CADE IS HIM! – Pistons 2nd Half Outlook | WP EP 101

CADE IS HIM! – Pistons 2nd Half Outlook | WP EP 101

Wake up Woodward I know it’s supposed to be close to like 60° today man so I’m excited about that going to try and find some type of outdoor court or something today and definitely get some run in and you guys already know you see it right here in the Screen Man second segment

Woodward Pistons we got to cover this team I’m actually running out to practice right after the show I’ll be able to talk to Monty Williams so if you guys have any questions that you want me to ask Monty Williams or consider to ask him definitely put it into the live chat

And definitely hit that like button to support the crew we got kg we got JB we got Matt Brer flano Sam and your boy Detroit Kool-Aid but I need you guys to help me with something here as we bring Rod back for Segment number two and that

Is the drum roll can we get that going let’s go hey shout out and welcome to the legend Detroit News Rod beard and you know what Rod people were wondering after the first segment they were like wait a second where’s this drum roll at I’m like wait that’s a Woodward Pistons

Thing that’s a Woodward Pistons thing but you know we always kick it off with Rod thoughts I do want to talk about K Cunningham in this uh second half outlook for the Pistons but we got to just start off with whatever is in the mind of the great Rod beard the

Chief allar weekend man come on see I’m not only y you always know something’s wrong with all-star weekend when the Three-Point Contest is better than the dunk contest and I I’ve written for years about how to improve Mo Allstar Weekend but the dunk contest if you have Obi toppen I’m

Okay if you give me Jacob toppin no no like who unlike unlike do not want do not want uh so one of the things was if you make if you put enough money into the dunk contest you would get some of the premium people to do it you got

Enough money to get Steph Curry um and uh Sabrina enescu to do a separate Three-Point Contest do that same idea with the dunk contest and they did at least incorporate one of the ideas that I had written about is having decimal points so don’t just have here’s a 10

Here’s a 10 here’s a 10 it’s too easy and and you’re going to get ties and that was the issue that we had during the Zack LaVine and Aaron Gordon years so they at least fixed that part where you got decimal points and you get a

49.8 or 49.2 whatever it is so that helps to break some of the ties but you need premium Talent you can’t just have these dudes MC mclung Mac the knife whatever [Laughter] m i I like his he has dunking ability but his dunks don’t do a lot for me

Because a lot of them it can we can we rule out jumping over people I hate it that is the worst type of dunk there is we went through a number of years where people were just throwing the ball up and bouncing the ball and people and we

Got away from that let’s get away from jumping over people and this if I see one more person holding the ball like this I’m just gonna be done it’s I hate that dunk do something else Dominique didn’t jump over people Michael Jordan didn’t jump jump over people it’s silly

And Shaq is not a prop to be jumped over what are we doing talk your talk Shaq you’re Shaq you’re better than that this Dunk Contest should be better than that this is turning the dunk contest is turning into the Pro Bowl where it’s not even real anymore everything is just props and

Okay I’m I’m G step back I’m step back I love I love the Three-Point Contest I love the the uh exhibition between Steph and inq I I thought that was awesome stuff and the drama with with four players getting to the the tiebreaker in the first round but it’s like the Home

Run Derby it’s so gimmicky that how many how many dunks and how many attempts at dunks do you want to see hey if you don’t make it on your first dunk then that’s it bro you polish your craft and be good at your dunks in a dunk contest

We don’t need to see you go five times for the same dunk if we see what you’re going to do and you miss at the first time it’s not exciting anymore I don’t I don’t want to see you miss the dunk and then make the dunk all right I’m good

I’m bro I agree 100% because you talk about this Allstar weeking it used to be one of those things where it was appointment viewing you had to tap in and you knew that the game was going to be competitive you see kind of the great they were stepping out there to say you

Know what this is my opportunity to play with some players that I’ve never gotten the opportunity to play with and maybe never will uh or and the opportunity to go out there and compete against the best and I just I missed that overall even the dunk contest the three-point

Shooting contest at the skills competition I don’t know what’s happened to that you can’t make the skills competition easier you’re the best basketball league in the world that’s how you position yourself the best players in the world come here to play this game continue to raise the standard

