The Detroit Pistons Core Four Need To Answer Whether They’re The Answer The Rest Of This Season

The Detroit Pistons Core Four Need To Answer Whether They’re The Answer The Rest Of This Season

On today’s episode of lock on Pistons podcast we’re going to be getting some insight from outside of Detroit an outside Detroit perspective on whether K hunningham is still franchise Worthy is the young Corp still worthy of being built around and how does Detroit get out of the mess that they are in right

Now we’ll talk about all that in today’s episode of the locked on Pistons podcast you are locked on Pistons your daily Detroit Pistons podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day What’s the deal welcome back to another episode of the lock on Pistons podcast per usual I’m your host cah Hill you can find me over on Twitter at Cahill I want to thank you guys for making lockon Pistons your first listen of every single day we’re free and available on

All your podcast platforms if you haven’t already head to the YouTube channel at laon Pistons hit that subscribe button we are just 100 subscribers somewhere around there from 8,000 subscribers so please if you haven’t already hit that subscribe button or as always you can leave a festar review whatever podcast platform

You’re listening to this s that’s another great way to support the podcast we are recording this episode right ahead of the Detroit Pistons game against the Phoenix Suns this is a day after their loss to the Los Angeles Lakers and thankfully I am lucky enough to be joined by Jackson Frank you can

Find him over on Twitter jackf Frank jjf he is a writer over at basketball insiders if you follow him on Twitter which I’m assuming a live you guys probably do he’s a great uh follow for basketball Insight he’s been at many many different places I’m sure you’ve

Seen some of his work he’s a very smart basketball uh writer basketball you know basketball media member he he he does some great work so Jackson thank you for taking time out of your day to come on the podcast I appreciate it yeah appreciate the kind words and excited to

Talk about a a Pistons team that’s been remade over the last uh month or so if you include the the first trade they made with the Wizards right and and we’ve talked about that a lot on the podcast I don’t know if I’ve witnessed um we’ve had some people on the podcast

Compare it to kind of what the Minnesota Timberwolves did a few years ago ago maybe a little bit to how the Atlanta Hawks did a few years ago as well there’s a completely revamp of the roster the Pistons added eight new players got rid of eight players not

Including the players they had to wave um in the process of Trades to make them go through um if you count those it even goes higher um so it’s completely it really is truly a completely new roster around their young Corp um which is where we want I want to start first with

You um before the season um I don’t know where you stand I I don’t remember exactly where you stand on it um but before this season I felt like I saw from a lot of people outside Detroit a lot of people loved the Pistons young CT

A lot of people thought the piss young core was bright um they had a bright future and maybe they wouldn’t be great obviously right now or maybe next year but they were building towards something with this young Corp and had an impressive one I saw a lot of debate

About who has the best young Corp is it San Antonio not with wemi is it Houston um so and Detroit was obviously in there um so I just want to ask you obviously this season has not gone according to plan at all is the young core still

Impressive to you or have you moved off of where you were before the season where where’s your standing with the young core well I think they’re an interesting spot because I I like when I think of the young core I consider their the core four to me is is Cade Jay Navy

Assar Thompson and jayen durren you can throw Stewart in there but I’m I’m a little lower on him I think you know he’s he he’s played one more year than at least everyone besides Kaden he even missed a year so um he’s had a lot more

Time to get his feet wet I like all those players individually different degrees I think part of the the problem is offensively you’re just so you have so little three-point volume uh you’ve seen Jade iy take a lot of Threes uh the last few weeks obviously I think was

Seven for seven against the Blazers last week um and I like his long-term projection but he’s also a guy you wanted to get downhill a lot I think kade’s a guy who you can B you can Bank on being a pretty solid shooter but you want him in the paint generating paint

Touches getting that mid-range you know Finding jayen dur for lobs obious jaylen’s not much of a shooter um assar Thompson’s a guy you want getting downhill as well so I just wonder a little bit about kind of the long-term congruency of that group but individually I like all of them and so

It feels like over the next I would say by the end of next season um you know so everyone would have at least two full years under their belt three you know for Cade obviously missed one year so uh that when You’ really kind have to start

