The Pistons Pulse: Trade Deadline, Cap Space, Free Agency w/Keith Smith

The Pistons Pulse: Trade Deadline, Cap Space, Free Agency w/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 D1 ER and current teacher husband and father of three amazing kids D Mari Sano for the second Pistons beat writer for the Detroit Free

Press and of course we’re always blessed to be joined by our producer West Davenport and today we have the man the goat The Legend and I could not be like I just get so excited that we can call Keith Smith a friend of the Pod like

This is the coolest thing to me this man has one of the best maybe the best in well you know I’m on Game Theory too so I got to give that a shout out but one of the best podcast out there for NBA him and and you know what I don’t give

Trevor enough love as well Trevor is awesome Trevor Lane does a great job I’ve got to know him a little bit also but friend of the Pod uh contributor at spot Trak make sure you guys are using that as well the front office show if you guys don’t know you should be

Listening to that even if you love the Pistons PSE you should be listening to the front offish Keith Smith what’s up welcome back I don’t know that we can outdo last time where we where you played W and broke down a trade live on the episode I don’t think we outdo that

But man we’re going to talk some ball today Keith welcome back I appreciate it thanks so much for having me thanks for the kind words about front off show we we have a lot of fun over there Monday through Friday we’re on little bit of a break right now because of the All-Star

Break Trevor is doing some traveling but but we’re we’re just happy to uh you know have the chance to talk ball and I’m excited to dive into the Piston stuff with you guys Keith I’m just curious when you get in between the trade deadline and the offseason obviously you still have offseason stuff

You can break down but does your life get easier in the sense of just there’s not as much maybe to project or what do you do during this time of the year yeah for a little bit it does but now I’m throwing myself more in now that I’m not

Covering a team anymore I’m throwing myself into the draft way more so I’m spending a lot of time uh watching college trying to C catch International Film uh where where I can and the like so those are the things that I’m uh spending more time on now but the

Offseason it sounds crazy but it’s only four months away so like we’re we’re like already doing all of our offseason prep work and a lot of what what I end up doing with that is it’s a lot of conversations with players and teams and uh agents and what are you thinking what

Do you thinking especially guys with options and guys who have guarantees and the like and things like that so those are the things that we’re having a lot of those conversations and obviously still watching all the games and getting ready for the bet you know I’m a

Transaction guy I get it but the best time of the year is the playoffs right so so that that so obviously trying to gear up for that and making sure I keep an eye on the teams that are a little bit further out too because I don’t want

To get into an offseason point and not understand hey after the trade deadline t-x started playing this guy 25 minutes a night I don’t want to be surprised by that so I try to keep tabs on everybody Keith is there someone at the top of the

Draft like I I feel like in general have have you got to watch SAR and R Shay and Cody Williams do any strong takes in terms of like I don’t want to put you on the spot here we didn’t say that we were going to talk about the draft but is

There a guy that you would have number like for me it’s Alex SAR you I actually emailed you my top five after listening to your pod um but you know Reay is right there Cody Williams is a guy for people do you have kind of a a leader at

Right now on February 18th with obviously tons that can change yeah I like Alex SAR too I I think he’s got kind of everything you want in a modern big and I think eventually he’s going to really expand his range even more and more consistently you see he’s just got

Good touch he’s got got pretty good form I think he’ll be a pretty solid Defender I think if this was even five years ago he might have been a little lower because he’s not he’s just not very bulky and strong yeah but I think the way he moves I think now we’re

Prioritizing movement Defenders more than strength defenders in the NBA and I think he’ll add strength as you know as he ages as he grows so I I really like him but I’m really starting to get big on Cody Williams okay I I just he he he just there’s he just he’s like his

Brother like he just is impactful like he just does stuff and there’s even times when he’s not shooting it well or he’s not having the greatest offense he’s just involved he’s making uh plays where he moves the ball he’s a competitive Defender so I really kind of

Like him the fun thing about this draft is I get it’s a quote unquote bad draft by the there’s not these super duper Star Talent at the top but I feel like the more I dive in guys are like if we could import four guys at the top four

Picks to be those Stars the next like five through like 20 are going to be good solid NBA players and then there’s obviously going to be other guys who emerge beyond that so so I’m excited about the depth of the draft from the standpoint of I think that will make up

A little bit for the overall lack of Superstar Talent at the top and I’ll also just close out my thoughts on that we say whenever we say this by the time we get to June there’s like three guys everybody’s all fired up about and then by the time we actually get into next

Season there’ll be like four or five guys that are like wow these guys are actually way better than what we thought rarely does a bad draft end up staying a bad draft all the way through the entire cycle yeah I I love what you said about importing four guys because I’ve made

That exact same kind of reference in terms of if you put and not even Victor but if you just put like scoop Brandon Miller and a Min Thompson or something in this draft everybody would be raving about alexar if was your fourth pick or Cody Williams if he like they just don’t

Look like number one potential number two guys it’s like that’s just this draft we kind of have to change our mindset with what the number one pick looks like but Omari we do have to talk a little bit about some Pistons news that I don’t think we talked about on

Our previous episode and Keith we’ll get your thoughts on this as well so Omari just break down what we know about Isaiah Stewart’s incident with Drew Eubanks before that game against the Phoenix Sons obviously there’s been reports he got arrested released it happened in the tunnel whatever what can

You tell our listeners and then we’ll get Keith’s thoughts and what he knows about it as well yeah uh so of course Isaiah Stewart punched JW Eubanks for those who were out of the loop this past week I couldn’t tell you what led up to it uh probably something in their last

Matchup against each other when Phoenix came to Detroit but I really couldn’t tell you what led to that beef that led to them having an altercation hours before that last game on Wednesday uh so I would assume that the NBA is waiting till after allar festivities di down a

Bit to hand out that punishment and that could be handled out by the time this episode comes out we will see um beyond that I don’t have a whole lot else to add um except that it’s just unfortunate for the Pistons given that he had already missed the last nine games

Leading up to Allstar break and after an incident like that especially with it being being his second incident you know of course after the LeBron situation a few years ago you would think that they would hand down a stronger punishment um I don’t want to try to predict how long

It’ll be but we’ll just have to wait and see as far as that but obviously an unfortunate situation that you have a player get in trouble and now you’re looking at missing that player for several more games on top of what he already missed leading into All-Star

Break Keith what are your thoughts on this and you know Amari talked a little bit about maybe what the punishment will be be or could be like you know do you have any insight based on history of kind of how the the league has handled these things with maybe other players

Right that have a little bit of history in these situations has some other suspensions that type of stuff yeah I think one you have a little bit of History here so that’s going to factor into the punishment as well we’ve seen that especially with Joe Dumar he he’s

Referenced that in a handful of punishments he’s handed down whether they be fines or suspensions uh with that I think also the NBA they really don’t like when this stuff happens off the court they don’t like it when it happens on the court either but when it

