Pistons DOMINATE Heat In Summer League BLOWOUT! | Full Breakdown!

Pistons DOMINATE Heat In Summer League BLOWOUT! | Full Breakdown!

All the dirty work, all dog. I’mma dive on the floor, go try to block every shot, and I’m going be physical with you the whole game. You know, still going to be physical with you. When you think of the Pistons, you think just hard work and just pretty basketball. That’s just identity you got to have when you put on that jersey. I’m not your average. Not a good boy for life. I set the tone. Don’t care about it. I get my respect come in the lane and see I don’t love you. If you retaliate that’s on you talking I heard your shing that you must put this mess around [Music] me Oh my god. [Music] for somebody kiss. You better comprehend. [Applause] [Music] Uh what’s going on everybody? Welcome back to another episode of the Downtown Duce Show, man. Hope everybody is having a great Thursday night. We are Friday Eve. We on a Friday Eve. Weekend is almost here, man. So the Pistons guys, they played their final game of summer league today, tonight, how you going to look at it, against the Miami Heat. And they come out with a bounceback win. Bounceback win. They had a tough game last game against the Timberwolves. Lowscoring game. only put out 73 points in that game. But tonight, they bounced back and they bounced back, guys, in dominating fashion. They beat the Heat tonight 108 to 88 and they finished with a record of 3-1 in summer league play. So, before I get to my initial thoughts, just want to shout you guys out. I see you guys all in the chat. It’s Blackout. What’s going on with you, bro? So, where was every where was everybody that was hating on on Bobby? Yeah, exactly. Exactly, bro. That’s why I said last game, I’m not going to panic after two bad performances in summer league. Right. He goes on to say, give that boy that backup for spot. He going to grow in a role for show. Exactly. And you said it. He’s going to grow into a role. We’re going to get into that a lot more as we go on into the show, but we got a lot to get to. So, like I said, guys, as always, if I miss your comment, repost it, super chat, put it in caps, whatever you want to do. Let’s make this an interactive conversation as we always do. All right. So, let’s get into my initial thoughts, right? Initial thoughts. So, as I thought, the Pistons sat Ron Holland for this game. He did not play in this game. Um, not that it’s the most important thing in the world, but the Pistons were already kind of virtually eliminated from the summer league tournament, the semi-final round, just due to them losing their last game to the T- Wolves. Only the top four teams advanced to the knockout round. So, I thought it was possible that because of that, the Pistons might just sit around for this game. He’s already shown that he’s going to be an even bigger piece for this team next season than he was last season. And you could see it in the first game. He was just the best player on the court virtually every time he stepped into the court. You could just see a difference. Difference in talent, difference in understanding of the game at the NBA level. He just looked uh head and shoulders above or better than pretty much everybody on the court. But as far as this game, guys, the Pistons, like I mentioned, they jumped all over the Heat. They jumped all over, man. Early in the, you know, with their defense. The defense is what stood out this game. They jumped out to a 27 to9 lead in the first quarter, led by the defense. And like the Pistons do, they turned it into easy transition offense, right? That’s what they did last year. That’s what they’re doing in the summer league, and that’s what they’re going to do in the regular season. And from there, guys, they never look back. They never look back. This was a wire-to-wire win. The Heat never led in this game. Not once. And like I said, the defense definitely suffocated them. It stood out for sure. So guys, I looked this up in reference to the defense, right? In four games, no team scored more than 90 points against the Pistons. They didn’t even score 90 at all. The Knicks scored 86 first game. Then the Rockets scored 83. Then last game, the Timberwolves scored 89. And the Heat today scored 86. So, that kind of goes back to what coach Bigger Staff was saying before in that I think he said last when he was getting interviewed last game was that the Pistons are not going to win every game, but they’re going to set out to win every fight. And what he means by that is just the effort, the gritty, tough dog mentality that the Pistons kind of have and what their identity is. He says if we bring that every night, we win and we win the fight, that’s all that matters. Of course, you want to win as many games as you can, but the approach to the game is what he’s focused on. And the Pistons are really building that culture, and that’s going to go a long way for them, especially as they progress through the regular season. So, let’s start, let’s get to the box a little bit, and let’s take a look at Ron. Well, not Ron because Ron didn’t play tonight, but let’s talk about Ron anyway, as far as his overall performance in summer league, right? So when coach Baker staff, what he said he was looking for from Ron in summer league this year was being a leader, right? Being the