The Detroit Pistons WILL NOT Look the Same Next Year!

The Detroit Pistons WILL NOT Look the Same Next Year!

It’s your man 100 Grand Ross with the Rock Never Stops. I wanted to do this video because I saw a recent post uh with the Chicago Bulls, their general manager there, right? And who really cares about the Chicago Bulls at this point? But I thought there was something of note to acknowledge uh that he said that he wanted to build this franchise, this roster, his team for the Chicago Bulls like the Indiana Pacers. Like the Indiana Pacers. And of course, the Indiana Pacers are in the Eastern Conference Finals, looking at potentially uh going back to the NBA Finals. Um, it’s an incredible time for them. And at the same time, I couldn’t help but think that that’s one of the most lazy approaches to building a team is trying to replicate your team to look like another team. And I think it it’s it needs to be said even though uh Oh, shows up twice. I’ll fix it later, bro. I’ll fix it later. Um, but it’s to say, I think it’s a lazy approach. I think it’s a lazy approach to try to construct your team to look like another team. Um, looking at the general manager for the Chicago Bulls to say that about the Indiana Pacers. Look, Josh Giddy is not Tyresese Hallebertton. You don’t have an Aaron E Smith. You You don’t even have an Andrew Nimhard, right? You have Kobe White. You got IO Dumu, right? You have your own unique roster. And when you look at another team, another rendition of a winning franchise and say, “Oh, I want it to look like them.” Then you end up in a position where you’re trying to chase what’s already there and trying to make people into someone else. And that never works. It just never works. Look at how many teams tried to replicate the Golden State Warriors with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. The Atlanta Hawks were still trying to up until firing Landry Fields replicate the Golden State Warriors shooters Stephen Curry like play it. It just doesn’t work. Now when I started looking at that and then I thought about these Detroit Pistons and I started asking myself, well, what is next year’s team going to look like? Because next year’s team doesn’t look anything like this year’s team. And I know some of y’all might say, “Well, we still got most of the same guys.” But you’re going to have guys in completely different roles and positions than they were in last year. Last year, there was not one game with Cade, Ivy, Assar, Tobias, and Duran. Not one, not one where they started together, where they played a game together. But even even more than that, you have to understand where Jaden Ivy ended his season, right? Going into the new year, how he was playing against the Orlando Magic was not how he was playing the whole season. How Assar Thompson was playing in the playoffs against the New York Knicks was not how he was playing the full season. Even Kade Cunningham, even Jaylen Duran in the playoffs was evolving into something new. To anticipate that what we saw last year is what we’re going to see this year or this next season would be a complete mistake. None of us should be expecting that we’re going to see the Detroit Pistons that we saw trotting out Tim Hardaway Jr. in the starting lineup. Malik Beasley, six man of the year runner, uh, a runner up. Uh, Ron Holland as a rookie, right? Isaiah Stewart going back to the bench, right? That that rendition of the Detroit Pistons is gone, is absolutely gone. And the question that came to mind for me was, is JB Bicker staff up to the challenge of reinventing this team? And the reason why I say reinventing the team, it’s not because that they don’t have a good uh culture and foundation identity, you know, it’s Detroit basketball all the way. That means tough, physical, hard hat, you know, lunch pale, uh coming to do the dirty work, grind, push the ball, um exciting up and down. They’re going to play Detroit basketball, but how it’s going to look is going to be completely different. Tim Hardway Jr. is no longer here to run those drill handoffs, catch, shoot, catch, shoot at volume. It would be a mistake to try to make Jaden Ivy into Tim Hardaway Jr. and just think, “Oh, he can add a little bit more.” Jayen Ivy is a completely different player, far more dynamic, and he needs to be used in a dynamic way if we’re going to get the most out of this roster. Personally, I think that it’s going to take JB Picker Staff and this team a while to acclimate to playing with such talent around them as we see in the Olympics uh international play when all star level players all come together and try to figure out how they’re going to fit. It takes a while. It takes a while. And make no mistake about it, Cade, Ivy, Assar, Duran are allstar level talents. Those guys are more than likely going to be future allstars. I’m I’m betting the over that all four are going to be allstars at some point. So, how do they fit? I want to dive into that a little bit in this video. Uh for those of y’all who might just be jumping on now, um this is an interactive video. It’s an interactive live. So, feel free to put your thoughts, comments in the chat, and I’m gonna try to get to it uh in between. Actually, matter of fact, let me check one of these right now. Um, you should do videos on the Wolves and Knicks. I am. I am. Don’t even worry about it. Don’t worry about it. There’s so much to talk about. So much to talk about. Yo, what’s good? What’s good, Sports Times? It’s always good to see you on here. All right. What does next season’s Detroit Pistons look like? Next season’s Detroit Pistons, how it’s going to look very different from this past season. is the emphasis on defense. Whenever you have this much talent, whenever you have uh this many individuals who can do so many dynamic things on the court, you have to create an opportunity for the team to generate easy offense rather than being in a half court setting where they’re going to have to process at a high level to figure out how to fit with one another. This happens a lot. Uh uh when you saw the Miami Heat, right, the Heles get together, LeBron James, DWade, Chris Bosch, it took them a full season into the NBA finals to figure out how it was going to look. And even then, they had to go into the next season being like, “Look, okay, we tried some things. It didn’t work. Scrap that. Let’s go with this. Now