The Pistons Pulse: Trade Deadline Primer with Keith Smith

The Pistons Pulse: Trade Deadline Primer with Keith Smith

[Applause] 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 one Hooper and current teacher husband and father of three amazing kids nari Sano for the second Pistons beat rider for the Detroit Free Press and of course we’re

Always blessed to be joined by our producer West Davenport and thank you to everybody that’s left ratings reviews all of that we have three new ones on Apple but guys we will get to that next week because when you get the goat friend of the podcast this is maybe my

Favorite thing to do is Keith has given Omari and Wes and I the go-ahead to call him friend of the Pistons pulse podcast when you get Keith Smith on from spot track where you should be going for all your cap trade machine all of that stuff go there the front office Show podcast

Which you can watch on YouTube lives on Fridays Keith has a little shout Keith I was gonna ask you can you do a Pistons poll Sunday for us but I thought that’s your guys’ thing I think they’re like almost to 30,000 subscribers over there all of that U make sure you’re listening

To that uh every day on podcast we’re joined by Keith that’s that’s the long version of we are joined by the man keth Smith I appreciate it thanks so much that’s uh far too kind for you uh to to give me all those those Kudos coming in

But I’m wondered did you guys sit down like as a group and decide man we should bring Keith in and give him some reps like Jaden Ivy style is that what happened here yes yes we are gonna talk J Ivy first of all I want to ask you this I

Know what your hat means because I’ve asked you this multiple times um and you’re probably like Bryce can you just remember and I’m like Keith I’m getting old man like here how is your daughter doing I know I don’t want to spoil all the information but I just know she was

On her middle school team crushed it she’s amazing got asked to go to the high school team now she’s playing on the high school team as an eighth grader or something like how’s that going yeah uh so the fa stands for Foundation Academy uh here in in Central Florida

She is uh yeah she’s an eighth grader her Middle School soccer team uh went undefeated this year uh 120 and one uh one t z00 tie and they only allowed uh two goals all season and one of them was an own goal she is the goalkeeper uh so

She she had a great season now she’s joined the varsity team for the rest of their year they’re uh getting back to it after some we’ve had the same for Florida the same storms everybody else has had which just means a ton of rain

And mess for us and uh so they’ve been a little delayed but they’ve got a couple games left to go and then state tournament so we’re we’re super proud of her I appreciate you asking because you know eighth grader being on the varsity that that’s a big deal no matter where

You’re at so super proud of her and she she’s really excited to get going no that’s awesome Keith that’s big big time for her uh so huge congrats and before we move on to talking some of these juicy Pistons subjects that I know people are desperate to hear about how

Warm is it down where you are because I just checked my phone and it’s like five degrees with windchill here which is officially winter yeah so I’ve been between uh Central Florida and Southern California for the last 20 years so like cold to me now is like anything under 70

Starts to feel chilly um so this morning I will say it was cold for us it was in like the mid-40s um which is that’s pretty cold for us and uh so yeah I was pretty well bundled up uh this morning when I I ran out to grab coffees um but

Yeah it’s uh it’s I’m not gonna say anything further because no one wants to hear it viewing and listening area but you know 90% of the country is like cold get out of here tough up yeah I think I’m colder than you Amari we’re we’re

Negative I I had to drive to the store I own this morning and it was it was negative one essentially the whole Drive the nice thing was no win today which is the major difference and then as Amari knows Keith you may know this I am a

Huge Kansas City Chiefs fan so they got a win hopefully the Lions get a win today and all of that if you’re listening live on Sunday but you know it’s like a negative 20 something windshield in Arrowhead and the the funny thing is uh they told people to

Bring cardboard boxes to stand on and I never because the cement standing on the cement is what gets you with your feet just freezing so shout out those people that got to go I don’t I I had a chance to go and I’m like no I’m not gonna go

To that um but yeah the weather right now is crazy and the Detroit Pistons right now are a little bit crazy as well Keith so let’s go back in time we’re gonna we’re going to move through this chronologically but we’re going to go back to the off season because I want to

Build this up to where it’s at now and then where we can go with it so let’s just start with this they hire Monty Williams of all the things they did this off season this kind of was the one that seemed like a home run Big Win owner

Tom’s Gore you know put out all the money you know highest paid coach been surpassed now what were your initial thoughts whenever that all happened this past off season initially I felt like this is great the Pistons are paying up to get a coach because there’s there’s

Always a thought with this is not unique to the Pistons but with a lot of teams of keep the money on the floor right it’s kind of stealing that quote from Money Ball of keep the money on the field but there’s a thought of if you really invest into the coach then that’s

Saying something right because that’s you you you have no cap on that there there’s nothing that should hold you back so my initial thoughts were pretty good hindsight being 2020 I start to think if you had to keep going back and adding years and dollars and told you

Know we don’t I don’t think it’s ever really come out how many times he exactly said no but we do know he turned it down at least once twice and then you had to go back to him and keep upping the offer that probably should have been a huge red

Flag and I’ll be honest and say I kind of overlooked it because I was like hey they they got it done but yeah it’s uh at the time it felt like it was really good for them to move things forward because it felt like this was a step

Forward season coming for the Pistons versus kind of turning into Barrett we’re doing more of the same with the rebuilding kind of stuff uh Keith uh I was going to ask how your opinions changed on it but the team has stre wins so you know I’m sure we

Could probably guess which way that opinion has trended I guess what’s maybe besides just the record itself maybe surprised you the most just about why this partnership has going south I think a lot of Pistons fans were the same frame of mind like Tom Gores did what he

Had to do to get you know a coach who recently won coach of the year and we saw what he did with Phoenix where they went eight8 and0 into bubble and then they get Chris Paul and kind of take off on on paper just seemed like a good fit

Just what do you think that’s kind of led the team to this point where it just seems like it’s an awkward marriage at this point yeah I think what is most frustrating for me is the idea of it’s it’s one thing of coming in you have some injuries and things maybe

Don’t go the way you’re hoping to personnel-wise and all those things but I think it’s the rotation decisions that’s what’s frustrated me the most the idea of I mean I joked about it earlier but the whole idea of Jen Ivy wasn’t even in the mix early on like what is

That all about like what are we doing like this guy was one of the bright spots of the team a year prior clear is a perfect player no he’s not but he’s young he’s young guard guards often take time and then that that got super messy

And then it was like all right we’re gonna throw Kevin Knox in there as a starter okay that didn’t work for a game so now we’re gonna go with two bigs that’s not working so now we’re gonna go with a bunch of wings and it was just

This mishmash of stuff where it was almost like the reaction you have to man this didn’t work one time so I got to go away from it and it felt like nothing stuck there was no consistency some of that fully owned driven by injuries and availability of players but a lot more

Of it felt like it was just we’re we’re doing different stuff and it’s fine to try things but but it’s more fine to try things in February March and April than it is in November but it’s like November let’s try to build a little consistency here and then I I just don’t understand

With the young players in and out of the rotation and in and out of the starting lineup the starting lineup thing is one thing but if you’re playing 25 30 minutes as a starter and then two games later you’re not playing it all off the

