MONTY DECISION? WHO WILL PISTONS DRAFT? CLINGAN, SHEPARD, RICHACHER, SALAUN! FREE AGENCY! JERRY WEST

MONTY DECISION? WHO WILL PISTONS DRAFT? CLINGAN, SHEPARD, RICHACHER, SALAUN! FREE AGENCY! JERRY WEST

welcome to the Piston fanatic I’m your host Dave Dalton and I’m excited to share my passion and perspective of our Detroit Pistons as we go on this Fantastic Voyage together I’ve been a dieh hard piston fan since the days of Babe Bing and Baner I’ve also been the Barson basketball coach of a very successful program in northern Michigan well thank you for listening Please Subscribe and like in today’s episode we’re going to talk about what is going on with Monty I’ve been waiting all week again I thought for sure by tonight we would have word what whether he was in or out and we’re also going to talk about the draft which is only two weeks away man it’s coming fast and we’re going to talk a little bit about free agency and a little bit about my hero Jerry West so uh before I get started I want to shout out to Brendan my uh cousin’s son that he’s the professor and head of department head at Witchita State and he’s a big likes to listen to the podcast and I really appreciate that Brendan also Monday night I am honored to be invited by Lance karosi to be on his podcast piston podcast three Championship drive so we recording it Monday at 10 o’clock so I don’t know what time it’s going to be be on if it’s probably going to be on Tuesday so watch out for that and let’s get started so Monty Williams what is going on nobody knows and I haven’t heard any rumors except you know we have heard the one about Monty to the Lakers which just seems like a joke to me why would the Lakers H Monty I mean I guess in the past he had been rumored that he had done link to them but after the year he had with the Pistons and we’re paying him way more than the Lakers would pay him the Lakers you know uh tried to sign Dan Hurley and they offered him less money than what we’re paying Monty so why would Monty quit working you know if we fired him why would he take a job with them and you know I I I just think you know he’s my take is he’s just going to want to not coach for a while he’s going to get paid so much money and nobody’s you know he if he um gets paid the same amount of money then the Pistons don’t have to pay him but I don’t just think that’s gonna happen I did make a joke that I would offer the Lakers our fifth pick in the draft this year if they would take him but that’s not happening so anyway um also there was discussion you know I am really would be curious to see uh how Tran langden if he did approach Cade and I don’t think players should be included on know uh Monty had a good relationship with Cade and he really fostered it I guess and he knew that Cade’s the man in Detroit and so I think he kept him close but I think he really did like Cade a lot and and I think um Kade admired Monty and and appreciated him too so yeah I don’t know I I I’m sure that I don’t know if they would ask his opinion or not ask his opinion but I don’t think that they would certainly go by what he says or what you know if he wanted him or not so um but we just don’t know why it’s taking so long so again the draft is two weeks away and I will tell you the my guesstimation and I again I’m not a draft expert I’ve had really good luck with my predictions about who you know has been the best prospects and especially for the Pistons but uh Donovan kingham and he is I think a key uh player in this upcoming draft and he could go I honestly think that he will be picked in the top three for sure by the top four so there was a time not very long ago that I thought that you know he would be available at five and my thought was you know we could keep him but also there there’s going to be teams wanting to trade for him so you know everybody says this draft isn’t good but he is the most sure thing he is you know we know that he’s going to give a team Rim protection and rebounding and he can pass and he’s a really good solid player and he’s huge he’s massive and he’s barely athletic and so I I think that a lot of teams are going to want him and value him and so I think there’s going to be a good price where you know that’s that’s what this what trading in the draft is about the the trick is you know they can’t make the trade most in most cases they won’t make the trade until draft night until especially with the fifth pick they will want to see if their guys is available at the fifth pick and you know it’s G it’s always a you know a Russian Roulette well how far do I need to trade up in order to get the guy I really want and if there’s a guy you know there’s not a ton of guys that people probably really want but kingham is probably one of those so there’s teams you know like Oklahoma City they need a big guy and he would be I think a really good fit there and chck to play the four and they just need some Siz and some rebounding and he’s got well him and chat would have a block party they would have such good run protection but it’s came out just recently so rishe could not go to the combine so they they did one in Italy just recently just yesterday or something and he measured at 68 and a half without shoes so that means he’s close