Don’t just lower it man and that to me has been kind of one of the biggest things behind why the All-Star game has kind of declined over the years but Rod the Detroit the skills challenge the skills challenge has turned into double dare where you’re taking the physical

Challenge moving all over the place like this and and you got to bounce the ball into a thing that’s it’s too much it just simplify the thing the skills challenge you can take out because it who cares who’s going to hold up and say on their resume I won the skills

Challenge in 2024 no it’s the D contest the three point contest keep it moving yeah and just kind of put all your efforts into making those events of the best ones that you can possibly make it because I do I I I man I remember as a kid growing up watching the all-star

Weekend I’m telling you it was appointment viewing you had to be clud in man now it’s just like okay you know and that’s to me as a basketball fan as a Avid basketball fan it it it hurts because I want to see the game I don’t

Want to just be like well let’s just blow this off I want to see the Allstar Weekend I want to see it get back to what it used to be and I’m hoping like I know they said they had players former players former greats going into the

Locker room and telling them why this needs to be competitive and such I see Sam I see your face over there too man did you did you catch wi to that I I I did I honestly think uh nothing else needs to be said except that mck mclung

Has won two consecutive cont he’s not an NBA player he’s played Four NBA games his entire career he’s not an NBA player but hey it’s is so crazy he gets that contract right before all-star weekend and then all of a sudden he say you can

Go to D competition so so here you go here you go the you fix the All-Star Game by saying the losing team has to put up money the winning team gets that money so you don’t get money from the league you you get selected for the allstar

Game you got to put up I don’t know 50 Grand 100 Grand half a mill whatever the number is that they see fit the losing team gets that and guess what you’re gonna get from that defense you’ll start getting some defense because there’s the pride back in but now I got some bread

On the line okay cool cool or or if the league has to to put the money in the pot the winners get all the pot the losers get nothing you thanks for coming you get this this this you get these beats headphones that that are in your hotel room and

That’s all you get you get nothing else yo I love that idea man I absolutely love that idea it should bring back some of that Pride especially uh maybe like what they did with the inseason tournament and how that money was able to go to help out some of the

Players on the team who might be lower paid I I like that idea man I think that you talk about putting that type of Pride on the line you’re definitely going to get some better basketball but talking about trying to get better basketball the second half of the Season

Post All-Star break for the Detroit Pistons eight players traded out or or or waved eight players in for the Detroit Pistons what are they looking to do in this second half man what’s their Outlook and this is one of the questions I’m definitely going to ask mty Williams

Today when we get down to practice but what is it that you want to see out of these Detroit Pistons because it’s not like they’re going to make a run for the playin uh it’s not like they’re they’re they’re they’re sniffing anywhere near that what are you trying to see out of

Them I just need a couple of players who are going to blend with that core that you’re talking about that give me any kind of anything I can Quinton Grimes be something moving forward can fonio be anything going forward because I need to clear the decks to um if I feel like I

Have players that I’m I’m making decisions about like ailan Hayes if you were making a decision about him you’re kind of in that in between if you’re you move on from that there’s no discussion about it you have what you get in the draft you have other guys in free agency

That you can say hey let’s see what we can do here but you don’t have somebody that you’re still trying to figure out what they they can contribute to your team and I think that was the key to just you know what we’re not there there no in between situations here either we

Know what we have or we don’t know what we have um and there there may still be some other pieces that that move around after the season but I think it was critical for them to just clear the decks here yeah I agree with that because for me personally we’ve kind of

Covered this thing for a few years especally since the start of this kind of Troy Weaver era in the restore and the window that we had was this off seon for this team to move completely out of the rebuild and put this in the hands of

The drafted players at the top of this draft like K Cunningham Jay Navy Jaylen durran and then obviously there’s players like Marcus SASS and assar Thompson it’s time for them to make a shift from where they’ve been to being able to be able to absolutely like cuz

The over under was 28 and a half wins we all had aspirations of this team going out there and being able to win at least 27 to 30 games this year if all went right and all wasn’t right I’m hoping that their second half Outlook it helps