it’s your team, LeBron, and I’m going to fit in like this as a D Way and Chris Bosch. Actually, we’re going to move you to center and we’re going to play you like this. right? They had to make significant adjustments even after a full season. And these are guys who had already played together in the Olympics, had already played together in multiple All-Star games, had known each other for seemingly a lifetime, right? Because DWade and LeBron met during the McDonald’s All-American game. It took them a while. It is going to take the Detroit Pistons a full season next year to acclimate to one another. They are going to take a while to figure out who goes when. Right. We have point Assar Thompson playing alongside of Kade Cunningham, 13 AllNBA all-star talent who led us into the playoffs. Jaden Ivy coming back as a guy who was hitting game multiple game-winning shots throughout the regular season last year, shooting 40% from three and was a dominant downhill offensive force able to take over games. How do you fit all those guys together? Jaylen Durren by the time he’s in the playoffs, he’s putting up 2020 games. He’s putting up, you know, potentially, I foresee an outlook where he’s going to have multiple 30 20 games. He’s going to have games where he’s got 30 points, 20 rebounds because of how dominant he has the ability to be. But when you begin to figure out how you’re going to piece all these different things together, it’s going to take time. We’re going to have to be patient with the offense looking like crap for a while. We just are. I think JBstaff will figure out a scheme. And if I’m honest with you, I think he needs to maybe spend time with a coach like Tyron Luke next season. Maybe go sit with Greg Papovic, get some ideas, right? These these are guys who have had to recreate themselves and their offensive systems and schemes over and over and over and over. Tyron Lou going from LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Los Angeles Clippers where he has Kawhi Leonard and then Paul George and then bring in a James Harden, Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. Then having to have a uh um uh was it James Harden, Norman Powell Fringe Allstar year and Kawhi Leonard, right? He’s had to recreate, recreate, recreate. And that is a skill that forces you as a coach to come outside of yourself a little bit. You can have sometimes pre-programmed ways of seeing offense, ways of seeing uh schemes and things of that nature, and that can sometimes get in the way of saying, “How do I maximize this?” Right? I think that there’s going to be a lot of staggering of players because you can do different things at different times, but I think that it’s going to take more than a full season to help this team to begin to step into the final version of themselves. I already said it’s going to take two years, not next season, but the season after for them to be knocking on that championship window. But it’s going to take a full season for them to figure out what it’s going to look like for them to offensively be effective and efficient in a playoff setting. If we’re looking at these playoffs and learning anything, it’s that continuity, identity, buyin are crucial for when you’re playing at this level of intensity. Guys have to have certain habits be second nature to where they aren’t secondguessing. They aren’t worried about uh if I do this. Am I doing the right thing? Right? These guys are catching and shooting. Indiana Pacers, the New York Knicks, Oklahoma City Thunder, Minnesota Timberwolves. They understand their roles to a level that is absolutely elite. Every guy comes in knowing exactly what they’re supposed to be doing. It’s going to take the Detroit Pistons a full year to figure that out. Let me get to this comment. What’s going on, comm guy? Always good to see you. What’s good? Um, I love our chances in the East is wide open next year. I believe so as well. Uh, it is wide open. We still have to see if Philly ever comes back healthy. What Orlando looks like with Jaylen Suggs and Fron and Paulo healthy for a full year when Atlanta’s fully healthy with Jaylen um Jaylen Johnson back and Reach the you know the first pick of the draft him being in year two and Dyson Daniels like that’s going to be a good team as well. Toronto they’ve got multiple allstars on that team. I think they’re going to put it together. I expect them to take a jump. As much as it may seem like it’s wide open and who knows what the Celtics are going to do. I think that they should rest Jaylen Brown, get him super healthy, kind of tank it, but um who knows? Jaylen Brown may come back healthier than ever and be like, I want to prove I’m an all-star, that I can get this team to the playoffs and have a run without Jason Tatum. He might have all that energy and all of a sudden Boston’s right back. Cleveland will be right back. They’re going to figure themselves out. They’re still going to be at the top. New York is still going to be New York at the top. Right? So, as much as it may seem like it’s wide open, it’s not. It’s not. Indiana’s going to be right there, right? Who knows where Giannis is going to end up, but I think a lot of the pieces from Milwaukee are going to feed other teams who might say, “Hey, we might look damn good with a Bobby Portoris off the bench.” So, as much as it might be wide open, don’t think that that means it’s now our chance to potentially have a run into the Eastern Conference Finals, it’s not going to be a cakewalk. It is not going to be sweet and easy next year. We caught everybody off guard last season. We’re not going to catch people off guard this year. Let me get to some of these comments. Sports Times, really interesting to see how they play. Emphasize everyone for them to be able to develop properly. even with Ivy back would still love to see us get ball handling reps. Exactly. Exactly. Even if it’s not as much. And that’s and that’s what I’m speaking to right now that the Detroit Pistons are going to have to figure out what does it look like because let me let me just talk about the versatility of this team. Jaylen Durren still hasn’t fully maximized his offensive potential. I we it was a rare sight to see Jaylen Durren Duran get a post opportunity where he’s posting up his man, facing him up, taking him off the dribble. That’s a huge part of his game and what he’s able to do