To know who’s maybe your top two or three of that group um and I know it’s been kind of a long arduous rebuild for the for the Pistons um they put themselves in a bit of a tough spot by not getting much back for their playoff

Core the last time into the playoffs so then obviously kill and Hayes didn’t work out for them the first lottery pick of that kind of the rebuild era so um I like their core four individually but I just wonder offensively about kind of how how you can go about maximizing them

And it does require Jen iy to be a really good a really high volume three-point shooter and I don’t think that’s necessarily something he can’t do but it takes away from what he does best and then similarly with cage so I just kind of wonder where they’re at um in a

Year from now by the end of this season even um so that’s that’s that’s how I feel about them and I I am really fascinated to kind of see what what they look like by the start of next season and kind of and everything there and how

They look to kind of remake the roster and address some needs in the offseason but I do like each of them individually at the very least so just to give you some background where I’ve I’ve stood on this team going all the way back to the

Draft who I wanted to piss and select at the fifth overall pick was indeed inar Thompson I thought he was the best prospect there are fair questions about whether he would fit because of the shooting um I was a little bit higher on his shooting coming into the NBA because

They shot from an NBA uh three-point R range over in the OT and he it wasn’t like he shot amazing but he shot around like 30% especially at the end of the year he shot like 37% or something on self-created looks too so I was a little

Bit more I was higher on his three-point shot I don’t know what how he shoots he’s shooting like this bad at the NBA figuring they shot the same same range so it’s a little confusing to me but obviously I’m a little lower on it probably a lot lower on it now but at

The time I wanted assar Thompson with the SC I thought that was the right pick and that’s what obviously the direction they went and on draft night Troy Weaver and assar Thompson both said something that I think I mentioned on the podcast a few times but it was their idea of the

Team moving forward and they were asked about you know does assar provide you know shooting they you need spacing around Cade you need spacing around ji like is assar really going to help with that and assar and Weaver both went out of their way to say you know the NBA

You’re going to uh we’re going to an Era where it’s about having multiple Playmakers multiple ball handers on the floor that can attack gaps and create looks for other people they brought up Denver you brought up Boston and really if you look at a lot of the great teams

In the NBA the very top teams obviously they have MVP Cal for players but outside of that too you have a lot of guys who are capable of I think Boston is a really good example of this too a lot of guys are able to attack gaps off

Rotations and continue to keep the ball moving and create for themselves but also create for guys and process it really quickly which is kind of like the idea sounded like from what Weaver say Anar was their idea around this team now as this season has gone on I think a lot

Of people are asking the same questions that you brought up and I’ve brought it up myself even on the podcast I’m not as convinced that the core four can fit together because of you know the lack of volume threep Point wise like you can love all the playmaking and the ability

Attack gaps and creating everything but at end of the day you do have to have a basic or a level of three-point volume to be in in the year of 2024 you have to have a certain level of that to succeed um yeah so go ahead go ahead and I I

Think that’s that’s kind of what’s interesting about the Pistons is I don’t think like any of their five if you want to say like five or six picks if you want to even include the Killian and and beef stew in there like I don’t think necess were bad picks I know Killian

Struggled but I think some of that you can also attribute to the the injury um that he suffers R I’m not saying that’s the only reason he didn’t he didn’t pan out but I don’t think it was a terrible pick I think beef stew was good lot was

A good value outside the lottery he’s proven to be a good you know rotation player at the very least um Kate if you want to like if you want to say that they should have gone Mobly um something like that like that’s okay but I don’t think that’s necessarily changing like

Where this team is right now I think is very good but um and then you look at jadeen Ivy was a very good pick at four for I think it was four four or five right um like that and he’s proven that he’s coming along swimmingly in his

Second year and assar you know despite the the outside shooting Wes uh is giving a lot of what you described he is he is playing off of gaps really well I think like the way he scored against the Lakers uh on Monday or Tuesday night was

Like a great example of it hit one corner three but a lot of it was the rle man stuff transition you know a couple of drives when you had you open Windows to get downhill so uh that’s what’s tough about it is like the I don’t necessarily you could think any of these