to 610 you know because so he’s almost 69 and then you put on shoes and then he’s 610 so um his wingspan is short so his wingspan is only uh 69 and a half so he’s only one inch plus they call it you know if your your wingspan usually for the average person is basically what your height is and that’s just again it can be lower more but a lot of Most B basketball players have plus wingspan which means their wingspan is longer than a lot longer than what they are um their height so Kade for example Kade is 66 and his wingspan is 7 foot so Kade is plus six inches his wingspan is and so that’s um a lot that’s an advantage and one of the things that helps Cade so just we’re going to really quick talk about Kate’s contract I mean it can so teams can start I don’t think they can um extend people yet but but I think that they are going to extend Cate for the full Max extension and he is well worth it I to be honest I was worried going into this season what will we do because you don’t want to offend him you want to keep him positive and you know locked into the franchise and make him feel wanted and needed and and so he started out the year maybe I don’t know if it was the first month or the first 10 games or how many he did not play great and and he did not play like a rookie Max extension I still thought we would want to but it really made me question and then the way he played the rest of the season in my guesstimation he is without a doubt deserving of that and the cool thing about it is I love watching him play and you know we have him his his fiveyear extension doesn’t kick kick in until after next season so we have him we will have him locked up for six years and that is a great thing to get to watch Kate Cunningham play for six years for me and maybe you don’t feel that way another thing that really bugs me and I’m not I don’t want to offend any of you guys but here’s the thing um we know that the Spurs the Spurs were doing terrible they were down there right almost with the Pistons until like about the last 10 games they started doing better but nobody says Victor can’t win nobody questions that he’s not going to be one of the greatest players ever and his team’s not very good nobody questions pop that pop one of the greatest coaches ever and he is he has been I’m not sure if he was this past year or the year before that but it’s it’s just interesting that nobody questions him nobody Cuts him down for the bad record his team has and of course he I would take him in a heartbeat I would take him over Cade you know he is going to be one of the greatest ever if he stays healthy but it’s just as comical to me why why does he get a pass why you know and again people you know they would never question Pao banero getting the rookie Max extension and he’s not eligible until next summer kade’s eligible this summer but his numbers are the same as Cade and but he plays on a winning team and so everybody values that except not when it comes to Victor Victor’s team lost like crazy even Victor his team won some games when he didn’t play and they again they until they won a bunch right at the last few weeks of the season they won some games but in some in some of those games Victor didn’t play so anyway just in interesting how that goes but anyway Rish is the guy that I’ve been targeting since like January that I said that’s who I would take up I the Pistons I still would take him you know but he’s not greatest athlete his uh vertical was only like 32 inches which isn’t crazy but we need guys that can shoot and it is a challenge with this draft the toughest thing is there aren’t hardly any Shooters you know there’s Reed Shepard and there’s dton connect and the rest of them are pretty inconsistent Shooters and I’ve always insisted that what we need is a wing that every all of our assets and all of our everything that we have should be going towards getting wings that can shoot and play defense and luckily we got ponio so that was a huge to get for us I still think we don’t we don’t appreciate that or still consider that going into the season he didn’t play that many games with him but when he did we were so much more in the plus every lineup was better with fanto in the game but anyway so people think that um SAR and Rish Shay are going to be gone and I think maybe kingham and then a lot of mocks have shepher going up really high and piston fans he is a favorite when I you know I listen to every piston podcast I can and and I listen to all the comments I follow things on Twitter and I know people are really high and read sheeper and I love the way he plays I loved watching him in college he he is an amazing shooter amazing not just a good shooter he’s shooting tough threes you know again there there’s a big difference that’s what I you know same with connect connect and and Shephard they knocked the threes down and they were people were going after them people knew that they were great three-point Shooters and they were defending the crap out of them and they still could hit contestant on so like not like you know we have assar and Stu who are all alone and they don’t even and they don’t even want to shoot the three and and so there’s a difference between Shooters and people that are left alone