To kind of accelerate this uh what Troy Weaver said seven days before free agency started this past off season he said it to a media scrum that included myself Mike Curtis of the Detroit News their beat writer uh Omari St Kofa was there James Edwards Sean Windsor and he

Told us look we’re going to assess this team this year under mon Williams to see how they do I I think that all the assessment that’s needed to be done has been done and I’m waiting and I’m ready for this team to now go out there and kind of addess around these young

Players that you have identified because if you can’t then this all thing was for not and you’ve absolutely failed in my opinion Kade Cunningham you failed in my opinion Jaylen Duran you failed in my opinion Jay Ivy and these guys who you talk about players who when you kind of

Talk behind the scenes to their camps and everything you know shout out jvin Hunter shout out ashon the trainer when you talk to some of these people behind the the scenes you know that these players are locked in you know that these players they made commitments to

The city they didn’t just come here and just kind of put on Buffs just to try and get some cheers and some likes on social media these are guys who stepped into a situation that they knew has been down for some time you saw K Cunningham at Tiger Stadium before the draft and

How all of the fans there were chanting his name and just seeing his reaction that’s not fake these guys want to put on for the city and I do believe that what happens in the front office is going to have a lot to do with it and

That’s why I’m ready for them to say you know what let’s start to put the right players around them whether it’s a splash or whether it’s good role players good veteran role players who can come in and contribute in a mighty way I’m ready for this to be to to happen right

Away I I like don’t wait anymore but the the key here is going to be like who does it that way I mean Oklahoma City maybe when they they had Shay that uh they didn’t really have the veterans around them they just said hey we these young guys are just going to

Have to grow up and figure it out um they need a vet they need a vet who can show them the ropes and I and I don’t give me a a rotational guy I need an allar I need a a big name that says we really I’m off the Zack with being train

Obviously um can you go get Demar de rozan I don’t even know if he’s the guy that you want you probably want a younger guy to be able to to Shepherd them and get them into that next stage of this but they can’t do it themselves

Kate can’t do it with Jaylen Duran it’s still going to take too long for that to kind of that that mix to to meld and to become what you want it to be you’ve got to figure out some other way to do it yeah no I agree with that and you know

What speaking about Kade up here in the back wall we got the the Kade quote um I got to make sure I I I attribute uh James Edwards of the athletic he got the quote and some information about K Cam and how he’s been feeling the season and

Uh earlier in the season Monty Williams also kind of spoke to this as well about them having to find the best way to manage Cade coming back from the surgery that he had it wasn’t just a light surgery it was a kind of a overhaul to

That left shin for K kenningham that was dealing with some fractures uh since high school and maybe even before that he hadin gotten comfortable and learned how to playing it and so I know a lot of people out there are saying yo maybe he doesn’t look right this season he looks

A little bit slower I think anybody standing next to Jay iy playing next to him you’re going to get that kind of um that look and James Edwards with the quote I have good days and have some bad days but he’s confident in the Long Haul

At being able to kind of get over this learn how to play through this uh and and have a lot more better days string together than these bad days we used to do something earlier in this pod called the Cade Zone and it was where we were

Go on and we would talk about the type of player that Kade Cunningham was and who we thought that he would become and I’ve started to see things pop up and I even see it in our chats here today of people saying would it be better potentially to trade a k Cunningham I’m

Going to tell you guys exactly how I feel right now no no no no you know what to take a page to take a page out of my man uh San flano over here I had to go and I had to get the stats people are sitting here believing that there’s some

Aspect of K Cunningham that doesn’t belong in this Piston’s future I believe he is absolutely still the straw that stirs this drink and as long as the front office does write by K Cunningham you’re going to see the full star potential realized out of who K Cunningham was it was something to see

Some of these guys getting picked for the All-Star game but when you kind of go to the stats of it all and you see K Cunningham is a top 30 scorer in this NBA when you go to it at at 21 points per game 21 21.9 points per game just

Outside of 22 points when you go to the assist aspects you see that K Cunningham is top 10 in this NBA in assist I don’t even know he’s throwing the ball to Rod let me calm back down I don’t know who he’s even throwing the ball to I know