and we hardly saw it last year. Saw dribble handoffs. We saw pick and rolls, get out in transition, a lot of dirty work, uh being the dunk man, you know, people dumping it off to him, catch and dunk it. Uh he was in a dunker spot. He there was a whole aspect of his game he didn’t have a chance to really step into last year. How does that look coming in after a playoff run against the New York Knicks who are now in the Eastern Conference Finals and how well he was able to play against Carl Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson? How much more confidence is he coming in next year to fully embody the rest of his game, right? That’s going to demand touches. It’s going to demand room. I don’t think and and if I’m honest with you, I continued to say all last year how frustrating it was to see Jaylen Duran go six of eight, four or five, three or four, right? Uh uh um six of seven because if somebody is scoring at that level of efficiency, they should have more shots. The reality is Jaylen Duran should be shooting at least 12 to 15 times a game at least. at least. Then when you saw Sarah Thompson, his versatility, whether it was being a point forward, whether it was being able to get out in transition, whether it was being the uh role man on a pick and roll and playing in the front court, right? setting screens for uh Kade Kate Cunningham and rolling to the basket, whether it was him being able to post up smaller guards or attack straight line drives or be able to penetrate the offense and probe and look for an opportunity to playmake and facilitate for others. Assar Thompson had so many different components of his game that we only saw in bits and pieces and flashes as the season went on. But what happens when he comes in after a strong performance in the playoffs and that level of confidence coming in the next season? I think that we see an Osar Thompson who doesn’t attempt any less than 10 shots a game. So you have 12 to 15 shots for Jaylen Durren, at least 10 shots for Assar Thompson. Now, Jaden Ivy, by the time he ended the season, his confidence was so high, shooting over 40% from three being an absolute blur, getting downhill, scoring almost seemingly at will, taking over games, if I’m honest, with some of the same impact that even Cade was having. Did he do at the same extent? No, because they were restructuring, you know, kind of pecking order. But now going into next year, I fully anticipate Jayen Ivy being not only extremely confident but itching to prove himself. Well, if he’s looking to prove himself, yo, what’s good Dubs? It’s good to see you in the comment section. What’s good, man? You can imagine what he’s going to look like next season. Jaden Ivy next year is going to be somewhere around 12 to 15 shots a game along with Jaylen Dur. So you have 12 to 15 shots. It’s 24 to 30 shots between Duran and Ivy. Another 10, so that’s another 34 to 40 shots adding Assar Thompson. Now you look at Kade Cunningham. Kade was averaging between 15 and 20 shots a game at least. So now you’re tacking that on, right? How do they figure out how to disseminate 35 to 55 shot spread between four guys. That’s going to be difficult. Not to mention, you still have guys like Isaiah Stewart coming off the bench, Simony Fonte, uh Afontekeo, who I think his shot is going to come back. You got Bobby Clintman, Ron Holland, as well as he was playing. I fully expect a more confident Ron Holland whose three-point shot is improved, who’s getting a little bit more into his bag, more offensively aggressive, getting out in transition. I think he’s going to be averaging somewhere between five to 10 shots a game at least, probably closer to 10 as the season goes on because as injuries and things of of that nature happen, knock on wood, right? um he’s gonna step into starting roles at times. Fully expect that. And then you have Marcus Sasser and others. So now you’re having to stretch out a bulk of shots. That was Malik Beasley, Tim Hardaway Jr. and then Cade Cunningham and Tobias Harris. And I haven’t even got to Tobias Harris who was extremely efficient and effective for them. They are going to have to figure out who this team is. not in terms of identity and culture, but their offensive scheme and system and how they’re going to get buckets. Now, with that said, this is why I said the focus for this team going into next year has to be defense, defense, defense. And this is why. Because the defense allows them to transition into early offense, to utilize their speed and athleticism, and to be able to score with ease, not being in a half court setting where they’re going to have to process at a high level. Why? Because it’s going to take them the full year to get used to playing with one another. If I’m Detroit, if I’m honest with you, what I do is I do one of those training camps that’s someplace else. I probably have a training camp, let’s say in, I don’t know, Canada, or I go to Hawaii, or I’m going to some place far where it’s just our guys and they have an opportunity to gel, to play with one another at a high level. In fact, I’ve been saying I want to see them at Rico Hines. I want to see Cade, Ivy, Assar, Duran, probably Ron Holland, maybe Marcus Assassin, Bobby Clintman, and them want to come too feel free. And I want to see these guys playing competitive basketball with one another, building chemistry, because the more they can trust one another, the more they can have close relationships with one another, the easier it’s going to be for them to step into roles confidently, unselfishly, and at the same time being selfish enough to so that they’re playing at their maximum abilities. What you don’t want is a bunch of guys who are scared to step on each other’s toes. That’s what you don’t want. That’s what you don’t want. You don’t want guys who are scared to take chances, to take big shots, deferring to one another, um, and not knowing who’s going to play what role. And in order to develop that, they’re going to have to spend significant time together, which is why while they’re figuring that out throughout the course of the season, they have to be able to lock in on defense. And when I say lock in on defense, I mean they have to act. They have to play absurd level pressure defense so that they are able to get into an early offense and not have to be bogged down with the hardest part of the team dynamic