Pistons Offseason Plan REVEALED 👀 w/ The Athletic’s Hunter Patterson | Pistons Jack Chats EP14

Pistons Offseason Plan REVEALED 👀 w/ The Athletic’s Hunter Patterson | Pistons Jack Chats EP14

[Music] and we are live welcome back to Pistons Jack Chats where we’ll have a guest from the Pistons and NBA community join us each and every week to discuss your Detroit Pistons before we get started if you haven’t already would you please hit that like subscribe uh and drop a comment below it all just helps us keep growing here over at Pistons Jack and we’ve got a very special guest today my man from the Athletic Detroit Pistons beat Rider Hunter Patterson hunter what’s going on man nothing much i’m glad to be back with you glad to be talking Pistons after we’ve had uh almost two months now without without any uh Pistons basketball yeah it’s it’s weird i feel like it’s been a while but it’s also kind of gone pretty quick as well like it feels like I was only in Detroit
not too long ago like watching that game six loss but before we get to plenty of offseason chatter the draft trades uh Traian’s press conference earlier today what have you been up to since the season finished i saw you down at a Tigers game or two um what have you been doing in the past month and a bit
definitely went to my first Tigers game they played the Giants i want to say it was I know it yeah it was the Giants it wasn’t the A’s um so being from California Bay Area um the Giants are probably the team I’ve seen the most out of any MLB team just cuz we would go as as a family and things um so that was cool for it to have kind of like a a home twist a little bit um and speaking of home I’ve gone to California twice already i spent some time with my parents um got to visit some friends my cousin um yeah so just spending family time um definitely getting back to California and um exploring Detroit i love it man and are you pretty much now set back in Detroit um do you have plans to go to the draft and summer league that kind of thing
yeah so I I’ll be here in Detroit for uh next few weeks i go to summer league in um I think like first week around first week of July and uh no draft stuff um possibly if they were in the lottery as they have been uh it seems like for some time now but uh 37th pick I won’t be there uh although I will be watching and and tapped in with everything for sure well we’re going to get to Trojan’s press conference in just a moment um for those joining in the chat uh if you have any questions and that kind of thing we’ll get to those at the end i know this live stream’s kind of unannounced so I’m sure some more people filter in soon so if you have any questions for Hunter um or topics you’d like us to discuss we’ll get to those at the end but uh let’s get to I almost kind of missed Trajan’s that there was a press conference going on i don’t know if it’s a time zone difference or that kind of thing but uh obviously Trojan had a pre-draft press conference today down at the PPC um I know you were present uh there’s plenty of discussion online about what was discussed but what were your uh maybe three key takeaways uh from the press conference earlier today the thing that stuck out most about halfway through he pretty plainly said that he and the front office with with the Pistons weren’t really planning to take a uh quote unquote super aggressive um approach to the off season and he seemed pretty clear in saying that if they had opportunities to improve around the margins they would definitely uh explore those opportunities but it it wouldn’t necessarily come uh at at the cost of them having to potentially mortgage their future and um players that they want to see develop internally a little bit more before um bringing anyone else in or or blowing up the core they feel they have that’s uh another and um past that I would say we we spoke a bit about um the potential uh rookie rookie scale contract extensions coming up for um Jaden Ivy and Jaylen Duran and he tanjan didn’t get too into details there but he obviously said he valued those guys and wants to have them around long term but um those conversations don’t come until later this summer anyway and then he kind of had like a cross that bridge when we get there mentality for that but it was obvious he uh wanted the those two there long term as well and then just kind of expressing his thoughts about Kade um reaffirming his belief uh as being the cornerstone leader of this team um Bobby Clintman and Ron will be playing in summer league in in a few weeks here and he’s prioritizing their two-way development and allowing them to do things they weren’t able to during the regular season so it was a pretty informative meeting I would say from Trajan but he didn’t stray from the main message he had uh at the beginning of May at the end of their season when he said uh he was going to be patient he wasn’t going to be overly aggressive and he wants to prioritize internal growth yeah I I think that was the that was the main thing kind of that was going on on Twitter and other places um and and I know you just dropped an article detailing um your thoughts and takeaways or just documenting everything Tan spoke about over the at the athletics so everyone go check that out um but