That we want to see him and you want to talk about potential I should have had that stat on foul as well because this guy is missing out on a lot of potential assists you’re talking about K potentially being up there in that top three or four with the potential assists

If those were to able to convey and as they get better players and Shooters around them you start to see his numbers be eight assists nine assists 10 assists more regularly and I believe that we’re going to see that as this season goes goes along you’re talking about his

Overall season numbers of 21.9 seven and points per game seven and a half rebounds per uh assists per game four and a half rebounds per game this was kind of about where we wanted to see out of Kade Cunningham entering into this season somebody who up to this point

He’s just played Just over about two seasons worth of basketball he’s still a young player but he’s putting up relatively Allstar like numbers on a team that has not really done a lot around him at all I don’t want to entertain at all this noise about K Cunningham needing be traded what they

Need to do is they need to put more around him like you alluded to in the last segment I do believe that Jen n and J and Duran it’s a good start it’s definitely a good start but you got to bring in that veteran presence that knows how to play basketball in this

League that can absolutely help these guys from a veteran standpoint you talk about some of these Sports and what the locker room guys mean you got to bring in guys that can play one not just offense but also defense and people that can help this young team better develop

Better kind of keep their emotions in check when you kind of go through bad stretches that are able to kind of help talk these guys out of this type of stuff I’m hoping the Detroit Pistons add that but this noise about K Cunningham

He is a star guys I get it it’s a little bit difficult to be able to kind of put those monikers on on players when our teams are struggling as bad as the Pistons are but there’s no way shape or form that K Cunningham should be on any

Of you guys bad Radars man I I had to invoke the kads on today bro for Words four words don’t read the comments don’t read the comments don’t even read him so so I I will play this game I will I will take a second and

Play this game what are you hoping to get by trading K Cunningham can you get a couple of first rounders for him and even if you did who’s coming down the pike that you feel like is going to play some of that role because if if you’re you’re trading a

Young guy to get more young guys in essence if you’re trading for draft picks if you’re trading for a vet and and maybe Allstar I don’t know what what you can get but that same player you should be able to to either pull into

You can you can get him in cap space or something else so trade kage should kage should be the last person that you trade where K you be the last person you trade I’m glad I was gonna say I was gonna say Duran is is right there because you can

Find someone similar to Kate I don’t know how many you can find similar to Duran but Kate is the last person you should trade for other reasons yeah but I if you play that game with people on hey they should trade them the very next question what are you getting in

Return who are you trading him for who wants that piece and is going to give you equal value for that because people want to look at bogie people want to look at Alec Burks and they they will say well hey you could have traded him last year and gotten what more picks if

They were trying to move into a transitional space to start winning you can’t do that with more pics so anytime somebody says this person needs to be traded this person needs to be um cut what are you going to do after that what’s your next plan because it it’s

It’s a high take to say cut this guy trade this guy sign this guy but then what how does that fit into a plan it’s not just going out here and doing stuff W just to be doing stuff it has to fit into a bigger thing that you’re doing

Yeah and I see Hulu BS here he said talk about the turnovers and the injuries please I have no problem talking about that because when you want to look at the top 10 top 20 top 30 in turnovers you know what you see a bunch of superstars on that list that’s what

You’re going to see because of their usage because of the attention that they get and kade’s not number one on that list he’s just not is he top 10 and would we like to see that turnover number uh come down yes but that’s not just on him as a player you put better

Players around him on his team the usage goes down the the attention that defenses are able to pay to K Cunningham that goes way down and then the assist numbers are going to start to go way up you’re talking about Rod we watched this team intently probably oh probably more

Than what’s good for our health man and we see how defenses are defending Kade Cunningham you to talk about looking at defenses in zones it almost seems like they’re just running a cade Zone like Cade Zone eh where there’s there’s the double teams and then there’s Hedges and

There’s players like we do not care about who you’re throwing it to in the corners we don’t care we just care about you K and why is that because they think about k as does the scouting reports from other teams as does other superstars across the league just the

Same way that we’re talking about Kade here as well and I know kg our uh I call him our number one draft pick man you know Kevin Garnett get no mention around here it’s R kg he had some questions this morning as well about uh KD wanted

