What to know about Detroit Pistons recent player acquisitions and cap update with Keith Smith

What to know about Detroit Pistons recent player acquisitions and cap update with Keith Smith

[Music] 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 Seno for the second Pistons beat writer for the Petroy 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 on the pin down over on the Detroit Bad Boys YouTube channel, you absolutely should be. You should obviously be following Amari and maybe myself on Twitter and Blue Sky. You should be reading O2 on the Detroit Free Press. And since it’s completely free, you should probably subscribe to the Motor City Hoop Substack where I have put out some content on both signings. I guess one is a sign and trade of Caris Lever and Duncan Robinson. The acquisitions so far this off season. Oh, too. How’s it going? This can sometimes be a busy time of the year for you. We got through the draft free agency starts. I’m sure there’s a lot. I text you on the Duncan Robinson deal. I was like, “Hey, like you know, there’s some conflicting stuff here with the partial non-G guarantee stuff.” There’s a Seam says, “Hello from California. What’s up?” There’s got to be some stress with all of that, right? like making sure you get things reported right, double-checking, tripleeing. What is life like for you over these few days?
Yeah, I mean at this point there’s kind of a a I guess I would say like a rhythm to it. So, you know, it’s it’s kind of natural like whenever you try to report anything to make sure everything’s straight, right? And there’s always a lot of chaos surrounding any deal. But it’s been fine. Like I always joke with people like they don’t have a first round pick. They didn’t have a first round pick. like no firings, no hirings this off seasonason. So for them to just have a second round pick and then Teresa and Paul Reed, you get a couple free agents. Not not super busy. Nothing over compared to like that first year when Troy first got in in 2020 and it was just they probably made 20 transactions over the course of like three and a half days. So that was trial by fire. Like I don’t think any offseason has been quite as bad as that one. So I’ve been doing okay.
Love it. Yeah. I’m sure you get into it, you figure out the groove. That that first year of everything is tough. I remember the first year I was a teacher. First it was a PE teacher and then the first year in the classroom and and that’s a lot. So Muhammad says hello from Beirut and thank you for joining us. YouTube user says what time is it in Beirut? I would guess that O2 and I will not know the answer to this. 12 a.m. So that means they are closing in on Thursday morning already, right? That they’re eight hours ahead of me.
It’s browse Thursday, I believe. Yeah. Seven hours ahead for you guys in the Eastern times. Oh, Wes had Googled it already. Amazing. Okay, guys, go ahead and throw your comments, questions, whatever in the chat. If it like applies as we’re talking, Wes will throw it up on the screen. If not, I would guess we have some time at the end of the podcast. We can answer some of those things. Just some housekeeping things. My guess is we’ll record next Monday, Tuesday, something like that. And then Amari and I will both be in Vegas for a few days for the start of summer league. Be able to hang out, watch a one Pistons game, I think, for me. And then we’ll obviously record once I get back and all of that. So, Nan Smith, aloha, and what up though? I assume we’re Hawaii there. So, O2, let’s set the stage real quick because I think it’s important to let people know where we were at going into the offseason because that is going to drive our feelings on what has happened in the offseason. For me, I had leaned into being okay with essentially some version of Run It Back. I had actually said that I would be okay if they switched some things up. Could you improve here or there, tweak here and there? Obviously, one big storyline really affected that. Were you on the same page going into the off season before we talk about the moves that have actually been made? Yeah, I mean I don’t have a strong preference as far as like if the right move is there is going to be there. But it’s just looking like going into the offseason and you look at their asset, you know, chess versus other teams. You look at, you know, the contracts that they have and it just didn’t look like this could be the offseason where it makes sense to kind of make that quote unquote swing, whatever that looks like. And with the roster being as young as it is, there’s probably a lot of logic like not adding more salary than you need to at the same time, right? outside of maybe one or two guys. You know, I think a lot of people have an NFL mindset where it’s like, you know, guys could get hurt so you got to go all in and this window may be two years like in the NBA like you have I mean your window is open as long as you’ve got a superstar. I mean Milwaukee is still you know putting tent around Giannis like we’re seeing what Denver has done with Jokic and I mean they’ve had those guys for a decade each, right? So like I just got to see the NBA concept of like a window much differently. like as long as you have your guy, you’re going to be in good shape on some level. They have Kade, then this is like the very beginning of their process of figuring out, okay, like what do we add around this, you know, and I don’t think you go out and, you know, burned up all your cap and you can’t pay your young guys or this and that. So, that’s essentially what they’ve done. They’ve maintained flexibility for the future. Obviously, the Malik Bey situation kind of switched up their additional plan, but you know, they’ve still addressed their need for shooting and ball handling and and they’re not done. So, I think this aligns honestly with probably what I would have done if I if I were Traan and it aligns with what he said he was going to do as well.