I think I wasn’t uh surprised by anything he said and like just for me personally like after watching the finals we just saw after honestly watching the playoffs we just saw it feels like um uh having chem team chemistry culture young players players that have athleticism um and can play the minutes and physicality that’s required in the playoffs like doesn’t surprise me that Trejan’s looking within the young core he has and seeing a lot of um potential alignments between that and his roster and I I wasn’t surprised to hear him say they’re not looking to make any big moves um I think maybe some of his phrasing surprised me just how like
it’s it was almost like quite matter of fact like we’re not make we’re not pushing all our chips in is I think the phrase he might have used um but and and I I saw some of the fan base is unhappy about that but I mean
uh what were your like just looking at the Pistons I guess young core like watching these finals play out like with I know the Pacers and Thunder are kind of those teams were built in different ways but I still think there’s a lot of synergy there in ter in the terms of like uh players they have the athleticism their age that kind of thing like what what were your thoughts on watching the finals and how that relates back to the current Pistons roster it to me kind of showed obviously I would say the main outlier in in that series was SGA MVP finals MVP um he’s just a a special player um but if you look at the Pacers they just more or less have a really well-rounded team cade I think is more he’s the guy and the Pacers you can probably make a case for Tyrese or or Pascal but on this team Cade is the guy and I think if you surround him with enough quality players that that can uh play both sides of the ball like we saw with a lot of the players on OKC the uh Kase Wallace’s um Alex Caruso Jub of even um getting all all defense and things like that so um I thought that was was interesting to watch but more than anything I think kind of given the circumstances you have Duran who first half of the season looked not nearly like the player he did second half of the season you want to give him time to develop there and see if that’s a consistent thing assar is really going to have his first real off seasonason considering his rookie year ended due to blood clots and he wasn’t able to have like the traditional offseason that you would want from for a rookie and Ji now out um majority of the year I believe only played 30 games and he in those 30 games was on pace for a career season so now you want to see how he progresses as well uh you go down the list with Ron even uh Bobby Marcus Sasser he’s played but hasn’t played a ton so this this entire group feels really young and I think given the circumstances Trejan and that front office really wants to uh be patient and see what what they have with this this group here yeah it was interesting i think um I can’t remember who asked the question it’s hard to tell i was just watching on YouTube but someone asked him about like seeing the all the moves going on in the east uh with the Desmond Bane trade we’ve just had two Celtics trades in the past 24 hours um obviously there was a Kevin Durant trade which doesn’t affect the East as much um but someone asked him about like does that you know speed up your plan or that kind of thing with the East potentially being wide open and he kind of said it gives us I believe he said something like it it gives us makes us pause and think about it but it’s not going to change us from our overall plan um like for me like I understand why um Pistons fans might want to make a big trade and uh capitalize on what could potentially be a wide open East but I mean I think there’s a lot of merit in just the we have like five high lottery picks that all could take major strides and I I love how you brought up Assad Thompson because there was talk about him being defensive player of the year as a goal for him like feel like all these guys can take a major step forward um and we’re only just scratching the surface a little bit um do you do you think like that or do you where are you at with that kind of thinking with capitalizing on the a wide open East
yeah I think I I know exactly what what quote you’re talking about he said that the injuries in the East and how how seemingly wide open the East is now that has kind of provoked thought i believe you said it internally and um but I also don’t think that there is now a need to rush and try to like you said put all of all of the Pistons chips in to uh maybe land I know um there weren’t any reports to my knowledge of it but people just kind of like um it’s off season you’re curious about what could happen KD um expressed he wanted to be elsewhere and same or Giannis I guess more or less the same and like some Pistons fans were like oh maybe that that could be an option and so that definitely feels obviously KD’s off the table but I don’t think there’s any like big swing type type moves going on there but um yeah I think more than anything I just took away from that that that Tan has been consistent in his message and he’s not now just because significant players in the East are injured going to mortgage their future and and potentially mess up a core that could be good together given time
