Detroit Pistons Free Agency, Draft & PBO Update | EP 114

Detroit Pistons Free Agency, Draft & PBO Update | EP 114

up though people welcome back to wake up wber we appreciate you guys for chosing the kickoff the morning with the woo crew you could be anywhere else but you’re right here we got the whole five we got Justin kg and the sound booth wber Sports MVP JB smooth and the TD boo got flanos Sam this a Matthew Brer it’s your boy Detroit Koolaid as well but right now we got to get the drum roll going for our esteemed guest Mr Rod beard you guys can help me out here this Ro hey hey yo shout out and welcome to the legend Detroit News Rod beard brother as always how are you doing again and gotta get some Rod’s thoughts it it is a wonderful Wednesday um my thought is just on the Conference Finals and Minnesota able to climb the mountain and uh beat the Denver Nuggets that was just a really exciting series to watch all the way through and to see um that they they figured it out and for Pistons fans maybe it means you’re going to have to wait a little bit longer to get a potential president of basketball operations but the basketball is still good and that’s uh that’s the most important part here that Anthony Edwards we knew coming off the World Championships that he was going to be have a big year but this is a huge year for him that even when he’s not playing well the Timberwolves are figuring it out yeah hey hey you know what the playoffs we kind of open up the show with a little bit of uh NBA playoffs conversation as well and it’s pretty cool to kind of see these new faces in these new places kind of doing some big things right now on this landscape it feels like the face of the NBA is starting to change and we were talking about Jason Tatum this morning and just kind of how much his legacy could be boosted by winning a championship and and kind of having this ER where he calls himself the next facee of the league that would be a huge boost to that as well as uh you know we mentioned LCA donic and broer brought up an interesting one as well Kyrie Irving winning get Championship outside the shadow of LeBron James uh seemingly right now at a time where he’s looking like a much better teammate but um I know we want our Detroit Pistons someday soon Rod to get back to the NBA playoffs I need it Rod I need it Detroit fans need it they deserve it more than anything and you mentioned something about the uh president of basketball operations uh search of the Detroit Pistons obviously Tim Connelly is going to be your your your option one 2 3 4 5 six if there’s an option that’s who you want there have been some reports that he’s probably going to turn down the job when the Pistons have the opportunity to be able to interview him but you know what never say never you got Tom goris as an owner if there’s one thing he’s been able to do uh that you like out of an NBA owner it’s open up that pocketbook and try and make something work uh whether it whether you look in hindsight and say you know what that was the right deal or not you can look and see where he’s gone out there to get SVG to get a Monty Williams even get a DNE Casey coming off of uh winning coach of the year and open up the checkbook and saying what is it going to take to get this done if he can do that with a Tim Connelly you’re talking about that is the win of wins right but what’s that number look like though and do here’s one thing make sure people understand it doesn’t count against the cap it’s just money at the end of the day yeah and if you’re talking about a billionaire owner then yeah he he has it but you want to get this right if you’re changing the structure and you’re you’re having your first president of basketball operations since Stan Van Gundy you want to make sure you get this right because a lot of these things just haven’t worked out the the structure hasn’t worked out the roster hasn’t worked out um it’s so many things that you need to fix in this and you know that the the draft isn’t going to help you necessarily unless you do some other things right and I I’ll stand by what I was saying before that just the timing to me suggests you’re you’re you’re walking into one or two doors either you’re going to say you’re going to clean house and and and everybody’s gone and you’re bringing in a new president with a new GM and everything else that would assume that you have drafted either who you wanted who was the the no-brainer in that or you know that you’re trading this pick and you maybe you want Trey Weber or whoever to do that before you clean house if that’s the case and that’s what they’re choosing to do I can see it I just don’t know how much you’re going to have to pay one of these high level Elite level or or targeted and coveted president options to do it and then do they want to come here if you’re Tim Connelly and you and and and you just LED Minnesota to maybe the NBA finals or um this far don’t you want to finish the deal are you doing this for money did you leave Denver to go to Minnesota for money that what are their motivations and what are they kind of looking for I think that’s the first thing you have to look at in these discussions and I know trasan Ling that’s name we discussed a little bit earlier in the week on this show uh that’s a name