so but I I thought there’s a comparison pton Pritchard pton Pritchard is 61 just like Reed Shepard and pton Pritchard if you’re watching the NBA Finals he’s played really well for the Celtics and he’s he’s tough man he’s a dog and and shephard I think Shephard probably is going to be better than him and Shephard you know the way Shephard blocked shots and got steals in college and you know everybody thinks he kind of cheated on his vertical jump that he he minimized his reach before he jumped and anyway but he still can jump and he still can block he blocked an incredible number of shots for a little guard he blocked jump Shooters shots but you know Shepard um averaged 9.6 points 47% and 39% on threes but he’s just a part-time player because he’s so short and teams could Target him if he was on the court for a longer time but you know he he was he was good with the Celtics this year and he’s been tough in a different maker in the playoffs when he was at Oregon he averaged 20 points a game and shot 42% on threes which yeah and he was a four-year college player but he was he was crazy good and that it’s just it’s just hard for again I mentioned in the last podcast how many six1 guys are effective players in the league it is very minimal minimal number and maybe Shephard will be an exception and I’m sure he’s going to be a solid role player at least in the NBA remains to be seen but I know a a lot of piston fans want him a lot of people think he will be gone by five our pick so like I said kingham is um somebody that we would want to keep or somebody you know if we I guess we would almost have to trade during at some point because here’s the other condum with the Pistons you know Stu is I think but everybody agrees is a backup five and his shot really improved but you have kingham Stu and Duran all to play the five you know that’s not a good use of your money so it’s going to be interesting but then there’s Mattis bazilus that teams there’s several people who mock him a lot of people have mocked him to Detroit and his shot is questionable he played in the G League ignite all the ignite players shot terribly from the three including Ron Holland and their team was a disaster they shut down the uh ignite team they’re no longer going to the NBA is no longer going to have it because it was so poorly run and every he makes the excuse of no point guard but I don’t know I think you know he had one great year of shooting the three in high school which is not from the three-point line he is great at blocking shots so he is an option for us there um Ron Holland is lots of potential it’s scary so Jaylen Brown when Jaylen Brown came out of college at California he was terrible at handling the ball um Ron Holland is better at handling the ball at this point than Jaylen Brown was you know my I think everybody would agree to that and they neither one of them could shoot very well and look up Jaylen Brown is now he’s going to be MVP of the NBA finals and he is unbelievable and it’s is really hard to gaug and figure out and calculate who is going to be better um yeah so it’s gonna be I I would love you know there’s rumors about who’s going to work out for who and so I just heard that uh tjan Salan is workout for the Pistons I would love to see the Pistons I would love to know everybody that came in for the workouts for the Pistons and I’d love to see Salan gelis and Cody Williams and Holland all at a workout together and see them go after each other that would be really cool to see that happened but I I wish I if any of you listeners have Insight or some um information about who exactly all the Pistons had in for workouts please put it on in the comments because I I’m just fascinated to see who it was I’d be even more fascinated if I could sneak into the facility and watch them do go at each other it it you know cracks me up a little bit so all these people I listen again I listen to podcast I’m not dissing you or anything but they say I he everybody kind of regurgitates the same stuff quite often and how many times have I heard chasan Langdon oh we know who he tries to draft he tries to draft guys just like Trey Murphy III who I’ve said countless times is one of my favorite players in the league I would kill to have him and there’s no way in a million years are going to give him up but they got him with like the 17th pick herb Jones who is a wing one of the best defenders in the NBA and um his three-point shooting has drastically improved I am confident that traan langden is going to make a so we have better development of our players as in the area of shooting in other areas but I I really am confident that he will find the right person or really help us develop those Shooters but here’s the thing is everybody throws out those two examples you know Murphy and Jones and that that’s two guys they of course they did draft them the Pelicans drafted them and trean was part of that process for sure but that doesn’t mean that you know that’s what he’s just going to look for those guys or he’s going to be able to find you know one of those guys because we don’t know buellis could end up being crazy good Ron Holland has tons of upside and you know he plays his butt off on defense and I’ve never been that