which is going to be figuring themselves out offensively. I hope this is making sense for y’all. Let me get to some of these comments. Um we see uh passing true was good dubs. Uh, let me see. Off topic slightly. You hear how Asar and Amen want to play for team Jamaica. Yeah, boy. Yeah, bro. We g have to do a whole other video on that, D. I knew he was gonna bring it up. I knew he was going to bring it up, bro. I knew he was going to bring it up. Hey, boy. Hey, I’m so hyped. Oh, I heard Debons wants to play for them, too, bro. But bro, bro. All right, bro. That’s a whole other video, bro. Y’all be coming on here getting me gas, bro. Yeah, you already know, man. Team Jamaica is gonna be so lit. And they got Nick Richards to play inside. And Isaiah Stewart is from Jamaica, too. Boy, come on now. Team Jamaica gonna be crazy. Crazy, man. Yo, this gonna be a whole other video, man. Dust. I knew you was going to do it to me. Um, that’s cool. Hope they’re able to. Yeah. Uh, Ray Floyd, why everybody want I be traded for a star? Why the piss fans? We don’t have to choose between Julia. Bless have both of them. Facts. But that’s because, you know, most people are casual fans. Let’s be real. Most people are casual fans. They just follow, you know, the lazy man’s offensive take uh or sports take on ESPN, right? Most of them just follow that. So, they just they’re not they’re not actual, you know, vested people who follow. Um, let me see. Uh, Triple J would be great with Cade. Uh, make a big move for Triple J or Moy, I say. Well, we’re not going to get Mobly, that’s for sure. Um, Triple J maybe, but if I’m honest with you, bro, I think I would rather have Tobias Harris because Tobias Harris is a veteran who has chemistry for next year that is going to have the ability to balance this team out. And and that’s going to be a point I’m going to talk about later in this video on the importance of veterans who make others better, who have the ability to be gel pieces. Let’s be honest, Tim Mo Jr. and Malik Beasley were great in the locker room, very exciting, brought a lot of great energy, but they weren’t exactly gel pieces. They weren’t pieces who connect others. They were guys who were kind of focused on doing them. And I I want to caveat this, not going to say that they weren’t team players. Their role and how they played was precisely what JB Picker staff wanted for this roster and it was what they both needed and wanted to do in order to maximize their their opportunities to get a next contract. But let’s be real, they were gunners. They were gunners. This team does not need gunners going into next year. They do not need gunners going into next year. What they need is they need players who are unselfish. I’m talking like the Kyle Andersons. Um, I like guys like uh Malcolm Brogden, Kelly Olen, guys who have no problem making the extra pass, who are team first guys who are high IQ, know what to do, high level processors in the playoffs. These are guys that I want them to bring in and and we’re going to get to that in terms of upgrading our veterans on this team. All that’s to say is going into next season, I don’t want us to have to adjust to another all-star level player, which Triple J would be. So, that’s not who I would want. I’m also scared of his lack of rebounding is Can you imagine being in the playoffs in a dog fight against the New York Knicks and Jiren Jackson Jr. starting in your front court, playing 40 minutes, and only having two rebounds at the end of the game. Like Josh Hart is quadrupling Jiren Jackson Jr.’s rebounding total by the end of the game. That would be devastating to watch. I think that would be devastating for all of us to watch. Um, let me see. Uh, Sports Times, do you think they can make it past the Americas for qualifier? I saw Norman Pal was playing this summer. Oh, with Norman Powell. Okay, y’all. Okay. Y’all talking about the Okay. Okay. We We gonna have a Jamaica video. Okay. We gonna do a Jamaica video. Y’all y’all y’all got me amped. Y’all got me amped. Okay. We gonna figure out all the Jamaican ancestry people. If Norman Pow was on there, too. Wow. That’d be crazy. Um. Yeah. Yo, what’s good? Tony J coming through with the super chat. Appreciate you, man. Assar Holland, Duran are all nonshooters. If one or two um B1 shooters, our chemistry goes way up. Uh what is reasonable to expect for next year? Great question. Great question. Appreciate the super chat. Uh let’s be clear. Um not all threes are created equal. Not all threes are created equal. When I say that is to say some threes have different types of value based upon how they’re taken, how they’re created. For example, a three-point shot that’s taken with Cade Cunningham in a pick and roll coming over the top of a screen and someone going under is different than a three-point shot being taken to a kickout man in the corner. The kick out three in the corner is a far easier shot than the one coming over the top in terms of a pick and roll, which we can expect a lower efficiency rate, which speaks to Kate Cunningham’s efficiency that some people still kind of challenge or don’t believe he’s that efficient, but the reality is the quality of shots that he gets is really low. Is really low. Now, I want to I want to caveat that because it’s going to frame this discussion around shooting. When a really good shooter, I think Kade is a really good shooter. I don’t think he’s like elite great, but I think he’s a really good shooter. He’s going to he’s an above average NBA three-point shooter. I think we’re going to see that even more next year. But when the bulk of his shots are high degree of difficult shots, you’re going to see a lower efficiency, which might make us think that we don’t have as much shooting as we really have on this team. Jaden Ivy shot over 40% from three and he hit a lot of high degree of difficulty threes though a lot of them were being created um as a secondary playmaker or shot creator after the kick out meaning that Kade does his thing pick and roll he’s looking for it the guys cut off after the first pass or after the roll and then it gets skipped over to Jaden Ivy and now he’s figuring out what to do off of a hard close out maybe pump fake side step, shoot the three. Maybe he’s shooting it over the closeout. Maybe he is um attacking it and then creating another shot. But his his threes, even though he shot 