Picks were disastrous if you want to see the killan one is I can get that but like the last three years last three drafts they’ve made good picks they’ve done kind of the the BPA you know the best player available type of thing um which is a lot of people say you don’t

Draft for fit you draft for talent it just is that maybe they’ve leaned even way too far into that in the sense that like if there was a toss between two prospects maybe the one that you know projected to be a really good versatile shooter and a high volume shooter might

Have been the way to go um but you know I I don’t think there was a there was that sort of thing there right like if if somehow Keegan Murray I might have ended up available you know at four or five whenever Jaden was available then maybe that’s one that you could you

Could uh talk about but he wasn’t available the Kings took him so um and jayen Duran you know even if he’s a little unders siiz at Center he done a lot of good stuff in his first few years so it’s just a tough spot to be and

That’s the tricky part about rebuilds I think even you know a team like the you know the magic they’re obviously in a different stage of their rebuild um you know and are playing much better than the Pistons they they have their own kind of issues with the three-point

Volume at times so I would say on the it’s a big issue for them while they aren’t you know more of a top five or six team rather than you know flirting with a a playin spot so uh it’s a really tricky thing to navigate doesn’t mean

That the Pistons front off has hasn’t made mistakes um but when you look at kind of their Core Group you’d say they’re all in trct pretty good players and you know deliver pretty good value but where they’re picked but that’s not you know it doesn’t that’s not the only

Way you can that’s only only that’s not the only thing that matters I should say when it comes to building a winner and kind of building a core up um naturally so before we move on just get a quick answer from you on this this has been this is something that’s being talked

About a lot in the Pistons Community it it’s after every game during every game before every game is being talked about Non-Stop and for good reason this The Season’s been that bad to where this you know that this is what happens if you had to you I don’t know if you’re a

Betting man but if you had to put your money on this do you think think one do you think they have to break up these four guys event like soon within the next year um move off one of assar arcade Ivy or Duren um that’s one and

Two should they have to make a decision uh based on or based on that core four like splitting them up or keeping them within the next year or should they be waiting longer I I think in terms of practicality I would be waiting longer but the reality is this front office

Doesn’t probably get another year and a half to determine that so I would be surprised all four of these guys were Pistons past next year’s trade deadline um assuming like they don’t clean house you know this summer um because that’s kind of the issue right is that because

You know the and I don’t recall exactly when TR was um higher in this group was hired but because they didn’t really do well to you know kind of use their playoff core you know with Drummond and Griffin and Reggie Jackson and that group because they didn’t really do well

To kind of use what value those guys had in the trade trademark Market to launch a rebuild they started from a flat Baseline and the first guy they took and killing a didn’t work out so you just don’t really have like he doesn’t really work that way so I I think they’ll have

To trade one of them at some point but I don’t but I do think it’s too rash to do something before the end of next season but I would expect them to happen before the end of next season assuming that Trower and kind of his his front office

Group is still in charge um which is bummer because I think like I said all of them have shown encouraging Flash all them have fewer than two full years of NBA experience under their belt in terms of games played um I would say I think the most is probably what a year

And a half for them or so um because theyve all kind of had some different Nicks and nicks and knacks with injuries so um or our rookies like in aar’s case so um yeah I would Bank on it but I do think it would be a mistake but I also

Don’t think it’s like some sort of terrible mistake just because like we mentioned like there is a Bas sign level of spacing that you need and then and ver in horizontal spacing you know in ter of just three-point shooting isn’t the only way to create spacing but you

Do need some of it and the Pistons tried to address that in the offseason you know going to get guys like Monte Morris and Joe Harris and you know trading for bdon bgd donov the years prior and you know ster trading for Alex Burks at some point but obviously Joe Harris didn’t

Work out Monte didn’t look good when he was healthy and was barely healthy here um so it’s it’s a tough spot to be um but yeah I would Bank on this core not being together for more than another year when I think it would be a mistake

But not one that’s like the the worst thing the Pistons you know could do I understand why it would be a decision they have to to confront all right fair enough so we’ll probably come back to that a little bit in this upcoming segment we we’ll talk about all this

Stuff all the core four stuff adding around them like all that is important obviously but if we’re all being honest none of that is going to matter if Kade is not the franchise guy if Kate is not what people expected him to be coming out of college it’s going to be tough