Happens on the court there’s always the uh I guess the context of stuff happens in games guys get fired up and they go at each other sometimes and sometimes it gets physical in a way you know we don’t really like but they they they own that that that can happen this happening

Hours before a game in in a not even not even like they I mean maybe they did bump into each other who knows but whatever it was that happened it was like they’re not going to like that so I’m going to guess we’re gonna see Isaiah Stewart get hit with a a fine

Suspension and and he’s probably gonna miss a handful of games now the question will be would you have missed those games anyway because I know he’s been dealing with an injury so we’ll we’ll find out what that looks like but I do do expect he’s gonna get he’s gonna get

Hit semi hard with this I don’t think it’s going to be a 10 game suspension or anything like that but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s in the three to five game range just because of the the history and the fact that this happened off the court all right Keith let’s get

Into the deadline so we’re going to work kind of chronologically like we do with you we’re going to start at this year’s deadline though we’re going to move forward we’ll get your thoughts on the young core and how the team’s looking and then we’ll get into the offseason

Because I know Pistons fans have a lot of questions because there’s a lot to talk about cap space and you free agent class and all of that but let’s go back to the deadline I want to zoom out first and then we can ask you about specific

Deals but zooming out they get rid of Buon and Burks and Monte Morris like all of these older quote unquote exp players with expiring contracts I know Bon’s not exactly expiring but we all you know the two million guarantee they bring in not necessarily youth or younger players but

Like three and D essentially guard Wings Grimes fonio I think even like Troy Brown and Shake Milton would fit into that to some extent what were your thoughts overall just kind of on the roster construction management kind of like what this team now looks like here

As we go through the next couple months to finish off the season yeah think even if we go back almost a month earlier to the baggley trade sure they signaled we’re going after cap space in that trade because otherwise there was no real reason to get off of his money for

Next year by giving up uh what they gave up to do that so so that was signal number one right like we we’re going after cap space so then it became of course we had a lot of stories of well we don’t have to trade these guys and

And I like to always remind people there’s a ton of posturing that goes on at the trade deadline right it it starts out with every guy you have to have two first round picks for and then sometimes it it’s all right we’re fine to take a single second and those kind of things

But did given the Pistons a year ago deadline where they kept those guys that that you had to at least go and saying maybe they will hang on to some of these guys I think the fonio deal it started out slightly confusing because it was what is happening here like like this

Guy is well you’re taking on a little bit of money uh here in this trade you’re you’re picking up a guy who if you want to keep them you’re gonna have to resign them what is that going to look like but when you look at it in the

Aggregate it makes a lot more sense because my guess is they were probably somewhat far down the line on the bonovich trade when the fono deal got done these things it we like to think of them as all sequential order and that’s like my brain wants to think of these

Things this way just because it makes it very simple math wise but that’s not how it works right you’re having a hundred conversations at once and you’re trying to just piece it all together and then then ultimately there comes a time where it’s like all right we have to lay these

Out now because we have to order them to to get the transactions in but I think what what they’re doing here is it was just a reset of things with get the longterm money out but let’s still have a few vets here but these are now vets

Where we don’t have to play them we don’t have anything invested in Troy Brown Jr we don’t have anything invested in Jake Milton we have nothing invested in Evan fornier if they play great if they don’t it’s not the end of the world where guys like bogdanovic you had an

Investment in him because Dan traded for him and extended him Burks you went out I know that was a salary dump trade initially but you’ve had them for a couple years Uh Kevin Knox was a guy you actively signed so now you’ve changed it

To hey if we want to have a game where Thompson’s going to get 40 minutes tonight no matter if he throws the ball in the eighth row 25 times like you could do it because no one’s gonna say you know we we really should play Alec

Burks and and if you know if Evan for is getting upset you’re like cool man like you’re probably out of here in four months anyway so we don’t necessarily really care all that much if you’re upset while the kid is out there making mistakes so that’s I think the

Rebalancing and then obviously getting off that future money gave them that flexibility moving forward the Pistons were more active than any other team during the deadline by a pretty wide margin which is not surprising given the circumstance that they started the season under which everybody knows don’t necess need to recap

Overall um not necessarily a grade on their dead line but sort of what did you see the Pistons trying to accomplish with the moves they made uh obious obviously with fonio and Quinton Grimes probably being the two most significant assets they got back yeah I I I feel

Like and I didn’t mention Grimes before and Grimes is obviously in a different case than a lot of those other guys because he is somebody you can move forward with as part of things uh there so I think that that was was a great pickup I think overall when you look at

All their moves like you said the fono move initially seemed a little confusing because that one came out early in the morning right or at least in the morning portion and the rest built as the day went along that one was a little like okay I guess like I guess had a shooter

For not really all that much sure why not but then when when you looked at the rest it was like okay I kind of get this these these moves piece together in a pretty logical way where it was all right let’s let’s go and then obviously making the the Knicks move primarily

Being the primary driver of this you took on a whole bunch of extra guys in that trade so that meant some guys had to be waved and I think the writing was on the wall Joe Harris wasn’t going to make it through the deadline or much

Beyond he was going to get waved Gallow I was little surprised I’m guessing they held on to him just with the idea of let’s see if we can retrade him somewhere when that didn’t materialize that made sense that they moved on uh and then Killian Hayes was obviously a

Surprise anytime and I get it people are going to be like no it wasn’t he stinks right like I fully get that but anytime it’s a draft pick it’s always surprising when the guy doesn’t make it to the end of his of his rookie contract but he I

Kind of get it right it was hey what are we going to do I I liken did to that day um B treade deadline day I even tweeted I love the movie Moneyball and I even tweeted this was like a can’t play PIAA like take the club out of the bag

For Monty Williams like you we had no more minutes for for Killian Hayes no more starts for killi and Hayes and I and I like to imagine Monty’s like well why not because he because he’s gone I traded or I waved him right in this case

But anyway it’s a um yeah I think the conjunction of stuff makes sense and what what I liked seeing too was getting guys like fono Shake Milton Troy Brown Jr those are guys that can come in and can help on nights when you need it when you just need hey we need another

Veteran out here you know this game’s tight we we’re in it in the fourth quarter we want to try to get after it and I realiz fun Tech he was only a secondy year NBA guy but he’s played professionally for years so he counts in

My mind as a veteran so you you you basically add those guys in there couple couple Shooters in that mix too to help just rebalance things I know funio started I would assume the lineups are all lineups and rotations are going to be very much in flux the rest of the way

But fonio already started a couple games for the team I would assume there’s a good chance that probably continues especially as they just get a look at what he looks like with other guys so I I really liked what what they did kind of just in the aggregate it’s one

Of those things where it’s like okay and and that was a big like proponent of it’s you got to do something with bgd donovich and Burks we can’t let this continue to drag out drag out and and and I know some were disappointed like well they didn’t get first round picks

We kind of got first round pick valueing Quinton Grimes if he is what you think he may be and then I don’t know that that was ever realistic to get those first round picks anyway so why not turn them into something and and and keep things moving all right Keith I want to