Bench I just don’t get it so that’s been the thing that has frustrated me most with with the Pistons was it felt like pretty early on I think we could all see all right season’s not going to go well it’s not GNA be a good year so Lisa

Let’s lock into our guys and kind of go and that’s when I wrote about them on Spa track that’s what a lot of it was based around was you got to have some hard conversations and then you got to lock into some guys and play guys regular minutes because otherwise you’re

Never going to know what you have and know how they fit together so before we dive more into why hasn’t been a good year or maybe some bright spots like we can get a little bit positive if there if there’s some things I want to go back

To why why did it not work you said early on in the year we could see it wasn’t going to work they traded for Monte Morris he hasn’t played should they have known that Boons 34 should they have not counted on him as much as they did Burks has played better late

Lately but had a not a great start they you know brought in Joe Harris as essentially a salary dump and all that looking back now with the information we have which is a little bit unfair but that’s what we can do do you think it was a complete miscalculation did they

Completely blow the off season or do you look back now and say yeah maybe but I don’t have a great answer for what they should have done not knowing could you sign uh Kyle kozma or you know this player trade for that player what what are your thoughts on that Keith yeah I

Think if we go back even a few months earlier than that it really started at the trade deadline when they made the decision we’re not going to trade bogonovich and Burks and at the time it felt like there was one of two things at play either they held on to too high of

An asking price or just nobody met with a reasonable offer if it was the first that’s probably not great right right not saying you just got to give those guys away but that’s probably not very good if it was the second um oh guys we got breaking news the P let’s go the

Pistons and wizards are finalizing a deal to trade Marvin baggley Isaiah livers and two second round picks for Danilo galinari and Mike muscala yeah Bose bomb live onon the pot so I’m going to I’m going to get some work done and see if I can do this in

Pot at the same time but have to have to Pivot a little bit here let’s see okay so Marvin baggley who essentially has been out of the rotation Keith until recently he played a game Isaiah livers who truly has not been good as much as

We have kind of been fans of his and wanted him to be good what is the play here what is what so galinari and muscala like what what’s what’s our contract situations with these two what do these guys have left H how does this make sense two expiring contracts make

Very little money they they only make about 10 million combined uh the two of them between mcal and galinari so my guess is this was about wiping the extra year of baggley off the books that’s why you’re putting the second round picks in there because player for player this is

About an even swap it’s it’s a I don’t want to be rude and anytime I say this trust me nobody needs to reply and say they’re all better than you no so you know especially at my age and uh you know packing on a few extra pounds these

Guys are all way better than me and way better than I could ever have dreamed of being um these guys are all okay players right none of them are lighting the world on fire none of them are guys you’re gonna be like let’s go let’s plug

Them all into you know Allstar stuff I baggley I don’t know man I I still want to believe like I I I I want to I just it’s probably that’s misplaced hope uh yeah so I think that’s you know you wipe that 20 12.5 million off the books next

Year that’s going to get them to let me do some quick math here um on the Fly take that away and you’re at 50 million in cap space conservatively for next season if you move a couple more salaries you’re you’re up over 60 million now Bryce that

Kind of goes back to what we were just talking about what are you going to do with that cap space yeah are you going to eat more veteran contracts because to me that can’t fly that cannot be the strategy again I’m not saying you got to

Go all in and go sign you know the tier two three free agents to Major contracts but just the idea of hey let’s just rent our cap space for a couple more midling assets that probably can’t be the play but yeah I mean this is uh that you

Created a lot more flexibility at the cost of relatively nothing I would think I want to see what the second round picks are um before I would fully go there but yeah that’s I want to see because their second round pick just went to um the Raptors in that trade between

The Raptors and the Knicks but they have I believe the Wizards second round pick this year which is still a very valuable second round pick I Wizards or Grizzlies we’ll see because that could end up closer than we thought orig it’s GNA be a good one no

I don’t am I wrong here for not liking the idea of trading like a one of like that second round pick just because here’s the thing this all comes together where they traded I mean it wasn’t a lot for Marvin Bagley but Trey ly is in the

Rotation as much as Pistons fans didn’t love Trey liers no I mean for to get got got it got it I got what you’re saying now yeah so I’m going back a little bit Yeah they they traded Trey ly to get Marvin baggley they signed Marvin Bagley to

This contract and now you’re essentially having like from this it sounds like you’re having to pay to get rid of that contract and it’s almost like is that to open up minutes just to give James wisman more time who you traded sadique Bay to get like this is where all of

These things are starting to come to a head on their Surface by themselves maybe not like into the world but now as we see some of the repercussions I’m like man this doesn’t seem like great process yeah I would hope to the Pistons have a couple extra second round picks

That are down the line like they have a Milwaukee pick they have a less favorable of Brooklyn and in Dallas those are 27 and 29 if it’s those two picks okay I’m fine with that to clear the 12 million is it an admission of failure to some extent

Of we did not get get this done um you know with this trade this trade didn’t work trade and subsequent contract didn’t work I I know you remember for sure both of you guys I was critical of that contract at the time because I didn’t understand who they were bidding

Against it felt like you paid Marvin Bagley way more than you needed to by a measure of in my opinion I felt that was almost twice what I thought he was GNA get um as a free agent that year so that was always a little tough to swallow

Anyway but all right if you get out of a couple second round picks here to get out of that contract but again this is going to be and I’ll write about this trade a little bit later today now it is you you we not going to be able to write

The book on this trade until we see what they do with the extra 12 and a half million in cap space if it’s hey let’s go I I’d have to really scour through my cap sheets but if it is trade for the equivalent of Joe Harris again and get

Another second round pick then we’re just you’re you’re now you’re back to right where you were if it is use that to get something of real value then that could be so this this isn’t a bad move I don’t have any real issue with it but I

I it’s certainly not going to do a whole lot for you now muscala adds a different dimension from their other bigs because he can shoot he can space the floor a little I have a feeling galinari probably gets bought out um that would be my guess he he looks a little uh he

He’s looked looked looked kind of rough with Washington and hasn’t been playing for them recently but we’ll we’ll see I just you know Isaiah liver feels like that almost May might be addition by subtraction you’re kind of taking taking it out I’m going to use my second

Moneyball reference here of I love it one of my favorite movies you take uh Mike Mike mag magnante out of the mix now at least livers isn’t in the mix because I’ve just never been I’ve always liked him more theoretically than what he actually is so if this opens up more

Minutes for Thompson and other young kids let’s go then that that’s a win in and of itself so my initial thought was like okay these are two bigs who theoretically can space the floor a little bit right like if there’s one thing these two guys mcllin gu and and I

Realize like this isn’t a long-term play for either one but maybe you take out a big in the rotation in baggley who has been in and out of the rotation and you tra but the thing is like looking just at bball reference and I know their play-by-play stats aren’t always exact

It looks like these two are relegated to just playing the five anymore like it’s not like you can put them in at the four so it’s you’re still like you’re going to play Duren at the five I assume part of this is you’re going to play James