Yeah, let’s start there with Beasley, you know, maybe for anybody who hasn’t read articles, aren’t fully engulfed in it, whatever. Can you give some insight into what that situation is? I know we don’t know everything, all of it is just kind of reported or it seems a little bit up in the air. Like I haven’t seen that anything is like dead set on this is what he’s been investigated for or how serious it is. I know there was another article that came out that kind of dove into a little bit more personal financial situation stuff with him that didn’t sound great. I don’t know how much we want to like actually dive into it, but ultimately this did change things O2 because it sounded like there was going to be an offer on the table from Malik Beasley that was right around the non- tax MLE which either means they would have operated over the cap and given him that or they could have went under the cap and given him that. Like I know this is something we’ll need to talk about. Everybody’s asking about that situation as well. Can you give us a little insight into the Beasley situation? Do you think he would be on this team if none of this stuff was being discussed right now?
Yeah, I mean, if the gambling investigation is never like if that news doesn’t come out on Sunday, then they probably go ahead and sign up to the the three-year deal that was reported. I mean, I think both sides have been pretty transparent the entire time that they want him to be here long term or he wanted to be here long term. But it’s just the uncertainty of the gambling probe that forces you to change that plan cuz you don’t know like exactly how that’s going to shake out. It’s entirely possible that all this passes and ends up being a non-issue. There’s also a chance that it could end up being a big issue, right? And it’s just difficult to, you know, I think invest in a player like at that point when they have like significant availability potential issues coming up. And again, he hasn’t been charged with anything. You know, it’s very well possible that he’s done nothing wrong and this will all be a thing of the past, but you still have that uncertainty. So yeah, I mean for that deuce to come out roughly 30 hours before free agency started. The Pistons always have plan B’s and and plan C’s. We see how they pivoted, but they they did have to pivot. They did expect to have bees to be back next season.
Okay, so let’s talk about that. They they had to pivot and they first started that pivot situation with Caris Levert. This was the first signing and so yes, as Mr. Ray says, you can’t bank on Beasley being 100% ready before the NBA season. So it makes sense for Trajan to move on it. It seems like that makes a ton of sense that they’re just going to have to do this. And guys, I saw a lot of cap questions, so I’ll be honest with you. I text Keith Smith and cuz Keith Smith is the goat, he is going to be joining us for like 10 or 15 minutes in the next 30 minutes. So maybe we’ll open segment three and Keith will answer like, “Hey, this is where the cap situation stuff. These are the avenues because O2 it is kind of confusing right now because I think they could still be over under the cap like all sorts of stuff. So we’re not gonna dive into that stuff because Keith is the GOAT and Kyle is here as well. Kyle is also the GOAT. Carris Levert O2 years what was it? 29
29 billion fully guaranteed.
Fully guaranteed. Initial thoughts on Caris Levert the player, how he fits on the roster, all of that. Yeah, I mean I think he comes in and you have a clear need for scoring in a second unit, you have a clear need for playmaking in a second unit and he gives you both of those. He’s not quite a point guard like Dennis Sharter is a point guard, but he’s a guy that could absolutely move the ball. You know, he’s got a 2 to1 assistant turnover ratio for his career, four assists for his career. So, he’s a guy that absolutely could take ball handling pressure off of Kade or Ji. And I think he kind of steps into that sher role where like now with him and between him and Kade and Ji like you could always have two ball handlers on the floor. Like I’ve always like carries his game, you know? I think he offensively is not a perfect fit just because he operates at the rim and from mid-range and that’s where Kate likes to operate. So we’ll see how that works out. But he also can knock down threes. You know, I think K could generate some pretty good threes for him. So it’s not like teams are going to be helping off of him significantly. I think he shot 37% last year. So, he’s still capable, right? So, I think he checks a lot of boxes for this team. And also, he’s 6’6, so they could have some pretty big lineups out there as well where realistically Jay may be the smallest guy in their rotation that 6’4. So, I like I like Caris. I like his game. He’s a different player from both Beasley and THJ, but you know, I still think he he fits the same pretty well.