that’s kind of uh moved to the top of the potentials list as relates to the search for a president of basketball operations and he has a really good history he’s worked with some really good regimes San Antonio as well as his work with the Brooklyn Nets uh and now with the uh New Orleans Pelicans as well and had a hand with uh uh Zion Brandon Ingram and this kind of pelicans team that went from you know 30 wins to you know High 40s so he has a pretty good track record it was a guy that I appre appreciated the Pistons kind of being involved with that name being linked to obviously the information came out that his agent during his playing days was AR tellum but you know what I’m not against an agent you know I’ve said this before being able to utilize his connections to better what he can do for the organization you just want to see these things work out and so I kind of was looking at the free agents that were uh there you you hear about the different draft picks that are mock to the Pistons kind of having some connections and you know what I’m not necessarily against the idea of a treas lane there was someone online and I I feel bad that I forgot the I would try and make sure I go back and credit later but it was in one of our comments they said wouldn’t TR and Lon make you feel a little bit more comfortable because of the connection he has with ar tellum maybe AR tellum will be in a position to better trust this individual who has a pretty good track record has worked his way up to the position he has right now and has um some winds underneath his belt possible I mean but if if you if you’re bringing TR and L then I’m going to say hey make sure when you when you travel over here bring Brandon Ingram with you and and see if you can bring CJ too just you just want somebody who’s connected and who can get stuff done and who understands the structure of what you’re trying to do and what good basketball looks like um and that can be any of these candidates that we’ve talked about but you just want to make sure that you get this one right it’s not if you have all of this turnover in the roster which we’ve seen and you if they choose to go with a new GM and they choose to go with the president like you’re completely clean in house and that’s not even it’s starting a discussion about if you if you keep Monty Williams around you’re completely clean in house with everything we thought Troy was going down to the studs when he came in this would be an even deeper this is like Napal the whole thing and start exavation right this is this is just buy some land and just start building on it completely um I don’t know know if you can and here here’s the caveat I don’t know if you can convince Cade if you’re starting over that way that there’s going to be a winning culture here while he’s in even this next contract if you’re talking about an extension there I don’t know if you can convince him of that because it’s everything that’s completely different you have to have a lot of trust from Cade to really say because I don’t think it’s going to be about the money for Kade I think it’s really going to be like do right by me just let’s let’s let’s make this thing work and I don’t know I don’t I think you got to be very very careful about how you handle this there there there needs to be some level of continuity and we’ve talked about whether Troy Weaver stays or whether Dwayne Casey stays and and maybe he he moves into that President role I think you need something that says that is familiar to Kade because if you clear everything out why does he want to stay that’s a great Point great Point well well speaking speaking of which I know you mentioned uh Brandon Ingram and CJ McCullum and and passing earlier on but and obviously that is the that’s the route that I would hope that the uh Pistons can take get an Allstar however is there any role player type out there who you think would be a really nice fit next to Cade and could help this help move the needle with this team as early as next year whether you get an All-Star or you don’t there probably is but I don’t care I fair enough that’s that’s that’s not the assignment that is part of the assignment but the assignment is go get an All-Star like you can f you’re going to fill that in after you get your All-Star Tech caliber guy but they’ve they’ve tried that we’ve seen Buon we’ve seen all of the other pieces that they brought in um fonio can be the role guy they might have those guys on the roster but the assignment is go get an Allstar because he can’t do it alone he can’t we’re counting on Ivy Duren Stewart we’re counting on those guys to be major contributors maybe at the end of the day they end up just being those role players but you need to start cultivating those other pieces around Cade because I don’t know I I have not talked to Kade I haven’t talked to any of his people I don’t know but I don’t want people that to to feel this comfort that saying he’s going to come back because he’s going to get a a Max contract that’s not a guarantee out here in these streets it’s just not because if you’re saying everything is gonna be different Kate wants to win Kate just that’s a winner that dude is a winner from from all of his a days and coming up he wants to be a winner and if you’re telling him