s
Like oh okay we need like Marvin Bagley because Kate needs a l threat right it’s like oh we should probably get some like Kate and I be like probably need some spacing right and it’s like oh okay well yeah like yeah we’ll turn we’ll turn Kevin Knox into like fonio right and
It’s like oh maybe like we need some maybe we need some guys who can play both offense and defense right like okay well that that’s fonio and Grimes it’s like these are things that that like armchair analysts could be like hey like the Pistons like don’t really have a lot
Of roster balance between offense and defense like they can put together some good defensive Lins uh good defensive Lins and and some good offensive lineups but like they don’t really mix and it’s just it’s kind of striking when it’s like he needs to be able to see like
Okay like you know Stuart didn’t grow as much as a Defender as like a wing Defender as we like we would have liked and so like we got to adjust from that or you know like oh like well buan got hurt and then when he returned he was
Like just as bad on defense as he was last year and it’s like that that became a problem for us like when we’re trying to develop like Duren as a as a as a rent protector right and so it’s like that he’s just a very reactive GM and I
Think that’s probably like that’s probably a trade of his but it’s also like it’s G to cause issues if you’re if the if your front office like isn’t Forward Thinking yeah I think what this season showed yeah just going off of your point last is you know I think Troy
Built This team based on off of his own evaluations of what he believed guys could become rather than what they currently are and you go into the season and it’s like oh bogy and Burks are some the only guys on the team who can shoot and you know we have a starting front
Court you know with basically like you know half of a shooter right because St could hit a high percentage but teams still aren’t really closing out on them so is not really accomplishing that and you know it’s we saw that the roster was very deficient in a lot of key things
You know like hoping WIS been or Duran become a good rim protector and now they those guys do are hoping that Stu can basically hold down that front court on his own defensively and he can’t you know so you have a lot of players who are being overextended overleveraged and
Basically putting put into rows based on what you think they can do rather than what they’re actually doing and I think this trade deadline was okay like let’s just do shift our focus on getting guys who can actually do what we need right so you get feko and Grimes two guys who
Can shoot and like really defend Grimes has a shot well and he’s only played a couple games but defensively you could see pretty immediately that he’s an upgrade over the vast majority of the roster and you know I think that’s probably been The Learning Experience for TR the front office this season just
As a first time GM right like you can’t just build a team off of your own evaluations and what you think guys could do you have to get proven production at some point and that’s sort of what the shift has been now you know they’ve been sitting on this cap space
For you know a few seasons in a row waiting for the right moment but you haven’t put a competent team on the floor in that span either you know just believing that young guys are going to step up you know kind of magically and do things that they haven’t done so yeah
Very much I think just watching Troy kind of learn the job in real time you know and I see some people in the comments mentioning and you know I would agree that the trade deadline is probably the one complete positive this season maybe outside of like K playing
Well is that they actually went and got some NBA players and they’re still a bad team but they’re not like the worst team in the NBA you know they’ve actuallyy substantially they’re just tied for the worst in NBA you know we’re both the Wizards now right I think it’s back to
TI they’re like they they’re tight in the winds col charl they be Charlotte that’s right yeah no yeah so we’ll see but the needle has moved forward regardless of how little that needo you know has moved and I think that’s if there’s anything to give you any hope
For the future it’s just that they seem to have a much firmer understanding of what the team needs and how you could actually move that needle forward now well I think the scary thing is LZ what if it all always has to be reactionary right like it’s been great that they’ve
Seen okay this didn’t work let’s go get this this but because they’ve always been late they’ve always had to overpay as well and then that’s been oh this guy didn’t work okay well now we’ll trade him for more than or we won’t get back what we traded for him whenever we get
Rid of them those type of things also if you guys saw me smiling like an idiot my wife uh brought home a Starbucks and these are the advantages of a station is there are no kids around so your wife can run to Starbucks and bring it during
The middle of the podcast so shout out my wife who lets me be a kid and and do kid things in terms of podcasts and content creation and all that okay we got a few questions LZ I know you want to talk a little bit of NBA Draft before
We go and then we’ll get you out of here so Derek Brown says this is just we can just have a Marcus Sasser quick conversation here Laz are you concerned about Marcus Sasser as the backup point guard he’s very small in my opinion that’s Derek Browns there what are your