no for sure i did find it interesting um he I think it was Eric Vincent from Clutch Points asked him about uh talking to maybe other GMs around the league something like that for advice or looking back and Traan basically responded uh he won’t be he doesn’t really do that now but he just said like he was like comparing his experiences with the Spurs and how they built slowly around three stars and um what being around like a winning environment and seeing that come to fruition and sustained period they had i found that very interesting as well um but moving on maybe let’s just talk about uh free agency uh I think it was probably a few weeks ago now you did an article over at the Athletic with eight potential free agents that could sign with Detroit with what we’ve heard from Traan this morning uh does that change your view on how they approach free agency does it kind of reaffirm uh the initial thoughts you might have had just where are you at now with some of the players Detroit could go after following this morning’s press conference um I think just based on on the conversation today he seems more interested in possibly being able to retain he didn’t specifically say who i don’t I’m assuming it’s not the entire group of um upcoming Piston or upcoming free agents from the Pistons last year but I think he’s going to pinpoint uh couple guys that he wants from that group and uh try to bring them back while he also said he understands that they’re it’s going to be a market for them and their agents have to do their due diligence to kind of survey that market um so he seemed prepared he said that they also have to be able to pivot if those guys do go elsewhere um so I think he’s going to be looking at backup options uh like he said for um free agents i’m not sure um we we didn’t like kind of discuss how he go how he plans to go about it um financially or anything like that but um yeah I don’t I don’t I think I look at how the Pistons might approach the off season pretty similar uh to how I did about two months ago just based on trades and being pretty consistent today um as consistent today as he was uh around that time yeah it was he did the the stuff about retaining players was definitely something that piqued my interest i’ve always felt like Beasley was a priority um and then
it does seem I’m definitely no cap expert at all but it does seem like it it might be tough to retain Beasley Tim Hardway Jr and Dennis Schroeder with how uh the cap works but um it was still interesting to hear him say that is somewhat of a priority to retain those players um once again off the back of what he said do you still think there is a chance they look to um you know pull off a sign and trade with the Grizzlies for Santi Alarma um I know that’s something that’s been floated around I think from Jake Fischer at the Stein line um that there is interest there the Pistons have been heavily tied or heavily mentioned when looking for a spacing big um
based off Trejan’s comments this morning do you think that’s still a possibility yeah Santi was one of the people who I had on that list that we were talking about just uh based on the potential he has and how he was utilized in Memphis but yeah I I’m not sure Tjan is Yeah I’m not actually I I was thinking about the fit with Santi can you repeat that question one more time
no that’s okay i was just going to say um
whilst Trajan said this morning that they’re not going to look to push all their chips in and that kind of thing do you still think you know adding a player like Jake Loravia or a signing trade for Santi Alarma um those types of options maybe even Bobby Poris
um some of those names are still in the mix um yeah I potentially my bad potentially but I think just
they already have their their mind made up about um he said Assar has expressed like you said wanting to be defensive player of the year um they’re excited for Bobby and Ron in uh summer league and so I think they are excited for the future they have and he said uh Heb Trajan um earlier today that he would be willing to potentially look at deals as long as it didn’t hamper the long-term growth and hamper like the internal development that they’re planning to have so um as long as it it doesn’t maybe involve like one of the younger guys that they’re excited about one of the more recent draft picks I could see potentially if if they’re able to do that but Santi I think is is pretty valuable for sure it’s um and and just for anyone joining I can see some more people are joining as we go uh if you have any questions um we’ll get to those at the end of the episode um so just pop them in the chat and I I will get to them but uh Hanto the NBA drafts tomorrow round one at least