Yeah, it’s it was an interesting addition. I like Caris Levert, the player. But I’ll be honest, as I went back through my notes for my post on the Substack and then went back and watched the game for the video breakdown on the Substack, I actually found myself more intrigued. Now, that not even considering the fit stuff, just like who Caris Levert is as a player. I thought he opened defender’s hips a lot, which allowed him to get downhill. I don’t think he played with the ball a lot, O2, which is something I appreciated. He can play with the ball in his hands obviously, but it’s not like he’s like this ISO guy going to break you down, all of that, and I’m okay with that. Listen, we’ll talk about like, do they need a third point guard still and a veteran guy and all of that. Like, I understand that, but I like Carris Levert’s game. And there’s a couple things they mentioned in backtoback comments here. YouTube user, Levert is much better defender than THJ or Beasley as well and is bigger than Dennis. I agree with this 100%. I want to talk about the trio trade out from the end of last season to what looks like will be the start of the 2526 season. And of those six guys, Ivy, Levert, Robinson, and then the three players mentioned here, I think Carris Levert is definitely the best defender. O2 Dennis is a good defender, but Levert offers more versatility because he has a little bit more size. And then Mr. Ray said, Levert shot 36 12% from the three-point line the last three seasons. I will go even further. I sent this to Wes. Levert is actually really good on unguarded catch and shoot. Like what was it Wes? 43 44% I think is what I sent you in the text. Wes might be able to pull that up for me. And almost 40% from the corners. Ultimately that’s all I need Caris Levert to do 02 when he’s playing off the ball is knock down those shots. And so that’s what the film showed me was he did all the requisite offthe-ball offensive things that the Pistons will need him to do when he’s playing with Cade or Ji or if it’s a Sar Thompson doing more ball handling, right? Like ultimately I think this is a good signing because it doesn’t step on any of those guys toes but it gives you a very good third guard in the rotation. Yeah. I mean, he’s a good rotation guard wing who could play in a variety of lineups. Like, as long as Ji or, you know, Kade on the four, maybe you say he’s the two, maybe say he’s the three. You know, I don’t think it really matters. The reality is that you could put the bond in sense and he could do some things for you. And yeah, like I said, like teams are not going to be helping off of him too much cuz he could knock down threes. It’s not like he’s a bad shooter. He just isn’t the type of high volume shooter that THJ is, but he’s bringing a different skill set to the table. I think it’s good. I mean, just since I’ve covered the the team, the the Pistons, I’ve not had many wings that check as many boxes as Caris the Vert checks. Like, he gives you a little bit of everything. And yeah, I mean, especially with Shorter signing with the Kings. He’s absolutely a guy’s checking a lot of those same boxes in my mind. Wes says 40 44% on unguarded catch and shoot threes. I believe that was going back four seasons is what I did. 39% from the corner. That might have been the last three seasons. Now, I I will be fair. He was not good on guarded catch and shoot threes, which is why his percentage overall isn’t like 40%. I saw a comment here. I’m not going to be able to go back and find it, but someone said that Sam Bassini had talked about Caris’s three-point shooting in college. Very interesting. His last three seasons at Michigan, 42% on four attempts and almost 80% from the free throw line. Again, this isn’t definitely not Malik Beasley, right? And we’ll talk plenty about that, especially when we get to Duncan Robinson. not even the same archetype of player as Tim Hardaway Jr. like it’s just not the same volume probably not in the same shot diet but he just gives you some things those guys like I know we all want to go onetoone with these guys but it’s hard to do that because he’s not the exact same player as in Shruder right but he’s also not the exact same player as Tim Hardaway Jr. or Malik Beasley. That’s why I kind of look like to look at it as a trio and maybe we can do that once we get to all of it. What did you think about the contract? Oh yeah, where’s Matthews at? Yeah, Matthews for our guy from Brazil as we’re calling out people from all over the world, which is absolutely insane and incredible. Like what do you just what do you think about the contract? The number there like seems reasonable, seems okay to me. Like any qualms with that?
It’s basically the mid level, right? and we’ll see how how they kind of crunch the numbers when it’s all said and done as an under the cap or over the cap. But like I think that’s a market value contract for a guy who does what Caris does. You know, it’s a deal kind of with that. You look at how Orlando signed KCP last summer and then that becomes a trade that gives you something different. And every year you see teams, you know, go after guys in that type of skill set and they can be building blocks toward other trades. So I think I think Caris Far is right in that range. It’s fair. Like I have no no qualms with it. There’s a lot of guys who were in the MLE range and he was certainly one of them.
Okay, let’s go ahead and move to Duncan Robinson because with Keith coming on at the end, we need to get through all of these guys, including Chaz Laneir, and then also kind of put a bow on how we feel about this and what else could have happened and all of that cuz when Keith gets here, I want to give him the time to just truly discuss, okay? because I know there’s different paths that this could take and guys it’s going to answer a lot of your questions in terms of over under the cap. Do they have maneuvers and mechanisms to make more moves and and all of that. So Duncan Robinson on a three-year $48 million deal. Can you break down what you have reported are the partial and non-G guarantees on that deal for us to start off? Yeah, three years 48 billion essentially a one-year commitment because that second year is partially guaranteed and then that third season as results not guaranteed. So that basically means if like basic decide to part ways with him next summer he gets a certain percentage of like that 16 million and like they part ways but it’s a deal that works for both sides and that because they acquired him in a a signage rate that has to be three years. So you essentially make the last two years of the parts you’re not guaranteed to fulfill that arrangement, but he gets more money up front. You know, I know what people were like 48 billion 16 in a year for Becky Robinson seems like a lot, but the way the deal is structured is it’s like it’s all it’s more like a NFL deal almost, right? Like you kind of have to look at the actual language in the in the contract and then you see it’s not really what it appears to be. So he’s a shooter shooter like he’s going to step right into the BZ, I think with no issues. He’s knocked down 273s in the season. He’s locked on 263s. He’s going to feast off of the space that, you know, K Cunningham would afford. And he probably was the best shooter still available on the market, honestly. So, you know, I I thought it was good work by them to figure out a way to get him.