For Detroit so I’m going to ask Jackson we’ll have this conversation coming up is cage still worthy of being the franchise player for the Detroit Pistons but before we begin to any of that did you know that even if you have a 401k for retirement you can still have

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Head to the YouTube channel at lockon Pistons hit that subscribe button or leave us a f star viiew on whatever podcast platform you’re listening to us on that’s another great way to support the podcast all right Jackson so I’m sure we’ll revisit some of what you said

In the first segment with this segment what we’re going to talk about here um at the end of the day you know I like assar you know like everything you say I really do agree with individually I like all of these players and whether they can fit or not and whether they’ll reach

Their potential you know there’s last stuff that goes into it but I I think at the end of the day the main thing that goes into whether this Pistons rebuild goes right is if their number one overall pick K Cunningham is worthy of the number one overall pick and is

Worthy of being their franchise player I think this is a a conversation that a lot of people outside of Detroit in my from what I’ve seen not very many people seem to believe he is that um and and after this season in Detroit I think there’s still a lot of people in Detroit

That believe he is but even after this type of season seeing how bad it’s went um there has been a few people like man if you were a franchise player would could it really get this bad so uh just where do you stand right now I know Kade

I’m going to take a guess I think I remember but I’m not sure I’m gonna take a guess I believe you were pretty high on Kade I think a lot of people in NBA Twitter were very high on Cade um from what I’ve seen but where do you stand on K Cunningham

Now yeah I think I think when he was drafted I felt really really op optimistic about him just having watched a lot of him in Oklahoma State watching him at mon ver watching him with the Texas Titan titans I think this is a team in high school um and I would say

I’ve I’ve gotten a little lower but I wouldn’t say it’s like drastically I’d say I felt as though he was a guy who could be a top five player in the league now it feels more of top 15 to 20 would be his Peak maybe maybe a few seasons at

Top 10 um but not kind of a guy you consistently put firmly in the top 10 in this peak um or I would say throw more um but the the big thing is that he he just has he and the Pistons have to find

A way to get him easier looks I think um because there’s a lot of stuff that Kate is very comfortable with right he is he is really good using screen setting them up with his pacing and his footwork um he and durran have a really nice two-man

Game together um kind of some of the different angles he can throw lobs to Duran or you know find him for lay down passes wraparound passes around the paint around the rim are impressive um he’s pretty good creating space for himself in the mid-range um can get to

The basket a lot um but he’s not a very forceful driver finisher um hasn’t been above 60% at The Rim in any of his I guess three years at to call last year much of a season but um I think last his rookie year is at 58% uh around

The rim which is cleaning the glass calls that anything within four feet is at 58% again this year I know there are spacing concerns um but those both rank below the 30th percentile among uh Wings in the NBA and I know the the creation burden is big but you’ve just got to be

Better than that if you’re going to get downhill a lot um he’s got some craft but just feels like a lot of times when he does attack he’s not winning the kind of the war of momentum if that’s what you want to call it against a rim protector against a help Defender and

He’s pushed off a spot or he doesn’t quite have the level of touch that he like when he finishes stuff um there’s so the craft is there the pacings there um but he’s not drawing many fouls I think I think I saw a tweet or a quote

Excuse me from per Brown Jr last week kind of telling him Kade about a way to to better play off two feet or one foot um and I thought that was really insightful I can’t remember know exactly what it was but it was something about just trying to to help Cade either

Become a better finisher or Draw more fouls when he gets downhill and that’s to me that’s kind of the Crux of it right because Kade loves to play in the mid-range um his mid-range frequency has always been at worse in the 83rd percentile this year is 95th percentile

About 45% of his shots are there and when you think about some of the biggest mid-range guys in the league you think about a KD you think about a Joel embid you think about Demar de R Roan um CJ McCollum is a guy I think has often been

A mid-range player and and those are all guys who had really efficient scoring Seasons before uh and Kate hasn’t yet again it’s early in his career but they all either have one of three things or either a great mid-range scorer like KD and joelr they’re a great free a great