uh it feels like to me it’s come around very quick um but I guess it has been a couple of months now uh Trejan did talk about the draft it was asked about and had some responses to it um
do you have any predictions with what the Pistons might do with this pick 37 based off what you heard this morning i don’t have any predictions i think it will be interesting to watch how things go tomorrow and then kind of just keep an eye on who’s available who’s who’s trading up who’s trading down um but one thing that I think is been shown each time Trejan has has spoken publicly is that he’s uh pretty calculated and not getting ready to uh make any knee-jerk reactions or um do anything that might be shortsighted and and kind of like jeopardize the future yeah no definitely he’s he’s been very consistent on that
um I feel like since his initial press conference all the way back in maybe May or June last year um and obviously a lot has changed since then but yeah maintaining I think a phrase I heard a lot today was maintaining optionality or something like that
um so uh I mean the team I’m watching Allan brings it up here
so the Brooklyn Nets now have five first round picks i
I don’t know exactly where they all are but I know at least a couple of those are in the 20s um I’m not sure how much uh time you’ve had to have a look at the draft but is there a player you could see the Pistons maybe potentially looking at in the back end of that first round and moving up maybe 10 spots for with the trade with the Nets
yeah I am not sure on pronunciation um but I just had to do a a quick I I needed to visually see it but uh Maxim or Maxim uh Rayod uh my guy from
big big guy from Stanford RP uh pack 12 makes me sad a little bit um fight on SC but um yeah I I think he has a potential to be a a nice stretch big um I don’t think they’re looking for anyone to come in and potentially start at 37 if they do end up keeping that pick or potentially um moving up or down whatever the case may be i’m not thinking they’re looking for a real high impact first year guy um but more likely than not someone who for them will be able to be a bit of a project maybe two-way guy with the crews and spend some time with the Pistons when when um it works but I would prioritize uh size as it stands uh the Pistons don’t have a 7-footer and it’s not like you need a 7-footer necessarily but it’s nice to have um I don’t think the Pistons really have any real um rim protectors so excuse me shouts out Isaiah Stewart in the starting lineup never going to do like that um but yeah I think it it would do it would serve the Pistons well to have someone else other than Isaiah you know you can rely on in the paint to be a presence not sure that would be uh Maxim Max i’m going look pronunciation up my bad to my dude but not sure he’d be that guy necessarily but I think he could be um someone with a lot of offensive upside yeah he’s definitely a name I’ I’ve seen floated around um and if the Pistons would definitely have to trade up like you mentioned to get him um but I think he averaged he was in his most recent season his senior season he averaged 20 and 10 um like you said 7 foot definitely a guy um who would fit that spacing big need that we’ve been talking about but I love that you brought up the fact that whoever they draft isn’t going to be a part of the rotation because I think I see some of the fan base i look I get it very excited about the draft even for pick 37 like I’m getting excited about all the potential of these players but you know Bobby Clintman was pick 37 a year ago and
I mean he couldn’t he only got in at like the garbage of garbage times like I feel like you know he spent a lot of time with the Cruz uh
when he got extended minutes looked good in that game 82 against left of the Bucks team but I think it it’s good that you brought that up and um we’ll talk a little bit about that more when we get to the summer league stuff in a moment but I I think that’s an good expectation to set for fans that the Pistons they have playoff aspirations whoever they select likely isn’t going to have a major role um but Reo is definitely a guy I would love to see um if they stay at 37 and and they don’t trade up is there a player or two you like in that range um um I I’ve seen I believe on one of our mocks even uh we’ve we’ve had Tyrese Proctor um I believe they brought in uh reportedly Chaz Laneir um so there’s there’s some talented guys um I admittedly have not been super tapped in with college basketball um especially with this being my first season covering the Pistons I didn’t want to uh leave any Pistons or NBA basketball unwatched so um potentially th those two i I’ve seen Proctor uh Laneir his name kind of thrown around but those also may be guys who end up going uh before the Pistons even have an opportunity to pick them yeah no it’s I mean I’ve been watching mock drafts uh I went through and posted what every major outlet had who they had going to Detroit four days ago and it’s already completely changed again so yeah in this range it it could be anyone but Proctor is a guy I’ve seen consistently mocked to the Pistons um I don’t think that means they’re definitely taking him it’s just a guy that’s been tied to the truth he’s a guard is Australian so selfishly I wouldn’t mind that uh there’s also I know Alex Tui who is also Australian 6 foot8 kind of wing probably more of a power forward at the NBA um