Thoughts on Sasser thus far and specifically maybe kind of his size and and his role so I think I think think Sasser is like fine as what he is I don’t know if he I think he might be like a small two as opposed to like a
Point guard good shooter like can take guys off the bounce but like as a as a table setter as a as a distributor like there’s a little bit to be desired and he’s already like as a four-year college guy like I think that like that might
That kind of might just be who he is and so like I’m not I’m not down on Sasser I like him in his role but I also like if they if they went in a different Direction at backup point guard like I wouldn’t be like super duper torn up
About it right I’d be it’s a little bit of a waste of a first round pick if they go in a different direction be another like front office like hey like oh we didn’t like quite see this coming we just kind of it’s like we we we took
This guy based on what we thought he could be as opposed to like what he actually was but I like but all that is to say I like Sasser like I I’m fine with him as the backup point guard for now I think lot of the issue with Sasser
Is just that he’s being miscast like there should never be a lineup where he’s the primary ball handler the only ball handler not just primary but only like you know and I think that magnifies his flaws like he was drafted because he’s an ideal player to put next to Ivy
And K because he could do some secondary ball handling and he can really really shoot the ball like like him and Grimes and Grimes yeah thing work and fio off the B like that that lineup just doesn’t make sense and that’s it just doesn’t work I envisioned hey we bring Sasser in
To play next decade so then we can stagger Ivy minutes and Sasser makes sense because you have this jumbo initiator so you can play a smaller two guard who spaces the floor and we just I would love to know how many minutes him and Kate have actually played together I
May look that up as you guys answer this next one because that’s where I thought the value May would come from whenever they made and that’s again they traded not only is that a first- round pick class they traded second round picks to move up I didn’t hate the move in the
Moment but it like you said Amari you got to use him the right way so Ryan says Hey guys love the Pod how realistic is the possibility of using our cap space to trade for a big name in the offseason without having to give up any
Here you go last core players also who might be available so you know Amari we’ve talked about this a little bit with Keith Smith but Laz just to get your thoughts on the cap space what what do you want to see happen this offseason what what would be a big win for you
That’s a really good question I think like the the way to go is probably to trade for a more established Wing player so that either assar or Stewart isn’t starting right like Tobias Harris is a name that’s been like floated out there a lot you can definitely see how a line
A lineup of like Cade Ivy fonio Harris Duram like makes sense right that’s a little weird because like you’re bringing Stu an assar Off the Bench and like I don’t know how that’s going to go offensively you still don’t have enough ball handling but I do think Wing is
Where they’re really deficient and so I think that that’s where I would like to see their focus their efforts this off season what I will say is like that’s a lot of condition in that question like they might if if they went out and like traded a like quote unquote core player
This off season I would not be stunned right it makes from a cost control perspective it makes sense Cade’s extension is coming up if you keep both Ivy and Duren their extensions are going to be right after that and so like your your window for acquiring like a$ 25 to
$30 million a year Wing who like fits next to those three guys is like this off season and like the trade deadline next year and then otherwise like guys start getting paid it gets harder to add guys and so we’ll we’ll see how that goes for sure yeah I mean I think the
Thing with this is and you alluded to it earlier you are gonna add another top five pick so if you had to trade one of the young core type of players that we all talk about you’re replacing them with another one yeah and you can’t pay
All those guys right you can’t you can’t pay all your top five picks like their top five picks like it you you run out of you run out of ability to you run out of flexibility really quickly doing that all right LZ let’s get I know you had a
Question you put it in the private chat I don’t know which player you’re wanting to ask me about or hold on real quick uh Kate Cunningham Marcus Sasser is one two three four five six seven eight ninth in terms of minutes played Kade Cunningham so the most is like durren Ivy assar and
Stewart travesty like that’s just completely misusing sass yeah so it’s not and that’s essentially last out like it’s still behind Buon Killian Bagley Burks who AR kilan is wow yeah yeah and then it’s only ahead of like wise men and then guys who have just recently joined the roster like fonio will play
More minutes with Cade which makes sense in a next game or two than Sasser has played with Cade like yeah all season so just not not something we’ve seen a lot of so okay I I know you had a question so yes no what in in talking about the
Wing depth and them needing to add wings this offseason okay so the two guys I’ve been looking at with this top five pick are Cody Williams yep and Zachary Kaiser R ree reer so like I I have a little bit more of a feel for Cody Williams’s game