Oh, let me ask you this. Who do you think for their career has averaged more three-point attempts per 100 possessions? And I do think per 100 possessions is fair in this context because this accounts for style of play, pace, minutes played, stuff like that. Some sometimes per 100 isn’t necessarily fair. I think it’s fair here, Malik Beasley or Duncan Robinson. Who do you think average more for their career?
In my mind, it’s Malik Beasley, but like I also check cleaning the glass and I see that a higher percentage of Duncan Robinson shots overall are from three than Beasley. Not by a lot. So, I could see it being Duncan Robinson, but I still think it’s probably Beey by a little bit.
It is Duncan. It’s not by a lot. It It is fairly close. You want to guess who has a higher three-point percentage for their career?
Oh, Duncan. Duncan. It’s actually closer than you think, but it is Duncan.
Yeah, he’s basically at 40%.
Here, here is my thing with Duncan Robinson. So, when the LeVert signing happened, the immediate response, and I think rightfully so from Pistons fans was, “What about the shooting? What about the floor spacing?” My thing with Duncan Robinson is he answers that question. O2 like I’m not sure you can watch 10 more players, 20 more players. I don’t know what the number is. There’s not a whole lot of players that have the same threepoint line gravity as Duncan Robinson. There’s real defensive limitations. There’s real like general limitations. But the other thing is he knows how to use his gravity. I I will tell you guys, if you want to see what I’m talking about, like, if you don’t want to watch the LeVvert breakdown, cool. You don’t want to read myself, cool. Watch the first five minutes of the Duncan Robinson video breakdown I did, and you’ll at least see what I’m talking about where his gravity in one game not only got him buckets, but it also created multiple opportunities for his teammates. And I do just think that that is valuable. Is he going to make 320 threes like Beasley did this year? Probably not. And I will say the one play type he is definitely not as good as Beasley is knocking down shots off screens. Like even if you just look at the synergy numbers, Beasley has been better than him throughout his career on that. But everything else O2, like if you want floor spacing, you want gravity, you want three-point shot making, I think you could do way worse than Duncan Robinson. Yeah, like I said, I think he was the best available shooter on the market. Like with him and Caris, you get a little bit bigger, too. Like Duncan Robinson 67. Like he’s not a small wing at all. And I think he knows where to be. Like he moves the ball. Like you said, he knows how to use his gravity. And I’m curious to see like you almost have that eternal debate in football like is it the wide like can the wide receiver make the QB or is it the other way around? Like let’s see what Duncan Robinson could do.
Yeah, I thought about this as well. Like
yeah, Dex K like he may have his best season. You never know. But he can step into the exact same role as Bees and there’s no reason to think that he can’t knock down 42 43% with the quality of shot that he’ll have.
Yeah. So that I had this question today cuz I understand like why people are like Malik Beasley, Malik Beasley, Malik Beasley. And I I want to talk about that idea in general as well and the fact that like Detroit didn’t have any choice with Malik Beasley. It’s not like they chose not to pay him that. They literally can’t sign him right now. Like it’s not something you can do. But none of us thought Malik Beasley was going to hit 300 threes coming into this season either. And it’s like, is Malik Beasley the only player that can play that role and do it successfully? And as Wes says, also, was Malik going to do it again this year? Like, was he going to get like historic three-point shooting season? He deserves all the credit in the world for it, but was it replicable for him? So, we’ll get into all of that. We’re going to go to break. When we come back, let’s put a bow on this. Let’s talk about like in general these two signings, what it means, potential holes on the roster, all of that. I also want to then talk about Chaz Laneir before we bring Keith on in 15 minutes. Shout out one of my kids, Brian Contras. Brian, you get shouted out by name cuz you put your name here. So, but one of our football players and students. Appreciate him. Hopefully, he’s enjoying his summer safely. We’re going to go to break. When we come back, let’s let’s talk about this in general O2 before we move on to Chaz Laneir. All [Music] right, we’re back with segment two. We’re just going to pick up where we left off on this Duncan Robinson discussion. There’s been a lot of debate, I think, just from fans and like in general, like can Bees replicate what he did last season? And so much of that’s just dependent on minutes, too, right? like you have to actually be able to take enough threes to even get to that point. But to me, that’s always been kind of arbitrary. To me, it’s just more so like if you have a guy that you know could hit 250 plus three-pointers at around 40%, like that’s fine. And Duck Robinson’s done it more than once already. So, that’s kind of how I see it, right? Like you can look at well this guy made history and this guy may not make history but if you’re getting 250 plus made three-pointers on a high percentage then like realistically it serves the same function and that’s going to fluctuate based on row based on minutes and whatnot. But that kind of goes back to what we said earlier like do we know for a fact that Dr. Robinson can’t hit 300 threes if he gets enough attempts, right? Cuz he’s got one of the strongest track records for being an elite shooter as any player in the entire league. So he could be in that category.