Go back to fonio just a little bit and then we will get back into because I think it’ be nice to talk about Burks and Buon into the value of all that the fonio one was surprising to me because I was like oh this makes sense right a 27

20 year year old who can space the floor I think he’s a little better defensively than what people like just automatically think like they probably think he’s just a traffic cone he like no this is a big strong Wing forward that plays hard at least if nothing else on that end of the

Floor I saw a lot of national media people like crush this like why are they giving away pick 34 I realized that but also my quick argument is how many young guys can they conceivably have they already valuing a ton of these and you’re gonna have a top five pick so

That was my thoughts what were your thought on that individual trade I know you’ve mentioned it a couple times and then this question from QT he will help how much is he gonna resigned for though so he is in a contract year so maybe you can give us some insight into what that

Could look like potentially this offseason yeah so if we start with the trade part of things I think the value is fine because of what you referenced they the one spot where this team doesn’t have a lot is at the forward position they’ve got some bigs they’ve

Got some guards they they just don’t have a lot of forwards on on this team because I think Thompson is still he’s more of like a a true Wing to me versus a forward guy so you get that obviously we know the shooting is not where we

Probably want it to be so so that gives you gives you some shooting there so I think that’s fine and I think the idea of the the sense of the um the how was I gonna say this the giving up the draft pick you’re spot on with that at some

Point it’s like we can’t have 35 kids on this roster and you’re going to add another barring complete disaster you know another top three pick hopefully doesn’t go the way last year’s Lottery went and it ends up the fifth but at least a top five pick and that that’s so

Now that guy’s going to come in too so now when you start kind of replacing things a little bit this makes a lot of sense what he’s gonna resign for that’s a really fascinating question for two reasons one is he’s a restricted free agent so the Pistons should they choose

To make him a restricted free agent and I think they will just giving up the Val given the value they traded for him they’re going to control the process and restricted free agents get squeezed they they tend to be the last guys off the board in free agency just because teams

Don’t want to tie up the cap space even in the new rules where it’s only a day you still have to wait for the moratorium and all this other stuff and and teams just don’t want to tie up the cap space waiting to find out are we

Going to get said player or not you also generally have to overpay because if you give them any kind of fair value contract the team’s just going to match it and move on so I think with fonio the ‘s ability to control that process should keep his number a lot more

Reasonable restricted free agency quite frankly it sucks for the player like it’s just it’s just it’s you get it because the team invests the draft pick in general for most restricted free agents they developed the guy they gave them millions of dollars already you want to give them a leg up on retaining

Them but from the player side it’s just it’s a it’s a flawed system so they’ll control it now on the flip side there’s a lot of caps space out there this summer and the free agent class isn’t very good so what you could see a team

Do is let’s say you are and I’m completely making this up let’s say you’re Orlando or you’re Oklahoma City or a team that has a good amount of cap space and you’re like you know we we need a forward who can put the ball in

The hoop and can shoot a little bit they may come in with one of those overpay offers and they may fly in with a hey let’s do something that is 15 to 20 million a year because our Capi can sustain it it does really isn’t going to

Hurt us we can make this kind of move and then that puts the Pistons in a spot where it is all right are we going to swallow hard and match this or we just gonna say all right you know work we tried but that’s too rich for us you

Know let the guy move on so I tend to think that probably won’t go that way so I’m going to guess something in the mid levish range probably the 10 to 14 million range and somewhere in there he’s a slightly older player as you reference so he probably would like a

Three or four fouryear deal just to lock in some of that security and lock in an NBA role and I think that’s fine the Pistons are so clean with forward-looking money right now that even if that deal by the end you’re like I wish it wasn’t quite that you should

Be fine to to to eat that contract on your books even if it starts to go slightly underwater all right we’re going to go to a short break and then Amari when we come back I think you were gonna ask Keith about the Alec Burks boon bogdanovich trade to the Knicks for

Quinton Grimes some other players in draft Capital all right we are back with segment to uh Keith I think the Bon Burke situation where the Pistons are playing these expiring 30-y old guys has been I don’t want to say the ban of fans existence but that’s been probably the

Top of the list as far as situations you’re just wondering how it’ll be resolved and the Pistons of course did not get a first round pick but they did get a guy in Quinton Grimes who they believe can be a key piece for this team moving forward uh just overall what did

You think of the valuation of that deal of course which also also brought back Evan fornier and uh and B bakai Flynn and just how do you value it and where do you see Grimes uh maybe being for this team value wise going forward yeah I think Grimes when he’s

Healthy and ready to go which hopefully will be shortly after the All-Star break I I think he’s going to come in as a um real nice replacement for Burks in a lot of ways I think he’ll be that first guard Off the Bench uh he’s got pretty

Good size so I think he can kind of play even the the nice thing with Kate Cunningham is you have a ton of flexibility lineup wise because he can defend up a position just sizewise so I think Grim’s ability comes in he’s probably going to mostly play as the two

But you slot him in there and just kind of let let him go and and you’re you’re you’re moving forward and then if he proves out to be the guy we all liked better a couple years ago then all of a sudden it’s like we maybe have a little

Bit of depth here at the guard spot that that we weren’t necessarily counting on uh you know two three weeks ago so that I think is is a really good sign there I think that his his acquisition in that trade that becomes your first round pick equivalent to what they’ hoped to get

For bogdanovich and or Burks and then they got the two seconds which are good um I know Ryan Archie diako is already out of the picture I don’t have a lot of faith in Malachi Flynn doing much I I I’ll be quite frankly I’ll be upset if

He plays a lot over Marcus Sasser going forward just because you have an investment in Sasser I’d rather play him and let him learn on the Fly and figured out then giving minutes to Flynn I think he’s just your third point guard for the the next four four months I guess or

Really two months is of the Season as as the Piston season will wind down so that gives you that and then uh fornier is the one that becomes a little interesting I think if there’s nights where guys are out play him see what it looks like maybe maybe you can get in a

Position where he’s playing well enough and you start getting a little uh word from teams of hey if you pick up that option we’ we’d be all right to trade for him um that could be the way that goes I think most teams are counting on that option being declined and then

He’ll just be a be a free agent and they can go about about it that way but but we’ll see so I think fornier give him minutes when you need to but again I don’t want to see him playing regular minutes over any of these other younger

Guys because it just doesn’t make a lot of sense or even fonio who seems to have a little bit of a future here so I I I think they did good you know overall in the trade and and getting those couple seconds back that that kind of

Rebalances the books a little bit after giving up um you know the the seconds in um the the uh or the second in the trade for fonio so so you just kind of keep keep the draft coffers a little full there and you could do do your thing so

I I I think they did well I know some people were like how did they not get the protections released on it they don’t want I don’t think they want the protections released because they don’t want to give a good pick like this is not a case where they’re sitting there

And they’re like like Oklahoma City had protected picks where it’s like hey that team’s already good let’s re up protection so that way that pick will then we can get free and clear of it they’re not in that spot so I think that’s the the different thing right you