To be able to ask you too and about the Pistons in general right yep yep hey what’s up Ry uh big respect for all the work that you do but I wanted to ask um would you give consideration to shutting down C for the rest of the year now

Clearly the Pistons have nothing to play for and with the things that we’re hearing about you know he’s still feeling the ill effects from the shin surgery from last year and his recovery it’s been uh talked about online but if you’re Troy Weaver if you’re uh Monty

Williams will you shut Kade down for the rest of the year I’m of the mindset that you should um you should continue to play him so he has more chemistry uh with the rest of this young court but what would you do in that situation it

Depends on the extent of it and they’ll never tell you that but is there any danger of making it worse if there is then yeah you shut them down there’s no real reason to to uh overuse there but it it’s just how much pain is he feeling

Is it going to do better with rest um and can he make it any worse by by working on it yeah yeah and you know what man I can’t wait like I said I’m going to be down there at the practice today it’s always uh interesting to kind of get

That look at the Players because you see how serious they are and for me it’s going to be the first practice that I’ve been able to attend since a lot of these trades have gone down and it it’s weird to even say but it’s like the Pistons

Have looked better since going all the way back to that trade with the Wizards and then you talk about the trade deadline deals as well they’re playing a little bit faster which I think will definitely help K Cunningham uh K Cunningham he plays more methodical but

K Cunningham is not a slow player you get that pace up all around him and you’re going to see the pace continue to go up uh I know one of the other things we talk about J and Ivy and K Canam all the time uh and people always ask about

Their fit and whatnot I believe that this is is the kind of The Perfect Storm for them right now to be able to experiment the second half of the season to be able to start to create and to forge an identity uh and to be able to

Go out there and kind of uh not necessarily focus on shutting out the noise but focus on creating your own noise that’s what I’m hoping these Detroit Pistons do they’ve had this kind of All-Star break to sit back look at and everything that’s going on kind of

The first half of the Season kind of get a little bit fresh get a little bit healthier and now they got these guys that they’ve been kind of practicing with uh trying to get this chemistry on the fly but you’re talking about the guys that they’ve brought in they’re

Younger players they are hungry players some of these guys have had success some of these players have started in this league like Quinton Grimes and Simone fanto and I’m looking forward to this team going out there and proving that irregardless of the talent that people believe we do or don’t have we’re going

To give all out hustle that’s the identity I’m hoping that they Forge that every team that they step out there against is going to have to deal with the fact that they’re going to play the full full full brunt of this game that’s what I’m hoping man the full 48 out of

These Detroit Pistons that if there is a loose ball to be had that it’s theirs if there’s a rebound to be had you’re going to have to contend with all of us if you know when there’s a fast break to be had we’re there when you guys are on a fast

Break we’re getting back to try and stop you if there’s a foul I’m hoping these guys find a way to say you know what we’re going to play through it and if there’s a foul that’s been missed we’re going to get back on defense we’re going

To try and do everything we can to get that ball back because aside from Talent every Detroit team that’s been a winner has been Ste defense and hustle defense and hustle and could we say grind you know so I’m I’m hoping I’m hoping that this is what we see out of these Detroit

Pistons moving forward I do believe that they have that in them and I know that the early part of the season the lineups and some things uh shout out to Shawn wisor of the Detroit Free Press who he kind of wrote an opinion piece on Monty williams’ lineups probably holding this

Pistons rebuild back a little bit but I happen to believe that in the second half of the Season you’re going to see the lineups be a little bit more what people had hoped out of this Detroit Pistons team and that it’s going to bold a lot better for the chemistry that

They’re able to build up right and and just to add on to that I think you’ve got to go out and you’ve got to get wins like you you go into Sacramento and get a win you overcome a big lead in Portland and get a win because this past

Now three plus years has just been losses losses losses losses you’re not doing anything to try to get the number one pick you don’t care if you get the number one or number two pick at this point you want to make sure that these guys figure out how to win and then when

You add in some veteran presence some other pieces during the off season you can continue that but Cade needs to win games Duran needs to win games they can’t just uh continue with this and and turn this into a what 10 12 win season