Wisman I I don’t know like the only thing that kind of gets me a little bit is okay maybe you have a couple floor spacing bigs you can now add into the rotation that’s not huge it’s not mindblowing but it’s a little bit of a step in the right direction of what I

Would like to see them try and do I I guess for me and Omari I AP I know you’re trying to work so I’m not trying to it’s all good from from talking here on your own show everybody knows you give me the mic I’m going to go man you

Want me especially with the trade I will like we might be here all morning this might be the best moment in the Pistons polls history not only did a trade happen live but we had you on when it happened like there’s no way this could have got any better other than for Amari

Who if you’re watch you have guys you have to come watch on YouTube because Amari is glued into the screen but you can tell his eyes are not on the episode it has nothing to do with me and are everywhere I’ve been there man a little bit so I’ve seen a couple

Questions in the chat or comments too is galinari is not a four anymore he can’t he can’t defend in space yeah he’s really a positional defending five at this point in his career he’s not he’s he’s just kind of out when you’re playing him you really you play him

Against backup units where he’s not going to get overpowered he can’t switch anymore he just can’t move he he just doesn’t have the foot speed to do those things because you kind of play him as a drop five and and you kind kind of run through it that way um with that Mccalla

Somebody said he’s a stretch four he’s stret yeah stretch five fully so I think what you do is duren’s gonna play 30 35 minutes T night right you’re going to be in that range with him then you mix a match if you need a little bit more

Shooting on the floor throw mascala out there I wouldn’t mind seeing them run some uh against second units with Cunningham and mcalla just give Cunningham a floor spacer out there obviously when he gets back of course and then you kind of go go from there

And then uh you we see I wonder if maybe this opens up the opportunity to say he we’re going to try to give Stewart more minutes at the five um you know in lineups where Duran’s off the floor and I I think we’re all okay with that I

Think that’s you probably ideal um is where I see see Isaiah Stewart’s fits so there I have no issues really with this now if they gave up one of their own picks or another one like that’s too too much like that’s that that then that gets a little silly there so let’s

Hopefully it was you know a couple of those lesser picks and and we’ll go I’m sure that’ll come out you know within the next couple hours here but yeah it’s it’s one of those trades where the biggest thing the Pistons got is you got off 122.5 million in salary for next

Season that’s that’s really what this trade is about okay we’re gonna go to a short break when we come back we’re going to dive into this a little bit more let’s continue with this let’s let’s put a bow on it and then we’ll try to regroup and see if we can get into

The rest of the outline and obviously this changes some things but a lot of the things we’re going to talk about still stands so we’ll get back into this after the short break all right guys I know you’re used to hearing Amari after the breaks I I don’t know what omari’s doing he’s

Smiling he looks happy and yeah I’m just in a like I’m going to take you guys through so whenever news breaks it’s mostly just you know depending on how the news came out of this assistance w at it so I’m confirming uh you know just texting people uh to get info on the

Trade and I’m actually about to start working on the story here soon uh Bryce I could actually Le off with the question here for Keith Smith just to do my part and then I’m probably gonna disappear for like five to 10 minutes but I’m still try stay on this trade

Though stay on this trade ask you have a question okay yeah yeah no no no absolutely so I guess you know my my sense of of of this trade is that it just kind of sets the table going forward you know obviously just getting off of Marvin bagley’s contract is this

To you does this send maybe the right signal just for where this team is now like let’s just maybe not make moves to you know correct this season but more so just set the the table to get this thing on the right track going forward beyond

The season I I think so I I think your my worry for the Pistons is if there’s any sense that Troy Weaver is on the hot seat and I feel like there probably is you don’t want to go into the trade dead line with making moves that could are

Like let me save my job moves like let’s go trade for Zack LaVine and in in the process let’s move two young kids we really like or something like that that’s the wrong kind of thing to be doing here moves like this that are clearly this will affect little to

Nothing on this season’s results but you cleared out 12.5 million in cap space okay that’s that’s fine you you pass off liver’s restricted free agency decision to another team fine no issue with that either you just kind of kind of move and you create some some flexibility going

Forward that you didn’t have I don’t know 10 minutes ago whatever it was when this came out so I think I think that’s the kind of smart move that you make to just kind of get things moving in a direction what this also says to me is

This trade did not return anybody who is going to be a long-term piece for the Pistons so this may signal bogdanovich Burks Morris Harris they could all be moving too and that’s not a shock right I think we all knew that anyway but I think this tells the story maybe a

Little bit more of hey we may be kind of saying all right we’re gonna move some of these guys again don’t have to give them away because especially like in the case of OGD donovich you’ve got him under contract for next year at a really fair number even this version of him

Which is a slightly diminished version but just kind of kind of keep things moving a little bit this is uh this to me signals we’re we’re we’re in it for the long haul here a little bit more than making shortsighted immediate moves to try and get an upgrade to win five

More games the rest of the season or something that that to me would have been a huge mistake and and I’m glad at least with this first one let’s knock on wood here I did it very lightly so dogs don’t go bananas but let’s uh let’s

Let’s do that and make sure we don’t then make some kind of Allin crazy move that looks like well wait a minute why did we trade Thompson and Ivy for this guy whoever that may be all right we’re gonna regroup this a little bit Keith because we do have some people tuning in

Live right now and so if you’re listening on podcast I do have a little bit of apologies here we’re kind of just figuring this out on the Fly this doesn’t happen to us very often so MB well said please lay the details clearly so let’s recap this real quick I’ll lay

It out Keith and then you add anything that I miss this is Mike muscala and Danilo galinari going from the Wizards to the Pistons the Pistons sending out Isaiah livers Marvin Bagley II and two second round picks which I still don’t think we have clarification on what those second round picks are unless

You’ve seen something Keith Omari is shaking his head so we don’t have that yet maybe by the end of the show if not I’m sure it’ll come out later oh it did it just came out okay perfect uh now it jumped sorry I’m on tweet deck so you

Know how that goes 2025 and 2026 second round picks so that means those are let’s see sorry uh no you’re you’re good the 2025 pick is all right so there’s a weird conditions here it’s it’s probably G there’s a bunch of conditional picks with swaps involved it could be

Detroit’s pick it could be golden states it could be Washington’s so we’ll see then it was a 2026 pick which they’ve got the less favorable of like Minnesota New York pelicans and Portland so it’s not going to be any of because their own picks are already tied up okay so and

It’s not like it’s gonna be a messy couple picks yeah I I knew they had some second round picks that were just kind of crazy looking and trying to figure out how they conveyed and who they conveyed to and all of those different things I like I feel a little better

That it’s not one this season where like I say that 2024 second round pick is g to be even though it’s not their own the two teams that it’s the higher of are both not performing very well right now let’s go through a couple of these um some specific questions about Gallow

Which we’ve talked about a little bit you set it right off the top you feel like Gallow is Gallow more of a potential buyout candidate than mcalla do you think and why would that be Keith I I think he just makes uh more money

And I think he is at the point of his career where we’re we’re near the end there there’s probably a couple years left that boast for him and I think he would love to get to a contender to finish it out he is also the new buyout rules are really restrictive like news