that hey it’s gonna be a few more years because we’re not only starting over with this roster but we’re starting over with the front office again I have no inside information and no Intel but just from a logical standpoint I think that’s a that’s a more difficult cell than you want it to be that’s a really really really uh good deduction as well rod and it’s kind of a perfect segue because next on my notes here are some of the players that will be available via free agency or some of the players that have been identified as disgruntled that the Detroit Pistons can find themselves kind of in a mix for especially when you talk about if TR and Langan uh finds his way here or the connections that they may have to like Excel Sports where AR tellum son works right now um one of the Intriguing things of the summer for me is the fact that uh both K Cunningham and Brandon Ingram share the same agency with Excel Sports so it’ll be interesting to see um what lead leeway or lead the Pistons have at all and being able to find themselves land a player like that but um as I kind of look down the list of free agents one guy that I’ve talked about before on this show but we always kind of pencil Jaylen Duran in as that center it’s Nick claxon obviously he’s going to come in they saying maybe about $20 million a year which is a big pay bump for him but the big man you talk about the defensive chops they’re saying how much they’re saying that that guy get as much as $20 million a season I’m glad to throw out some numbers from some of these other players as well too I’m serious because it it begs these kind of questions because do you go that way they need a big man that that can play no or do you go the Andre Drummond route do you go the Andre Drummond route cheaper double walking double double Ste it’ll be much cheaper willing to play a role at this point in time can playing a pick roll because they have to do these things either durren is that guy at this point in his career he hasn’t shown the defensive um instinct or the defensive chops and that’s a real thing these other centers both Andre Drummond and Nick clax in their defensive ratings as well as their stocks their steals plus blocks those are real things their ability to go out there and rebound those are real things their abil to play in the paint defensively especially with Nick Clon those are real things and so I I don’t believe that it is just as easy to dismiss certain players especially like Andre Drummond I know people hate the retreads but this is what’s presented to us this offseason and Andre Drummond one of those uh connected to tellum as well hey let us uh let us do some and I hav’t looked at Dre’s numbers but I from the eye test and kind of what he’s been productive still and I think the reason that people didn’t like him when he was here in this last little um stint here was because they felt like he was a Max guy who wanted to be something else and he wanted to he he he didn’t have a defined role or he didn’t stick to his defined role let’s say it that way um that if if he understands who he is and look for from him he can be productive Dre 79 games 8.4 points nine rebounds nine rebounds yeah that’s it’s not good enough nine rebounds that that for a backup that’s that’s yes 3.4 mil if you can get Dre for four or five mil yes go do it and that sounds crazy that sounds crazy to say out loud but he is he is a vet I think he’s matured in the time since he’s been gone and I think he understands what he needs to do yeah and time in time in Brooklyn time in Philly uh even the time with the Lakers he’s bounced around so much I think he would like to come back home call Detroit yep he has spoke Ro you I don’t mean to cut you off but he has spoken openly about that as well he’s kind of put out there the fact that he was really immature younger uh kind of earlier in his career um really got some Humble Pie uh throughout this experience since he left Detroit and he still calls Detroit home you know his his kid is still here he still does a lot of things here in the summer his home is still here as well um got the opportunity to talk to him kind of off the Record as well that is that’s a reunion that I would keep an eye on and when you’re talking about a budget versus going out there and making an absolute Splash on a guy like Nick claxon it’s just like whoa Bon’s got some decisions to make to be able to kind of plug uh a few of these needs that they have but then you’re looking at guys as well like a Malik monk or a Bruce Brown Malik monk is talking about going out there and getting $25 million a year what is going on in the free agency market you you go down the list obviously there’s um an option between Brandon Ingram or Patrick Williams do you want to spend the money do you want to try and pick up a more valuable uh kind of a lower valued uh piece in like a Patrick Williams as well as Tobias Harris or Kelly UB there are options for the Pistons but it really kind of depends on what they believe this roster be is Jay iy jayen dur are these guys playing roles or these the guys that you believe can take the next step with a K Cunningham obviously I’m with you if you can get a Brandon Ingram if you can get All-Star level player you have to make that happen which influences so much