also worked out with the Pistons I believe and been mocked to Detroit so um yeah I think at 37 like there’s a wide range of guys um but I mean Trojan did correct me if I’m wrong he did say something like “Will we if we remain at 37?” Did he say something along those lines or am I misquing him
he I’m not sure to be honest uh he may have um it was like a 20 20 minute kind of pressure so I went through obviously the transcription a few times um like for the article and things but he may have I’m not sure he’s he’s super calculated so if he did say that I don’t think it was an accident um he he seems really just calculated down to the sentence the word whatever the case may be um no he is very calculated and I won’t mention the previous GM but it’s a it’s a very different experience listening to um press conferences but um I think that’s a I think we’ve covered the draft pretty well i think anything could happen i know I wouldn’t be surprised if they potentially make some sort of trade to get into the back end of the first round um but we will see i think the Pistons are definitely going to have a new player coming out of this two-day draft what just before we move off the draft what’s your thoughts on the draft across two days
um you mean like the new format of it being two days
yeah just as like a fan of the NBA and maybe how it relates to your job
yeah I I mean you know I I’m like I’m I have this uh I think it’s Sparks and Sky are playing right now like I just love watching basketball anything like uh WNBA NBA whatever so as long as there’s more basketball related content that I can watch I’m cool with it um definitely think we could have kept it at just one day to be honest i’m sure they’re getting more marketing dollars good business but um yeah more basketball related things to watch i’m for it
okay i I mean I like it in one night but you
definitely unnecessary though for sure don’t need
like I’ll be interested to see i don’t know if they even release it but I know obviously last year Bronny was in the second round so a lot of people were tuned in to watch that but um I’ll be interested to see what the numbers look like not that I’m too into TV ratings and all that but I’m just I’ll be interested to see but um moving on let’s talk a little bit about the summer league because the summer league kicks off I believe on July 10th um still a little bit of time between just over two weeks um but Trojan did say today that uh Ron and Bobby will feature um what I guess my question to you is were you expecting Ron to play first of all and and Bobby and then how will what like cuz I I’m trying to get this like do you think how do you evaluate a players performance at the summer league like what what are you kind of looking for and what should fans be looking for at Summer League
i expected both of them to to play uh at Summer League ron is one of the guys I’ve I’ve been able to develop a little bit of a closer relationship with and he’s super competitive he wants to compete i’m pretty sure it wasn’t like they had to ask him i’m pretty sure he went to them and and said he wanted to play and as for Bobby I assume the same thing he got off to a tough start because he was dealing with a calf injury for a good chunk of like the beginning of his rookie year and once he was kind of back healthy rotations were were pretty firm and so it was challenging for him but I’ve seen him um in kind of like the stay ready group and uh the guys who maybe don’t play as much i’ve seen those uh those scrimmages and how he is in the half court and when they play ones he’s really just a talented player um so I expected both of them to play i think Ron will likely be I think summer league is just suited to his game like up and down um I think he does well with structure because JB is super structured in his approach but if if it is maybe more uptempo run style I think Ron’s going to be super like that’s just what his game is geared toward um and then Bobby I think it’ll be a a chance for him to kind of test out uh his bag against just like NBA level players um I think it’ll be a good confidence building thing ron I’m expecting to come in with a ton of confidence he’s had 20 um in in an NBA game against the defending champs at the time so um yeah I think it it shouldn’t be anything that’s like if they play well it’s like oh my gosh these these guys are going to be the missing link or um if if either of them doesn’t really play well like I I guess I would maybe you might raise some some eyebrows but