The Pistons Pulse: Mock Draft w/No Ceilings NBA

The Pistons Pulse: Mock Draft w/No Ceilings NBA

hello and welcome to your Goto Detroit Pistons podcast The Pistons Pulse co-hosted by me Bryce Simon of Motor City Hoops a former D1 hooper and current teacher husband and father of three amazing kids and I’m Omari Senko for the second piss beat writer for the Detroit Free Press and of course we’re always blessed to be joined by our producer Wes Davenport if you are not listening to Wes and Blake Silverman over on the pin down on the Detroit Bad Boys YouTube channel you absolutely should be you should be reading Amari on the free press i think you should probably be subscribed to the Motor City Hoop Substack because it’s free if nothing else and you guys should be subscribed and following and everything else to no ceilings because nobody does it better don’t tell Sam Bassini so today we are joined by Steven Gillespie and Maxwell Bombach two of my favorite people not just in the NBA draft world not in the NBA content world but maybe just in the world in general so what’s up guys and we love you too Bryce yeah we’re so excited to be here as soon as this came up we we jumped all over it and we’re excited to talk Pistons you know we do so much player specific content on our show that it’s nice to get over to the team side for a minute and kind of look at things through that lens and I I think it helps as an evaluator to see just through the lens of like if I’m a team who do I actually like and not just evaluating a player in a bubble it it does change the evaluations right guys absolutely absolutely does it absolutely does because I mean right now we’re picking in a vacuum for like if we ran all these teams at once how would we rank a board but when you start getting it down to a spec a specific team like your guys’ team Bryson Amari it makes it a little bit more fun but also kind of forces you to think a different way i love it so for everybody watching live right here we did this a little bit different we didn’t want to have to make 36 picks live before you got to see who Detroit was going to select at 37 so if you want to see picks one through 25 and how we got there and some explanation and all of that go check out the YouTube video that will be posted on Tuesday and it’ll have all of that it’ll be spliced all together but for the live I’m going to show you guys one through 25 we’re going to start at 26 we’re going to r not rush through that but we’re going to get through that that way you guys can see the names that could be potential trade-ups we are not allowing trades but we can talk about it we’ll spend the majority of our time at 37 and then make a few more picks to close it out just so you guys know the names that are left on the board so just to set the table here first again we did this over ahead of time if you’re watching right now you can go and listen to how we got there so Cooper Flag went one to the Mavs obviously dylan Harper two Ace Bailey three to the Sixers VJ Etchkum four to the Hornets Trey Johnson five to the Jazz Con Canipple six to the Wizards Casper Yakon is seven to the Pelicans Carter Bryant eight to the Nets common Malawatch nine to the Raptors 10 now a Phoenix Suns pick Cedric Coward Derek Queen off the board at 11 to the Blazers 12 Thomas Serber to the Bulls 13 Yon Baron Jay to the Hawks 14 Danny Wolf also to the Spurs with Dylan Harper Colin Murray Boils went 15 to the Thunder the rich get richer nick Clifford 16 to the Grizzlies this is a mistake on your screen noah Essen went 17 the Wolves asa Newell went 18 to the Wizards messed that up my bad jeremiah Fears drops to the Nets at 19 they play the board perfectly walter Clayton 20 to the Heat jagger Demon 21 to Utah will Riley 22 to the Hawks 23 Ryan Cochrinter pistons fans that’s a name you guys ask about to the Pelicans 24 Oklahoma City Thunder west says the rich get even richer with Hugo Gonzalez and again Piston Michigan State fans jace Richardson off the board at 25 to the Magic all right so that is laying it out we are going to alternate between the four of us as we go through so real quickly some names on the board we have Nolan Trey we have Liam McNeely we have Rashir Fleming Pistons fans we have Noah Pinda West Davenport we have Maxim Renault Ben Saraf Drake Pal some really interesting names left here we are going to go to Stephen first so these are going to be back-to-back Nets picks stephen who are you taking with the first Brooklyn Net selection in the second round yeah so with the Nets taking Carter Bryant they get their 3 and D guy with Jeremiah Fears they get their high upside ball handler i want to give them another shot at a floor spacer on the perimeter although he wasn’t a great floor spacer this year when he played at Mont Vern he shot over 46% on his threes that being Liam McNeely so I think that they have the opportunity here to kind of not necessarily need to have him contribute with all of the other prospects that they already have taken ahead of him but if he hits and if he is a consistent floor spacer we’ve talked about this Bryce adding floor spacers to the young developing team that can greatly assist the trajectory of this upand cominging Brooklyn Nets team youtube user says Maxim Renault and Fleming on the board i think there’s a frozen envelope involved bryce here’s the thing youtube user I’m just setting myself up for heartbreak because we’re have them on the board here still and there’s no chance they’re actually going to last to number 37 it’d be my guess and guys at 37 we will go back and we will talk about hey would you guys have traded up here would you have traded up there what would you have done we’re just going to save it for the conversation at 37 Matthew says “Hey shout out from your Brazilian handsome friend.” Um he called himself handsome i did not call him handsome i am sure he is handsome because in profile picture it looks like he’s bald just like me and we are all handsome o2 what time is it in Brazil i couldn’t tell you i know all right up at number draft time draft time that’s what time it is at number 27 the Brooklyn Nets are on the board again max you are up my guy yeah so I’m gonna continue to add to the wing stockpile