You’re fine to let that pick carry out because because you don’t you you you certainly don’t want to give the Knicks a top five 10 pick anywhere in the next couple of years so so I think that’s a uh you know good good work there as well

To not get sucked in on that well so I thought about this tell me if I’m wrong here Keith as this doesn’t convey more and more and you know one more year out they get access to picks I feel like it’s not quite as important because I don’t think Pistons fans want back

Control over that selection for any reason other than they see that they need to have a certain amount of assets to go trade for a big player and my thing is like now we’re almost to the point I I think the Pistons I emailed you about this if we got to the

Offseason and it was after the draft they could trade this year’s first round pick after they select him and then I believe 2029 and 2031 I mean so they essentially could get a package together of three first round picks if I’m not mistaken with you know even with those

Protections on the Knicks pick so I feel like I’ve gotten to the point where I’m not as worried about that because they’re starting to get access to those you know plus you could do two pick swaps and everything else so am am I crazy for feeling like I don’t see the

Urgency to do that like I did maybe two years ago or even a year ago as some of these come more available in the future yeah I’m not worried about that either for all the reasons you laid out I it’s also become increasingly common in the

NBA in recent years to do things like you write up the language where it is this like let’s say it was this year they they could trade the 2026 pick but write the language as if the pick conveys in 2024 that’s probably not a great example because we know this year’s pick’s not

Going to convey so let’s go to next year’s pick and they so the protections roll over they could write it up and say trade a 2027 pick if they convey a pick in 2025 and that it gets very confusing to track and follow and all that but it’s it’s

Happening more and more we’re seeing that the Spurs had to do that with the bulls it was really the Bulls doing it and the nuggets in trades with Orlando and the Spurs and OKC they had a bunch bunch of their picks that were written up conditionally like that so that’s a

That’s a more common thing where it becomes hey it’s basically first allowable pick you’re you’re gonna get the other thing I think people forget too is the Pistons could always trade the protected portion and then you trade that protected portion if they really wanted to to say hey player X is worth

It for us to give up a top five pick we’ll trade that protected portion away and then then it’s then the the team inherits it just like like they with whatever conditions are on it with with the Pistons and the Knicks or or they could even chunk up those

Protections even more and say hey we’re keeping it if it’s top one or two and then the rest can go and that that starts to get a little confusing there because then you got to work out and then if you don’t send it what happens and all these other things and first

Round picks we’ve had one I think in the last decade where it was if it didn’t send nothing happened like it expired and it was I think it one where a team was like we’re going to get it so were really not worried about it and it did

Go go to them early but but those are pretty few and far between so yeah I mean draft pick wise they’re they’re fine as far as tradable assets go yes they owe this pick to the Knicks but it’s not going to be anything that’s going to keep the Pistons from making a

Big trade if that that big trade is out there to be made Keith there was so much focus on that first round pick uh that the Knicks owned from the Pistons and you know I think a lot of people well a lot of fans specifically I’m not going

To say the pisses necessarily but they wanted to see that pick come back you know just so they can open the door to bigger trades down the road and whatnot to get a guy in Grimes who is more of a proven commodity uh we saw what he did

In the second season uh year three has been um a little bit of a Down year um I guess where’s the valuation at as far as that for a Pistons team that has a lot of young guys already just how much more valuable or if not do you see it just to

Get a guy in Grimes who fits an immediate need now and is a little bit further ahead of the timeline compared to who you would use that pick for yeah I I think this is a good way to split the difference for the Pistons where it is we’re not getting a complete mystery

Box in terms of another pick or a player who’s played a 100 minutes in the NBA or anything like that like we’re getting a guy who contributed as a regular starter to a playoff team year ago and that’s not even like we’re not even talking about a guy who had a great rookie

Season then disappeared for two years and then came back like just a year ago he was a key player and all that really happened was he got squeezed by the Knicks adding Josh Hart and then signing Dante Devan chenzo and and having to go slightly different in the um in the back

Core after Emanuel quickley was traded they needed much more of an on ball guy now Quinton Grimes what’s been a slightly disappointing is he is still this sounds so weird because this was always such a positive favorable term but he’s just a three and D guy right

Now and we were the Hope was all right he was a three and D guy last year let’s come back year three be able to attack a close out be able to be a secondary Creator be able to you know do something off a couple dribbles be able to be a

Better transition finisher he’s still now every time he runs the floor in transition unless it’s no one in front of him he drifts to the to the to the corner to the elbow and and that’s just where he goes so it’s it’s fine and I think what you’re looking at if you’re

The Pistons is it’s okay we’ve got the on ball guys right now we we can afford to to let him still maybe work through a little bit of that stuff just you know all right if you close out hard on you we need you to take a dribble or two

Make a pass or a shot and that’s fine but I think they need a little bit more three and D um in their rotation and this is a guy who can give them that three and d and isn’t 32 years old right he’s still young he’s there so I think

That’s the value that comes in whereas I get it right the the whole idea of get a first round pick and the Mystery it can be anything right it could it could be you know Isaiah Thomas is the you know last pick in the draft and becomes an

Allstar right the chances are that’s probably not gonna happen so if you had got let’s say the Knicks gave them their pick this year you’re getting a pick that’s what like 20th is in that range so maybe somebody pops but the chances of that player popping and being better

Than Grimes is right now they’re they’re not great right even even though it is a first rounder so I I I get it I I get caught up in the whole idea of draft picks draft picks draft picks but sometimes you could give me a young established player still on his rookie

Scale deal I’ll take that all day every day so I also want to ask this because I found myself doing the same thing I did with the James wisman trade and the Marvin Begley the third trade where it’s like okay the value on this doesn’t make sense but if they unlock Marvin Bagley

II if they unlock James wisman this makes a lot more sense so my question Keith is one my opinion is just the positional value makes more sense right it we’re we’re talking about non-stretch bigs and those two guys on a team that already has non-stretch bigs Grimes at

Least makes more sense positionally as like you said a three and D guard SL wi would you agree with that and do you think he’s just a like do you think he’s a safer bet to at least be an NBA contributor compared to when those trades were happening regardless of the

Value like I realized that more was given up to get Grimes like I understand that but I feel like those is like these guys really have to show more than what they’ve shown you feel like Grimes is at least a little bit better of like hey

This is at least a eighth ninth you know and maybe better but rotation man on an NBA team yeah I think so definitely way ahead of where Wiseman ever was and at any point you know he he Quinton Grimes again he started for a playoff team already and played pretty well that

Entire year so where wisan he hadn’t shown much at all so so I think that’s the the one thing there and for what it’s worth I still think there’s a world where two years from now James wisman is a solid rotational big just sometimes big men take a long time to figure it

Out there’s also a world where two years from now he’s not playing in the NBA at all so you know all there’s a big wide range outcomes Marvin baggley was in such a weird spot because he put up pretty solid numbers but on terrible Kings teams so it was a little like that