Foul baiter like dear and joelr or they’re a great three-point shooter like KD and cjr and that’s not anything that fits Cade’s shooting profile at this point so um it is true that guys as they get older and develop kind of just become better shot makers whether it’s

Because they find just little ways to become more comfortable in the spots they’re at or create a little more space and not something that Cade’s going to have to do um he’s really cleaned up the turnovers over the last couple months too which has been really important um

That assist a turnover ratio it’s never the end all Beall but just watching the games you could tell he was making a lot of sloppy passes like the ideas were there but he wasn’t quite kind of fully committed to them that feels like he’s kind of ironed some of that out of his

Game which is is important and you can see a lot of the defensive flashes both on and off the ball still not super consistent to me but you can really see when he makes a good rotation you know fighting around the screen off the ball

Or providing help on a drive um at the point of attack he applies good pressure with the size so um that side of the ball for me is him kind of putting together a full season um because the versatile flashes are really impressive but I don’t feel like every time I tune

To watch Kaden the Pistons that he’s making a a big difference on that end so um there’s a lot that Kate does really well I think he’s a very good basketball player but I just need for him to kind of find ways to become really efficient scorer um and a little more consistent

Defender because I like kind of the tools he has but it just hasn’t quite been there yet so um to me he feels like a guy who might cap out as like a great great great number two on a title team maybe not quite number one just because

Of kind of the way that he approaches scoring um and the way kind of he likes to get to certain spots that aren’t necessarily the most efficient on the floor and he isn’t great from the most efficient spots on the floor right now so um a a bit of a ramble but that’s

Kind of how I feel on cage so pretty optimistic he’s clearly turned a corner I would say from the early part of the year when his efficiency was terrible but hasn’t since he come back from injury the last seven or eight games he’s played it hasn’t been quite a

Dynamic from that de I think December run was when he was really really good um when they Ratt off you know that that win against the Raptors and he had some big games against the Celtics a couple other teams so um that’s that’s how I feel about Kate so still pretty

Optimistic but definitely some stuff that he’s going to have to figure out to really maximize his his star superstar level ceiling yeah I think all everything you said is really fair it’s that this is the this is the problem this is why this is such a big argument

In the Pistons community and it goes all the way back towards rookie season you mentioned his finishing finishing and a lot of people have truly felt like that the Pistons just have not built around him good at all they don’t feel like they put a lot of spacing around him and

Made a lot of his driving Lanes pretty pretty small made a lot of which therefore he makes a lot of his finishes a little bit tougher than maybe they could be um I know like his rookie season bball index I don’t know I don’t know exactly what goes into their

Formula how they get to it but they rated him as like one of the be I believe the best uh rookie guard finisher over the last 10 years when you take into degree of difficulty in spacing around that don’t know how much to read into that but I lot of what I

When I see Kade I still feel like he’s I I was really high on Kade I’m still very high on him I think he can be the Pistons franchise player still um you mentioned the Run he had from it was around November 17th through uh January the beginning of January before he got

Hurt in that Denver game um during that stretch of 24 games averaging 24 7.2 assists 4.3 rebounds on 47 36 87 splits like if he averag averag that for his entire season this year I think everyone would be ecstatic about him um but like you said sensy he had another knee

Injury happened um he missed for a few weeks then ever since he’s come back he hasn’t looked um at that level and that’s something Pistons fans have gotten accustomed to that when Kade goes down with an injury even if it’s just an you know Ticky Tac injury usually takes

Him a minute before he ramps back up he usually starts a little slow so that’s the hope is that he’s just start you know he’s rounding back into it he looks like that guy again for those two months um during this season where it looked like he was making that turn into hey

This is the number one overall guy um but I I think where I stand with it and I I would say most Pistons fans stand with it is that he has things he has to improve on for sure I don’t think the three-point shooting is at where a lot

Of people thought would be coming out of college but I think a lot of people agreed that he’s also probably been I have to go through it but we’ve talked about a lot like how many number one overall picks I feel like have been built around worse than Cade I can’t

Think of many I like he’s yeah I mean it’s it’s it’s tough you know like I just think of the most recent ones you go back to Luca I mean they’ve they’ve at least had pretty good like NBA caliber Talent around traded for a couple stars and porzingis and and Kyrie