About Gordon Hayward the other day about how he might get bought out out by the Hornets but he can’t sign with anybody who’s over the tax apron because you apron teams um and that’s either the first or second apron can’t sign a player who makes more than the um

Mid-level exception well Gallow makes far less than that so he um he he’s option for anybody and I think for a contending team if he’s like your third or fourth forward you can just kind of throw him um throw him in the mix there and you’re fine if that’s what you are

If you need him for 10 minutes a night you’re probably okay on the Pistons he just doesn’t have a real place because he he’s he’s just not gonna play enough to matter mcal I think is slightly different he could play a real role as a floor spacing big they don’t have that

Anymore um on or at all on this roster really um so he could do that he doesn’t make a lot of money and he could be somebody I think you could even see there could be interest in maybe we try to retain him him on a fair deal after

The season where Gallow feels like that if you keep him you’re keeping him for the next few months then he’s off in a free agency no matter what so tone brings up an interesting question he or he makes a statement we lost this deal talking about the

Pistons I think I attend to agree with you Keith that I don’t know that you lost it I think where you lost it is like you essentially end up having to pay to get off of bagley’s money when you and you talked about this where you

Kind of outbid yourself to give him the contract that you gave him so I think that’s where maybe losing that um we have one here Keith we love you you just appear and bring some big news yeah I mean like listen if we want something to break we

Just got to bring you on the Pod like you were talking about if you go to a movie that’s when Pascal seak the re in case you guys don’t know the reason Pascal SE yakum has not been traded is because Keith Smith hasn’t gone to see the movie he was talking about seeing

And until that happens Pascal’s not going to be traded Doug mcminniman who I know is a big listener Doug Dave Doug not Dave this year’s pick goes to Toronto yes so the 2024 second round Detroit pick goes to Toronto but Detroit owns the better of I believe it’s the

Better of the Wizards or the Grizzlies second round pick and then adding to all of this the Pistons and Wizards play Monday night so I I assume these guys won’t be ready to suit up and play um galinari shooting for just what tweeps have been saying we needed let’s touch

On this again we’ve talked about a little bit I don’t think either of us believe these guys are really for men anymore yeah I don’t especially defensively um now I’m gonna say this and I know everybody will get it I’m not trying to be rude but it doesn’t really matter how

Great he plays defensively if you just need to open up the floor a little bit sure you could play G floor right like I have no problem with that it’s not it’s not like you’re locking down um you know teams anyway so why not get a little

More offense on the floor out there I’m all for the Pistons when Kade Cunningham is back trying to play galinari trying to play mcalla put some more shooting around him in certain lineups um don’t play the two of them together as your backup front Court that’d be a disaster

Um but yeah if you put a little bit more shooting on the floor with Cade great right everybody’s saying that’s that’s you know what you want to do anyway so yeah no no real issues with that I I think though this is more about it’s not more about this is solely

About clearing out that 12.5 million for baggley for next year there’s there’s not it’s this is a classic NBA trade where a lot of people will say why like why why are you doing this and it’s this is they always say 90% of NBA trades for one team or another that’s involved are

About the salary cap and that’s what this is about for the Pistons this isn’t really all that big of a basketball trade because these guys are just they’re not at the point of their careers where they goingon to have huge impacts on a team like Detroit so

YouTube user play Buon and gley together the defense would be amazing like listen we we we got to keep things light when we can so um get your fantasy guys in against that lineup for sure Hey listen like maybe they should just lean into let’s score a bunch of points the

Defense doesn’t look like it’s going to come together let’s see how good you can be on offense and to your point playing mcal at the four maybe it’s a disaster defensively but at least he’s spaces it Omari I think you took a break from riding here either had a question or

You’re ready to chime in here for bit no just giving some perspective from Detroit s so we talked about the cap space element and I think that probably gives them the neighborhood of 55 to 60 this off season which uh positions them for uh two big pieces in instead of one

So I think whether they make that those types of swings before the trade deadline or during the summer remains to be seen but I think it was important for them to just create that room now so that they’re a little bit more malleable going forward and then I just think

Mascala and galinari as well you’re just adding two more vets to a very very very young room and they’re both expiring but I think just getting some more adults in the room essentially was something this front office wanted to do and giving up the two seconds for baggley uh this is

Just be be speaking I think that just kind of shows um maybe the misplace value and how they’ve built this roster so far where you uh trade for Duren and then I mean I’m sorry you trade for Bagley and then you sign Bagley to that deal you probably out bid yourself and

Then you draft and then you trade for wisan now you’re giving up additional assets to get off of the baggley pick and uh I guess TBD on if they’re able to retained or want to retained wisman this summer but you know I think regardless of that I think there’s an

Acknowledgement that the big man rotation just doesn’t work uh you know bucala can play some for he can shoot the ball uh galinari probably not a four at this point but you know I I don’t even think he’s not that good of a season really but like we’ve just

Watched him for the last 15 years or so we know what he can do from a shooting standpoint I think he had a good game against the Pistons last year even so maybe he’ll come back to the LCA that that kind of always happens Amari yeah like I remember Jo Harris thing with

Gallow too his agent is uh uh Michael tellum so they’re gonna do right by Gallow whatever it is he wants if it’s buy me out and get me somewhere to uh to a contender where I can go um we’ll we’ll that then I I think we’ll see that I I think now

What’s interesting and this is I’m just fullon spitballing here but is Boston did not want to trade galinari in the porzingis trade they wanted to keep him they had to to match salary in that deal I think now that he’s gone to a third team if he’s bought out he could return

To Boston and Brad Stevens just said he wanted a wing with size that can shoot Gallow is a bench vet to come in and be you know a guy who could maybe give you 10 minutes here and there I wouldn’t be surprised if there could be something

There I will say though Gallow was pretty uh poed about being traded by the Celtics like he made comments about I’m circling those games and all this stuff so we’ll see but we all know you know uh feelings are only hurt in the NBA as far

As the very next contract and then then everybody feels pretty good again so I mean the Celtics are the number one team in the East I I can’t imagine it would you know I might be able to get over a lot of things if it meant potentially

Winning an NBA championship uh Todd deck says got to think deeper fellows they aren’t going to get big free agents expiring contracts are tra trade ships so my question is there a team in the NBA that has more expiring contracts right now than the p i mean Buon is

Essentially right I know it’s not the same but it’s only two million guaranteed Burks Harris is expiring these two guys are expiring I mean there’s a ton of money in terms of expiring deals what what can you go get it or is that only LaVine is are you only talking

About you know if lavine’s trade market doesn’t materialize you give up just essentially expiring for the Bulls to get off his contract I mean can you get a legitimate guy that’s a little bit younger and on a similar timeline you you definitely could it this is it’s a weird free agent class

Where if all these guys hit free agency we’d be like oh my gosh this is amazing most of them aren’t going to because it’s like we already saw kawhai signed his extension Paul George is probably going to get an extension done James Harden probably not really