Becomes that whole what do I make of this a piece but Grimes I just when you’re starting on a playoff team in your second year that’s good and that wasn’t a gifted starting spot Tom Tibido doesn’t do that so he really earned that spot and and yeah and I think and then

When you look at what his profile is is a guy who can if if all he ever is is a pretty good three and D guy that’s fine as long as you don’t go crazy with whatever you give him on his next contract that that’s better than the two

Backup maybe bigs um in baggley and in uh uh wisman so yeah I think way ahead of where where it was there as far as value and where the player was at the time they acquired him Keith this is a little bit more big picture but there’s

Been I think this front office is figuring out the right moment to make that big splash and you know looked like for a moment they might do it this trade Dent line and then they decided Well um the deal we want isn’t really there so we’re going to wait until this off

Season but that’s sort of been the mo for this front office for a few years now uh just looking at this upcoming I don’t want to say free agency class because free agency is not what it used to be five six years ago but do you see

A market where the Pistons could be justified in their decision to uh postpone that big move and potentially make that Splash this offseason I think so but I’m glad you put that qualifier on it it’s not going to be by signing a player right there it

Well let me put it this way it better not be by signing a player I’m gonna come on here and I’m trash him up and down because that’s like not not to not to give everybody PTSD and make them you know scream at their computers but then

We’re talking about Charlie Ville in the wave of Ben Gordon Summers and you know Josh Smith summer and that kind of thing that’s that that would be a monumental mistake there’s just not going to be that kind of free agent out there I mean who knows what LeBron will do but you

Know no offense I don’t think he’s going to the Pistons so right so it’s it’s just now maybe they draft bronny and say bronny at number one to get LeBron in free agency how do we change your mind here fell but I I being realistic I don’t think that’s where that’s GNA go

But I think what’s gonna happen and and we saw this if you look at the trade deadline big right the entire 30 Team league there were not Superstar trades made I I I didn’t like the the characterization of nothing happened because I think people got a little

Caught up on Kevin Durant Kyrie Irving last year and that’s pretty uncommon we don’t generally see guys like that get moved but this year you know if we expanded out James Harden got traded earlier zakum anobi right those are all NBA Allstar level guy and then anobi young player that everybody loves they

Just happened early then in the trade deadline it was a whole bunch of moves where it was we’re going to move money around we’re going to acquire role player X to try to beef ourselves up but what we didn’t see was teams say Now’s the Time let’s go in on that guy but

We’ve got a couple factors at play here and I I’ll nerd out if I can just for a minute absolutely we have roughly a third of the league and it’s probably going to be a little over a third of the league going into next offseason that looking at apron issues so either

They’re going to be at or above the first apron and then at least half of that group if not more are dealing with second apron issues where it’s we’re going to be really expensive now for teams like Boston Milwaukee Phenix the Clippers those teams are all in those

Teams are all title contenders so they’re not going to worry about that stuff too much for teams like the Warriors um it sounds crazy because they’re they have a terrible record but the Atlanta Hawks are in this spot some of those teams are in a position where

We got to figure some stuff out and I you don’t have to go any further than Joe lob basically said we got to get out of this second apron repeater tax stuff because we’re just we’re no longer good enough to to justify spending you know when you combine payroll plus uh uh tax

Penalties over $400 million and then pushing up to it’s it’s looking like they could be a half a billion dollar roster next year between uh salary and taxes so what you’re going to see is you’re going to see a handful of these teams whether it be the you know the the

The Warriors or some of these other teams that just we don’t really want to live in this world they’re going to start making moves and they’re gonna start making trades where it is we GNA start shedding away some of this salary I’m not saying Stephen Curry’s getting

Moved but wouldn’t surprise me if hey Andrew Wiggins is on the move or Chris Paul doesn’t get picked up or we don’t even resign Klay Thompson or we resign him to a much lower number or if you’re in Atlanta there’s reason the buzz is building that Trey young could be

Available because the Hawks may look at this and say our only real way out of this to reset our books and add Talent is to trade trayon and we’re stuck in the middle with him we’re probably going to be stuck in the middle without him so what difference does it really make we

Might as well not be as expensive and at least have some stuff to build forward so we’re we’ve already started over on front off show calling it summer of the trade because I think you’re gonna see teams lining up to to go get some stuff one other team too in this one could

Maybe be where the Pistons get involved unless Minnesota makes a real run at the finals something has to give there they cannot be as expensive as they project to be they project to be a second apron team with only like eight guys under contract and that’s before Mike Conley

And now Monte Morris before you do anything for resigning those guys and I think what they’re G to do is look at it now if they make a finals run it changes the calculus and they’ll probably say all right we can’t first great team we’ve ever had here we can’t break it up

But if they don’t I think you’re gonna see them look at it and say all right what are we gonna do we’re not trading Anthony Edwards that’s our star we’re not trading Jaden McDaniels because he doesn’t make enough to make a difference Rudy goar anchors our defense in a way

No one else really can I think that’s where a guy like Carl Anthony towns all of a sudden might be available and it’s like whoa what happened here and then you’ve got a bunch of teams that are maybe sitting on cap space that could probably use a talented big that might

Be looking and saying all right we can afford to make the play at this and see if we can figure it out so you you’re you’re gonna see movement in that direction who I don’t know right let’s let’s talk again in a few months when the playoff have played out a little bit

And then will have a better idea but but we’re definitely going to get that kind of movement for sure no doubt and that’s what I tell people on social media like the free agency market like that’s not a thing people say they’re not going to be able to sign anybody you’re right

They’re not going to be able to that’s why they’re going to Trad for somebody that’s like like like that’s the new free agency now so yeah I have a meme I go to whenever I tweet anything about cap space and people um people like but who who no one’s even available it’s a

Bunch terrible and it’s The Simpsons bus driver which says don’t make me tap the sign and I made the sign says Trad cap space can be used for more than just signing players like like I I I always am like that that’s just my standard

Response to it so it’s yo you you yeah there’s there’s there’s just going to be a lot of guys available even like another bad team Portland right now projects to be be an apron team next summer if they don’t make moves like that that’s you can’t that can’t happen

Right you cannot be that bad of a team and and be sitting there you know going into the luxury tax so so there’s gonna be stuff and then if LeBron is all of a sudden available just throw everything out the window because who know right then we know every time LeBron’s a free

Agent everything gets a little Haywire so that’s where where it’ll get you know it’ll start to get a little crazy all right I have a question very specifically about this but we got to go to a short break so let’s go to that when we come back Amari I got a question

I want to ask that stays on this and then we can move on after that one all right we are back with segment three we’re going to lead off with a question from Bryce here and then looks like we have some questions so we’ll be able to

Dive into a few of those soon all right so Keith I want to ask this because and I talk to you about this a little bit before we started recording so team Savant brings up Brandon Ingram right with the Pelicans if things don’t go there uh Philip binder brings up a team

That you just said Jeremy Grant with the Blazers so my question and you can use either one of those is the cap space the Pistons have how much value could that provide in one of those trades in terms of not sending anything back to those teams I assume that opens up a rather