here i think with Jeremiah fears you don’t want to step on his toes i kind of like what they’ve going on got going on from a big man standpoint you got Nick Claxton you got Daron Sharp who I think is one of the more underrated bigs in the league i like the idea with Jeremiah Fears and Carter Bryant and Darren Sharp as an outlet passer maybe we go a little bit more athletic with things here we get our big wing stopper and we go with Adut Thiaro with this pick who might be a little bit of a reach i get it the shot is not great it’s really low volume but he’s a stellar defensive playmaker who can really run the break and get out in transition and go i think there’s a sneaky shot that with how good he is defensively he can step in and contribute right away and just sort of add it’s a different like transition grab and go sort of wrinkle to this team i love it matthew says “Not bald lol blonde hair.” My bad i’m so sorry man i ruined that one that’s really bad um hey Quasem nobody covered the Pistons better than O2 this year i agree couldn’t agree more adutiero you’re breaking Pistons hearts man i know this was a name that a lot of people thought could be there at 37 for them i really like this pick Max really really nice job so Adutiero off the board now at number 27 which means the Celtics are up at 28 and I’m going to do it guys i just think it makes so much sense at 28 with their current situation i’m going to take Maxim Renault at 28 for the Boston Celtics i’m sorry Stephen is this too early for Maxim Renault what are your thoughts it depends on who you ask for me I think it’s okay i have him maxwell knows this too i’m a little bit lower on him okay i I don’t know how the passing translates really in the NBA i worry about his defense he only shot 34% for as a floor spacer not as great ryan Cochrrener actually had a similar efficiency but on lower volume but a worthwhile gamble here for Boston because we all know that they value the three-point shot highly within their offensive scheme that’s what he projects to be the best at all right Maxwell give me something more positive i should have went to you first yeah I think with with Maxi Mareno is like so I’ve actually come up on him a little bit over like the last week or so i I feel like all the guys that I miss on are guys that just like posted big counting numbers and big roles and Maxi Reno averaged 20 and 10 in the ACC like the bottom line is he took a ton of threes he made him in a decent clip he moves his feet well enough that if you can pick up some of the lowhanging fruit defensively you could be looking at one of those dribble pass shoot bigs that can at least survive on defense and with how many threes Boston likes to shoot I think he fits from that standpoint alone love it all right O2 you finally get to make a selection here we are at number 29 the Phoenix Suns back on the board of course the trade has happened they traded for Jaylen Green Dylan Brooks number 10 and a plethora of second round picks um which I mean should be noted because Oklahoma City Thunder used five second round picks to trade into the first round to draft Dylan Jones so five second round picks aren’t nothing but we have taken Cedric Coward already at number 10 for the Suns O2 so just not saying that it matters all uh a whole lot but just something to take note where are you going to go with this pick yeah I’m going to go with Rasheed Fleming okay you know I think for one the Suns could use you know a player that’s not a shooting guard and Rashe Fleming you know I think is somebody who’s going to um you know give you some sides whether he’s at the three or the four uh I mean 75 wingspan at his height is just ridiculous like uh you know he’s going to have one of the longest wingspans in the NBA from day one uh love his athleticism uh you know love his tools on defense uh shot the three really well uh in his third season uh you know I guess there’s still some maybe still some concerns with the shots if he could be like a high volume guy but uh I just think he’s a really good like long-term piece for a Phoenix Suns team that again could just really use help at every position that’s Yeah i mean honestly their shooting guard position was kind of funny if you just like go over to spot track and look and it’s just like shooting guard shooting guard shooting guard just like across the board so uh Stephen real quick here please don’t break my heart on Rasher Fleming as well you a fan at all of Rashir Fleming brother i have him 11th on my board i There we go i don’t know if his mom’s a bigger fan of him than I am i think that 39% from deep just like Omari um Mario gave a great scout by the way i’ll put in a good word for you at no ceilings bro because I mean the defense is there the toughness is there the year-over-year improvements i know Maxwell actually you know covered him at a ground level earlier on than a lot of people he could speak to that development and trajectory a lot more but he’s just doing things this year that we haven’t seen maxwell real quick can you speak on that i mean like just simply put the guy’s enormous and he knows how to shoot the basketball and he plays really hard but if you just w like if you go deep into the tape the kinds of passes that he made the things like that the defensive rotations he was making those are not plays he was making a few years ago he’s on this great development trajectory clearly a kid that works really hard uh and I think people are getting a little too cute with it dropping him too far on their boards so for Pistons fans like this may be a precursor to wins well I guess it would be Thursday night where at one point whenever we started at 26 things looked really interesting and then wing floor spacer off the board athletic wing off the board stretch big off the board Rashier Fleming off the like all of these guys that we kind of like now are flying off the board so some names still on the board nolan Trayor Noah Penda I know Wes is just praying right now ben Sof Drake Pal uh Janai Broom Alex Tui will continue to move forward here with the final pick of the first round so then we will get to the actual second round big dog Pistons praying for some Drake Pal here the Los