I’m you I want you to get to 14 uh somewhere down the road here and and not not blaring that as hey that’s a big success but it means you won six games out down the stretch here and some of them are going to be against tougher opponents yeah yeah definitely it’s

Almost like uh you’ve been out in the cold too long I don’t want this team to get frostbite and you got a cut off all of the things that matter I’m like you know what warm this thing back up warm this thing back up man I want to see

This team like cuz right now the most we have to talk about in terms of their best stretch is the 10 and 14 stretch post All-Star break that they had in cage rookie season let’s at least put that to bed let’s prove that you guys are playing for something have some

Heart do not set the franchise record in the lowest amount of wins go out there and play like you guys like you said man because that’s the most crucial thing get some wins I don’t care what it means in the grand scheme of things go out

There and show that you guys play with this pride in your heart I I don’t know I forget who said it in the chats but he said so Kool-Aid oh yeah Don Rivera so you want the Pistons to have dot dot dot grit yes I do it’s the Detroit way it’s

The Detroit way Rod any last words no man I I um if Michigan situation wasn’t bad enough Olivier K was out for the rest of the year so there’s that oh they’re not winning another game 823 he’s been their best I mean their best player that can play every game cuz

We all know Doug McDaniel cannot but Olivia KO has been good he’s been like one of their bright spots oh man3 here we come you don’t understand Sam and Michigan basketball it’s peanut butter and jelly and this is hurting him right now this is like he’s prepared the the

Peanut butter side he’s doing the jelly side and it just dropped on the floor and now he’s it it’s it’s affecting him man it is affecting him so it’s been great to have you on as always Rod beard the legend Detroit news sports editor

And chief mentor to not just me but to a lot of different people out there I’m going to continue to say you’re going to any of these media rooms you’re going to hear Rod Beard’s name as one of those guys man and I’m glad to have you in our

Corner as well thank you for your contributions to wake up wward man the crew is is happy every time we get to have you on and uh we’re appreciate it we appreciate it appreciate it guys thank you thank you brother appreciate you thank you and look guys thank you

Hey you guys hit that like button for Mr Rod beard as well and please check out the Detroit news as well they do great work over there great great work I often find myself reading my brother Mike Curtis Detroit News uh beat writer and he’s a good person too kind of cutting

The same cloth as Rod Beard wake up Woodward man you guys as always are great in this next segment I want to kind of follow up on some things he was talking about as well from some of the Lions talk but we put up a post on

Socials the old Cadillac building and I I don’t know if you have that graphic or not uh JB so we’ll put that up yeah we’ll put that up and and the question is this I need you guys to put this in the live chat as well as in the comment

Section as well this building used to be reserved for the king of Detroit for the current king of Detroit the Cadillac building we all some of us might be old enough to remember when we drove by that building you saw Steve Eisman up there when you drove by that building you saw

Barry up there and it was keeping track of his yardage stats as he got closer and closer and closer uh to the king to the top of the mountain as a king I want to know which current Detroit sport sports athlete you’d pick for the Cadillac building mural if they were to

Bring it back and which alltime athlete would you bring as well one of our old guards one of our Old Kings as well so one current one king I need you guys to definitely get that ready and we’re definitely going to go back to the phone

Lines when we get into this uh next segment as well 313 552 6322 but first I got a little bit of good news and bad news for you guys he

Rod Beard (Detroit News) and Brandon @DetroitKoolAid Dent (Woodward Sports Network) join WAKE UP WOODWARD to discuss the Detroit Pistons at the NBA Trade Deadline. Like , Subscribe and leave your comment below!

Subscribe to Woodward Pistons Podcast:

SPREAKER: https://www.spreaker.com/show/5546494/episodes/feed
SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/6Df3L4wQmTKSjjfIxoQjPG
APPLE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/woodward-pistons/id1662995059

Woodward Sports Pistons beat reporter Brandon @detroitkoolaid1585 Dent and Detroit News assistant sports editor Rod Beard.

#DetroitPistons #NBA #WoodwardSports #WoodwardPistons #detroitbasketball #Pistons #NBAPodcast #pistonsbasketball #JalenDuren #cadecunningham #ausarthompson