Uh 29 19 Zion’s always had really good talent around him even if the space has been great he’s had guys like Ingram and McCullum and yonis Fen chunis Lonzo before he got before the signning trade um 2020 Anthony Edwards has always had you know they weren’t great as rookie

Year but he always had someone like Carl the towns now they have go they’ve built really well um 2022 pyos you know there’s there’s some issues for POW too but you know I’m sure that Kade would love to have a player of of fron vogner’s caliber on on his side so um

But I think you know Jamal M’s also done a really good job in terms of the coaching um you know Monte also kind of identified their their their identity they they’ve went they have big wings they have big versatile centers and they’re a really good defensive team whereas the Pistons seem like they’re

Just like you said in the first segment you know just kind of throwing like best player available at the wall over and over and over and seeing what sticks yeah and then with W it’s two you know they haven’t had a draft to build around

Him yet so it it’s too early to say so uh and then 2017 folz was the first first pick they already had him beat they already had been Simmons so yeah I don’t think there’s been a a pick in recent member that’s had worse um like infastructure whether that’s the talent

The coaching the front office like because even if you look at like wemy you could say that the front office is very cohesive with a vision for what it wants and it has papovich there who I think is doing a really good job building up that kind of that that group

Of young guys around wemy and wemi himself so yeah and that again that’s not to excuse everything that that K has to figure out but clearly there’s a lot working against him that uh players of the last six seven years drafted first St has not had to endure

Um that’s for sure all right so we’ll leave it there let us know let me know in the comment section down below or on Twitter you can let me know cah Hill or Jackson over jackf Frank jjf do you think Kate is the franchise player for the Detroit Pistons as he progressing

Along just give me your thoughts on where you guys stand with that um coming up though how does Detroit get out of where they’re at are are they stuck here is it time to just blow it up how exactly does Detroit talk about that or get out of this situation they’re in

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Single day free available on all your podcast platforms if you haven’t already head to the YouTube channel at lockon Pistons hit that subscribe button or leave us a festar review whatever podcast platform you’re listening to us on that’s another great way to support the podcast this podcast has went a

Little bit longer than expected that usually what happens Jackson I I don’t know how many other locked on podcasts you’ve done but every time I get a guest on here it goes a little longer this is so hard to fit like a back and forth in

30 minutes it’s tough to do it so we’ll try to get this thing wrapped up as quick as possible but last thing I want to talk with Jackson about who again I want to thank you for coming on and making time out of your day I know

You’re a busy guy um how does Detroit get out of this position they we’ve talked about how bad their season’s been you talk about the questions around their young core now whether they are guys that can fit together and move forward we talked about whether cage is

The franchise guy we talked about how badly they you know him compared to other recent first overall picks how badly his situation has been and now before these trades last month which they’ve looked better over the last month they’re not good but they look better than the worst team ever which is

Like the pace they were on before those trades they were fighting the 1973 Sixers for the worst record ever um in the midst of all that that that really pushes the question and you know you’ve asked about Troy Weavers you know his his job earlier in the podcast but it

Asked the overall question can and how does Detroit get out of this and are they still on you know whether it was really bumpy and there was a bunch of potholes are they still on the right Road to restoring the Pistons to where they were for basically my my entire

Childhood um is there a way are they still on that right path where do you stand with this yeah I mean I liked their deadline I thought you know part of their issue immediately after that first trade that they made that landed them galinari and muscal was the the

Rotation was very good for space run at stars but like every space from the rotation was a pretty Dreadful Defender whether that was muscala Gallow bogdon Alec Burks um and that made it tough to field any sort of formidable defense so even if the offense looked better and

The product itself looked better they had some competent games some really like competitive games against good teams um but they didn’t really have a chance of getting sort of stopped uh you can tell that with the trade for Simone fento and Quinton Grimes those are two

Two-way guys that uh can space the floor well take a ton of Threes um can do a little bit off the bounds too so they’re not just stationary spot up guys um that’s you know that’s kind kind of the archetype everybody wants right the floor spacer can defend um but that’s