leader of the summer league squad and focus on being impactful on both ends, right? Focus on being that two-way player on both ends of the court. And I want to show you guys a stat here. Um, and it basically shows Ron’s stats for summer league, the basic stuff. So he averaged 21.7 points a game. He shot 53% and he had six rebounds on average per game and he averaged 2.3 assists. So overall, once again, just like last year, Ron really baldled out. He he played very very well um throughout the duration of all of summer league. He didn’t play this game, but the games he did play, he played very, very well. And he showcased a lot of offensive ability that I think we all kind of suspected that he had, but he was given the opportunity now to show what he could do because he was the guy on this team, right? We know last season his focus was on the defensive end of the floor and looking to create turnovers and get out in transition, right? That was his bread and butter last season, right? But as we all saw, guys, in summer league, he showed off a lot more. A lot more, man. His ball handling has improved. His facilitating for others has improved. His shooting has improved, guys. His shooting has really improved. Really, really improved. Last season, he shot 24% from long range. Not great, right? In summer league this year, he shot 46%. On five attempts. So, disclaimer, he’s not going to shoot that next season. I don’t want anybody to think he’s going to shoot anything close to that next season from from long range, right? But you see that his jumper is really coming along, right? And so I was talking to Charles Hill, shout out to Charles Hill, his development coach. He he was telling me before that Ron has made some slight adjustments to his left hand on his release. And you can see now, if you watch close enough, his jumper looks a little bit smoother now, right? And he’s shooting it with even more confidence than before. So like I said, I’m not expecting Ron to shoot up to 40% next season from three, maybe not even 35. But if he can get to around 32 33% that’s going to do wonders for the Pistons and for him. And I think if he does that, he’s going to have a great great year next season. We saw what he did last year with the limited responsibility he had and he’s shown now that when you put more on his plate, he can handle it. So, even though he’s not going to be asked to do everything he was doing in summer league, obviously, because he’s not going to be the guy, you see that he has the ability and he can really just focus in on the two or three things that he’s added to his game and how he’s going to incorporate that next season. So, like I mentioned, I’m looking forward to Ron having a really big year next season for this team. All right, let’s move on to Dennis Jenkins. Dennis Jenkins this game, guys. He had let’s see what he have. He had 16 points on 3 for 11 shooting, 104 from three, 9 for 11 from the free throw line, 10 assists. Guys, pay attention. 10 assists, only three turnovers. 10 assists, only three. So that’s a that’s a 3 to1 ratio. Better than 3 to1 assist to turnover ratio. And a lot of those turnovers came late. I think throughout the first three quarters of the game, he didn’t have any. So once again, he is taking care of the basketball. We’ve talked about that. He has shown more of the same, right? Running the offense, being an orchestrator, orchestrator and floor general, right? Playing under control, setting his teammates up, being opportunistic on offense, and then defensively just being a defensive dog. And his finishing guys at the rim has really improved. Really improved today. He had a few tough tough finishes right at the rim, just out musling his guy. And in four games, he turned the ball over. I think it was either six or seven times in four games. Let’s just say it was seven. That’s still less than one turnover a game. So once again, he’s shown the ability to be able to take care of the basketball. And on the defensive end, he does all the things you want your point guard to do. Getting up into his guy, making his guy uncomfortable, just being a pest, just being a defensive minist. I think guys, I think Dennis Jenkins has earned himself a roster spot on the Pistons opening night roster. I think opening night he will be on the team. He’s shown now over the the last two years now that he can be a contributor whenever called upon. And tonight in summer league in the whole in the and yeah and I would say in the whole entirety of summer league cuz he really didn’t have any bad games, right? So through the whole duration of summer league he played very very well and I think his consistency has earned him an opportunity to be on the opening night rest ro ro ro ro ro ro ro ro ro ro ro ro ro ro ro ro ro ro ro ro ro ro ro ro ro ro ro ro ro ro ro ro ro ro ro ro ro ro ro roster. Dcoin says, “What going on, bro?” Says, “Duce with the L.” Hey, bro. Don’t hate on my glasses, bro. You know these is crispy. Don’t hate. Appreciate you as always, man. All right, so let’s move on guys now to Bobby Clintman. Bobby Clintman, guys. I have a lot to say about Bobby. I have a lot to say. There was a lot being said about him last game and I have a lot to say now. I’m sure a lot of people have a lot of different opinions now based on what we saw. It’s Black said it earlier. Where’s