Angeles Clippers stephen what is our final pick of the first round i’m going to go Ben Saraf now his fit might be a little funky on this team but I think that you get a big wing who can handle the ball on a lot of usage uh still playing competitive basketball I believe right now if I’m not mistaken if not he is season ended very very very soon um he he sees the floor well he’s got long arms he’s got a good frame he’s got good vision there’s potential that he can give you a lot of what you’re getting within the starting lineup on this Clippers team coming off of the bench and developing on a pretty good time playing for a heck of a coach too and and Tyoo I I love Saraf i mean I had him super high on my board at one time things dropped because the efficiency just wasn’t there there’s some questions about the defense i think he’s definitely a first round uh prospect for me potential whatever so I I love that um here for the Clippers so now we will move into the second round um just to give the fan base a little bit of a under so we got the Wolves up then the Celtics back-to-back Hornets picks Sixers Nets and then we will get to the Pistons when we get to the Pistons we will war room that selection we will all have a voice and then I will be the tiebreaker no I’m the comments or something like that can be the tiebreaker when we get there max you are up first pick of the second round number 31 Minnesota Timberwolves i’m gonna go with my guy Noah Penda here yep um Penda is a guy really smart really tough knows how to play basketball moves the ball super well lots of event creation defensively the question with him is just the shot i think it looks good enough he takes enough of them that I’m I’m confident in the second round particularly that you just kind of bet on that sorting itself out um but I look at the Timberwolves roster it feels like they’re a little thin once you go down the bench at that like three four spot we haven’t quite got what we wanted out of Josh Minard or Leonard Miller yet i think getting another kind of guy in that mix who’s big strong tough but also really smart kind of kind of fits what they could use love it um yeah Noah Pendo really interesting player guys if if you want to know more about these players I have video breakdowns on most of the guys we’re talking about over the last seven or eight picks and through the next seven or eight and then of course No Ceilings has an incredible draft guide that they’ve put out along with just like all sorts of articles which Maxwell and Steven both do an incredible job of and everybody else over at No Ceilings as well so all sorts of content to get to know even more about these guys beyond the little one two minute spills we’re giving I’m back up with the Celtics actually so I took the big and Maxim Renault i will go Nolan Trayore here um I just think at the end of the day he’s the best player on my board at 32 I feel like this is great value for Nolan Trayor and you know I I don’t know what his fit like his playing time whatever ends up being in Boston but I’m okay at 32 taking Trayor uh Max what were your thoughts on kind of this was a guy that was part of the big five nine months ago right when this draft was supposed to be just out of this world and now I mean I don’t know if he actually falls in the second round but he’s definitely not that like you don’t see a whole lot of Nolan Trayor lottery why yeah he just had a really inefficient season he took on a massive usage role so like if you want to be fair to him he he took on as big of a playmaking burden as just about anybody and the playmaking is good he has really sharp recognition um but he just gets bounced around a lot came in I believe under 180 pounds really struggles with physicality and the jump shot’s a huge question uh really struggles with this pull-up the three has never really been a part of his game so you’re just looking at one of these guys who needs the ball to be effective but isn’t really a disruptor isn’t really a three-level scorer and it’s just it’s tough to play those guys it’s like there’s a little like you can you can scare yourself with guys like Alfred Payton uh in the past you had that really nice table setter mentality but if the rest of the firepower is not there it becomes tough to make that work you only have to say two words you’re on a Detroit Pistons podcast Maxwell and we all know what those two words are the next pick is number 33 the Charlotte Hornets with back-to-back picks starting with our guy O2 o2 you get to make your pick right after this break all right we are back with segment two and I believe I am opening it up with pick 34 33 33 to the Charlotte Hornets to the Charlotte Hornets and I’m going to go with a guy that you know has gotten the first round grade from uh you know some teams drake Powell uh I mean like monster athlete uh love his to us on defense like he’s about what like 66 with a seven foot wingspan um and the Hornets I feel like just need good two-way foundational basketball players and I think you know Jake Pow may be a little bit more of you know a long-term project suspect in in in some ways i don’t know if he gives you um everything he’s capable of day one but like I think long term uh he fits perfectly with Brandon Miller and LaMelo Ba uh you know assuming those are the core two guys going forward and uh I just like his upside you know and I think this late uh in the draft early in the second round you swing for upside and he’s definitely got it um really interesting draft here for the Hornets so far they got VJ Edgecom at number four um defensive player here Drake Pal at 33 defensive player um I don’t hate this stephen what are your thoughts on Drake Pal at 33 and then as you talk through that you can go ahead and talk into your pick for the Hornets at number 34 i like the Hornets leaning into a bit of a defensive identity here drake Powell I had him in my first round for about a week a little later on in the season i do worry about the offense although he did shoot really efficiently on low volume from deep this year at UNC uncc was a mess i mean we’re talking about a guy who was once a highly rated recruit he is since kind of fallen to the detriment of the college