you know that high on him and you know Dalton connect you know he’s another one that piston fans are interested including myself here here’s the other thing that I said but you know the the recent rumor there’s Yahoo I I think I mentioned in the last podcast that uh Yahoo has Salon rumored to go to the or in a mock draft they had the Pistons picking him at number five people are saying that he’s now like um no worse than number eight that he’s not going to fly fall further than eight he was like not not even weeks you know three or four weeks ago he was like 17 or 20 something on draft boards and he’s just skyrocketing even as we speak he’s played longer during the his French league team has been playing even not too long go so it’s it’s really interesting and I and again I we’re not in the we’re not at the place where we we need to get another prospect that needs time because we’ve had part of the reason why we struggle is because we’ve had too many young players right just do really think with Grimes and fanto so the truth is Stu’s Stu is a veteran Stu is not a a young player anymore and you know this is going to be Cades not going to be just no young player anymore so I I think that some of we’re going to have some you know more stability just because those guys have been in the league longer but I think that um I would still I would if if I knew I could trade back and get Salon I would take him he’s the this is not a great draft that you can be sure of I I I’m really confident that uh gelis or J or Holland or connect or Salon or one of those guys that’s going to end up being really good but which one it’s just that Salon has is taller he’s real active he’s a freak athlete he plays really hard he’s looks like he has great potential on defense and he has shot shown signs of shooting the three good and he’s been one of the better players in their leagues especially at the end of the year the other thing I want to talk about is I and I I A lot of times I repeat myself from episode episode but it is a true thing so the next person we’re going to talk about the latest rumor is Cody Williams to Detroit and you know back in January Cody Williams I had him number two I had Rish Shay on my piston Board number one and Cody Williams number two and other people there were a lot of people in the draft community that had him really high they had him number one I saw people I respect had him at number one and then he got injured multiple times he had a ankle injury I think and then he had hit in the face and he missed some time and I know I’ve mentioned before that he played with two guys who are NBA Talent so are going to go in the first round and they didn’t necessarily share him the ball he didn’t necessarily touch the ball he wasn’t very aggressive I don’t know if part of that was due to his injuries and things know he’s wearing a mask and stuff but I I don’t know it’s just interesting that people said that he is climbing up the draft boards and it’s funny you know he hasn’t played so long but I I listened to a great interview with him and I really man he can answer the questions but the thing that I I and I pointed this out before uh Jaden Ivy if he was based on his freshman year he never would have been picked he would have been picked in the 20s or who knows where he would have been picked same thing um with other guys in that same draft that that they would have been picked much later and you know it’s just a lot of guys develop a lot from what you know their first year out of high school to their next year and so we you know he there’s a good chance Cody Williams could approve his brother I think played three years in college and and look what he’s become he’s again I would kill to have him and I not saying him and Cody are a little bit different body types and a little bit different players and I you know but he he has a chance to take some huge strides and get and to get way better so who knows that that is the challenge and that is what trasan langdon’s getting paid for and I again he has um helped pick out guys like Trey Murphy late in the draft and Herb Jones and so we’ll see what happens in the draft it’s two weeks away I I I said I’m going crazy in anticipation and you know like I said if I think we could get it if kingham Falls to uh kingham Falls to five I think we get um some really good stuff for him even some future first round picks were in deficit you know we still owe that one pick to the Knicks and you need first round Capital either to draft players but also to make trades talk about free agency so here’s the thing about free agency I’m not sure if everybody’s aware of the new collective bargaining uh agreement they can start negotiating with their free agents the second the finals get over so Friday night if the Boston Celtics complete the sweep of of uh the Mavericks then they will be able teams will be able to sign their own not other teams free agents but they’ll be able to sign their own well that’s going to give us a big head start in knowing who we can pursue you know if they obviously if they’ve signed before the pre agency period June 30th then we can’t go after them so I am uh and then there is the fact that you know we can give people a lot of money we