40%, weren’t the most efficient threes or uh lower level of difficulty threes. Do you get what I’m saying? That even Ivy was taking tough threes. So Cade and Ivy, two of our better shooters were taking tough threes throughout the course of the season. Now you factor in Assar Thompson, Jaylen Dur. Now I think Tobias Harris is going to be around league average if not just above, right? Somewhere around 37 38% which is is his norm. But then you factor in Assar Thompson, Jayen Dur, their ability to put pressure on the rim has the ability to collapse a defense. If Assar Thompson makes one small adjustment next season, which is improving his finishing around the rim, he immediately becomes a 15 to 20 point per game scorer. His ability to get downhill, put pressure on the rim, is second to none. We saw what Amen Thompson was able to do last season. That was because Amen Thompson had a full off season of development. Assar did not with the blood clots. But fully expect by the time that Assar Thompson was finishing up the season and you saw what he was able to do against the New York Knicks, the spins to the rim, finishing over the top, dunks, dump offs, pick and rolls, primary ball handler, the roll man, um, cutting off the ball. If he’s finishing at an above average clip, at a high level, he now begins to reconstruct how the defense has to guard him. They now have to keep eyes on him, which means that Cade and Ivy and Tobias Harris, their shot quality is going to skyrocket. If Jaylen Duran is attacking his matchup more and more, getting downhill, getting to the rim, you’re going to see far more defensive attention on Jaylen Durren, which is going to increase the shot quality of Kate Cunningham, Jaden Ivy, and Tobias Harris. And this is why I said things are going to look very different next year because how we generate threes, how we generate shots is also going to have to shift. Right. Tim Hardway Jr. is not walking back through that door in terms of at least the starting lineup. He’s not. More than likely, I doubt he’s on this team next year. I’m probably more of a fan of bringing back Lindy Watzone on a veteran minimum than overspinning at all for Tim Jr. or a Malik Bees. All that to say is even though we lack those three-point specialists, which if you notice in the playoffs are less and less valuable, there’s hardly any three-point specialists getting major minutes in the playoffs. Isaiah Joe is probably the closest thing to that. And he’s coming off the bench as the eighth, maybe the eighth man off the bench, ninth at times. Everyone else are versatile two-way players who also happen to be taking and knocking down threes, right? Alex Caruso’s threes are far more valuable than Isaiah Jones because with him on the court, you can still generate offense through his ability to defend, get deflections, get out in transition, cut off the ball, offensive rebounds, and the like, right? So, how we generate threes is going to have to change as well. And it was kind of the point of this video that the Pistons are going to look very different next year. We’re going to have to kind of buckle up for this ride and allow this team to figure it out. Allow JB Bickerstaff to figure it out. He is going to have to prove that in the same way I’m sure he believes if Cleveland had given him more time, he would have figured out Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, Jared Allen to play at a higher level. Though I think it’s clear by now the injuries were more so the reason why they couldn’t get out the second round than it was a deficit in JB Picker staff. Right? If you’re not healthy, it doesn’t matter. You’re not going to win, especially in the playoffs. All that’s to say is JB Bickerstaff is going to have to prove and show that he can make the adjustments in terms of our scheme and our team to generate the threes that are needed to produce offensively to keep up with the rest of the league, right? Because you’re going to have to shoot a certain number of threes each game. At least around 18 to 25 threes a game. That’s kind of where the league is at at this point. Let me see. Uh, I get what you’re saying, but I mean for the long-term core, playing large minutes and uh paying large contracts to three nonshooters is my concern. Um, well, here’s the thing. Uh, three non-shooters in that starting lineup. I only see one nonshooter, and that’s Jaylen Dur. Not Assar Thompson. Assar Thompson shot threes throughout his career. Does he need to improve? Yes. Last season was only a second year with a whole off season out. I fully expect Assara Thompson to come into next year shooting one to two threes a game. The following year, I think it will increase. You see, he’s one of those talents. Um, I kind of liken him to uh in terms of kind of style of de or I should say his ascent of development. Look at Alex Caruso. Was never known as a shooter, but his defensive acumen and ability to score in so many other ways and importance to this team forced his team to say, “We need you to shoot more. and we’re going to create opportunities and we want you to shoot because we need you out there on the court. The same thing is going to happen with Assar Thompson. His defense and versatility in so many other areas are going to force the Detroit Pistons to have him shoot more. I think that even though next season I don’t expect him to be league average, I think he’s going to be somewhere around low30s. He’ll have certain games where he looks better than other times, but I think that he’s going to slowly continuously develop that three-point shot. He’s not a non-shooter. Duran is a non-shooter because they stopped developing that three-point shot uh shot after his rookie year when uh Dwayne Casey got removed as the head coach. All that to say is I’m not concerned with Cade Ivy Assar as your lineup. Tobias Harris is going to be above average. I think he’s going to be more of a spot shooter next year. Uh, and I think that that’s okay. I expect Holland to be really good, faster than we think. Uh, so I was just wondering what a reasonable expectation for Holland and Assar next year. Yeah. Well, well, Ron Holland, I already said at the beginning of this video, um, is going to continue to develop as a shooter. When you watched him in the G-League, he could shoot. He could shoot. A lot of people think that you’re not a shooter because you’re