that he uh chose to play for but the defense is like the swing skill it could be like NBA ready right off the rip and if we’re going to keep a defensive identity going for this uh Charlotte Hornets who really needs one by the way i mean they got offensive talent on this team let’s add them a guy maxwell you probably guess who I’m going to go with here if uh we’re going for a point guard uh Elijah Martin i think that he could play I think that he could play really well on this team give you another defensive mind and backcourt mate that you can run in different lineups with um LaMelo Ball alongside a Brandon Miller he also shot the ball pretty well 35% on over 11 threes per 100 possession a tenacious athlete plays big was the four at FAU before he transferred to Florida he is a defensive stalwart he has way more defensive events created than he did in fouls committed in the talented SEC conference guarding up the lineup so he is a very good player off the ball offensively and will pick up the tough defensive assignment in the back court on the other end mr ray says “I can’t believe I almost missed this.” Greatness maxwell and Steven G are icons in the draft space that’s actually true youtube user thank you Mr ray how are you going to do game theory in 30 minutes Bryce a YouTube user not Not only do we have a mock draft on game I’m hoping Sam’s in a talkative mood so I just have to like say a few words here and there but then we have to record the offseason previews after that for the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers so this is like three and a half straight hours of podcasting which I will not complain because like there can be worse things than getting to do a podcast with you three gentlemen and on the Game Theory podcast so we are at number 35 let’s set the table a little bit guys janai Broom Alex Tui Hansen Yang Cam Jones Marovic Kobe Brea Neerhouser Kobe Sanders um Chaz Laneir the list has shrunk and again I hope maybe that we aren’t giving you a precursor Pistons fans of getting excited on the start of day two and then we’ll talk through the names once we actually get there but Max Philadelphia 35 I’m gonna go with Janai Broom here okay uh so Janai Broom yes what he is is he a power forward is he a center he’s a good basketball player the bottom line is he’s super productive absolutely stuffed the stat sheet at Auburn this past year why I like him particularly at Philadelphia is this is a team that has really struggled on the glass the last few seasons uh he’s going to add that to their team he’s also like a really stellar passer it’s really rare for a big man to have an assist rate pushing 20 and to do that with so few turnovers he’s dynamite out of the short role i think there’s a chance that that safety valve like pick and pop three gets there at a certain point when guys sag on him but even then if he’s not a floor spacer this is a lineup where you can play him next to Joel Embiid there’s defensive insulation they’re shooting all around him if you’re worried about him scoring efficiently at the next level that can sort of allow him to be more of an orchestrator a DHO operator i love Jai Broom i think he’s one of those guys that’s just good enough at basketball that he’s gonna figure it out and I think a team like Philly could use the rebounding some playmaking out of the center spot and some additional big man depth love it uh Stephen quick thoughts on Jani Broom also love him i think Maxwell hit all of the nails on every one of their heads i just think that you know positional playmaking rebounding he played a lot tougher earlier on in his college career slimmed down quite a bit and became more of a finesse guy so we’ve seen him succeed in multiple different looks at multiple locations i love the pick for Philadelphia they get a a ready to contribute guy in the second round okay so ultimately this is why Pistons fans are here but we’re at pick 36 we got one more name off the board and then we will war room i want to do this a little bit fairly because like there’s a name I kind of want to leave on the board but so the Nets have taken four first round picks guys they have taken Carter Bryant Jeremiah Fierce Liam McDilly Adith the arrow i think we can essentially go anywhere with this pick at 36 ultimately they probably don’t end up taking five rookies i just want to see who was like the number one player on our boards because I would just say like hey this is best pale player available whether they take it or whatever so Stephen who would be your BPA if we just went straight BPA right here cam Jones okay uh Max oh man i think my highest ranked guy on the board is actually Victor Lockin okay who is a guy that I’m really bullish on and I kind of think would fit this team a little bit but he’s injured and I I think teams are are always skeptical of guys and they’re injured but I like him i like Brea oh too you don’t necessarily have a board do you have a favorite name that’s on the board right now though i like Chaz Dener um okay you know I’ve said it on the pot before but just guaranteed skill that’s always going to be useful and like he’s got decent sides and athleticism too uh you know great like he’s a solid pick there really solid pick safe pick uh you know could potentially fill a role for you all right this didn’t work because I have Alex Tui so uh four four people four different names um I I did wonder about just giving them another big uh Maxwell you mentioned you know they have Nick Claxton you and I are both big fans of Dron Sharp you mentioned that earlier but I what what do we think here about Hansen Yang or Neerhouser like if Listen I’m going to go big matt uh Stephen give me the big that you would take if I said it has to be a big it can be any of them zakarski Marovic whoever you give me the name that you like if I say I want to go a bigger player it’s razor thin they’re separated just by one player but I’m going to go Hansen Yang as my top guy and I think that if the Nets are looking to build long-term he’s got the highest upside okay Maxwell uh out of the bigs I still kind of want to go with my guy Lockin just because I think he does Okay we’re not taking Lock in go to the next okay all right in