That’s exactly what they need to keep targeting just two-way guys I think that can that are legit spacers um and I think if you have to sacrifice a little bit of the defense to get more volume shooting around your star guys I can amplify you know Kade and Jaden and

Jayen Duran and assar that’s okay because ideally right at least three of those guys three your core are really high level Defenders and assar Kaden and Jaylen Duran I know Jaylen I don’t know how you feel but for me I felt like he’s been a little up and down this year on

That end um and he again he is also working from a side deficit he’s just much smaller than a lot of cers it hurts his ability contest shots um it hurts his ability to cover ground like other Centers do especially ones that are seven feet and above um so he’s in a

Tough spot there but that’s that’s kind of the way for them to get out I think to continue making moves like the ones they made immediately at the deadline last week it’s either said than done you know you’re not going to find a a Quinton Grimes a young 3 andd player who

Was very impressive last year for the Knicks um in their on their way to a second round appearance in the playoffs so um but I really like those two moves you know Simone is a restrictive free agent after this year but you know restricted free agency you hold all the

Cards in your hand um in terms of kind of wanting a guy to stay or leave uh you know Grimes is due for an extension I he’s extension eligible after the season but um you hope that he can come back soon I think it’s a knee brain or

Something like that these yeah knee contusion something like that um you hope he can come back and kind of get integrated over the last 20 25 games of the Season post All-Star break so um I like those moves that’s kind of where you need to keep going I think fining

Legit backup center now would be would be good um you know I thought wisman was okay yesterday against the Lakers but on the whole it’s been a tough year for him and muscala isn’t really any sort of playable Center because you can’t switch him you can’t play Drop um so I would

Say finding a floor spacing Center would be really nice for them uh I know there’s kind of been a lot of emphasis to make beef stew into this Force basing for for SL floor spacing backup five I just don’t know if he’s ever going to get there I don’t know if the ball

Skills are good enough to get there either um you know I know they already signed this guy but I wonder if they make another run at Kelly oin this off season I think he’s a free agent um I think he would be a nice backup for them and he did help um you

Know a lot when he was there um but at the same time it’s you know I thought bogdon helped a good amount even though he wasn’t as good this year he still gave him a lot of spacing and and self creation and whatnot so that’s kind of

What I would be targeting is just guys that you can trust to um hold their own defensively I don’t know if Len can do that so but in general guys you’re going to play Big minutes around your core 4 um and Shuffle item out would be important it’s been inter I feel like

Monty has tried to play the core more lately but it’s also led to a lot of bench lineups that don’t have a lot of viable rotation players um the all bench lineups are bench heavy lineups that makes it tough so um and I I think you

Know I’ve been critical of mon a lot of people have I think he’s done some good stuff for them I understand why it’s tough to kind of like it’s t you want to see what your core has but you also don’t want to just tank them in St your

Core because the core isn’t a bunch of like positive impact players yet so um yeah it’s not it’s not a great spot for Detroit to be in but I like the vision of what they done um you know with these last few moves I can tell they’re really stressing the importance of

Amplifying their best players um it’s been some Hit or Miss stuff I they already cut ginar um Mcall you can tell is a guy that I think Monty doesn’t love playing a ton because of the defensive issues but also recognizes the the spacing that he

Brings as a five or a four um so I’ve I’ve been encouraged by some of the moves they’ve made the last month or so um but at the same time it is it is the identical front office that’s been in charge for three and a half years so um

Maybe longer I don’t know again I don’t recall exactly when the Weaver era started but um it does seem like there’s at least been some sort of shift in kind of the priorities around you know the decision making so um the the Hope should be that for that continuing the

Off season and and they can maybe find some legit uh vet level Talent not guys like you know Monte Joe Harris like I I liked those moves in the off season but Joe just had nothing left unfortunately and and Monte got injured and uh we’ll

See if he kind of find his own form Minnesota but um you know it was a tough tough couple mov that looked it on paper but didn’t didn’t work out and I think that’s somewhat the the saying for the Pistons right now is moves a good on

Paper but don’t work out um that’s not to say they’re in you know Dire Straits but it’s kind of how it’s gone so far so I I mean we’re at 36 minutes and we we gota wrap this up soon but I have I could ask you so many more questions I