can overpay for guys especially on a you know we really overpay guys for two years and a lot of these guys there’s some guys that aren’t getting paid that much and we could outspend the other teams a great example is Isaiah hartenstein he was he was awesome with the Knicks this year and he would be awesome on any team and but the Knicks can only pay him 17 million because they just have his early bird rights because they only sign him to a two-year contract I don’t know if you want me to get in all that but he he he’s 26 years old so he is right in his prime so if we could sign him for a three-year contract but here’s the catch here’s the thing that piston fans need to realize is we are not the destination for free agents sure we we there’s a bunch of guys I think we can get and overpay and outbid other people but guys like hartenstein you know the uh OKC they need a center and they have $30 million we have 65 million but they have 30 million so they can pay him you know way more than the Knicks and offer him you know chance to be on they were the number one seed in the west so he could go there I know he loves I mean the the reports are that he loves playing for the Knicks and he fits their system and the Knicks fans love him and uh coach chibs loves him but you know they can only pay him 17 million and you know if you if he could get you know five million more whatever a year from another team you know what would you do you know he hasn’t been paid that much up until this point so a lot of these guys haven’t been and say same thing with Malik monk so you know not to Pat myself on the shoulder but when he left the Lakers three years ago he he was like 24 years old and he shot 40% on threes for the Lakers and started some games and played a lot and I told my friend Noah I said no you know and he was the only guy that year I said that that’s who we need to sign we need to sign him so instead the king signed him for 9 million a year they got him for two years for 9 million a year and obviously he was amazing and he the truth is he this year he hasn’t been there that great but he still would be a trific player for any team and that’s why I don’t know why we think in and the um the Kings can’t pay him they can’t pay him they they can’t even pay him 17 million like hartenstein can get so it’s all everybody’s pretty much knows that he will be even though he might like it there he is gonna probably go somewhere else but Orlando they made it to the playoffs I don’t know if they were for seed or what they were but you know they need a guard and he can shoot he didn’t he’s down to about like 35% this year and but he can he’s electric he’s 6’3 and they they they’re loaded with players but you know it’s just it’s not that easy just to get him could he be a piston yes he could but again we have Grimes and uh Ivy and Cade and so we have some guards so but you know I wouldn’t be opposed to us getting him but we’ll we’ll see what happens and again it’s going to be fascinating to see who gets traded in again a lot of people say trade Ivy trade Duren and again I’m not opposed to that but what are you going to get for them who wants them and you know I I’m not giving them away for nothing I’m not demanding the king’s ransom for them but and you have to have somebody else in place and so like when people talk about Gary Harris for the Pistons I know James Edwards I third had an article about Malik Mon and Gary Harris but it’s interesting blink monk Gary Harris and Nick claxon so we have we have cers and we have guards and so that doesn’t seem like should be necessarily the priority for us but Gary Harris I love Gary Harris when he was at Michigan State he was phenomenal and he was great when he played uh for the nuggets and then he’s been injured a lot quite a bit when he’s played since he’s played for the magic and you know I think we could get him fairly cheap but you know we have Grimes and so Grimes situation is he is a free agent at the end of this coming year and so we could we can extend him right now but again it doesn’t make any sense for us to extend him and it doesn’t make any sense for him to sign an extension because he hasn’t proven to us he he played terrible for shot terrible for us in the few games he only played like six games or something for us but he we get a whole year to see him and I loved him his second year with the Knicks he was 40% three-point shooter and a dog on defense and I mean he is just who I want us to get and he you know but he shot poorly last year so we’ll we’ll see what happens with him but we we can match any offer he’ll be at the end of this coming season he will be a restricted free agent so we can match anybody and if we fall in love with him and think he’s great then we can keep him but we want nce can shoot threes and he is you know there’s some guys like fono is a good Defender but Grimes is a great defender so that and and uh Gary Harris has been above average I don’t know with all the injuries he’s had how good of a Defender he is now but I just think that he’s not necessarily a guy that we would want so again I’m I’m keep it repeating maybe I’ll talk about him every issue nii Marshall he’s tough Defender and he’s a energy player and he’s 67 and he