Massive trade exception and all like is that valuable or would a team actually want matching salary because you want to hold that like that salary uh you have a certain term for it I think you know where I’m going with this where then you can flip that on

Right the Warriors did this with D’Angelo Russell right like instead of not taking anything back they wanted the salary so then they could move the salary so am I like which way am I making sense here in terms of you know is this something that could be valuable

In a trade or does it end up not actually mattering that the Pistons have so much space that they don’t have to send money back yeah hugely valuable how hugely valuable depending on the team you’re trading with so if you’re let’s say it was the Clippers who are commed

To we’re going to stay over the the the the apron and whatever because Steve Balmer made the money to pay the penalty in the time it took me to say this sentence right so so it doesn’t matter to him he’s committed to winning for the Clippers it doesn’t have as much value

To just straight up dump a contract to Detroit because they don’t really care they would rather have the contract to be tradable salary moving forward if you’re the Trailblazers and let’s use Jeremy Grant as a an example because there is history there you are in a

Position where I don’t want to be over the tax line so it’s massively valuable to me to send you Jeremy Grant and take nothing or very little back because you could just absorb his salary by by cap space the Pelicans are a great team where they’re right on the Tipping Point

Right it it could depend a guy like Brandon Ingram could be hugely valuable to just shed it and say you know we’re actually pretty good rolling forward with Trey Murphy and and saying we think we can do what we need to do there the other piece of that with the Pelicans

Becomes actually you know what we’re not going to have enough maneuverability anyway if we move him so we’d rather have some money back s send us some money back I think the Knicks trade was a great example um uh right now at the at the deadline because for the Knicks

Was we either turn forer’s $19 million contract into some other money that we either carry long-term forward and you know I know everybody’s like Donovan Mitchell Donovan Mitchell right it’s it’s either that or we turn it into kind of roll it over we get a guy who can

Help obviously in bogdanovich and we’ now we’ve got1 199 million that we can still work with and basically what you did was you kind of kicked the can down the road on what do you do with that $19 million salary all the way through till next trade deadline so so that’s the the

The part of this it it’s very dependent on teams now you can even make it just much easier even if it’s not a team facing tax and apron issues let’s say the the the Pistons were hooked up with I don’t know I’m making it up but Orlando in trade talks and they were

Like you know we we really want to get Wendell Carter Jr or Jonathan Isaac you could it just makes it easier because it’s hey we can send you back money or you know what you you just want to move them because you’re trying to open up

More cap space let’s go here here you go and that that just make makes things that much easier so sometimes it seems at the other end of the spectrum too that are hey we’re really trying to open up cap space here and and you can help them along we’ve seen that happen right

A few times in the Troy Weaver regime of yeah we’ll eat your contracts for this I think they’re trying to maybe turn it slightly differently where it is we don’t want to just eat every bad veteran contract because we’re the only ones sitting here with cap space but I do

Think it’s a little different now the one kind of a cautionary thing that I’ll say with this this is not like it was a couple years ago where you can just sit on open cap space all the way into the season and then remember a couple years ago the Pacers and Spurs where

Everybody’s F third favorite third team in and the in the trade trade machines because it was oh this they’re not gonna want to take oh just send them there with a second and that’s good enough you can’t do that anymore by the time we start the regular season you be you have

To be at the floor as far far as what you have to spend and if you’re not already there what happens is the lead comes in and they put a put a it’s a false cap hold will sit on your books to eat up the difference so you can’t go

Into the season anymore with 3040 million in caps space you can go in with like 10ish is is roughly where it works out to a little bit more than that you could still sit on that and the Pacers did that this year that’s part of how

They made their sequence of moves to to G Pascal seaka but that that’s the difference right that that’s where it just becomes a little bit different so if you’re going to try to do the whole hey we’ll we’ll be the facilitator will take on Money Team you got to do that

Sooner rather than later now but I I think it’s more beneficial especially this summer going to be hey you know what we want to be the Rockets we want to take real steps forward and the way you do that is the Rockets did it by signing guys maybe you sign a couple

Guys but you trade for a couple guys too and you kind of make it make Mo move it forward that way no doubt uh we have a few questions here uh we’re going to dive into these quickly uh first we have a question from my pops with Simone can

I do a front loaded deal with salary that decreases to offset the feuture impact of matching and restricted free agent offer overpay by a different team so can they sign some Bon to a declining deal um basically in restricted free agency and would that be something that

Could be beneficial for them yeah they could that this is uh to go back to Orlando no team loves a declining contract more than the magic and this is what they did with wend Carter Jr now there’s two things that that come into play here when you sign a player to a

Declining deal can make it really hard to extend them at the end of that declining deal because now their numbers much lower in a case of a guy like fonio it’s probably never going to be an issue he’s never going to be a guy who’s gonna push for probably more than 20 million

In a season even if everything goes amazing it’s probably just not GNA happen so yeah you could definitely do a deal where and they may have already started these conversations right it’s I I always say let’s all be grown-ups on this stuff everybody’s already talking right so they may already say hey we’re

Willing to do a three-year $45 million deal where we give you1 million in year one and then we take it down year-over-year from from there and if they if that’s where it goes that’s great right that that’s that’s awesome for for Detroit because that as he ages and maybe slows down a

Little bit that that puts you in a better place so Ben ask and this is interesting because I I think sometimes I want to just keep this big picture in mind and the big picture is really starting to come very soon and you can give your thoughts here Keith as well on

You know what you think these kids are in terms of K ji Duren I think we still have you know some more time to figure out assar obviously but Ben says do the Pistons have the ability to sign all three of these to rookie Mac extensions

And have cap space so I mean obviously if these three are all good enough to have rookie Max extensions you know you drafted really well and you’re going to feel pretty good about things but just give us some perspective and in that big picture view of what’s coming with these

Guys contracts and why maybe the Pistons need to go ahead and make if they’re going to make a big move it probably I feel like Keith does need to happen in the next 12 months or so yeah and that’s a great point at the end there so let’s

Start with Cade that’s this summer he’s extension eligible this summer and that that conversation happens now now that it doesn’t won’t kick in until the following season till the 2526 season we’re going to know where the Pistons and Kade Cunningham stand with their relationship and and I I tend to believe

He’s probably gonna get a Max or near max deal there’s potential he could get like the what I now call The Desmond Bane Max which is it’s a functional max deal but there’s some incentives and bonuses to get him up to the to to the overall number versus just walking in

And handing him here’s the full fiveyear Max with you know the the uh designated player language and all that now he may say It’s that or nothing right and then then we can make things kind of complicated and and go forward and that certainly has happened that happened

With DeAndre Aton just a couple years ago where DeAndre Aton was I need paid otherwise like I’ll go into restricted free agency ultimately the sun’s matched and then traded him a year later but that one’s going to be interesting Quinton Grimes now you you inherit his deal he’s extension eligible this summer