that case I’ll go Yanik i think he’s just very like obvious in terms of he can run a dunk and block shots and that’s fine like I I think he’s going to be an innings eater and I think you can live with that in the second round o2 Yannik Netherhouser or Hansen Yang i’m more familiar with Yannik and like again he’s just a massive dude uh you know especially like in that range where you know you’re probably looking at guys who could fill a specific row like he just screams like backup center uh you know I like his skill set okay i was going to go Hansen Yang so this didn’t work either wes wes please break the tie hansen Yang or Yannik Conan Neerhouser hansen Yang it is so hey Brooklyn Nets will go hansen Yang um Stephen give us the quick pitch on Hansen Yang here for the Nets before we get to Detroit has the upside to be a top 20 player in this class the NBA is built on outliers hansen Yang is one of those guys his com or league didn’t really do him any favors with how he was scouted once he was in a room with his peers he dominated in a lot of areas he has playmaking potential at the five he has the ability to potentially shoot from outside his floor his footwork looked a lot better blocking Seion James on a three and defending other guys like Micah Peavey out in space i just think again very young a lot of upside brooklyn Nets could have a potential top 20 return in a Hansen Yang so Wes just goes “That was going to be my Pistons pick should have lied.” I will say this guys i think we have done a very good job of being very honest with this draft and not trying to like cherrypick it to make cater to yeah because that would have been very easy to do and we did not do it at all so quick refresher since this recording started liam McNeil at 26 Adutierro 27 Maxim Renault Rashir Fleming Ben Saraf Noah Penda Nolan Trayori Drake Pal Elijah Martin Janibroom Hansen Yang all off the board that leaves us with a bunch of names alex Tui uh Yannik who we mentioned earlier Cam Jones Proctor Brea Laneir Roco Zakarski we are going to war room this and then we will make a selection after the break we’ll talk through it we’ll talk would we have traded up somewhere all of that and then we’ll make a few more picks just so people kind of know um all right let’s start with you actually where would you go with this what’s going through your process who are you considering yeah like I would go with Chaz Lir um you know again I think you just look at the Pistons’s ro rotation and long term I think there’s still a need for shooting in the back court and like he’s one of the highest floor shooters in the draft uh like again like he was a a four or five year guy in college uh you know like I don’t want to say he’s probably more like onedimensional but I don’t know if he’s going to come in and like uh be able to be like a secondary playmaker or anything like that like I think he’s big enough and athletic enough to hold his own defensively and uh you want guys who are going to play off a K Cunningham anyway so with the Pistons uh just with their roster makeup uh I mean even Duran take a you know step forward as a playmaker this past season i think you could get away with having a guy like Chaz Adair who’s just going to come in and knock down as many threes as he can so just a really good fit uh you know and I like the idea of getting a player that brings a guaranteed NBA skill from day one couple thoughts from the comments youtube user says “We’re trading up so need to cherrypick this lowhanging fruit.” Matt Welch says “Trade the pick.” YouTube user says “Draft and stash Rocco.” And Mr ray wants us to take Micah Peavey so uh Stephen where is your thought process right now with what’s on the board i kind of like the idea that Omari’s rolling with but I would want to go with a bigger guy who um could do the same things which is why I would want to go with Kobe Brea who has look listen I love Chaz i actually just interviewed him the other day i’m big fan but I just think that Kobe has a lot more utility could play probably one more position than Chaz Laneir because of the height and length um has been an upper echelon collegiic shooter for several seasons so I think that he can space the floor just like Chaz but just gives you some some more size and I think that that could be valuable for what the Pistons are building maxwell where are you at with this pick yeah I’m I I think the process is great ultimately so far like I I look at the Pistons roster and it just seems like the guys who kind of just shoot for them are guys that aren’t going to be around longer don’t really fit the timeline or older i’m with Stephen i kind of like Kobe Bray here i think with Laneir I I I’d wanted to be in so bad and I feel like he just doesn’t leverage his athleticism all that well he’s not much of a playmaker with Brea I at least have that second wrinkle that gets me a little bit closer to like an AJ Green where I feel like the number of like pure shooting specialists that are like 6’4 and below is really small with Brea I’ve got that little bit of extra size and I’ve got that playmaking wrinkle downhill that gives me a little bit something else that I can lean into uh with both these guys we’re not talking about the best defenders but I think with Brea like he’s he’s got a longer track record of shooting and making I think more threes more consistently and I’m just a bigger buyer in the passing and I think that with the the defensive insulation that Detroit has in their young core he can kind of get away with being a negative defender a little bit more here stevie Jay says “Brea or Marco or maybe Proctor?” Um let me ask you guys this real quick just one word answer who is the better defender Kobe Brea or Chaz Laneir kobe Brea yes about as uncom on that yeah least amount of confidence okay let me ask you bigger let me ask you this who is the better shooter between Kobe Brea and Chaz Laneir kobe Brea kobe Brea okay um Wes says Marovic would be his vote and then Zakarsski as a dark horse so I I do want to touch on these guys real quick stephen you take whichever one you want Marovic or Zakarsski and give us the pitch uh it’s going to be hard for me to be super positive i’m sorry Bryce uh Marovic the