But the reer kid like I wanted to ask you as the Scout Bryce like it like it seems like there’s a lot to love there yeah but also the shot looks a little funky it does and he’s really skinny we haven’t really seen too like ball
Handling stuff with him yet so like he he intrigues me a lot but I also think like if the Pistons took another French project there might be riots in the streets and so like where are you with him in particular like that’s the guy I wanted to hear you like speak on the
Most yeah no I I have Rea shade number one on my Pistons big board and this is assuming you wouldn’t want to necessarily do like draft Alex sawar and trade Jaylen durren like we’ve talked about this a little bit but I mean I think alar is really that’s a whole
Another conversation we had it last episode so I’ll read my quick notes on R off the ball three and D wi with potential to be a Ford as he grows and fills out his body because he is 6 foot n 6′ 10 he’s only 18 turns 19 on April
8th does not currently offer a ton on the ball offensively but will provide floor spacing and a nice feel for offensive rebound cutting getting out in transition defensively not a lock down Wing Defender but major value and overall defensive system with some real versatility long term May Never a number
One scoring option you’re looking for but just kind of your prototypical NBA Wing archetype so I agree with some of the shooting like mechanics things me and Wes have had this conversation a lot recently like in the day the kids shooting over 40% from three in a
Professional league and I just I don’t want I’ve gotten almost completely away from judging on that type of stuff he’s gotten better throughout the year as an 18-year-old playing in that League I think he can defend like I think he fits into they roster really nice Cody
Williams shot concerns me a little bit as well it’s even lower very slow yeah low volume hasn’t played a lot of games this year comparatively speaking because of injuries and different things and he is skinny as well the idea behind Cody compared to reesee is Cody definitely
Has some more potential on ball stuff like he has more fi passing those type of things I think Reet is like a true off the- ball player but I I would keep Reet number one because there’s some defensive stuff there as well so so in your mind Rich
Say would be a better I’m thinking about like who pairs well with the wing with assar for now right like would be a better match in that in that scenario I think so also just because there’s a little bit more size now if you I don’t
Know how they’re each GNA fill out their bodies right like you look at Cody Williams and say well if he fills out his body like his brother Jaylen yeah maybe you would rather have that right I think I think Reay is a better in general because he’s a true off ball
Player that will space the floor transition cutting offensive rebounding I think if you want get the high-end outcome of Cody Williams there’s a little bit more like you want to put the ball in his hands at times and let him do just a little bit but again it’s like
Is Reay gonna fill out like is his body gonna fill out because then at 69 you could you know play him as a four as well so I like reesee as the best fit right now for this team and in a draft where there’s no clearcut number number
One I think if the Pistons had number one that’s who I would take but if they’re at number four you may get him also right because someone will talk themselves into Alex SAR someone may after last night somebody may talk themselves into Reed Shepard at two or
Three you know Rob Dillingham is all over the map you know Cody Williams we’ve talked about you know should be in that conversation like that dude is insane if they take another small guard though like oh yeah I mean here’s the thing Okay so we’ve had this conversation with Alex SAR right and
Jaylen Duran you want to take Reed Shepard and then trade jadeen iy for like a true Wing forward I don’t love it I am very bullish on the Kade Ivy backt but I mean Reed Shepard would fit really nicely in terms of extreme floor spacer here’s the thing about Reed there are
Some on ball defensive concerns like even if you watch that Tennessee game he got beat off the dribble a few times now that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be a top five pick because with what he does shooting wise he absolutely should be but yeah I mean it’s going to be fun
Draft it’s it right now draft stuff is slow because there aren’t the names when people really get into it the conversations are going to be awesome because there are so many conversations to be had not just about the Pistons but just in general every team’s going to be
Having these same conversations but yeah l i I like Reese I think he’s like if we get the number one pick it’s not GNA be a guy to be like oh my gosh this is face of the franchise like we were with Cade but it’s a good fit I think yeah yeah
I’m I’m still trying to put a lineup that’s like Kade Duren and like three 68 dudes who could like handle and defend a little bit and like I I’m wondering like as I’m trying to do that I’m like okay is Cody or risher like a better fit for
That lineup but like it’s it’s encouraging to know that like both of them I think have uh potential to fit in in different areas of that here’s the other one you fall a little bit further Matas Bellis is another guy that I think fits fairly nicely go ahead no
No I’m glad to see the shooting improvements like over the course of the G League season he needs the ball in his hands a little bit too much for my liking and I don’t I don’t think he’s like I don’t know if he’s good enough to