Yeah. And listen, I I want to be like he’s a negative defender like he is in the breakdown. I was like, you know, he he tries he’s in the right position. He just doesn’t have impact because he’s not super physical. He’s not doesn’t have great length and he’s not super athletic. But man, the offensive gravity, what he created and and again, I cannot emphasize enough. He has learned how to leverage that gravity into rolling off a screen into the paint and hitting a little floater to finishing at the rim. There’s one that his run finishing is like like he doesn’t take a lot of shots out the room, but when he gets there, he makes a lot of
because he creates wide open opportunities because of his three-point shooting. My favorite one though is he runs from one corner to the other corner, gets a handoff with Khil Wear and gets Khil Wear a wideopen dunk because his gravity drew two to him and then Wear rolled out of it. So listen, if Jaylen Duran is who people think he is as a passer, as kind of not a hub of an offense, but can operate the offense, he should thrive with Duncan Robinson. Like there’s no reason he shouldn’t be able to do a lot of the same things. And so I I think this Listen, I’m not saying it’s perfect. Like I don’t this is going to come off like I’m super like this was a home run off season. I don’t think that. I think it’s been fine. I think for someone who was fine with them not making a big splash and running this back at least until the deadline to find out what Ji is, what a star can do with an offseason healthy, what Ron Holland can grow into in year two. I am fine with what they have done. Now, I do think there’s one big hole on the roster that I would be interested to see if you feel the same. Let me throw I want to throw a couple things at you and the chat and our listeners. First, if Malik Beasley historic three-point shooting season is the only thing that can unlock this offense, if you have to have that to unlock this offense, isn’t that a flaw within the roster? Like, to me, every time I hear that, it actually makes me go the other way in terms of that makes me nervous. 02. If the only way this offense can function effectively is if you have Malik Beasley or the like making 320 threes on, isn’t that an issue? And to be fair, I don’t think that’s true. I don’t think you have to have that. But that’s why I’m okay with, you know what, if Duncan Robinson makes 250 and has gravity, I think that’s okay. Where do you stand on that? Cuz that’s always my immediate reaction to that comment. Yeah, I think it just kind of highlights the overall point is that you like this roster clearly is going to need some internal improvement from three because so many of the core guys are not, you know, elite shooters and really JI is the only one who’s put together and he only played 30 games, but he did shoot 40% from three and he was on pace to hit around 170 which would have put him in TJ range. So you have some of that, but like I would say that it would be a flaw cuz it just means well you know if your best shooter isn’t playing then you’re not getting spacing anywhere else and of course that has a lot of knock on effects from there. And I think you’re already kind of facing that next season if you’re looking at Kade Ivy Assar Tobias Duran and Tobias is the best shooter in that group and you’re hoping you know Kade could probably get above 35%. You’re hoping Ji can maintain what he had last season. Long story short, like guys are going to have to to get better regardless of what Duncan Robinson could do. So yeah, last season I think I did the math. THJ and Beasley were responsible for almost half of their made three-pointers. You know, last season I don’t think they would have been able to replace that production collectively. And that could still be the case next season as well. So like like long story short, like I agree to an extent that if you need 300 three-pointers on 43% shooting for the offense to function, then you know, you probably need to make some tweaks somewhere.
Yeah. And listen, I I want to be clear. I think you need floor spacing. I think you need shooting. All I’m saying is like I see a lot of people push back that Duncan Robinson isn’t good enough or can’t like make up what Beasley did. And I’m just like I don’t know, man. Like to me it’s just about gravity and floor spacing. And it it’s hard to say any like he’s not the best option for that. RB Nesbbit. Man, this is incredible. Oh, you didn’t ask a question. What man? He says, “What up, fellas? Been waiting on the pod to drop. Can’t watch live now, but we’ll catch up later. Just wanted to show some love.” That
we appreciate Randy.
That is love that is much appreciated. I was definitely getting to your question or comment and you just dropped us some love. So, we appreciate that very, very much. Thank you so much for that super chat. We we love that and we appreciate all of you. But RB’s been man he’s been with us for a minute now you know covering watching and being with this. Okay here’s my second question. So at the end of last year this team was pretty good agree in the playoffs. Pretty good.
Yeah.
So here’s what they did. They took out Shruder Beasley Tim Hardway Jr. and they are adding in Ivy Levert and Duncan Robinson. I realize Ivy was injured but still it this question is more about just is this team going to get better? Like can they be better than what we saw at the end of last year? Right? Like that’s where I’m going with this. What trio is better to you O2? Shruder, Beasley, Tim Hardaway Jr. or Ivy, Duncan Robinson, Caris Levert.