shot uh 39% on threes and he wasn’t that great a three-point shooter again the Pelicans have had guys um multiple multiple guys that have really improved their shot they have another guy that um they just drafted it a couple years ago that’s shooting much better but I talked about earlier about um herb Jones how much his three-point shootings improved and and again so is um so is Nai Marshalls and and Tran’s got all the inside scoop on him nobody knows him no nobody around the league on any other team will know him and the Pelicans they don’t have they have all these guys that are making lots of money so they cannot afford to just pay him we would be able to out pay anybody spend anybody for him I never hear any rumors about Jaylen Smith and he hardly got to play for the um for the Pacers in the playoffs they he didn’t hardly get off the bench except maybe in garbage time and he is 610 and shot 42% on threes and he’s not always been necessarily great three-point shooter but we can use a backup that can shoot the three and we can overpay him so that’s a guy you know I’ve mentioned before I mentioned before torian Prince he plays for the Lakers they can’t you know they’re really limited fundwise but so you can’t have so we found out that we need you need to have a really good bench in the NBA because we can complain about injuries guys are always getting hurt guys on every team are getting hurt so you need good backups on your bench and I think tan Prince would be great he’s a veteran he knows how to play and he can shoot the three and he can play defense and so I think and he’s not gotten paid very much but I still think the Lakers aren’t going to be able to keep paying him so I would like to see us you know take a shot at him and bring him in because we can’t you can’t have you know if you have assar playing a lot and fanto is playing a lot you know at the 34 then you can’t just keep on bringing you you need to have backups but you can’t play get like oh we’re gonna get five players at five guards that are all really good that were paying a lot that are starting caliber because then you have a problem so I I don’t know I just think that we need to be patient but anyway Jerry West was my hero and Jerry West I grew up when I was you know back in 1967 I started watching and they didn’t play games on I hardly you know I like they being but I never got to see him play I got to see Jerry West play in the playoffs every year especially in the finals against the Celtics and had a lot of disappointment and but Jerry West was unbelievable he was unbelievable in college he’s called Mr Clutch because his clutch shooting in the in the games was out of the SR he averaged like 38 in the finals he was the only player in NBA history to win the MVP for the losing team and all those Celtics players admired him so much and most of you probably know that he the logo the NBA logo that is a silhouette of my hero Jerry West in high school what number was I I was number 44 and it was because of Jerry West also be pisto Pete so those were two by far my favorite players as a young kid growing up that I just admired and loved and try to emulate their game and I couldn’t do it but I I I could do some of the stuff pistol ped I’d come down in games and throw behind the back passes and things and go between my legs and behind my back back back in the 60s when players weren’t doing that but um anyway I love Jerry West and I he had a tough childhood his dad was real abusive to him and mean and his brother who he admired and loved uh got killed in Vietnam and that was really devastating for Jerry but he still he was not just one of the greatest players 14 years in the NBA 14 years as an All-Star 12 years as all-nba I’m not sure if every they had all NBA every year so he might have been all NBA every year he was a unbelievable executive he he uh formed the the team the magic team with the Lakers team that won the championships with Kareem and those guys he was the one that organized and made those teams and brought in those players and then um later with the Kobe teams he got sha to come there and traded for Paul gasal and drafted Kobe mate traded vat debach to Charlotte to get the draft pick that he was able to chose Co get Kobe because he knew Kobe was gonna be great but anyway Jerry West I hope that he right and then he he helped he was real integral in helping the Warriors he was a a important um consultant for the Warriors when they had those championship teams so he helped he helped uh the Grizzlies when Mark Gasol played there and they had um oh the guy from Michigan State that’s leftand I can’t think of him right now but they had some really good teams for the Grizzlies they didn’t quite make it over the hump but he was the consultant there but now I think he’s been at the end of his he was still working I think for the Clippers maybe but rest in peace Jerry West you’re my hero thank you for listening be the reason that somebody feels cared for make sure you look for the newest podcast that’s going to come out on three Championship drive with Lance karosi and go Pistons

What’s going on with Monty? Draft is only two weeks away and the draft is wide open! Who will the Pistons be able to sign in free agency?