Realistic as a he’ll be a free agent but we’re not thinking of him as leaving LeBron not thinking of it that way so most of the free agents you’re you’re already through the big the the big name guys right you’re already moving into tier two tier three type free agents so

That’s where I think the Pistons could be in a place to do a little pre- agency where it is hey we’re going to spend that cap space we’re going to spend it now we’re going to go get some Zack LaVine fine if you if it’s the

Right kind of trade because I think he could clearly help them a lot on the floor um again you’re gonna have to just whatever the rest of this year is you’re just figuring stuff out it’s next year that he could be a Major Impact for them

And helping them but I don’t want to go crazy in a trade like that I’m not giving up Thompson I’m probably not giving up Ivy I’m not certainly not giving up any future first round picks that are really juicy like I I don’t want to do any of that stuff because

That gets that’s I don’t know that LaVine helps that much on the contract he’s on yeah if it’s true that his Market is as Barren as everybody keeps saying maybe he could sneak in there and grab him and he’s probably better than anybody you’re just getting um you know

Out outright in free agency and I think that starts over a little bit from the is that better than just let’s run out cap space by eating contracts for teams to your question of does anybody have more expiring contracts Philadelphia is the only other one oh yeah they’re down

To like embiid Maxi and Jaden Springer as potentially the only guys on the roster um you’ll be on this season with a deal so but yeah I mean they’re right there they’re right there with with everybody uh you know in the mix with

This okay so I just want to put a cap on the LaVine conversation because I feel like this is going to be a big talk in your opinion because I’ve listened to you and Trevor and Shout Out Trevor as well I forgot to mention him in the

Opening Trevor Lane does an amazing job over there with you on the front office show and if you’re an LA Lakers fan you should be listening to his pod as well would you you wouldn’t trade any real assets for Zack LaVine if you’re the Pistons but in a scenario where the

Market is just dry the Bulls say hey Kobe white is awesome Patrick Williams has been playing better the the funny thing is the Bulls are in the playin range right now which is very very interesting in all this but if they just said hey the best we’re GNA do is

Expiring contracts to get off the LaVine money and maybe again the Pistons throwing in a second round pick or something would you at least consider that does that make a little more sense for Detroit if that’s truly kind of what it came down to if that’s the way the

Market develop for Zack LaVine yeah I think so I I would if it let’s say was something like bogdanovic Burks and Morris Harris I don’t know whatever to make the the math work and it was bring back and maybe you got to take back a minimum

Deal as a balancer just roster wise but the bolts do have an open roster swap but whatever that may be yeah sure I’m fine with that like that’s that to me is you’re not in really any different of a position cap wise yeah you a into your

Cap space a good chunk next year but you got a guy who can play I think it’s been crazy the discourse around Zack LaVine AG over the last month or two where it’s like all of a sudden it’s turned into Zack LaVine stinks and it’s like what do

We doing here like this guy’s pretty good I don’t love the contract because of his age some of the injury history stuff but it’s not it’s not like oh man we’re destroyed and we’re falling apart for life with this and if you’re the Pistons this is the kind of shot you can

Make of let’s let’s take on a little bit of money here so I’m okay with that I have no real issue with you know if you want to go get Zack LaVine I just don’t trade the high upside kids in draft Capital to do it and maybe the Bulls do

Look at it and say hey we could use some of these vets to help move us forward in in this push you know forward because let’s face it I mean being in the East playing conversations up it’s that’s not any real uh accomplishment here but the

Bulls are firmly in it so if that that’s where they want to go and they they’re only three games under 500 now if they’re thinking get us to 500 we can maybe make the playoffs okay you know that’s no no issue with that if they wanted to do a trade like that because

They’re clearly I don’t think the Bulls are doing any real uh you know selloff or anything like that I did see Andre dumond’s name mentioned in the comments it just then that did make me kind of laugh because I’m like that’d be what talk about coming full circle on this

One so dond DTV says why don’t you all like LaVine him and Kate is perfect like you know I mean I think the fit makes a lot of sense uh Wes and I talk about this a lot in terms of this team needs a true bucket getter everybody will talk

About LaVine in terms of not being able to defend ke and some of those other things and I’m like no but right now having an offg guard like LaVine I I think my question would be could you play LaVine Ivy and Kade together what does that do with Jaden Ivy that that

Would probably be the bigger thing in terms of if you could do it in the context we’re talking about where you’re just selling off expiring contracts but you’re right I think the disc I watched the game recently LaVine was rebounding he was being impactful there I don’t think he’s this ultimately selfish

Player you know he’s letting Kobe White cook which you know shout out Kobe white as well for the season he’s having right now but yeah I mean it makes a lot of sense before we go to break I want to touch on this one real quick and then

We’ll kind of regroup again see how omari’s doing if he’s living life over there okay um he didn’t even react to that comment so he may have a I’m here I’m here I am yeah literally still texting people getting info on the trade and I’m probably going to have to

Hop in and start writing here soon so I’m not going to leave the broadcast but I probably will be a little bit more quiet from this point on I’ll give up if I have anything to hop in with Mari my my my wife and I share an office

And like a couple weeks ago she took a picture and she’s like this is your work face and you were making the same work face as I was making in that picture where it’s like head’s kind of down you’re really super focused and intense

So I I get it man I’ve been there yeah probably just like the super focused intense like quarterback and clutch time right this is what it’s all about for us on this we don’t get to play anymore so so this is this is like crunch time for us I get it when it’s

Time to lock in it’s time to lock in you know I listen the Pistons PS listeners are getting behind the scenes of everything we we can poor West Keith we threw out the whole outline the outline is gone that he put together luckily we didn’t have a whole bunch of stuff it

Essentially was just kind of hey let’s talk these General things but you know that’s gone omari’s working luckily I have a little bit of experience hosting by myself or I would have been freaking out so real quick here Lowry marinan do you think he’s even on the Block first

Second if he was does Detroit even have close to the assets to make a move for him they’d have to I mean it’s Danny a so you’re gonna have to trade you know Cunningham and Ivy and every first round pick and Gore’s children and you Weaver’s kids and because it’s just

Because it’s any age but in in reality I don’t think the Jazz are moving Markin in I I feel like he fits there he’s on a contract where they’ve got a lot of ways they can go with that one of the popular theories is they’ll re renegotiate and

Extend him in the summertime and they that that’s how they’ll keep him in the fold I think it would without being ridiculous like it just was a minute ago you’d have to overpay significantly to get him and that’s probably not where I would go with that just because I mean

The Jazz are playing really good basketball right now they they’ve won I think it’s five in a row they beat the Lakers last night I think they’re up to like ninth in the west I think they passed the Rockets with last night’s win so they’re they’re they’re moving in in

A Direction but it’s a you know a could wake up tomorrow and be like H I don’t want to be ninth in the west let’s trade everybody and they’ll bottom this thing out even further but they they’ve got guys who can play so that’s a very long

Way of saying I don’t think Markin and’s really in play unless it got ridiculous and then at that point you don’t do it if you’re Detroit okay we’re going to go to a short break when we come back we’ll we’ll talk about some of the other names