everybody at? It’s quiet now. It’s quiet now. Where where you guys at? If you going to give him criticism, you got to give him the credit, right? So, let’s get to what Bobby did tonight, man. Tonight, Bobby Clintman had 20 points leading all scorers on seven for 11 shooting, three six from three, three or four from the free throw line, four rebounds, one assists, two steals, one block, three turnovers, and all that in 26 minutes. Yeah. So, Bobby Clemen, guys, he had a bounceback game after struggling the last two games and he looked a lot more like the Bobby Clemen that I’m used to seeing in this game. Very much more, very much so. He was much more aggressive in this game. Um, something I have been looking to see from him. In his previous two games, he just looked a little too passive, a little too unselfish, right? We know he can pass, but you got to be able to threaten with your scoring as well. But that wasn’t the case this game. His passing was on display again, of course. And once he’s able to get into the paint, we talked about it. He’s really good at making plays for others. Once he’s able to get by his guy, if he can get by his guy, the defense is in trouble. And he had a beautiful behind the back pass early in this game to his favorite target, Tulu Smith. It was it was a really, really nice pass. He didn’t convert, but the pass was on target in a tight space. Again, he’s really accurate with his passing, and once again, that’s going to be his strength. We know that he can pass the ball, especially for a big man. So, the thing though, he’s going to have to continue to work on his jump shot, right? Everything about his mechanics looks good. His form looks good, his release and timing looks good. He’s just going to make sure that he’s consistent with his shooting. I hope he can get to 35% minimum this season from long range. He has to I think he has to get somewhere in that range to be able to stay on the floor and potentially get that backup for a spot that I predicted he would he would get. Right. And I was watching his game, I did see another way, guys, that or a couple ways actually that he could be effective that the Pistons utilize today. The first one is DHO’s dribble handoffs, right? Today you saw the Pistons using a big at the top of the key. You will see him dribble towards Bobby and they will meet each other and and Bobby will catch the ball. It would be a handoff, right? Dribble handoff for him. And as the big is handing the ball off to him, he’s setting a screen for Bobby as Bobby is making his way to the hoop. So Bobby immediately drives to the hoop and then he can finish with the smaller guy on him due to that screen being set. And now they got to switch cuz if they don’t switch, he’s got a clear path. So it’s either clear path off the screen or a small guy switching on to him. And in that situation, because he’s 69 and because he can handle the ball, he’s got an advantage. So we talked about that last show and I talked about it. Um I had an exchange with Cookah Hill the other day. We talked about this. Bobby doesn’t have much burst off his first step, right? He’s not able to get by his guy at will. Top of the key square, he’s not going to be able to get a move to get by his guy, put his guy on his hip, put him in jail. He’s not that kind of guy. So, he either needs to attack closeouts when guys are running out at him, which requires you to have a respectable jump shot, right? Otherwise, defenders won’t close to you. He’s got to do that. So, the best way for him to be effective offensively are is a few things. knocking down open jump shots consistently, attacking closeouts consistently, and then getting into the paint, right, and then or like we mentioned, coming and getting the ball and attacking when he gets the ball off of the dribble handoff, right? He’s a good enough ball handler when he catches to be able to bully his way to the rim against those smaller defenders, right? That switch on to him. So, I know Twitter went crazy after the last two games, but once again, I say it all the time. I’m g say it again, guys. Imagine him in the Simony Fontio role. That’s it. Can he bring what Fontek was supposed to bring last year? That’s the question. If he can knock down open shots, the answer is yes. Because when he puts the ball on the floor, he’s shown that he can be a playmaker. Right? Something Ponteko did not do well at all last year. Right? Whenever Pekko put the ball on the floor, I would cringe. It felt like a turnover or a bad shot was coming, right? Getting caught in the air, all these different things. making the wrong reads, processing slowly, right? That’s not the case with Bobby. Once he gets the ball in the paint, he’s very effective. He understands what he’s looking at defensively, right? So, he’s a guy that can also, one more thing that I noticed, he can be successful. He’s a guy that can grab and go. Talk about Assar being able to grab and go, grab the rebound and push. Um, Ron Holland can grab the rebound and push. Like, we got wings in this team who can do that, right? And he can do that. Many times this game, he was grabbing the board. He was all over the boards again, grabbing the boards and pushing the basketball, pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing, right? Playing the way the Pistons like to play. And even if he