Wanted to ask you three more questions but we’re I ask you just one more my most important one because there’s a few things I want to get your thoughts on but he maybe maybe in the future we’ll get more thoughts from you on it there’s one this is one question I really want

To get your perspective on and then we’ll wrap it up we want don’t want to stay too long but there’s a lot conversation around let me just present like this my thoughts are if your core 4 can’t play together in a lineup and that that enables each other if they can’t fit

Together where you can play them long stretches and and you know you play well because they play off of each other and they can play well you have to move one that that is my opinion I know a lot of people believe well you can just bring

One Off the Bench you can just you know you can keep one away from the other three etc etc it’s my op if that’s your if that’s your core four guys and you’re having to do that because you don’t believe they can play together I don’t then they shouldn’t be your core guys

That’s my opinion you need to move off of you your core guys need to be able to play together if you’re going through all these efforts to keep them away from each other because they can’t fit I think that’s a problem um where do you stand with that basically do you believe

That like like we mentioned with the Cade ivr Duran uh do you think they need to be when you have a core guys like that if you have a core four or core three whatever like those guys need to be able to play together or do you think

You know it is what if one has to come off the bench if you need to keep one away you can still those guys can still be confirmed like referred to being your guys your your team’s core even if they don’t fit together where do you stand on

That kind of argument and then we’ll wrap up the podcast yeah I think you’re correct I think you look at you look at some of you know the the best cores or Duos of the past you know I would say currently or even in the past five year

I mean look at look at Denver’s young drafted Coral we’ll say just joic Murray and mpj you th Gordon and there everybody he was traded for they all work together at their best together right you look at OKC Chad SGA and Jay Williams they all work at their best

Together um you look at the Celtics you just if you want to say Jaylen and Jason you could throw Marcus Martin there before they traded him they all work at their best together um you look at him like the Sixers right before you know they Ben Sim and Joe and be worked well

Together but they traded him for they traded Simmons for James Harden who worked beautifully alongside embiid and Maxi now Maxi and embiid work really well so it it’s a really tough argument to the one that you were kind of talking against right that like oh you just

Bench him and and things like that and I think it’s something the Cavs are trying to figure out the Cavs have been really really good lately but you still kind of have some questions right about kind of Moy and Allen together I know the numbers are good but um they’ve really

Been staggering them since Moy came back so um yeah I absolutely would agree with you and something that I think T has to figure out over the next where they got 29 games left or something like that um and I think if they don’t feel confident that they this group could grow into

Something like that then they would have to I would say make a pretty aggressive move this off season they feel as though things are trending in the right direction over the last you know 30 game once they have kind of this group in in intact um then maybe you give another

Shot but uh yeah absolutely you can’t really like stagger guys like that I mean you can but that’s more because I think think when you stagger guys to me the idea is bringing up the nonc core players right like right and so and I think like it shouldn’t be oh you’re

Staggering them because you because they step because the core steps on each other’s toes right it’s not really maximal team building so I definitely agree with you and it’s something that Detroit um and the core itself has to figure out right it can’t just all be on

The that’s have to say that it’s it’s a balance right so um it’s on kind of those guys over the next two months to figure it out together and it’s on the front office to to watch how they play together and and make decisions based

Off of that all right we’ll wrap it up there thank you Jackson so much for coming on the podcast you guys can find them over on Twitter at jackf Frank jjf you can find his work over at basketball insiders again I want to thank you so much for coming on I know you’re

Extremely busy guy you got a lot of stuff going on so I appreciate it tremendous basketball Insight um I’ll catch you guys in the next one thank you guys for making lock on Pistons your first listen of every single day we’re free to on all your podcast platforms

Hit that subscribe but to the YouTube channel leave us a five star review whatever podcast platform you’re listening Che this on hopefully the Pistons get can get fully healthy over Allstar break and we get this full roster after All-Star break but until the next one I’ll see you guys later till then peace

Out

The Detroit Pistons have dubbed Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, Ausar Thompson, and Jalen Duren the core four of this “restore”, but are they? Will they ever fit enough together to lead Detroit back to respectability? This is a question they must answer for the rest of this season.
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