You guys have brought up we’ll look some there’s some big picture things I still want to ask you Keith we’ll get into all of that and uh a couple non-basketball things I know we’re in the middle of a trade right here but I have some fun

Questions for you as well I still want to ask we’ll get into all of that right after this all right we are back Omari is writing an article or texting everybody he knows we’re not really sure but Keith big dog Pistons brings up Deonte Murray says go get Murray now we still will

Have 30 million in cap space this summer I don’t know if those numbers are correct based off I mean I know you can do looks like maybe quick math that sounds right your thoughts on dejon Murray’s Market what it would take to get dejonte Murray for the Pistons his

Fit on this roster cap space all of that just some overwhelming thoughts on Deonte Murray yeah I like Deonte Murray as a player I that fits a little weird um with with the Pistons that might be one where I might might be willing to talk about moving Jaden Ivy um just

Because I don’t know if you could play Mari Ivy and Cunningham together where I do think you could play those three those two in Zack LaVine together because I think you have some real size there you’re you’re okay with that um I don’t hate the idea of Murray I I would

Um you know let’s let’s see right A lot of it comes down to what’s your internal evaluation on Jaden Ivy into a slightly lesser degree t right are you in a spot where Thompson is we see him more of as a two that can maybe play the three sometimes what do

We think Ivy is what do we think Cunningham is I I think the door is still very open for Kade Cunningham you could just because of his size you could go to a place where he’s a play initiating Wing yeah and and you don’t have to play him at the point guard spot

And you you could go with more of a real point guard like Mari and be okay it it just those two guys together you’re going to be a little stress shooting wise you got to keep shooters then around them then you’re going to have those two enduring that means your your

Other two starters they got to be knockdown Shooters otherwise the floor is just going to get too too compressed and it’s going to be too hard for them to get in the spaces where those two guys because they live in a lot of the same areas right they’re mid-range

Killers who can make some three-pointers so that just becomes the question of you know do we like Mari more than we like Ivy and if we do then maybe you move Ivy as the piece there you can get their salary matching wise he only makes 18 million this year so that’s that’s not

Too hard you’re talking about Burks and Ivy and you’re there um yeah it’s another one of those let’s not go crazy with what we’re willing to give up for him but if the right deal is there sure and into uh the big dog Pistons comment you’re you’re there cap spacewise too

You’d still have Pro yeah in the range of about 30ish million uh to play with next year and that’s that’s not nothing right you still in a spot where you could really maybe do some stuff and that’s that’s that’s a great place to be as well Keith let me just ask you about

Jadeen Ivy in general you you touched on it a little bit at the top you know kind of you know we we joked about the playing time and all of that you know we’ve talked about de jante Murray which essentially would send Jaden Ivy out if

That trade happened or at least make the rotation a little bit weird we talked about Zack LaVine which again could make the rotation weird at least I lean a little bit more into I don’t mind the idea of a two guards and Cade as a defensive three at least you know

Playing as the small forward defensively even though he would still be the primary initiator I know not everybody is a fan of that Wes and I have gone back and forth about this a lot where are you at with jayen Ivy because I’ve said about four weeks straight I think

Jay Navy’s really good at basketball and I still have all of my jade Navy stock and I will take anybody who wants to sell it but how Monty has handled him and some of the comments he’s made and those things make me question whether whether I know ball or not so where are

You at with just Jaden Ivy the player kind of getting rid of any of this trade talk and some of that stuff Bryce you know Paul man we we all know that so I’m not yeah J I like Jaden ivy too and I would not be just giving up on him or

Making him a throwin in trades or anything like that and I I know from my conversations around the league there are other teams that value him quite a bit and there were some conversation when he wasn’t playing um Regular minutes for the Pistons because he was you coming off the bench getting 10

Minutes one night and just his role was all over the place there were teams that were thinking maybe we can swipe this guy because we don’t know what they’re thinking about him for the future I I want to see him the trajectory he showed as a rookie as far as his shooting

Ability because this year’s been a mess I’m willing to to write that off to his role has been inconsistent his playing time’s been all over the place the team’s been messy I’m willing to write that off but 30% three-point shooting is not going to cut it he’s got to get

Ideally he’s got to get into the high you know 30s low 40s to really be something but I think it’s if you can at least get get back into that mid-30s range which is where he was pushing towards at the end of last season then we’re okay so that’s my worry with like

If you’re going to build a foundational lineup if let’s say you traded for Deonte Mari and kept Jaden Ivy now you got Mari Ivy Cunningham and durren the four shooter needs to be Kyle corver levels of shooting good to balance the floor you’re just it’s it’s not enough

Shooting to have on the floor you’re you’re gonna struggle I don’t mind it too maybe Ivy’s upside and people hate when you make this comment on guys and I don’t get it maybe His Highest upside value is scoring combo guard Off the Bench sure on a really good team and I don’t

Understand why people get so upset about that because Jamal Crawford and L Williams had really long good lucrative NBA careers in that exact role and they were valued guys for 20 years almost for each of them so it’s that’s where I’m like yeah if that’s where Ivy lands fine

Right like I have no issue with that like if that’s ultimately what it is and that’s why you keep him around because it’s like he he’s the third guard in a muray Cunningham Ivy rotation now we’re talking we’re building from some strength there right that that’s pretty

Good mix and then that still frees you up to keep more shooting on the floor at the other spots so yeah I’m okay with that but I’m still all in on Jen Ivy well and the thing is if you do that then he can play on ball a little bit

More as well if he’s that second unit combo guard and yeah I said that at one point as well I I didn’t think bringing him off the bench at the start of the year made sense you know especially I think a lot of that was people were going it’s Killian Hayes playing over

Him on top of him coming off the bench my thing was at a certain point I don’t care if he starts he just needed the minutes it was like some of the rotation decisions in general en were puzzling and as you just said if he ends up being

The six man like a true six man that he’s the Malik monk who I think has been really good for the team amazing this year yeah and different players but that kind of player I I think that’s really really value and Michael says you know Ivy hasn’t proven he can cons

Consistently shoot 100% La I don’t even know that he needs the on ball shooting he shot decent he shot well on unguarded catch and shoots last year and he hasn’t this year that’s been a real part of why it hasn’t looked as well and recently he

Shot too many as well his shot diet has seemed to be a little bit weird so I’m gonna take a few question first can I say something real quick on that abely so last started very slow uh last season but his last three months of the Season

Which was 26 games he was at 42% in February 35% March and 38% in April from three this is just his three-point shooting that’s that’s pretty good that’s where I was starting to get super encouraged with Jaden iy because it felt like his early shot di was a lot of drives to the

Rim contested shots plays where he got in the paint but then he was taking tough follow ways and those kind of things then it seemed like he figured out hey if I can move it then it’ll come back around to me I’ll shoot the spot up

Shot as you said unguarded you know he’s good so that’s where I feel pretty good about that and that’s where I’m okay with him I don’t I don’t love lineups where he is this is it it’s just him you got to you’re the guy but if he’s out