wasn’t grabbing the rebound, when it was secured, he was sprinting. Every miss shot, he was sprinting. And a lot of times, his man was not on him because he was ball watching. He was watching the ball, trying to see if the shot was going to go in. and Bobby was leaking out making sure that the def that his guy had the rebound secured leaked out and a lot of time you would see a smaller guy trying to catch up to him because his man was not paying attention and Bobby got down the court. You saw that a lot. So I think Bobb’s also going to be able to score in transition. I think he’s going to be effective there as well. You think about um when LeBron James used to throw the the Hail Mary pass to to Kevin Love off a rebound, right? and Kevin Love will be able to steal his guy, catch the ball, and be able to go to his move. A lot of time that guy was a smaller guy once again because the defense didn’t get back. So Bobby has the ability because he can handle the ball, right? And he’s big enough he can do the same thing. He can seal, grab the ball, make his move, barrel to the basket, bully his guy, and and get a bucket. So that’s another way. So there, guys, there are ways that we can utilize Bobby Clintman to be effective. Once again, he’s not going to score 30 points a game, not going to score 20 points a game. Right? But in the role that Simony Fontio left, he can be a better version of that. Right now, defensively, he’s going to have to get to get and stay on the boards. He’s going to have to contest shots at the rim. He did so again tonight. He had a couple more blocks tonight. Right? You think about the Pistons size off the bench. They don’t have much. They got Isaiah Stewart, right? We know that he’s the backup big. We’ve got Bball Paul. He’s not really that big and Clinton is only 69 610. He’s 69 610. So the Pistons don’t have a ton of size off their bench, but Bobby has shown the ability to be able to get on the glass. Last game he had 12 rebounds, right? And more than just a box score. He’s shown a willingness now to want to crash the glass. Something he didn’t he didn’t do that last year. A lot of time he would be relying on the other big Total Smith to go get to rebound and he would be leaking out. But now you see him crashing. He’s crashing a lot more. He’s making a concerted effort to play big in the paint because we’re going to need him to. So, he does have to continue to get stronger though, right? A couple times he was kind of get pushed around a little bit. It wasn’t like how it was last year, right? He has gotten stronger, but he’s got to continue to get stronger. So, all that said, I am going to stick to my prediction, guys. I know the last two games weren’t bad weren’t great. I know he kind of bookended he kind of bookended Summer League. The first two games are great. I think he had 18 points in game one. last the second and third game not good at all. Fourth game much better, right? So, he is nowhere near a finished product. None of these guys are. He’s got a ton of room to improve and he has to improve, but I think he will. And once again, I’m going to say it for the third time in that very specific role that he’s being that he would be asked to play if he were able to crack the roster, which I think he will. I think he can thrive in that role in that Simony Fontio role. And I’ve not lost any confidence in that just because of two bad performances in summer league. So that’s my take on Bobby Clinton. You guys let me know what you guys thought, what you guys saw. But yeah, my confidence in him is not shaken. It was a little bit a little bit after the last couple games, but I had to keep it perspective. This is just summer league and one or two bad games does not mean you are or not going to be able to crack the roster next season. A lot of knee-jerk reaction going on. A lot of people saying douche was on him all last year. And yes, I was. And here people saying he’s trash. People saying he’s bad. No, he’s not. He’s not. And when he’s put in position to be successful, to play at his best, which is exactly what JB Biggerstaff does for all of his guys in that role, he’s going to be just fine. He’s going to be an upgrade. So, that’s my take on that. What’s going on? Shift guy says, “What up, Docoin says, I can’t wait to see what Bobby can do when with Exactly. That’s exact.” You hit it on that. That’s exactly what we’re looking for. That’s exactly what we’re looking for him to do. do at least that and he and be able to add more things like playmaking, right? Like getting more on the glass, just doing things that were missing last year in that second unit that Simony Fonti was not able to give us. He does that, he’s going to be a nice addition to this team. Is Black says if he can be a plus defender and hit wide open shots, we can’t ask for much more. Yeah. And then the playmaking is is just that’s just a cherry on top. That’s just extra that we didn’t have, right? So yeah, he’s going to be just fine. I know you guys kind of lost your mind, crashed out last game, but he’s gonna be just fine. He’s gonna be just fine. So, let’s move on, guys, now to our next guy, who is Chaz Laneir, our rookie. So, Chaz Laneir tonight, guys, had five points on two for 10 shooting, 106 from three, four assists, two steals, one turnover in 26 minutes. So, this is probably Chaz’s worst