not coming in shooting 40%. Even highlevel shooters have to figure out how to shoot in the NBA. I don’t know if people remember Aaron Kneesmith at Vanderbilt. He shot over 40% on volume. His first three, four years in the league, he couldn’t shoot. He was struggling to shoot. He had to remake himself as a defender. and then now he’s moving back into the confidence and having the um structure in his shot to be a consistent shooter again. All that’s to say is it takes time. Ron Holland is going to be in year two next year with Fred Vincent as his assistant coach. I fully expect Ron Holland shooting two to three threes per game next season. And I think he’s going to hit somewhere close to league average. I think he’s going to be somewhere around 33 to 34% next year, which is really good for a guy coming off the bench. But here’s the thing. Ron Holland is also going to be providing offense in a lot of other ways. And that is kind of the point. Next season, I don’t expect this to be a highlevel offense. The mo the majority of our offensive efficiency is going to come from our ability to create turnovers and get out in transition. And when we’re in the half court, I think we’re going to struggle a bit, but I think you’re going to see Kade Cunningham and Jaden Ivy become more uh de facto shooters and floor spacers than necessarily shot creators and playmakers. The reason why I say that is because their ability to catch and shoot, their ability to space out the defense, because both of them have range on their shots along with Tobias Harris, I think is going to play far more benefit for this half court offense for the Detroit Pistons in that mode. Looking to catch and shoot and then create off the bounce after a closeout rather than trying to become downhill scorers. Because when the ball is in K’s hand, now only have two shooters to worry about. That’s Tobias Harris and Jaden Ivy. I still think Jaden Ivy being an over 40% three-point shooter provide significant spacing. And the fact that we saw Cade, Tim Hardaway Jr., Assara Thompson, Tobias Harris, Jaylen Durren work extremely well last year, even in the playoffs. I think bodess well for Ivy Cade, Assar, Tobias Harris, and Duran as well. All that to say is I think that they’re going to have to reorient their shot um dispersion to probably more three-point shooting, which is where I could see Kade and Ivy becoming volume three-point shooters where they’re shooting five plus threes a game each of them easily. easily. The bulk of their offense though is going to be in transition, early offense, getting downhill, penetrate, kick out. Now, it’s going to look rough. And this is what I’m really trying to um get us to be okay with that. It’s going to look rough. Not Orlando Magic rough. Not Orlando Magic rough. No. Uh but it is going to look rough. It is going to be tough for those guys to figure out the chemistry and it’s going to take a full year. They’re probably going to get into the playoffs as a number five or six seed. Again, I know we might think, “Oh, we’re going to take the next step. It’s going to mean more wins.” I wouldn’t guarantee that. I would expect to see the Detroit Pistons somewhere around the same amount of wins between 40 and 45 wins a game. Uh, sorry, not a game. Uh, at at the end of the season. And like I said before, Atlanta’s going to be better when they’re healthy. Orlando’s going to be better when they’re healthy. I anticipate um the Toronto Raptors being better because they’re going to be healthy. I anticipate Philadelphia is going to be right back healthy, right? Tyrese Maxi, um, uh, Jared McCain, Paul George, you know, Joel Embiid, New York Knicks are going to be back. Indiana Pacers are going to be right there. Cleveland’s going to be right there. And like I said, who knows if Jaylen Brown’s going to say, “Hey, this is going to be my prove it year that I’m a superstar, top 10 in the league.” Um, and tries to make a run as well. and they build that thing around him in Boston, right? So, it’s another team that’s going to take a step forward, right? So, it’s going to be a dog fight once again. It’s going to be a tough out and because they’re figuring themselves out, I fully expect Detroit uh to not take a step back, but I think it’s going to be a plateau because they’re still going to be able to perform well enough defensively to get the wins, but the offense is going to look worse than what it did last year. So, they’ll be better on defense, worse in terms of half court offensive uh efficiency. You were thinking 50 wins. Um, I don’t think so. I don’t think so. Now, now I I could be wrong because I definitely underestimated what they were going to do this past year. I had them between 32 and 35 wins as their next step this season. So, who knows? Maybe they just wildly put it all together. But I still think that where they’re going to put it together the most is going to be on the defensive end. Cuz remember our first our defense for the first half of the season before Assar Thompson uh got ramped back up was the shits. Our defense was horrible. It was terrible. Jaylen Duran was in his head crying for calls, right? They were still adjusting to one another. Um Jayden Ivy was the best perimeter defender. You had Tim Hardaway Jr. next to Jay Ivy. They were kind of small out there. Kade Cunningham was, you know, the most size we had on the perimeter. Ron Holland was still figuring himself out. Simony from Techo shot had abandoned him, right? We and you know, he doesn’t play defense, right? Um, we just didn’t have a good defensive team. Fast forward to next year, you now have a starting lineup of Cade, Ivy, Assar, Thompson. That’s 676765. Elite athletes with really good length, speed, anticipation, ability to smother other teams on the perimeter. And then you bring Ron Holland off the bench. So even when your bench comes in, there’s no letup on the perimeter defense. Ron Holland, 67, 610 wingspan, great motor, great energy on the defensive end. I think that’s where we hang our cap. I think that’s where we do the bulk of our work. I think that’s where we have the ability to maximize our potential and to really kind of put foot to ass. You know what I mean? Like to really get out and run on teams. It’s not going to be our offensive efficiency. And I think that that’s going to create a similar outlook, but it’s going to be hard because