There with let’s say was Cunningham or Murray Cunningham or LaVine and he can be a second of two creators in a lineup I’m fine with that that’s why yeah if his his role ends up being third guard no no issue with that because still you

Can still get 25 30 minutes a night in that role and that that allows you to use some stuff and you could even play Hey if we need to close with more creation and ball handling we get Ivy Cunningham whoever that third guy is on the floor at the end of games that’s

Even better too I love the Vinnie Johnson comment we know Pistons fans will will uh you know they’ll appreciate a good six-man if you you can get one maybe that’s where Ivy’s Destiny ultimately is I think the rest of this year as things lay out yeah let them get

On ball reps it might be messy but who cares it doesn’t matter this is not about winning games anymore this is just about experience well and the thing is he’s another guy that I think gets this tag as selfish for some reason he’s very unself he his issue with his passing is

He’s actually like a truly bad passer some people like don’t see the floor Jaden can’t figure out the Nuance of his passes he’ll throw it super super hard or way too high or offt Target or those type of things but Keith I’m telling you I watch a lot more NBA in general this

Year because of the other podcast I do there’s not many guys that get to the Lane and pressure the lane as easily as Jaden ivy and that’s really valuable in this league and I just I hate to give up on a guy that is doing that in year two

And he’s also showing Improvement defensively he’s not a good Defender he’s not even neutral yet like don’t get me wrong but it went from atrocious as a rookie to at least like hey here’s some flashes of good on ball reps he’s he’s actually found this Nuance in offensive

Rebounding over the last 10 or 12 games like he’s he’s finding ways to win on the margins and I’m like there’s grow both here in what you’ve talked about in terms of in a season where the lineup stuff has been weird for him yeah I need

To see him learn how to pass to a big man sure because I’ve watched way too many games where he’s he breaks down the defense then it’s like let me rifle this ball to the big who’s four feet away from me on the other side of the lane

And it’s like dude just lay it off to him just just drop it off to the guy and let the guy put it in the basket so that’s to your point that’s the Nuance of passing right but you a play in a game it was a couple nights ago I can’t

Remember who they played he got in the paint and he made a highlevel read where his first read was to kick it to the corner and they the the wing Defender dropped to the corner to take it away and he made one of those hook passes out

To out to the wing I can’t I I think it might have been bogdanovich and he missed the jumper so it’s one of those things where everybody’s gonna be like yeah whatever I don’t like there was not no no no basket got made but those are

The plays I’m like oh he saw it he saw the Defender drop and now he found the right pass and he put it on time with the right amount of zip I just want to see that consistently now so that should be I want to see him and durren for as

Long as Cunningham is out I want to see the two of them run 25 pick and rolls a game just find out what happens right maybe you’re mix in a few with Stewart maybe you mix in a few the kind of small small pick and rolls with bonovich where

You have the pop threat I just let’s see what it looks like you know let’s see what it looks like run those with stew or Duran or wisan no longer baggley but one of those guys in the dunker spa and go like I I it you know again none I

Don’t care if it looks messy and all that just let let him get the Reps and now if I’m the Pistons then I know all right you’re not going to be that on ball Creator but five assists a game last year’s a rookies nothing to sneeze

At for a guy who’s not really a point guard right like that’s that that’s impressive stuff and that’s all still in there yeah I don’t know I we’re taking some hate in the comments I don’t I feel like we’re talking very positively about Jaden NY I feel like we’re two big fans

I I’m not really sure maybe it’s coming across the wrong way but uh let let’s kind of finish off here with some some quick hitters uh Omari real quick anything any any news anything you can tell us or or no yeah um it’s mostly really it is just

A a table setting trade I think it was important for the front office to create the cap space now uh just to be able to you know say we have this space now uh we’re ready to deal and where they go from here I think remains to be seen but

They do have something in mind uh you know I think the key the key number here is two I think they’re looking to add two significant pieces and divide that third that 60 million up one way or another of course they have all these expiring deals too with bogy and Burks

And Joe Harris and Monte Morris so you know they have the the tools to do something uh over the next few weeks we’ll see teams either decide to double down on competing or decide hey we’re not playing too well maybe we should sell off uh you know you know I’m sure

There’s a few teams that come to mind when I say that so uh where things go from here over the next three weeks we’ll see but the Pistons feel like they are in position to make some stuff happen and they have the the space and

We’ll see what happens from here so uh I was told this is a first step trade so we’ll see what the next steps are uh you know right now they accomplish the goals of just the cap space getting a couple more vets into a team that clearly need

Some more adts and then also uh I think it’s a pretty direct ackowledgement that you don’t need baggley durren and wisman on the same team as well all right Keith real quick um Doug McManaman not Dave are there any potential luxury tag teams that the Pistons could do business with to help

The unbalance roster yeah I mean you could see a move like the the Pelicans are going to get out of the tax they’re like two something million over Kyra Lewis seems like the the the move there so we we could see something uh like that that happens uh Detroit actually

Saves if I’m right saved saved a little bit of money here so they may have dipped back under the the cap again um I have not obviously I have not sat down and run everything yet they were sitting about 1.5 million over I think they sent out

About uh looks like they sent out about 14 million I know they did bring 14 million back in this trade so that that could be something where they is that a do they create a trade exception or not since it goes under I’ll have to get

Into it and run it because what will happen in this trade is you’re probably going to see so this is just little education piece here teams are allowed to break up trades in whatever way is most um impactful for them um so what you’re gonna actually see is the Piston

They they may they could have created a couple fairly large trade exceptions um in this trade so what you could see happening is um the the Wizards are sitting on a porzingis uh trade exception of about 12.3 million that’s enough to bring in baggley and then delivers deal is so small there’s any

Number of ways you could get there so I think that’s that’s we we we’ll see that’s very likely that’s how this happened and and just to to to clear it on this they only brought in about 10.3 million in this trade so they cleared about 4 million under the C

Um if they create trade exceptions they still can operate as an over the cap team to be clear this is only for the rest of this regular season um if they go trade exception rout or they could go the four million and then if they buy out galinari or they make another

Unbalanced trade uh somewhere down the line and open a roster spot to answer Doug’s question that could be where you say hey we’ll eat Kyra Lewis’s contract recoup one of the seconds we just sent out to do that and I and I think that’s the kind of move you could see them make

Because that helps the Pelicans and you end up in a spot where we’re not we’re we’re not negatively impacted on the cap because you just let Lewis’s contract expire let him move on after the season and now you recoup one of the seconds you sent out in this trade so I I I

Think we’re gonna see I I’m I’m only going there because I know the Pelicans are trying hard to get under the tax line but that’s probably where we could be headed got you listen guys it was amazing having keithon for this there’s a bunch of questions I would love to ask

Keith but we would be here for more hours I I have a couple fun ones though and listen someone’s putting Nai Marshall in the chat like I do like Naji Marshall by the way yeah the only problem with Naji Marshall is he doesn’t that doesn’t um there’s two two pieces