game, right? He played pretty solid in the other three games, but tonight he could he could not get a shot to fall. He cannot catch a rhythm at all. So, he didn’t play great this game. He really struggled with that shot. But the thing is, that’s fine. I’m not concerned about that at all. I don’t have an issue with it because your shot is not always going to fall. It’s just not. But he brought the approach to the game that you want to see. He played his game, right? He took the available shots. He took them in rhythm. Good quality shots. And defensively, he guarded. He stayed attached like we always say, right? So, the reason it doesn’t bother me is because think about last season, guys like Malik Beasley, guys like Tim Hardway Jr., right? One thing I would say about those guys last year is that they didn’t always shoot the ball well, but you knew that’s what they were going to do while they’re on the floor, that’s what they were there to do, right? So, I would always say as long as they bring the same approach, as long as they are playing their game, playing within the offense, not shooting their team out of a game, taking good quality shots, you can live with the offshooting nights as long as they’re bringing the defensive intensity and as long as they’re playing within themselves offensively. As long as they bring that consistent approach that you can rely on, you can’t ask for more than that. So Chaz Laneir did not have a great game. Didn’t shoot well, but that’s okay because he played the way that he is going to be needed to play for this team going forward. So one bad game, no big deal. Urban Alien says, “Let’s go Detroit.” Yes, sir. 3-1 record ain’t bad at summer league, right? But more importantly, we got to see a lot out of these guys that we kind of suspected we would see. And now we have a better idea of what we might be able to get going into next season. So let’s go ahead and move on to our last guy, guys. Total Smith. Total Smith in this game, guys, had eight points on three for nine shooting, two two from the free throw line, seven rebounds, one steal, four blocks, one turnover in 17 minutes. He didn’t play a lot this game. He didn’t play a lot this game, but the minutes he did play, he was effective. He was solid once again in this game. And what I like about Tou Smith, guys, more than anything is I mentioned it with Chaz. I mentioned it with all these other guys, consistency, right? at 6’11 250. He’s an interior guy who focuses on being the cleanup man on the offensive end, right? Grabbing offensive rebounds, finishing around the rim, setting good screens, rolling, and then being a good line threat, right? That’s what he does offensively. And then defensively, he’s a paint presence. You know, he’s a presence in that paint, blocking shots, altering shots. He defends the freaking roar pretty solidly, pretty well, and then finishing possessions with his rebounding. He’s usually very physical in that paint and he was again tonight. He didn’t play a lot, but when he was in there, he brought the energy. He brought the motor and he brought the physicality. He’s not a flashy player, guys. He’s not a guy who’s going to, you know, go out and get you 20 and 10, right? He’s not he’s not that kind of guy, but he is a guy who was going to play his game, do it at a high level, and help your team. So, he’s I like I like how steady he is, and just him being a model of consistency. I I I rock with that. I don’t know if he’s going to earn a roster spot next season, but as of right now, when you think about it, the Pistons don’t really have a true sevenfooter, right? The biggest guy is JD at 610, and Tom Smith is the closest thing they would have to that at 6’11. So, I do think it’s possible that the Pistons are if they show a glaring need for size, like if early on in the season you can just see they need more size, I could see him getting called up and possibly getting minutes in certain situations, right? So, just to have that size and physicality available when we may need it. So, yeah, I like Too’s game, man. I like his game. I like his approach. And he just plays hard. He plays hard, man. And he doesn’t play outside of himself. He doesn’t take He’s not going to be guy taking threes. He’s not a stretch, you know, stretch big. He knows his game. He plays his game and he’s effective playing his game. Yeah. So, I like I like Total Smith. I think if not making the roster, he should get another chance and opportunity with the G-League. Let him continue to grow, understand the offense and defense on both, you know, both sides of the ball and just get a rhythm and hopefully when this, you know, numbers called, if it is, he gets an opportunity, he can show us something. So, yeah, solid game from Smith, man. So guys, like I mentioned, the Pistons, they finished summer league with a record of 3-1. They won’t qualify for the elimination round, a semi-final round, because like I mentioned, only the top four teams advance. And with the Pistons losing their last game, I don’t think their record is going to be good enough to get them into the top four. So, but the thing that’s not a big deal. It’s not really a big deal, right? There are more important things than winning a summer league title, right? So guys, this is the last bit of Pistons basketball we’re going to see for a while. We