best that we’ve heard about him all year is when he went to Hoop Summit played against high schoolers so he kind of scares me in that regard but he is big and he can dribble he’s very very thin though i don’t know how much more realistically you can expect him to get bigger and stronger i know that he will i just don’t know about how much it’s tough he’s he he’s a really tough prospect for me man we do have some people at No Ceilings that are probably screaming if they’re listening that he slid this far in the draft though max Roco Zakarsski yeah I So Zakarsski to me is one of those guys where the draft is just a little early for him like I I think he just needs some time to kind of fill out his frame and get used to to banging bodies with pro dudes uh but the bottom line is he’s 7 foot three he’s enormous and there’s not a lot of guys that are seven foot three that move their feet as well as him so if a team wants to use a stash pick on him I kind of love that i think if he’s a guy that you want to bring over right away it could get a little bit dicey i don’t think the G-League is the best environment for developing bigs uh just because there’s so few real ones down there it’s a lot of like unders like undersized fives that are really like power forwards who can’t shoot uh so I don’t know how much it would help him but if you could convince him to take a stash deal I think Zakarski could have real value in the second round because he is so big and has that fluidity to him okay I’m going to throw another name in the hat um and I think Yanick Conan Netherheiser like is a real interesting pick here as well totally i’m going to throw Alex Tui in the mix for me though i if I had to make a pick here it would be Alex Tui alex Tui is actually the best player on my board um Max Stephen give your quick Yeah seion James is another interesting name as well um we’re comments we are gonna go with Tui Laneir Breaa and we are going to let you guys decide so Wes we’ll try to keep some sort of running total over there so if you’re watching live now is your chance to get your vote in over the next couple minutes while we talk through Alex Tui a little bit we could go to break come back talk tradeups make sure everybody gets a chance so Alex Tui Kobe Brea Micah Bi is not an option mr ray we love you but he’s not an option um Alex Tui Kobe Brea Chaz Laneir those are your guys’ options here trejan Langden has made a decision um Maxwell Alex Tui thoughts yeah just like a really solid player one of the guys who came into the combine and was actually the size that they said they were at six like just a hair under 6’8 has a big wingspan at 6’11 really just sharp player like mentally he’s thinking the game at the level that you need to think it at he moves the ball really quickly he knows how to respond to a close out uh defensively he’s always in the right spots he uses his frame well i think with Tui the question has always just been like is he a shooter because he’s he will take threes and even at the combine like he hit a deep three behind the line there’s a good pop time on it it gets off quickly but then you look at the percentages and they’ve just never been there and he’s getting to a point where I believe he’s like 22 at this point so it’s like man you’re a little old for like an if he shoots it guy uh but I think there’s just a baseline level of like size toughness and processing that’s there that he’s definitely worth a stab at some point in the second round love it uh Stephen your quick thoughts he could be like a funky TJ McConnelly player but as a wing player if that makes sense right like hustle is always on motor’s always on tj McConnell sub 35% shooter for his career sub 6’4 still effective all the way up until the finals of this year tui could give you a lot of those same types of vibes but just for his position because he’s going to defend hard he’s going to rebound hard he’s going to make hard cuts he’s going to make the right pass even if he misses a shot he’ll probably go and follow it and try to get it and put it back in anyway so he’s going to be a high-end effort energy hustle guy which I think fits a a lot of what the Pistons have with some of their other young players love it all right we’re going to go to a short break when we come back we are going to talk trade up scenarios for the Pistons would you guys have looked to make a move at any spot omari you can give the name that you would have traded up for right after we come back from this short break all right we are back with segment three and we’re going to talk about potential tradeup targets for the Pistons uh just some background on that uh one thing that Tjan mentioned um right after the offseason was just the talent pool being a little bit more shallow with where guys going back to school with NIL so uh so he did mention the possibility of maybe the guy he wanted isn’t going to be there at 37 and they’ve got some future second round picks they could play with so with all of that said like I would go with the pick I made for the Suns earlier uh Rashier Fleming like I think he checks a lot of boxes for the Pistons as a guy who can uh potentially switch three through five uh you know he gives them a lot of athleticism uh he gives them defensive production uh he can knock down shots and like I just like his game uh you know I like his game like I think he’s absolutely a rotation forward at minimum and like that’s a guy to me that’s worth giving up uh you know some future second round picks for uh if that’s what it takes to get it done yeah I I agree wholeheartedly uh Pistons fans know this rashier Fleming and Maxine Renault are the guys that I would be I would not give up a future first round pick to move into the first round but if it was just if it was just seconds which I believe the Pistons do have a plus um in terms of how many they have I would be more than comfortable with that stephen is there a name for you not Rashir Fleming not Maxim Renault um can’t go up to like 20 and use a first round pick but just something that could get you seconds maybe even if you wanted to maybe you know Marcus Sasser something like that you know um a name that would be interesting to you yeah I think