So those are going to be two things so not only are the Pistons working with 60 million in cap space this summer and do what do we do with fonio on a new deal they’re also working on the next deals for Grimes and Cunningham Grimes could

Be one you may say let’s just punt it let’s see what it looks like let’s especially to let’s let’s say for whatever reason it can only play 10 games the rest of the way or whatever you may feel a lot more comfortable saying n we haven’t seen enough from you

With us like we we want to delay on that so then you really get into a spa with with those guys but it doesn’t stop right that’s the thing then it’s the next year we’re into Jaylen durren and Jay Ivy right so now all of a sudden

We’re there and then the other guys like Thompson and Sasser those are far enough out I don’t think you’re you’re you’re worried about how you’re building out you’re roster yet there obviously with with durren I think we all know hopefully that’s trending in the direction of if not a Max probably a

Very very expensive kind of contract and that there’ll also be a lot more clarity with the TV deal by by then um and then with a guy like Ivy it is let’s just see like clearly whatever the I’ll just call it in my I’m editorializing here whatever the nonsense was with him

Earlier this year here in his whole role it looks like we’re pretty past that now so let’s see the rest of this season next season what does it look like because you that’s the benefit you do have a little bit of time you have to start thinking about that the last thing

I’ll add in by the time those guys are extension eligible have a lot more clarity on the TV deal but there’s one other thing that Adam Silver is not even hinting at anymore its expansion is coming and then what you have to start thinking about and teams are going to

Have to start thinking about this in about a two or threeyear window is are we extending these guys are we open to letting a Marcus Sasser hit the market because expansion’s gonna come exp it’s not like we’re going to get the TV deal a year from now then expansion teams

Will start the next year it’s going to be a couple years after that probably most likely and a lot of that depends on how do they do the bidding process but I know teams are already starting to think about that a little bit because there if not current contracts it’s that next

Round of contracts where it’s starting to look like okay we may be in a spa where we got to plan this out a little bit differently because we got to make sure we’ve got guys locked in and all those things that are coming because the expansion teams will also come in with

Hey we have a boatload of money to spend probably after an expansion draft where do we go with this or you can come in with a hey if we give you a first round pick will you take this terrible contract off our books in an expansion draft there’s that’s a whole

Complicating Factor but those are definitely things you’re starting to think through a little bit with your longer term roster building but for now it’s Cunningham and Grimes that’s I mean you’re you’re essentially on the clock with extension talks with them right now real quick I got one quick followup

Homari those rookie extensions are tied to the cap am I correct in that Keith like there’s no Advantage okay so like because I was wondering like is there how could you play the market with some of the is there a way the Pistons could play the market to almost get

Undervalued contracts because the Caps going up but like a rookie extension is going to be tied to the cap so when the cap goes up that’s gon to go up anything that’s not that rookie Max extension isn’t tied to the to the okay all right I want to make minimum is like minimum

Contracts all those are those are what they are but yeah so like for example Jared Allen he got the fiveyear hundred million deal from the Cavaliers a couple years ago in that five $100 million deal he’s a flat 20 million every year which is nice because it makes it very easy

But that 20 million only becomes more valuable as the cap goes up that 20 million is flat it is a static number it doesn’t change where the dynamic number is the cap going up now in the case of like Kade Cunningham or any of the other guys who signed their rookie extensions

Already Anthony Edwards tyres Halbert and those guys whose deal will kick in they’re going to get 20 2 to 30% of the cap no matter where that cap number settles at in first year salary now the good news for their teams is it looks like the Cap’s probably only going to go

Up somewhere in the range of three and a half to 5% uh from this year to next instead of the full 10 it could have and what’s nice for those teams is let’s say it only goes up three and a half which is roughly what they’re projecting right

Now that locks those guys in at 35ish million in first year money then let’s say then it goes up 10% the next year they already locked into the new scale okay and the scale amount can only go up by a Max of eight% so now they’re locked

Into the new contract and as long as the cap growth outpaces their raise growth they’re they start to come down in percentage of cap year over-ear so so yeah so that’s that’s the the thing right now the the League’s being extremely conservative and the last two

Estimates that have come in have come in lower than what what it what we their original projections were a lot of that’s tied up in the um the B sports stuff and all the bankruptcy there and teams having to kind of take control of their own uh medor rights and uh doing

Over theair streaming and antenna streaming versus any kind of cable deals and all that stuff so that’s that’s all it sounds cool that the Suns made all their games available to everybody in the Phoenix area if they have an antenna until it factors into the um overall pie

For for the league then that’s where it gets messy Keith there’s a lot the Pistons are juggling well it sounds like at this stage uh for this offseason specifically to what extent do they need to keep in mind uh some of these deals that could

Come up for guys like Ivy and Duran or do you just kind of push that aside and you just focus on making the roster and locking up guys now and then you figure that stuff out later yeah I think you you keep it in mind certainly with the

Length of contracts you acquire if you go out there and get a big contract I know Zack LaVine was a whole thing for for a little bit there but even Zack LaVine we’re now into to the point where Zack lavine’s contract because the rest of this you can’t acquire them now so

You’re really only talking about a two or threeyear contract so by the time you’re that’s running out you’re now running into the new new new year uh and new new money for for those guys like like durren and Ivy so so you’re you’re not going to let it impact you too much

If you trade for a big contract now if it’s a guy where he’s on a big contract and he’s only got one year left that has to be factored in let’s say they went out and got um Brandon Ingram if you go out and try to get a guy like Brandon

Ingram then what your challenge becomes is all right now we’re into Brandon Ingram and what are we gonna do because we get him for one more year then we have to resign and that becomes a whole different story because now we have to factor in Brandon Ingam probably if not

A Max a near Max deal plus Gade Cunningham on a Max or near max deal plus then Duran on a very likely a very expensive contract moving forward then Ivy and that’s where it all starts to add up a little bit on top of that you’re then adding probably a couple

More years of top five picks which come with not by no means bad contracts or anything but just a little bit more money than teams that are picking in the teens and 20s so you’re talking about guys that are making 10 million a year instead of guys that are

Five so so that those all start to add up pretty quickly then obviously I know I kind of threw Carl Anthony towns out there but I think what’s interesting with a guy like himim is that’s a long contract right because that extension hasn’t even started yet so when that

Extension kicks it now we’re into a point where it is hey that’s four years and that has to be a factor because then you have to start thinking about all right are we okay with this we’re we’re okay with it today today we’re fine we could probably even absorb it and still

Have 20 20 million in cap space to play with it’s what happens in year two three in year four of that deal where are we going with that so that’s where the long range balance is in with the right now short term because I think if I told you

Hey on July 1 they’re getting Carl Anthony towns most people be like all right let’s go but if I told you put in three years it’s gonna cost you J jayen Duren people might be like well wait no I now now that that doesn’t sound so fun and that’s the conversation the front

Office ownership have to be having all right last one here Keith and it’s a little bit of nuance here but I promised uh we had this question asked on Twitter so I promised I would get to it this is from data driven piston fan he asked