know training camp isn’t that far away, but we have a ways to go until we get to the preseason, which is about two what is it? Two two and a half months. Two and a half months out. Preseason begins on October 4th around the league. That’s when it starts. So we got about two and a half months to wait to get some more Pistons basketball. Um but now we turn our attention to offseason work. Offseason work, guys. And this is the most important part for our main guys, right? We know the summer league is is good for guys, you know, trying to crack the roster, trying to, you know, get a rotation spot, but the offseason, this this period right now from now until training camp, from now until preseason and season is the most important time for our team, right? This is probably Yeah, this is probably the most important offseason for our young guys, our young core as a unit. This is probably the most important offseason for these guys. just having everybody healthy, having roles defined, uh having a clear direction for this team, and having something to build on, right? Having something to build on after last season, getting that taste of the playoffs because expectations are changing, right? There was no expectation for this team last year going into this year. We already know there are a lot of people saying 25 games would be a win. 25 games is realistic, right? No expectations last year. I personally said 35 games, right? So, I didn’t think that low. But the point is the expectation for the Pistons to get to the playoffs probably wasn’t even there. If you ask if you ask most fans, if they’re being honest this time last year, if they thought the Pistons would win 44 games, the answer would be no. So, but now the Pistons have switched gears and now they’re looking to make some serious noise with this young group that they have. So, the vibe this offseason, guys, you can probably see it. They’re different than they were last year. It’s a totally different mindset, totally different urgency. And in seasons past, you know, like it’s it’s just totally different from how it is now. There’s clear and true expectation, not just to make the playoffs, but to advance to get deeper into the playoffs, something they almost did last year. So, as far as players who I think are going to benefit most from this offseason, there’s two guys for me that come to mind. The first guy is Assar Thompson, right? Assar Thompson last year did not have an off season at all because of his blood clot. He had to sit out for eight months, no basketball activity whatsoever. It’s a long time. So, I think with a full off season, we’re going to see a much better and consistent player next season from him. I’m not saying he’s going to be Aman Thompson next year, which he could, but he’s going to you’re going to see a version that’s closer to Aman as far as impact on the court. I’m not saying offensively he’s going to be that, but defensively I think you’re going to see him take another jump and his impact on the game is going to be even more than what it was last year cuz he’s going to have a full off season to really polish some areas of his game. And I think that’s going to come in really handy for him. And the other guy is Jaden Ivy. Jayen Ivy, he’s going to have a full off season now to get reaclimated with his body. We know he went down in January and that was the last time he played a basketball game in the NBA. We’re in July now, right? So, he’s going to get a chance to get used to his body, to learn his body, and to build that trust back in his body. You know, a lot of time when guys come back from injury, they end up getting hurt again because they’re overcompensating because they don’t want to put too much pressure on the leg or arm or whatever or ankle that they hurt and they hurt their other ankle as a result of it. So, I think it was smart for the Pistons not to bring him back. Even though we all know the could have, would have game. If if Steu was healthy, if Jaden was healthy, we had a good shot of getting past the Knicks in that first round, right? All those games pretty much were down to the wire. So, having a guy like Jayen would have definitely helped. But long-term, I think it’s better because now we can go into this. We had already we had already blown expectations out of the water last year, even whether we brought them back or not, right? So, nobody was going to be disappointed or shocked if the Pistons didn’t win the first, you know, that series against a team with a higher seed, right? But even so, even with that, like that’s that’s why I think it was a good idea for them to just let him just sit out and take an off seasonason to get back into form because he was not going to come back immediately and be the Jaden Ivy that we saw before he went down to January 1st. So you may you would have risked him getting hurt again and he wouldn’t have been the guy that you may have been used to seeing and he wouldn’t have had the reps and rhythm and comfortability with his teammates because he had been off. So there were a lot of reasons to not bring him back. The pros and cons. I think the cons outweigh the pros as far as bringing him back for those reasons. So once again though, he’s going to have a full off seasonason now. fully healthy coming back to be able to get back into form and to get familiar with his