once again, teams weren’t checking for us last year. They weren’t, especially when we started off, I think the season 0 and four, right? Like like we had a rough start at the very beginning and then picked it up and even then they were like, who’s this 14- win team, right? No one’s looking for the Pistons. Even when they were doing well, people didn’t start checking for the Pistons until it was too late. And then they had already kind of settled into their playoff lineups and they were like, “It is what it is. Let’s just get into the playoffs.” And it was what it was. Next season, folks are checking for us. Now, fortunately, you got the Milwaukee Bucks likely taking a huge step back. They’re going to trade Giannis. It looks like inevitably they’re going to reset there. That’s going to be a team that, you know, as long as you do what you’re supposed to do, you should be able to beat them. So, it’s going to be four easy wins, right? You can count those in the bag. You got the Chicago Bulls still trying to figure themselves out. I don’t see them as our our competition at all. Uh we should be able to get three to four wins at least out of them. But then you have Indiana and Cleveland. Those are going to be tough outs. That’s another eight games we’re going to have to fight for. Then you look at the Raptors will be back. Knicks. It’s going to be a rough I think it’s going to be rougher early on in the year than it will be later on as we figure ourselves out offensively. But if I’m honest with you, I don’t see a team out there who can match the Detroit Pistons in terms of perimeter wing athletes, defense, and ability to get out in transition. I don’t think there’s a single other team out there. The closest may be Houston with Tari E and Amen Thompson, but they don’t have a Cade. They don’t have an Ivy, right? And so I think that we have a clear advantage over the league, over the NBA in that regard. And I think we can leverage that the whole season. It’s going to get us to 44, 45 wins. All right. I don’t think it gets us to 50, though, because there are going to be games where you’re going to have to execute offensively, and I don’t think we’ll have that figured out until later in the year. We get to some of these uh questions and comments. I appreciate all the all the love. I got 12 people in the chat. Definitely smash the like button for me. It’s your first time in one of my lives. It’s an interactive chat. So, I’m going to read your chat questions and thoughts. Um, if I missed you, I apologize. Um, if you want me to stop and notice what you’re uh wanting me to talk about, shoot me a super chat. All right? And then we can pause and pivot. Uh, team Savon, what’s good, my man? Ron Holland should give us the same production as Benedict Mat next season. Uh, yes. I think he gives you even more because Mattherin uh be struggling on defense. Ron is not going to struggle on defense. Ron has been able to learn a lot of the tricks of the trade defensively. I think having Assar Thompson there, Kade Cunningham, um, are going to be great to sharpen, you know, his iron on and he’s going to be extremely effective defensively, which is going to add even more offensively. I don’t think that he is the free throw merchant that um that Matine is able to be in terms of finding those angles and getting his body. But I do think he’s going to get downhill at a high level and he’s going to be hitting threes. I think he’s going to be uh kind of that prototypical athletic three and D wing. He’s going to look more and more like Aaron Nesmith with a little bit more offensive creation, but a lot like Aaron Nesmith by the end of next year. U maybe not as many threes, but he’s going to be shooting threes and getting out in transition and playing great D. Uh let me see. Uh Ddubs, what’s good? We can still do with a couple shot creators because things will get rough. Team will figure us out. The barometer is Indiana. Um, I don’t think I don’t think we need shot creators. I’m going to be honest with you. Uh, I did a breakdown of the shot distribution that I’m anticipating for next year between Cade, Ivy, and Assar, and even Jaylen Durren. There are not going to be there is not going to be a lot of shots available. I don’t need guys who are trying to get their shot. I need guys who can complement the guys whose shots we want going to. In other words, I want someone like a Marcus Smart who already knows how to play between a Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum. I want a guy like Santi Aldma who knows how to play between Jiren Jackson Jr., John Morant, and Desmond Bane and figures out his shots there, makes the extra pass, scores without the ball in his hands, cutting off the ball, offensive glass, that type of thing, right? I don’t want guys who are going to come in here and say, “I need the ball.” Tim Hardway Jr. Malik Beasley are guys who need the ball to be effective. If they are not taking shots, they are not effective. If they’re not making shots, they’re not effective. That’s not the type of veterans that we need. I need guys like Lindy Waters who can move off the ball, who know how to make the extra pass, um who are going to play tough defense, have good positional size, and are great fillers, right? And which is why I brought up guys like Kyle Anderson, Kelly Olen. Um I like those guys. I like those guys. Um, but that’s a that’s a great comment. Uh, let me see. Still need an offseason move though. I think we do. Sports times. You’re right. Uh, we need an offseason move, but I think it’s going to be to upgrade the veterans, get some more positional size as we saw Malik Beasley, Tim Hardway Jr., they were fooled on the defensive end. Jaylen Brunson ate every time he saw one of those guys. You you look at what he’s doing to Ben Shepard who’s considered to be a good defender. He just uh you know he’s not as physical but he’s shorter. He’s like 6’5. Jaylen Brunson is shooting over those guys like they’re not even there. You need guys. You need multiple guys that you can throw at a Brunson that you can throw at uh Mikuel Bridges who sits at 6’8 with a 72 wingspan. Oh, Janobi 67, 240 pounds with a 72 wingspan, right? You’re going to need size. So, that’s it’s another reason why I don’t see us bringing back Tim Hardway Jr. and Malik P. If I’m going to go with a pure shooter who’s only going to have a limited amount of