Have the ball in his hands that much there’s a lot of he’s a tough evaluation like I said this the other week like I don’t know what to make of him honestly like I don’t like he could be a bust he could be the best player in this clan I
Have no idea well he there’s a lot of fron comparisons I’m like we’re a little bit like I understand why here’s the thing I’m giving the ignite guys a pass like it’s guys if you haven’t watched full development situation is that bad you’re just like yeah it’s it’s not
Great it is not great down there there’s no true Point like there’s a lot of stuff we don’t have to get into it I I’m G to self-promote here a little bit Kean brought it up Trevor Lane Keith Smith mentioned you’re doing some work with their basketball bulletin so guys if you
Want some NBA yeah so on the basketball bulletin substack which is the front office show friend of the Pod Keith Smith and then Trevor Lane they have a substack starting tomorrow actually Monday morning I’ll I’ll release my first NBA draft out over on their on their substack so they brought me a
Board on board over there I may even make some appearances on their pod obviously Keith is a friend of our pod um so yeah little self-promotion there sorry but yeah the the ignite situ you can self-promote on your that okay to self-promote on your own pod I think
That’s okay guys I’m just I’m just trying to drag out another few minutes here because we’re six people away from a thousand and I never thought we would ever get close to a thousand so I’m like all right I’m having the station here LZ and I’m Mari my wife’s not going to be
Mad at me if we drag this out for two or three minutes and we hit a thousand that is another bucket list podcasting thing for me to to check off the list so Laz truly though I feel like we have a blast every time you join us we we have to
Make this happen more often more consistent whatever we got to do to get you on the Pod I don’t know how Amari feels but I’m pulling the Trump I don’t care how Amari PHS we are getting LS on the Pod more because you are amazing and
I feel like these go perfectly so thank you man abely no I I appreciate you guys bringing me on in my semi-retirement right I I appreciate still having uh perceived value of things to say absolutely and like yeah like you know schedules are schedules are in flux but
Anytime I’m able like I love to come on I love to chop it up with you guys like I love talking draft St with Bryce because I know he’s watching these dudes and like I’m not watching them nearly as closely so I I really appreciate your
Time thank you so much for having me guys L you know it’s always a blast man like I talked about it on here but just you know just being my Pistons you know brother at the state news while the way back in 2012 when I first got there and
Everybody was like oh you got to be like you had just left everybody was like oh you got to beet last like last yeah you know like you were like known as the the the Pistons guy and like yeah we would love to have you on whatever you want to
Come on to get you was absolutely the standard whenever I join this world of Pistons content creation like I I I wanted to be L Jackson when I first got into this him and sea whatever you how you say discover gave me my chance at Detroit Bad Boys I can never ever ever
Think those two enough for that so LZ is truly the OG in my eyes like nobody better don’t doubt I also respect that you that you were able to pull away this season and not have to do this CU now you have a lot of thoughts to share
Whenever we bring you on right like you have all these thoughts that I’ve just been stewing for a while and that’s what we need we need that I’ve been stewing on this for a while and know I could just unleash unleash energy thanks to everybody who tuned in as well we just
Got to $9.99 I’ll go and round that up to 1,000 we did it yeah super gratifying to see we’re have to do some more Sunday evening Sunday afternoon recordings thousand we did it there it is there it is man that’s crazy yeah we’re g got a screenshot because it only lasted for about
Half oh there it is again there it is again so yeah again thanks everybody for tuning in we’ll definitely do this again with L as soon as we can and I’ll go ahead and close this out big thanks to our audio producer Robin Chan our editor and chief dco Avery Nichols and our
Executive producer andette Delgado and our spur editor Kirkland Crawford and big shout out to Wes as always and we’ll talk to you all next Week
After some prolonged scheduling difficulties, Bryce and Omari are pleased to welcome Laz Jackson back to the pod. The trio break down the Detroit Pistons (https://www.freep.com/sports/pistons/) ‘ loss to the Mavericks (https://www.freep.com/story/sports/nba/pistons/2024/03/09/detroit-pistons-game-score-recap-dallas-mavericks-luka-doncic-cade-cunningham/72916636007/) and individual player analysis, including improvements on defense Jalen Duren needs to develop and Ausar Thompson’s shooting mechanics. Later, the guys talk about the borderline-elite efficiency of Cade Cunningham since the All-Star break. “The Pistons Pulse” duo along with Laz also talk about how things have panned out since the trade deadline and continue to look forward to the upcoming NBA draft.
Follow Bryce on X/Twitter: @MotorCityHoops (https://twitter.com/motorcityhoops?s=21&t=yxQgk9lyhbEirCCqBpuSKA)
Follow Omari on X/Twitter: @omarisankofa (https://twitter.com/omarisankofa?s=21&t=20HHeZN1gMTeWITXupRXHQ)
Read Omari’s most recent work here! (https://www.freep.com/staff/2954035001/omari-sankofa-ii/)
Pick up your “The Pistons Pulse” merch here! (https://usatodaystore.com/p/detroit-free-press)