with Jace Richardson being available where Orlando took him I think this could be kind of fun because Jace gives you ready-made shooting he’s he’s smaller but he’s got long arms and I think that he did show some defensive chops as well so you got a guy who knows how to play proNBA bloodline and I think too that the Magic would benefit from adding more costcontrolled assets to their draft chess especially considering how much they had to move to bring in a Desmond Bane so I think it makes sense on both parts and again you just have someone who can reliably shoot and kind of secondary maybe tertiary playmake within certain lineups for Detroit and again he showed that he can he can play solid defense too so even though he’s a smaller guy and plus I mean there’s the instate tiein that’s all fun too but I just think that that would be a fun fit do you think that the Magic could be the team that the Pistons like deliberately trade up with because I’m kind of looking at how the board sits right now and I’m wondering if I’m Orlando and I’m seeing like okay I want shooting out of the guard spot specifically i’m gonna have to pay a bunch of guys a bunch of money in a few years yeah maybe I save some money and instead of taking Jace I take Cam Jones or Tyrese Proctor or Javon Small or one of these other point guards like a bit later and roll the dice on that and get an extra asset that maybe I can package in a trade yeah that’s the logic like that’s kind of what I’m thinking is like it just that’s the team I’d be looking to make a move with that’s uh that makes a lot of sense because of how expensive they are all of a sudden after that that trip and I mean they were going to get expensive anyway so yeah that that was that was really really interesting idea there all right we’re getting close to making a pick here at 37 or a decision maybe we all decide like hey we’ll just trade out of this but uh Maxwell number 30 or excuse me who would you trade up for if uh you had the opportunity to if I if I’m trading up into that range it’s probably for for Rashir um I do still like the idea of Penda quite a bit here i I think that he’s just a little bit different in terms of like the pace and size at the forward spot than what Detroit has going on because it’s a lot of like leaner more athletic guys or bigs so I kind of like Penda as a trade-up target love it i know that’s Wes’s guy um really interesting player wes asking the chat um is Liam McNeilly worth trading up for he was taken with one of the Nets picks um that’s obviously a scenario where Pistons fans are always looking at where Brooklyn has those back-to-back picks um what do you guys is is Liam McNilly worth that we always talk about Stephen you’ve referenced it twice now um you know floor spacing i know this isn’t a rebuilding Pistons team but it’s still an ascending team that hasn’t got to where they need to go yet adding floor spacing and in someone like McNeely could make sense i like the idea of him going to a team that doesn’t need him to be the shooter that he’s projected to be and if he doesn’t it doesn’t hinder the team’s long-term future like the Brooklyn Nets for Detroit who has continued playoff aspirations I would be a little bit more hesitant trading up assets and looking at a guy who’s like “Yeah sure he was supposed to be a shooter.” We see this often in the draft you know not everyone is who we think that they are going to be moving forward i would be hesitant if I’m Detroit looking to continue to ascend trading up investing more capital in a guy that wasn’t great at the thing he’s projected to be good at all right it’s probably time to go ahead and make a pick um yeah I mean I think Rashir Fleming is just he makes so much sense for the roster and and where it’s at and um the talent especially if he falls into range to do this so uh Wes says “The chat only gave us a 2 to2 Kobe Brea verse Alex Tui.” I put out a quick Twitter poll alex Tui is winning that chaz Laneir is second kobe Brea is third um O2 this is half of your podcast technically it’s a third of your podcast because Wes owns a third as well none of us own a third actually the Free Press owns all of it but um O2 I will let you decide are you going to stick with Chaz Laneir or are you going to listen to our draft expert from No Ceilings the comments Twitter or are you just going to go rogue and stay with Lineer do what you want it’s your podcast yeah I feel like that’s enormous responsibility it is a lot of pressure you’re welcome i’m gonna stick with Chaz Laneir let’s go got to do it chaz Laneir maxwell give us the 30 second pitch on what Detroit’s getting here yeah Chaz Laneir is a nuclear shooter you’re getting a guy who’s really quick who can get that offball separation can hit threes from the parking lot if you need him to uh Stephen Chaz Laneir Ditto just good floor spacer reliable uh good human uh very committed to just continuing to improve and being there for his teammates love it all right so let’s finish out this mock real quick here the final three picks uh the San Antonio Spurs are up i guess I need to make this pick for the Detroit Pistons uh Chaz Laneir right there san Antonio Spurs are now up at 38 stephen where are you going to go with the Spurs yanik Conaner Hower just gives this team such a dynamic look on the defensive end him and Wimi if Yannik hits on all cylinders my goodness that would be a terrifying front court to go up against uh let’s not get too cute and let’s go with the big man here love it yanni Conan Neerhazer from Penn State to the Spurs maxwell you are up at 39 with the Toronto Raptors yeah I feel like they’ve done the the shooting specialist thing a little bit with guys like Pino Tag Baji um Gerty Dick recently i think Walter yeah exactly yeah so I’d look to go a little bit more balanced with my approach and I’m going to go with Shamir Watkins here no you are not that was literally my pick yeah he’s sort of like a sneaky good spot up shooter like I was running the numbers the other day he’s like take over the last three years he’s like 42% on like plain spot up threes can move the ball well enough really good defender especially at the point of attack um has some warts he’s got a workout never been