Assuming Duncan Robinson can give you what Beasley gave you last season and assuming Ji’s shooting is sustainable for last season. And you know, I think the first assumption is fair. The second assumption is like we have to see if Ji could do that for a whole year. Granted, I mean, I think TSJ shot like 37%. So Ji could still like he has some wiggle room there. But I I I do think ultimately there may be a little bit more upside simply because that’s a bigger unit and like I think Caris Divert could kind of be like a glue guy for this team kind of like Tobias is where he’s just constantly doing productive things when he’s on the floor and just maintaining some stability. As somebody asked me on Twitter earlier, they said, “Do you think this group is a step a step back from what we had last season?” And I don’t see it as a step back. I think it’s just different. But if you’re talking from a pure upside standpoint, you know, I think I think Caris checks more boxes than THJ did. You know, I think I think Ji does a lot of stuff that you probably weren’t going to get from Sher or THJ. And so that’s just how much Ji improves and replicates last season, too. But long story short, like I think at minimum it could be just as good. I don’t see a significant step back at all.
I think that’s where I’m at as well. Like I wouldn’t sit here and argue that this team is better going into the season, but I don’t subscribe to this team. This team took a step back. Now, some people say, “Well, they took a step back because the Magic took a step forward and the Hawks took a step forward and all of that.” Like, I listen, right now, I think I would project this team to be like six in the East, which is kind of what they were last year. And I’m pretty sure we ended last year saying they just can’t take a step back. It’s okay if they stay the same as because you want to see for sure before you make a big move. So, I just wanted to throw that out there. We listen, we’ll talk more about this stuff. I know Keith is about to jump on. I want to talk Chaz Laneir before we get to Keith and move on to some of the other stuff. We haven’t had a chance to do this since the draft. What were your thoughts on Chaz Laneir? This was your prediction. And so like you landed that one. Talk about floor spacing. I don’t know if it happens in 25 26, but the one thing this kid does at an elite level is knock down three-point jumpers.
Yeah. No, I did call it. So, thank you for pointing that out. I had that as a selection I think Sunday. Hey, I I’ll call all your victories because you’re about to buy me lunch in Vegas in a few days because of our last bet. So,
Oh man, I forgot about that. I’m glad you reminded me.
You’re not going to let me forget.
Absolutely not.
I think Chaz, I mean, at pick 37 again, like I’m either taking the biggest upside swing I possibly can cuz some kid fled out the first round or I’m just taking a skill that I know is going to help me at some point. And that’s Chaz Laneir. He’s one of the most elite shooters in the the draft. just the volume, just the balance he has, the quickness of the release. Like there’s to me very, very little doubt that he’ll be able to do it at the NBA on some level. I think it’s just the other aspects of his game that people had issues with. He’s not much of a passer or playmaker. He’s he’s not a ball hog either. He’s just, you know, an offball player, but he’s probably not going to be a secondary creator for you. He’s not like the best defender. I know it’s some evaluator sus being on the the smaller side, but I compare this numbers to VJ Edgecomb and Conupo and those guys like they all have similar builds like like even weight wise like Chaz Nefield right in between those guys. So I think he has pretty solid size for a two guard and like as we’ve been talking about there’s a need for some shooting on this roster and you don’t know what he’s going to do as a rookie but if he could come in and play 10 minutes and knock down shots then that’s probably a pretty good scenario. So that was the thinking behind the pick redee shooting. He’s a shooter and at least in my eyes he was probably the most certain pick at that spot.
Yeah. I mean my one qualm and everybody’s going to know this is I would have selected Maxim Renault like like that that is my one qualm with all of this. Now the thing is like if they knew if they liked Paul Reed, they knew they were going to bring him back like all of that like okay like that’s all of a sudden a lot of centers and like you know where is he even in the rotation and and I get it. I would have prioritized Maxim Renault, especially on a lower number than bringing Paul Reed back as your third center, especially because he offers you something a little bit different. Outside of that, I am fine with this Chaz Laneir pick, right? It’s still 37. It’s still the second round. If you’re not going to move up for Wes’s guy Noah Pinda or my guy Rashier Fleming, then you’re going to stay at 37. And I have no idea what the price was to move up or well I guess we have a little bit of an idea because Phoenix did it to go up and get Rashier Fleming. It was going to cost you some second round picks to go up and get one of those guys. Then at 37 Lier is fine. I think it’s fine value. I think it’s fine process. We’ll see what he can do in regards like can he shoot. He has to be elite because like none none of the other stuff is super standoutish. But I’m fine with it and go down make shots in the GLeague, develop that, figure out the physicality of the NBA game and then as stuff starts to play out, maybe he finds himself in the rotation down the road where he’s coming off the bench and and knocking down shots. And then you don’t have to go pay for a Duncan Robinson or a Malik Beasley like they did last offseason or Tim Hardaway Jr. I know all of those guys got acquired in different mechanisms and types of trades even with Tim Hardway Jr. and Duncan Robinson. I want to get to this. So Loi3, thank you for the super chat. We appreciate you very much. Thank you. Duncan doesn’t play any defense and he plays the same position as three other dudes. So who are you pushing out of the rotation? First, I agree that he doesn’t play any defense. I I don’t know that he’s a whole lot worse than Tim Hardway Jr. or Malik Beasley to to be quite honest with you. The second part, Wes and I talked about this literally all day long and then our guy on Twitter, Brad Villain Valain has, go check it out. Wes quote tweeted it. I think I at least liked it. You can find it. And he did a really sweet little breakdown, a really nice visual. And he has dunked in 22 minutes. Nine of them at the two, 13 of them at the three. And like I told Wes, he is a bad defender. So it doesn’t matter if you’re playing him at the two or three. He’s going to be a bad defender at either one of those positions. And this was getting minutes. 34 for Cade, 31 for Ivy, 22 for LeVert, 31 for Assar, 22 for Holland. Like it was getting all of the guys minutes that you want to get minutes. Now, if you add in somebody else that be like a true backup point guard or a fourman, this is a nineman rotation he has here. But I I think he can find minutes. I think this all works if you’re playing Ji/LV as your pseudo second unit point guard primary initiators.