shots, I need him to be able to give me more than just shooting uh to validate playing him out there. Otherwise, I’d rather have Ron Holland take more threes, even if it’s at a lower clip, because it gives me defense and rebounding in other areas. Uh, which is why I like Lindy Waters over those guys. So, I think our move is to upgrade the veterans. Our move this offseason is is going to be to upgrade that periphery off the bench. I think that we bring in a veteran power forward 34. somebody who Bobby Clintman, hey, if you’re shooting lights out and you’re stealing his minutes, okay, cool, you know, which is why I like Chris Middleton who can create off the bounce but also create for others. He knows how to be a glue guy between, you know, Jannis and Takmpo and Drew Holiday and Brook Lopez and Bobby Poris. He understands how to play winning basketball off of other talents. That’s the type of veterans that I want to see us bring in. Not shot chuckers, not guys who only play on one end. Uh but hey, we’re going to wrap up this this live. Um ddubs get to these last comments here. Uh our young guys need help. Uh when things don’t get going for them, things will get rough. A couple shot creators to come off the bench and give us something with the ball if need. See, bro, I keep trying to explain like when you have point Assar Thompson, when you have point Assar Thompson, when you have Jaden Ivy able to take over for stretches of the game, when you have Kade Cunningham, those are going to be your primary shot creators, facilitators, ball handlers. That’s who you want. In fact, and here’s the thing. This is it’s what I’ve been saying, but let me say it more pronounced. We are going to have to give Assar Ivy Cade and Duran time to develop the chemistry to step into being the maximal player that they can be because that is what’s best for our championship version of ourselves. Assar needs significant minutes playing point guard. So does Ivy. Kade probably needs to spend more time off the ball as a complimentary piece to get used to playing off of Ivy and Assar and Duran. They need to figure this out for our best version of ourselves to win a championship. We’re not trying to win a championship next season. We don’t need a Dennis Schroeder to take the ball out of the hands of Ivy and Thompson. We need someone like Malcolm Brogden who can play off of those guys, who are still smart, heady players, but very unselfish and are going to make the extra pass, can play off of those guys and in between those guys. That’s what we need on this team. That’s what we we should be looking for. Sasha can play off the ball. Yes. Yes. And he could guard the point. Yes, he can. Milton too old and injuryprone. Uh, you know, James Lewis, let me just say, let me say this. Yes. And yes, he’s also in a contract year and going into this his off seasonason healthy, which means that he’s likely going to go extremely hard this off seasonason so that he can prove next year that he’s worthy of another NBA contract, which means that he’s going to play more games and he’s going to play hard and effectively for someone. It’s the same way that Tim Hardway Jr. and Malik Beasley turned in one of their best seasons of their career in their contract year in likely their last major deal as an NBA player, right? So, the motivation to play at your best is going to be extremely high. Yeah. Philosophy. Yep. Broden would be perfect. And so I expect Chris Middleton to have a hell of a season next year. If we can trade someone like Fonteo for Chris Middleton, I’m all for it. I am all for it because to have that guy at 68 with a 611 wingspan, NBA championship pedigree with the Milwaukee Bucks, who has a versatile skill set, has been a leader for a championship team, a captain, someone who can create for others and shoot the ball. He would be amazing off the bench. And if I’m honest with you, I’m probably playing him as a 34 where sometimes he’s going to play that power forward position behind Tobias Harris. Still want a veteran point guard when needed who does not need to play but stays ready. That’s why I like Malcolm Brockton or Marcus Smart. I like both those guys. I don’t like Ty Jerome. I think his his remarks about JB Bicker staff are out of pocket. um from what I heard. Uh and I just I just don’t like bringing in somebody from where your coach used to be and you’re kind of questioning if that relationship is good. I don’t need to mess with this chemistry at all. At all. I’m not bringing in Tai Jerome, especially because he’s probably going to cost more. Um Drew Holiday, no. I love Drew. It’s good to see you, Shane. I love Drew Holiday, but the length of that contract is far too long. is far too long. And as much as he’s getting paid, it’s going to eat into our salary cap and our ability to resign Jayen Ivy, Jaylen Duran, um, and Assara Thompson and Ron Holland. All those guys, I think, have crazy potential and are going to demand 20 plus million dollar contracts. So, I I would not want that length of a contract for this team, even though I think he is a prototypical type of player that I would want as a veteran guard off the bench. Great point. But hey y’all, appreciate y’all coming through for the video. Dennis Smith Jr., no. No, not Dennis Smith Jr. Dennis Smith Jr. is still trying to prove himself. I don’t want to prove I don’t want a guy who’s trying to prove himself. I want a guy who can shoot, defend, high IQ, selfless team first guy and some positional size. Notice I mentioned Malcolm Brogen, Marcus Smart, right? I didn’t mention smaller guys, right? I need somebody who can defend with versatility, right? Have some length out there. And I think that that’s going to be uh someone like those guys. But hey, I appreciate y’all jumping in for the live. Uh, I’m gonna try to do these more during the day so y’all have an opportunity to jump on with me. Yo, dubs, I’m definitely doing that Jamaican national team live coming soon. Man, I’m so here for it cuz that’s going to be dope. But if it’s your first time being on this channel, I do interactive live chats, uh, live streams. Um, smash a like button for me because it lets the algorithm know you want to be notified next time I’m on. I’m usually on every every couple of days. Uh, but smash the like button for me. Hit subscribe and the bell for notifications. I’m going get at y’all next time. Peace.