the best downhill finisher uh inconsistent as a playmaker but I I I just I look at the bones of what Jamir Watkins is and I like it love it uh Sean Haddock says “O2 will get cooked forever if we jazer and he sucks.” Um yes you guys all remember this we all wanted Kobe Brea and I’m going to finish off this draft at number 40 the Washington Wizards are going to take Alex Tui right here to finish off um again guys this is 1 through 40 if you want to go back and see how we made those selections we give quick spiels on all of that you will be able to find that on the Detroit Free Press YouTube channel um later in the week that will all be out there but we thought this would be a fun activity again we knocked out those first 25 came in at 26 and got a view little opportunity to see what the draft may play out like i honestly think this is what’s going to happen on Thursday where when the draft starts on Thursday Pistons fans are going to be really excited about about five names that are on the board and all five names are going to go off in the next six picks but maybe not you never know um Maxwell before we get out of here real quick just give me one thought on the draft overall that’s coming up on Wednesday or Thursday like what’s your big takeaway or theme or something yeah I am fascinated to see how this first round plays out because I feel like there’s a lot less consensus once you get past like 12 and I think there might be some really surprising guys that fall into the second i think we could get a really chaotic second day because of that it just seems a little too quiet and a little too volatile for as late in the process as we are that I think it’s going to be a very fun process i know a lot of people have like slandered the depth of this class and I get it pistons are still in a good spot there’s still gonna be plenty of talent on the board when they pick and I wouldn’t write off like a way better player than you might expect being available when it’s their turn to make the selection love it that’s a way to bring it back positive i appreciate you uh O2 for what it’s worth the Twitter poll now has strongly Chaz Laneir in the lead so you must have quote tweeted it and told everybody to vote for me o2 has a way i did see that you retweeted it but you didn’t give any instructions so people don’t know stephen your big takeaway what can fans in general look for on Wednesday and Thursday night probably a lot of trades man i mean we’ve been talking about it for the most part leading up to the draft i mean we just saw the number 10 pick get traded for a big-time star jiannis Anttompo may not be on the move so I think there’s going to be a lot of stargazing on top of just a very fun draft process maxwell said outside of 12 is where it gets crazy i don’t know like there’s people that love Jeremiah Fears and there’s people that can’t stand his guts so I mean like I said that 789 range is really going to set the tone for the rest of the draft whoever goes 789 it could be wild for the rest of the day for some some prospects in particular i’ll just keep one uping you guys i think it’s going to get crazy at three like I’m just ready for fireworks at three with with a trade or something like that so um real quick before we let these guys shout their stuff out guys I’m about to go on Game Theory and do a full first round mock so if you guys want to come over and check that out um that will be going live i think it says 8:15 Eastern so it’ll be like 8:45 knowing Sam because he’s always late but I will be on time um no so check that out uh and then the Thunder and the Pacers offseason previews the final two will come out tomorrow stephen let us know let the viewers know the watchers know where they can find you no ceilings everything that’s going going on maxwell you take it after that bryce Omari Wes thank you all so much for having the draft sites on man and it’s always a pleasure when we could come on and chop it up with such smart and handsome people such as yourself so thank y’all for having us um for you want to follow Noelings you could do that best at nosillings.com where we got links to all of our stuff we got big boards we got mockdrafts we got videos of our war rooms available for Noelings Plus members you subscribe to No Seeings Plus you get a discount on our draft guide that just dropped it’s available for 15 bucks if you’re a plus member you get it for only 10 so consider that whenever you’re considering the draft guide um No Ceilings NBA on YouTube our channel is booming we’re trying to be like you and Sam we’re trying to be like y’all and have our channel continue to boom man but um we’ve had a lot of fun so far this year and again anytime we get to chop it up with y’all gentlemen it’s always a pleasure maxwell yeah for sure everything Stephen said by the draft guide it’s like it’s like 300 pages this year we’ve got a hundred 100 players tons of insight on all of them strengths weaknesses player comps all that jazz you can follow me at boundboards i just wrote about Jace Richardson today that’s a guy that like is interesting didn’t get a green room invite had a phenomenal year i know we got a lot of Michigan area people listening to this spot uh so go read my thoughts on Jace Richardson and what his next level translation could look like appreciate it guys it was a lot of fun always like having you on glad we did it again this year o2 take it away my guy again always a pleasure to have you guys on everybody make sure you check out No Ceilings and support their draft content leading up to Wednesday and Thursday and with that big thanks to our audio producer Robin Chan our editor-in chief Dakota Evie Nichols and big shout out to Wes Davenport as always and we’ll talk to you all next week

The Pistons Pulse is your go-to Detroit Pistons podcast for all the best news, analysis, insights and opinions on the team.

Hosted by Omari Sankofa of the Detroit Free Press and Bryce Simon of Motor City Hoops. Omari brings insider insights and analysis as a Pistons beat writer and Detroit native combined with Bryce’s in-depth on-court analysis as a former D1 player and current high school coach of 12 years.

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