Yeah, I mean I think you can slide like Duncan right into like the same minute rows that THJ and Beasty had last season. I think Bees played maybe around 28 minutes a game. THJ might have been a little bit under that before JI’s injury and maybe that adjusted a little bit after Shooter would have eaten into that as well. But they step right into those like pretty similar roles in my mind. Like I imagine Bucken Robinson is probably playing between 25 and 30 minutes most nights. Like if he’s hot and he’s closing the game out, then that’s one thing. But there’s going to be minutes. I mean, he’s way too good of a shooter for me to even worry about who he’s being pushed out cuz, you know, this team isn’t quite deep enough, I think, to go probably consistently 10 or 11 anyway at this point. So, yeah, that’s that’s no no issue with me. You’re not It’s not like you said, Bryce, you’re not losing anything defensively compared to last season anyway. So, that’s kind of it is what it is.
Yeah. I mean, I just I think you can do this. Ed Robinson says, “Duncan has a better defensive rating than Ivy.” First, Ed, thank you very much for the super chat. I don’t always love defensive rating. I I will say if you want me to be positive, I did think Duncan Robinson was more engaged and active than what I thought he was going to be going into the film breakdown that I did. I would listen, I know Ji’s not great defensively. I would have a hard time saying that Duncan Robinson is a better defender than Jaden Ivy.
Yeah. Like I think like Ivy’s issue isn’t effort again. He just has more of a a a slight build and like for him it could be awareness at at times but like we’re all comparing guys who are probably not going to be pleasant on that and like I think Ivy has a a a path to be but at the end end of the day the people are going to be heading to defensive attack are you know Duran
Assar Assar hopefully Holland hopefully and like to an extent Cade as well
and Caris Levert like I I think I don’t think Caris’s defense is being talked enough about right now Amari like I I at the very least he’s neutral. Like at at the very least he’s neutral.
I think at the very least I think Levert is going to be a plus defender just because of the versatility of matchups if nothing else. And then Ed says Ivy is just as bad defensively is what I’m saying. That might be fair. Like I won’t quibble with you on that. I at least think Ivy has more upside to be closer to decent. Keith is in the waiting room so we’re going to bring him on in just a second. I had one more question for you and now it blew my mind. And so maybe we won’t. We will just bring Keith on because he’s the goat. And why would we keep him waiting? So Keith Smith, welcome. Friend of the podcast, friend of ours away from the podcast. I mean, you got way more important things to do than me joining us, but you’re the go.
I don’t know about that.
How’s it going?
It’s going good. Hey, I have to tell you guys that piston pulse sweatshirt you sent me,
my do my daughter wears it all the time. Like it’s her.
All right. Love it.
Yeah. I don’t get Yeah. She says it’s really soft, but it’s also like thin enough to like wear around Florida cuz it’s these kids here in Florida, man. It’s like 90° and they’re still rocking sweatshirts like maniacs. I don’t get it. But but yeah, she wears it all the time.
I love it. That’s amaz It honestly O2 like those hoodies are really nice. Like I I have one as well. They are very nice. I remembered what I was going to ask and then Keith you can get it on this as well.
Sure.
What is the biggest hole left on the roster for you guys? O2. I’ll go I’ll go to you first. Is it the backup four position or the four position in general? Or do you think they need some sort of veteran point guard? Like I think we agree that Ivy Levert has to take some of that role in the second unit, but would you like the addition like Exom just got signed, but some like a Monte Morris or Cory Joseph? Those are going to be names that Pistons fans love to hero too. So is it like would you rather they sign Monte Morris to be the third point guard or Trey Lyles to come in and be the backup four? Like where where do you think is the bigger hole? Yeah, I mean I think they need somebody to replace Tech. Like Shrek was a really core part of the rotation just because nobody else really combined his size and at least threat of spacing the floor. I think Trey LS would fit into that spot like pretty well. But to me that’s the bigger need. Like to me whoever they sign a backup for has a real chance of playing a lot of nights whereas you probably just need insurance at point guard more than anything. Keith, what are your thoughts on that?