guys and he can get reintegrated into the offse into the into the starting lineup. And now for the first time for the first time with coach staff, we will get a chance to see Jaden Ivy and Assar Thompson starting together because that did not happen one time last year. For those who may not have known that when Jayen Ivy went her got hurt January 1st a few weeks later Assar Thompson who was slowly getting integrated playing 18 minutes a game 20 minutes a game before Jaden went down who was just getting his feet wet Assar a few weeks later you saw Assar start to really get involved more into the offense and to get more comfortable and his minutes started to go up but before that happened those two guys never started last year not one game so it’s going to be very important for these guys to get that comfortability and the way you do that is right now in the offseason. So like I mentioned that’s why I think this is going to be such an important offseason for our young guys just to build that camaraderie right build that consistency and learn each other under coach Baker staff because they did start under Monty Williams but come on there was no development whatsoever no development you didn’t see these guys get better individually or as a team ever last in that in that season. So this is the first time with coach bigger staff you’ll see these guys get to put get put in their best positions playing to their strengths playing with each other and that’s going to go a long way for them. So yeah that’s what I have for as far as that. Those two guys I think are really going to be able to benefit from this off seasonason for sure. So soon guys we are going to be doing a show that features what next season could hold and what that may look like for each player on this roster and then as a team. So let’s get to a few comments and then we will go ahead and call it a night guys. is black says he’s actually a point guard unlike Sasser. He must be referring to Danish. Yeah, Dennis Jenkins is a pure point guard. I think that’s clear now. He’s a pure point guard. Sasser is a very talented player, but he’s a scorer. Offensively, he’s a scorer. We saw last season the Pistons try to um put him in positions as a point guard to run the offense. And it didn’t it wasn’t consistently good enough, right? He didn’t look comfortable enough. We would see him run sets every now and then that he may have learned and those will play out well, but it wasn’t sustainable. There were times out there when the offense would get stagnant and the Pistons had to go to guys like Tobias Harris and believe to be the hub of the offense and that didn’t go well, which is why we got Dennis Schroer a month after Jay Na’vi went down, right? So those things considered, I hope, you know, Stas is able to get an opportunity. I just don’t know how he’s going to get it here with us if we especially if we bring Dennis Jenkins here and it’ll be Dennis Jenkins it’ll be Caris Levert that we added Duncan Robinson you got Jaden Ivy okay coming it’s a lot of guards a lot of wings a lot of a lot of guards I don’t know how and of course Chazir can’t forget about him so it’s just it’s crowded in the back court right now and I just don’t know if he would get an opportunity or how he would I don’t see his path at this point I don’t see his path so and we all and another thing we know that coach speaker staff has said and not even just him but Trejan Langden Piston’s president has said continuously that he wants defensive versatility and he wants size and Sass doesn’t really give you that. So just based off what Trajan is saying I don’t see how based off what he wants his team to look like I don’t see how Sass gets an opportunity especially since you’ve added more guys who have more size. So, we’ll wait and see on that. But it’s Blacker, right? Sasser is not a point guard. It’s not his fault. He He got put in positions where he wasn’t that successful last year. But you can see they were just trying to give him a chance. But I think having a more natural point guard like Dennis Jenkins when we need him for foul trouble or injuries, knock on wood, things like that. That’s that’s a better that’s a better pick. That’s a better player to I think use in that situation. Sean says to not an NBA player. I love him in the G- League, though. We’ll see. We’ll see. I mean, you may be right. You could be right, Sean. I don’t know. I think he has he has potential to get there. I don’t I don’t I don’t think he’s an NBA starter, but I do think he is I do think he can earn a roster spot. Maybe not with Detroit, maybe somewhere else, but I do think he is a good enough big to to play in the NBA. I’m not going to say he is not NBA player. He’s not an maybe not an NBA starter or maybe not a rotational player, but I think he deserves a spot in the roster on a roster. Much like how we saw Bball Paul last year, he wasn’t a rotational guy for most of the season, but in situations when JD or Steu would get in foul trouble or somebody’s not available, he would come in and play hard and he’d be effective. I could see Total Smith doing that for an NBA roster. I could see him doing that. All right, let’s go to a few more guys and we’ll call it. Sar needs to knock down those mid-range and three-point shots. He’ll be a force if he can. Absolutely. And I wouldn’t mind seeing