at the end of the day a summer league it’s like I said not the most structured brand of basketball there’s a lot of players who are realistically playing for their livelihood and and playing to maybe extend their careers or begin it um and Ron and Bob you’re in uh different situations a little bit so um I wouldn’t put too much weight on it one way or the other but I think it could be a decent indication of what they could become with more opportunity and and I guess less limitations sorry Lee it’s going to be I wonder I mean I know even last summer league it surprised me that Ron played I think he played four of the five summer league games I want to say and and traditionally the summer leagues I’d watched the previous three years or so like you’re a top five pick normally plays the first two or three games so
um I feel like Bobb’s going to play probably all four of the first summer league games maybe that fifth one they have be interested to see do you think Rom will play just as many games this season or depends on his performance um probably I think they probably give him a few games maybe like three i’m not I’m not sure like how it depends on like how far they go and like their their like time in summer league could be extended like depending on how well they play but uh probably handful of games for Ron three no more than four or five possibly but uh just giving both of them a chance to get some confidence and get some run in yeah I I look I was I was excited to see Ron’s definitely playing because it just makes it a bit more exciting to watch this season uh this summer league do you know I’m not sure if you’re across this but it got me thinking do
there’s of the two-way players that were on the roster last season will any of them be playing I know we don’t have the summer league roster but do you know if those guys are still contracted or are they all now technically free agents like I’m talking about uh players like Dennis Jenkins
uh I think Ron Harper Jr
has one other Yes totally
totally yeah um
I’m honestly not sure about that um I know those obviously were the two-way guys so I’m not sure if those were like uh I I definitely need to look more into that but I would expect if they um are expected to be back then they’ll they’ll definitely be on that on that roster i got you got you i mean I was putting you on the spot there i don’t even know how you
No I’m Yeah I need to
I was just me on my two-way guys now
no you’re good look it’s the day before the NBA draft and I’ve I’m asking you about two-way guys at some of those
no that’s that’s how it should be
cutting you cutting you plenty of slack um the last topic I just want to dive into here um obviously we spoke about it a little bit at the start but there’s been a lot of movement in the East in the past week or so um there’s been some major injuries to key players who are on teams that you would think would be contenders next season in Hallebert and Tatum um Damen Lillard uh across to some of the trades that have just happened what like do you think like for example the Hawks just acquired um Chris Pingius yeah do you think the Pistons have any of these moves I guess altered where you thought the Pistons uh could finish next season because I know some of the fan base as soon as a trade goes down they go “Oh the Magic just leave the Pistons oh the Hawks just leave the Pistons.” And like I mean maybe the Magic one’s a fair point but I mean yeah just just your thoughts on how the East is looking and where the Pistons fit in in light of all the moves going on recently i think the Pistons are are well positioned it’s obviously so much to still unfold between draft if um if any teams are doing any other trades um so a lot to kind of shake out but I definitely think the Magic got better with the Bane trade i think he’s uh nice balance um with Jaylen Suggs in the back court with just both of them kind of being offense and defense guys but being more so uh offensively inclined but um I I I refrain from kind of jumping that gun to say who’s better than the Pistons based on who they’ve acquired just because we didn’t see a healthy Piston squad for majority of the season around the time Assar was kind of getting back into things Jaden Ivy goes down those two don’t really get to spend too much time overlapping assar didn’t get to spend or I mean not Asar uh Ji and Duran didn’t spend a ton of time together when Duran was was on his upward uh trajectory so there’s just still so much unknown with with the team and how they could progress and continue to develop chemistry that I refrain from saying who’s better than them now um I think first it depends on who’s like on the opening night roster for all these teams in the East and obviously it’ll take a few games to see how Ji progresses um and then how just all of the guys have naturally progressed throughout the off season but the the biggest move I think that I think is really um beneficial to that team is just um the magic i think Bane is slept on
i don’t know why i think he’s gonna be great for them