for me as a relates to the Detroit Pistons draft strategy as well obviously to sit down and break down the top candidates right now I don’t know how much that does or doesn’t help the Detroit Pistons but in terms of players they need they need those three-point Shooters I’m seeing like you know um a couple other defensive minded guards that are mocked to the Pistons but they have um like absolute dud from behind the arc like Stephen Castle I I I like what he brings defensively 66 build and everything but I believe that we saw that already with assar Thompson you can’t really run that back again you got to get K Cunningham the ability to run out their lineups to be able to have Shooters around him like a Sone F on One Wing and like a Dalton connector Reed shepher on the other if you can trade that first pick and it you utilizes to either trade back or trade back into the first round you’re looking at a guy like dton connect who’s supposed to go in all the mock that I’m seeing somewhere between 11 and 15 I believe that’s good value for a 66 guy who has some sneaky athleticism some good handles he has he leaves room to desire as it relates to his defense but as it relates to his shooting off movement off the curl behind the arc five steps Behind The Arc in the mid-range I really like what he brings to the table no and I I think that’s the cas is you can’t look at you can’t necessarily look at fit and say you’ve got to have all of these things you just need to you need Shooters absolutely need shooters that is number one give me the best shooter in the draft if if if you’re going to use that pick or trade back and do whatever I need the best shooter in the draft I don’t care about defense I don’t care about anything else you you’re losing games because you’re not scoring enough we saw that when uh buan was here and he brought some three-point shooting efficiency things sort of started to turn they looked okay but Kade it’s not about whether you’re a good team you got to score you just have to that’s just that’s how this works we saw a play already they don’t need any more of those kind of try hard guys they need players that can go out there and shoot 40% from behind The Arc in catch and shoot opportunities they need guys that can go out there and be effective and efficient Playmakers because we know that K Cunningham is going to get double teamed they’re going to hedge triple teams his way those are the types of players we need and that’s why look guys go out there look at the tap and D connect you’ll see instantly people think he’s just a three-point shooter but he has a little bit more wiggle to his game than that you know what he does r we’ve talked about this now for two years D connect actually Cuts he actually cuts to the rim he actually fills in the Dead Space if his Defender turns his head and takes a step towards the ball dton connect guess what he does he cuts right behind him he moves he’ll dunk on you too if you fall asleep on him I really like what he brings to the table it’s very similar to me uh what Simone fio brings to the table as well I I I really do like it but uh any last words you guys I’m so glad you mentioned Stefan Castle as an absolute no and I was a guy who liked Yukon but I can’t have another guy who who can’t shoot can’t have it can’t have it under 30% man like you can’t you can’t do that again you can’t we see this with thear Thompson I believe you can hide one of those players within your starting lineup or within your man rotation I don’t know how you do it in this NBA with players like that no matter how good the defense is just need a sar Thompson’s three-point shooting percentage to at minimum start with a two and not a one yep but the Pistons they I think the biggest thing here they have to decide uh Beyond Kade Cunningham are these young players role pieces trade assets or are these the pillars of your future because Rod you’re exactly right how long does K Cunningham just sit around and wait for things to work themselves out he’s a winner he wants to win you know I’ll speak even more authorit L on that having certain connections this guy wants to win and it was cool at the press conference when they asked him uh do you foresee yourself having some type of say so and what goes down this summer he said yeah yeah I would like I would like to see that happen so so it’ll be interesting to see how this summer goes um but with ar telum maybe the tum way might be the way he’s connected to some big names this off season and if he can use his sway in his connections to be able to make this thing happen hey let’s go let’s go but Rod thank you as always for giving us your time sports editor and Chief from the Detroit news thank you brother all right take care guys we’ll see you next time thanks apprciate thank you R hey dope dope dope where we going uh de Swiss Swiss hey let’s go to Swiss now more than ever it is critical for you to have your insurance reviewed Swiss insurance to make sure [Music]

Via Wake Up Woodward featuring Matt Broder (credentialed WSN Lions+Tigers Reporter), Brandon @DetroitKoolAid Dent (credentialed WSN Pistons reporter), KG on sounds, JB in the TD booth and Flannel Sam

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!

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