About the Burks tpe that was created so was there first was there a Burks T what was the trade exception created in that trade with the Knicks and if there was they ask if it had to be used before free agency or does it go away where the

Pistons are in under the cap team and then would eventually be com in over the cap team yeah it’s a really good question I so part of what makes all this a little tricky is chasing down all this stuff after the fact because the way these deals get structured they don’t

Always come in the way you think they’re going to if that makes sense like there’s there’s not necessarily A a whole thing that was that that get done and the other important thing is although it was bogdanovich and Burks four what was it four guys or whatever

It was in picks is the reporting each team is allowed to structure a deal in the way that is most most beneficial to them so one team may break it up into hey we actually we did two small deals here then another team may break it up

Into we did it you know as a much larger deal that’s a very long way to say I don’t know for certain yet um the they downside to the uh to the trade deadline happening and then Allstar break like a week later is everybody kind of shuts it

Down and leaves so some of the people you need to track information down it’s not always there now I can answer it though theoretically they had a trade exception for anybody and I know they still should have a little bit left on the baggley tpe that they had that what

How that works is when we go into and they also by by the way should have created one for Monte Moore in his trade as well um so when you go into that situation there um with with a TP is he’s absolutely right you have basically through draft night to use it

Or it goes away because what happens is if you go under the cap by more than adding back the total value of all your exceptions you you lose them and you just end up with cap space so in this case a five or 10 million tpe the

Pistons would not say well we could have had 50 million in cap space but let’s try to keep that that’s not going to be a thing that only happens if it’s like well we could create like six million in cap space or we could have this bigger exception then they’ll go with the

Bigger exception obviously but in the Pistons case they’re they’re thinking much bigger right now I project them to be at over 60 million which is the the most in the league um for cap space right now and it’s it’s the most in the league by pretty good chunk there’s a

Little bit of wiggle room in there though because um there’s I don’t know how many people know with Sani fonio he’s right on the borderline of meeting starter criteria he only has to start five more games uh this season and if he does that his qualifying offer will go

Up and then if his qualifying offer goes up then his um his uh cap hit will also go up because he’s he’s under what the qualifying offer will be it’s not not enough to me make a massive amount it’s like two million more so they’re still

Going to be in the 60 million range there’s also youo I mean I know you guys are aware but there’s a lot of play in the draft pick too right because one they’re they’re running down the Wizards like I said this on front office show Trevor was like wait what and he looked

He’s like holy cow they are and I’m like yeah they’re right there now like we still have this you know 27 loss pistons in our mind or whatever and it’s like no like they’re they’re they’re pushing now up the standings a little bit and then again not to bring up PTSD

Moments but if the lottery doesn’t go your way your pick lowers it has the nice benefit of you know I said it last year at the time I’m like well the Silver Lining was I get a little bit more cap space which no one wanted to hear because then it’s like yeah cool

Awesome give us Wy right like no one cares about cap space um but it is in this year yeah you you could end up a little bit so there’s still quite a bit in flux there but I’m feel pretty good in saying they’re going to be in the 60

Million range they’re going to you know move forward that way um and have a whole bunch to to to play with and do stuff so that’s a very long answer to yeah tpe could be used if they’ve still got one and well I’ll know on that hopefully early next week we’ll have it

All updated on spot track so you could have that in play by the time we get to the draft but otherwise shortly after the draft that that will go away when they go the cap space around and it’s important to note if they use it at the

Draft let’s say it had a 10 million they brought in a 10 million player excuse me they will um that’s 10 million that’s going to come off the books for next year if that’s guys got a got a contract that carries into next season so so that’s the the the

Challenge with that part of it too Keith thank you so much um always have a blast um these ones are super easy for Omari and I because all we know we just ask the questions and we let you cook and do you and you’re the best and

And that’s why we have you as often as we do so um you came on right before the deadline came on right after the deadline I’m sure we’ll have you as we approach offseason as well and so thank you so much real quick just let everybody know where they can I know you

Know I hope people know the podcast if they’re not but you know you write as well and and the website and all that so let people know where they can find all of that your work you know the website what it offers and the Pod yeah so for

My if you like all this stuff cap and roster and all this stuff you can find all that kind of written work over at spot track.com I I did a thing if people hadn’t seen it I I wrote a reaction piece to every single trade that was

Done so even the Corey Joseph salary dump like I I wrote a wrote a reaction piece to that I I really got into you know every every one of the deals that was done uh the the ishmail kamagate draft rights trade like why why and with

That so that’s all up on spot track and there’ll be a lot more stuff coming big picture off season stuff there’s a lot of stuff coming down the line that is um how do I put this like stuff that is just it’s it’s the stuff we’re we’re

Focus on offseason preview stuff uh next contract series next stuff for teams I’m GNA write a piece about the Timberwolves and everything they’re facing so that’ll be all over at SP track then you can find the podcast I do with Trevor Lane NBA front office show um we do that

Monday through Friday talk about all the latest news and notes we have a lot of fun every Friday is front office Fridays which is a live show where we take questions I know um Doug McAn who’s in here we on our show we call him Doug not

Dave um he’s always in there asking good questions and having a lot of fun with us and we have a great time with with the front office show and have a blast with that and then uh Trevor and I started a uh substack called the basketball bulletin which is where it’s

A chance for both of us to get some written thoughts out there that don’t necessarily fit somewhere outse so for Trevor it’s a chance him to do some non- Lakers stuff and get that out there and then there’s a chance for me to uh put some nonap and roster stuff so I’m

Gonna have a lot of stuff I Bryce I know I talked with you about this off a I spent a lot of time and spent more time this year Watching Bon vert Academy and spending a lot of time with them which is the Premier basketball high school

Basketball Factory in the world and I’ve got a whole piece that I’m working on putting together that’s it’s our guys for this year but it’s all the guys you’re going to be hearing about in in 2025 draft and it’s yeah it’s Cooper flag we all know him but there’s a lot

More guys Beyond him they’ve even got some younger kids too that are like sophomores and juniors that can really play that are going to be you’re going to see them on the recruit list and you’re going to see all that stuff so we got a lot of thoughts about a lot of

Their players coming up uh with that some scouting stuff for this year’s draft class so just different things for for from me and that’s what we’re going to use the basketball bulletin for plus my game notes whatever whatever games I watch if I made notes on them I put

Those up the next morning so we we’ll get back into that when uh NBA games get into full swing awesome thank you so much Keith Amari take it away absolutely Keith always a pleasure to have you on uh no one does a better job of breaking

Down the NBA cap situation and every and everything else besides keth so always great to have you on and we’re looking forward to having you on again uh hopefully pretty soon here as the Pistons enter the off season as one of the main players to make some moves

Happen and hopefully they’ll have some stuff to we can break down then as well so again Keith again always a pleasure uh big thanks to our audio producer Robin Chan our editor and chief Nico Avery Nichols our executive producer Anette dogado and our sports editor Kirkland Crawford and as always big

Shout out to Wes and we will 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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