yeah that was really
and Simons that one too um is interesting but it’s just so much influx there with them chris just got traded who knows who’s going to be on that
yeah yeah the Celtics are still one of the teams I think to watch alongside um I forgot about the Pelicans and Wizards trade the Wizards
they’re going all in they they they got Chris Middleton coming back they got CJ McCollum no but
big deal
they got the vets but um I mean Troy Weaver is now uh I think the assistant GM with Joe Dumas troy Weaver obviously the Pistons GM the last three or four seasons um they’re a team to watch because as soon as Troy Weaver came to the Pistons in 2020 he pretty much changed the entire roster around and I know a lot of fans um you know don’t have the nicest things to say about Troy Weaver with his time with the Pistons but he did draft reasonably well um and the first thing I thought when I saw the Pelicans hire him was okay maybe they’re looking you know to rebuild through the draft a little bit not saying they’re selling everyone but um the Pelicans Nets and Celtics I feel like are teams to still keep an eye on across the draft the next few days is there is there any other teams you can think of just especially in the East I I think the Nets just for the simple fact that they have like 17 picks in the first round like not obviously not 17 but they just have so many picks um and assets on that team um I think Cam Johnson his name has been floating around for feels like at least maybe like a couple years now um so he I think the Nets just have a ton of assets and they could potentially who knows make some moves it’s It’s always Brooklyn it’s New York um I think that’s still an attractive destination although they’ve not been the most competitive no for sure um question here from YouTube user we already asked this before but you’ll be at summer league do you do you go for How long will you be there for
uh so I I’ll be there from the 8th until the 13th and so this is this is my first time being able to go while being a beat writer uh I went for just uh it was like a meeting we had in in Vegas around summer league a couple years ago but um yeah I’ll be there and it’ll be fun just because it’ll be like majority of the athletic uh like NBA writers and editors in one place um so yeah looking forward to that and then uh just catching up with Pistons uh players and and people and watching them play
absolutely it’s um man if I didn’t like summer league is one of my favorite events i feel I I just love watching like relaxed basketball summertime everyone seems to be in a good mood like there’s no pressure um you get to see some of these young guys like I if I didn’t live so far away that’s something I’d go to every year but I went in 2023 and it was um
that it it’s it’s fun it’s a it’s a really good time have you Oh you’ve obviously been to Vegas before yeah I mean being from California we like and then playing basketball like we would we would always have like the tournaments in Vegas and um yeah it’s it’s so Vegas is fun it’s I mean here in Detroit it’s not as hot as Vegas obviously don’t know how warm it is out there but um it’s been super hot out here uh oddly enough it was 90 I told you this earlier and rain today but um it’s been warm consistently here so I’ve been kind of like prepping for Vegas a little bit no I love it and it’s I think it’s 9:00 p.m for you now and the sun looks like it’s still completely up behind you which is which is That that’s crazy to me but um that’s probably going to do it I think guys um Hunter thank you so much for joining as always we love having you on the show tell the people where they can find you on socials and all the amazing work you’re doing for the Athletic
yeah Hunt Patterson on Instagram and Twitter i’m on The Athletic i am here with Pistons Jack occasionally so I y’all can find me where you need me i’m pretty available um so yeah I love interacting with people
absolutely man and we’ll have Oh I think links are already in the description below so go check out Hunter’s Work just dropped a article which I’ll be going to read recapping today’s press conference and plenty of other really good stuff there um but that’s going to do it for today’s show guys what [Music]

Welcome to Pistons Jack Chats — where I sit down with guests from across the NBA and Pistons world to talk Detroit basketball.
In this episode, I’m joined by The Athletic’s Hunter Patterson to react to Pistons GM Trajan Langdon’s offseason plan and what it means for Detroit’s direction.

We covered:
→ Hunter’s top targets for the Pistons at Pick 37
→ 3 players worth trading up for in the 2025 NBA Draft
→ Reactions to Langdon’s vision for the rebuild
→ Free agency decisions: THJ, Beasley, Schroder & more
→ Trade candidates: Aldama, Portis, Herb Jones, PJ Washington
→ Who should suit up in Summer League — and why it matters

This episode is your one-stop Pistons offseason breakdown — straight from a trusted national writer.

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