There one you’re gonna have to then figure out if you want to resign him and where’s that GNA go for you not a big cap hold so not a huge issue but your other piece that doesn’t actually get the Pelicans under the luxury tax line so they got to do a slightly bigger

Salary to get under the tax line so but yeah I mean if you could swipe Naj Marshall in a trade where you eat a salary yeah let’s go I mean that could could be the way you could also do a trade where you send the Pelicans something you know maybe maybe they they

Maybe they let I don’t know Jordan Hawkins just with bananas last night so maybe they don’t necessarily want an Alec Burks but maybe you could do something like that where it’s a little bit more unbalanced and you you trade a guy away but yeah could could be interesting all right real quick

Completely non-basketball Mack and geez Keith where do you stand on this because this has been a major contentious topic on the Pistons pulse podcast and I’ve listen I take heat for different takes I’ve taken more heat for my Mac and Cheese I’ve never deleted a tweet unless

Like I just mistyped or something a picture of my Thanksgiving lunch is the only tweet I’ve ever deleted because of the comments that I was getting so mac and cheese we got to get your thoughts I love mac and cheese like I’m I’m a big mac and cheese fan

I I prefer like the homemade mac and cheese that has like bread crumbs toasted on top but i e craft mac and cheese out of the B I grew up on that stuff so I will I will eat that stuff but yeah mac and cheese is great it’s it

It’s you know I I’ll also there’s been times where it’s like hey like this is just tell probably tells like the way I grew up as a kid cook up a couple Hot Dogs cut them up throw them in throw in some mac and cheese and call it a day or

Even eat them on a bun and throw the mac and cheese on top like yeah Mac mac and cheese is good stuff so my take was I just I don’t really care I don’t need homemade I don’t need whatever like I’ll eat craft mac and cheese it’s all the

Same to me and I took a lot of hate for that so oh it’s not all the same man that’s a little crazy there you go so that was it and me and Amari were in Denver here last week and we went out to a restaurant we got mac and cheese and

It was really really good so I had to come on I held my own receipts I I put them out to everybody and and had to admit uh Wes says growing up me and my sisters ate mac and cheese corn and hot dogss so um yeah interesting all right

Last thing because you guys brought up this name on your pod Omari real quick because we’re about to end the Pod then you can do um your real job do you know the name Henry Rowen Gardener Omari Henry Rowan Gardner I don’t think I do

So Keith I was listening to you guys and you brought this up and I started laughing because you and Trevor said that was a movie from when we grew up and I was like oh okay nice like me Keith Trevor were all the same age and then I started thinking about as like

Omari’s younger than us I bet there’s no way Amari knows who this is and what the reference is so Keith I guess you can just give him the little bit of the background Omari were you like was that that big white dude that had a cup of

Coffee with the pist years ago Henry ellenson right right Henry R Gardner from uh rookie rookie of the year right I think is what it’s called yeah it’s a baseball movie essentially this kid uh he’s Cubs fan I can’t does he fall off his bike or something happens I can’t

Some to his elbow breaks his arm yeah and in the process of doing the surgery on his arm his ligament somehow became so tightened and strong he could throw like 120 miles per hour and he catches a home run in Wrigley Field and you know what Wrigley Field it’s throw it back

Right if anybody hits a home run so he like from the bleachers throws it on a line to home plate and then the Cubs sign him and then that’s where it goes it’s I don’t know that it’s a Disney movie but it’s like it’s it’s a Disney

Movie even if Disney didn’t make it where it’s in all this ridiculous stuff starts yeah R Garder and there’s like a it’s is it the pitch pitching coach or the manager one of the guys can’t say his last name so they ran Boozer and Rian bler and stuff like that so yeah

It’s a yeah all right uh yeah I just was like it made me think about the the just a different timeline that Omari and I are on um whenever we’re we’re talking about movies and and stuff like that so uh Omari you do your thing Keith man

Thank you so much I listen I couldn’t I couldn’t think of a better way like a better way for this to go down and for this to happen and for us to be able to do this so appreciate you so much not that everybody doesn’t already know but

Let everybody know where they can find you all your work where you write because it sounds like you’ll be writing about this trade at some point your podcast everything that they should be tuning into yeah the goal will be to have something up early afternoon on

This trade on spot track so we’re doing something new this year over on spot track you can find all my written work there I’m gonna write a they write a yeah lobster mac and cheese that is amazing like that’s a 100% a home run um and they should still be named The Red

Claw they should not have changed the name to the main Celtics but anyway um I’ll be writing about this what I was saying we’re doing something new on this year I’m going to write a reaction piece to every single trade that goes down small salary dumps whatever they are I’m

Going to write you know reaction pie it might only be a few paragraphs if you know me probably not um but yeah I’m going to do that over on spot track sneak preview we’re um gon to be running a whole bunch of trade de deadline content buyers and sellers and all sorts

Of stuff leading up to the trade deadline here over the next couple weeks so uh look for that over there and then you can find me and as price mentioned Trevor Lane uh Monday through Friday every day um on the NBA front office show Monday through Thursday we do um

Recorded shows and then every Friday we do what we call front office Friday which is a live show just like this on YouTube where you could tune in and watch and ask questions and we have a lot of fun sometimes The Show Goes completely off the rails but but we have

A great time time with that we we try to keep the energy up keep it a little light have some fun um on those front office Friday shows but you can find find find us over there it Bryce I appreciate you mentioned it off the Jump

We are so close to 30,000 subscribers so if you like transactional talk and NBA news and rumors and all that stuff hit us up over there on front office show tune in and um you know get get in there and uh subscribe to the show and you

You’ll I promise you’ll you it’ll be worth every dollar you paid for which is zero dollars so that that works out least Omari sorry man I’m sorry Omari no apologies needed this is I appreciate your sacrifice and letting us cook um but I’m sorry this hey you know I am I

Personally am happy the Pistons made the trade while we had Keith Smith on that was perfect timing we got to see Keith uh do his magic live and tap into all of his expertise expertise as just as far as cap and the league and everything as a whole so Keith we really appreciate

Having you on as always it’s always a pleasure and an honor you guys got to see behind the scenes in my job a little bit which is mostly just be staring going back and forth between my phone and my computer for a few hours as I

Confirm and F news and do all of that and we got the you know I would have been really hurt if we finished recording with Keith and the Detroit happened after so shout out shout out to the pons front office thank you for saving us there and you know of course

As as always we love having Keith on and we’ll try to have you on at some point again uh you know maybe after the deadline or this summer after some more moves are done and with that I will go ahead and close this out so big thanks

To our audio producer Robin Chan our editor and chief the co Avery Nichols our executive producer Anette Delgado and our sports editor Kirkland Crawford and a big shout out to Wes as always and we’ll talk to you all next week

The Pistons Pulse is your go-to Detroit Pistons podcast for all the best news, analysis, insights and opinions on the team.

Hosted by Omari Sankofa of the Detroit Free Press and Bryce Simon of Motor City Hoops. Omari brings insider insights and analysis as a Pistons beat writer and Detroit native combined with Bryce’s in-depth on-court analysis as a former D1 player and current high school coach of 12 years.

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