him start with the mid-range, right? He’s not gonna he’s not I mean you’re seeing Ron Holland take jumps. I don’t think you we’ve seen guys take this kind of jump and it’s just summer league but you see the you see the jumps he’s taken quickly including from long range. I don’t think it’s fair to expect that from a guy like Assar. I think Ryan is a naturally better shooter. Ron has a naturally I think Ron’s a naturally better scoreer. He’s just I think he’s just got more touch than Assar does. Right. Assar is is a freak athlete. He’s got Ryan on the athleticism, right? And he’s a better defender than Ryan right now, too. But shooting the ball, he’s not on the level of Ron Howland right now. And I think, like you said, Urban Alien is I think it’s better to just gradually get him out there. If he’s just taking mid-range shots, just mid-range shots or just, you know, putting the ball on the floor, getting to the paint to the top, you know, getting to the paint and just pulling for that little mini jumper he likes, that’s cool. I like that. I think if he works his way out eventually working for Vincent, he can eventually get there. But he is going to have to improve as a shooter. Period. Whether it’s from long range, mid-range, whatever, he’s got to get better. And I think once again, having a full off season after being off eight months last off season, we’re going to see much improved player in Nar Thompson for short. All right. Kale Val said, “Dude was just boo booing on Clinton. Now he’s on the side.” Who Who we talking about, Kell? Who we talking about? Um Yeah, you weren’t talking about me. You weren’t talking about me. Um, Kell Val, let me Yeah, let me put you on game, bro. I called it like I saw it last game. Did Bobby Clement play well? The game before that, did Bobby Clement play well? Absolutely not. So, it’s not booooing on him, as you put it, just because I call it like I see it. I said it before. I’m going to call it like I see it. If you watch the last two games and say anything other than he played bad, you weren’t watching the games. Straight up. Everybody here who’s here knows I’ve been one of the biggest lobbyers and ambassadors and supporters of Bobby Clintman since he started playing in the NBA. Since I was the first one, guys, one of the first ones that even put his name out there last year in summer league when he was playing well. And I have had his name. I’ve been talking about him ever since. So yeah, you got to do your homework, bro, once again because Yeah, there Come on, man. Let’s Let’s be real, Kell. You gota you gotta you gotta be better than that man. Let’s move on. Let’s move on. All right. Is Black says I asked a question before that. Do you see Dennis taking Sass? Yeah. Well, the thing is Sassa didn’t really have a lot of minutes last year to begin with. He didn’t play a lot. He didn’t get an opportunity a lot. So, if can he will he get consistent minutes every game? Probably not. I don’t think so. I think if there’s if guys are like I mentioned if there’s foul trouble with Kade or Jaden or Caris or if guys are out of sync if guys you can see guys are not in a rhythm like they’re just not playing well and you’re looking for somebody to kind of get the offense out of the mud. Absolutely. Then you can go to him and he can help you out. That’s what I see for him. MB Well says I predicted 44 and 38 and yes you did. Hey everybody, shout out to MB Well. He caught 44 wins for this team last year and that’s exactly where they landed. I thought you were crazy bro. I thought King was crazy. King said 40 games. I had 35. I thought both of y’all crazy. So, shout out to you, bro. You caught that on the on the notes. Hit that in the head. All right. Devon says, “I’m Matt. You spoiled it with the title. Can’t have my phone at this chat.” My bad, bro. My bad, bro. Let’s get through a few more guys and then we’ll call it for sure. Um, let’s see. Okay, same thing there. Hey, bro. Getting money? Yes, he does. Ouch. Okay, I think that’s pretty much it, guys. Yeah, Dennis is definitely the better ball handler, better point guard. So, we’ll leave it there, man. But my Yeah. So, guys, going forward, I will be dropping a video soon talking about each guy individually as far as how they looked in the summer league. Um, going to be breaking down my biggest takeaways and what it means for certain guys who are trying to track this rotation. So, you guys talk to me in the comments and let me know what you guys takeaways were from this game. And as always, let’s keep the conversation going. And that is a wrap for this episode. So, you guys know the drill. Detroit verse everybody. I’m out of here. Peace. Step on the floor. You know your time’s up. I’m on my way up and I’m not going to stop. We headed straight to the top. And I know I got to waste it. I got no time to waste it. Waste time with everything. again through me with me.

The Detroit Pistons closed out their Summer League with a commanding win over the Miami Heat, showing strong effort and execution on both ends of the floor. Their defense set the tone early, forcing turnovers and limiting Miami’s looks, while the offense was balanced and efficient, led by Daniss Jenkins & Bobi Klintman.

Intro 0:00
Ron Holland 5:30
Daniss Jenkins 8:25
Bobi Klintman 10:35
Chaz Lanier 20:08
Tolu Smith 22:05
Off-Season Lookahead 24:40