I mean, why don’t you kill two birds with with one stone and Ben?
No, don’t. Come on now. Okay. I I was I appreciate you coming on and now I’m all No, I’m I’m joking. I’m joking.
Yeah. No, I uh Yeah, I’m probably more there like Trey Lyles. I would see what Chris Buché is up to. Maybe you could you you could look at backup point guards. I Guy who I really like quite a bit is Jared Butler who’s out there. You know, he may it’s depending on where they land with all this stuff. Maybe you make a call to Ryan Rollins. you know what what’s going on there and that would could potentially weaken a division rival. DeAnthony Melton could be in the mix if you’re you know you got to see where he’s at healthwise. That’s another guy. It’s it’s just I mean it’s getting kind of bleak here. The free agent pool at this point it’s we’re kind of down to it. But yeah, I I would look at different options. They still have a couple roster spots open, right? So So yeah, I mean fill them both out and just kind of see where it goes. probably probably more likely to be maybe minimum signings unless you feel like you got to beat somebody’s offer. So those guys, they’re far enough under the tax no matter what. You kind of cycle through guys, too. If somebody doesn’t work out, move on and and go to the next option. Sharon Dalton says, “How can I get a piston pull sweatshirt?” It’s it’s on the free press website. I believe maybe we can find that link and send it to everybody. Also, I will quickly mention Keith and I went live. Was that this past Saturday?
I think so. Yeah. I don’t know. Time has no meaning. It it does not. We went live the Saturday after the draft, whatever Saturday that was, for 2 and 1 half hours breaking down the entire 2025 NBA draft. We legit talked about all 30 teams. So, you can go listen to that on the Front Office Show podcast, YouTube channel, whatever, whichever you prefer. So, check that out. We did just bring Keith on, but we also need to go to a break. So, we’re going to go to a quick break and then when we come back, O2, let’s let Keith break down the current cap situation for the Detroit Pistons. [Music] All right, we are back with segment three. Keith, I think me and Bryce and other people have like the Pistons have done so much and there’s so many paths they could take over under the cap. Can give us a rundown of where the team stands as far as that right now. Yeah, and I will very much couch this with we are estimating because until we see actual details because there are options for them. There’s different ways the couple years ago when the Pistons had millions of dollars in cap space. We knew these were all coming out of cap space. If you are way over the cap, we compete those together. When you there’s paths, there’s different options. So kind of the the three big ones we’re looking at are Caris Levert, Duncan Robinson, and Paul Reed. So if we Robinson is the easier one of the of the three because we know that’s going to be a sign and trade for Simani Fonteo that will probably be executed after the piston. Let me rephrase. That will definitely be executed after they use cap space if that’s the direction they’re going because you got to use your cap space before you do that. It’s just an order of operations thing. I don’t want anybody thinking like, “Wait, is that deal in danger?” Like, no, it’s going to happen. It’s just an order of operations thing. So, let’s assume they’re using cap space. So, cap space, if you go under the cap, you have whatever you have in cap space, plus you end up with the you end up with the room exception. So, you you go under the cap, you have whatever the cap space you have is, then you have the room exception. So in this case, what we’re thinking is happening with the Pistons. If this is the way they go, cap space will go to Caris Levert. That’s where that will go. Paul Reed’s contract and there’s so much rounding that goes on with these reports now when these numbers come out that it can be a little tricky. Like there’s a couple like I know for sure they are like the taxpayer MLE and like we round it up very generously by like a million or two on a couple of the reports and it’s like all right. I mean whatever. I don’t really care. But so with Paul Reed’s contract that you they can use his nonbird rights to plus up what they they essentially off of his last deal. And crucially, it doesn’t work off the capit from the last deal. It works off what his actual salary was and where he was on a minimum, but he’s not. He’s got a little bit more service than the 2-year minimum. That would plus that up a little bit. I think that gets us close to in range. We’ll see. We don’t know for certain with that. But if that’s the direction they’re going, then that should leave in theory the room exception or at least most of it open to be used. Is there somebody worth using it on? That’s only a question they can really answer for themselves. I don’t know. It’s like we said before, it’s getting kind of bleak. It’s the free agent market. We’re starting to look at guys who are going to be targeted signings. They kind of probably already know where they’re going or they’re going to be minimum signing. The other path for the Pistons would be stay over the cap. Nothing changes with the Robinson Fonteo part of the thing and that if you’re over the cap that could happen you know first in your order but then you give the non- taxpayer MLE to Caris Levert and then that could leave you in a position where you have now the bianual exception is open Paul Reed’s situation could still say the same but you would crucially start keeping the bird rights for a couple of these guys who who are free agents. I I I know you guys have probably talked to Malik Beasley’s situation, but we don’t really know what’s going on there. Let’s just say in a month it comes out. Actually, you know, we didn’t find anything. He’s good to play. Would be nice to have those cuz at that point cap space will dried up everywhere else and it’s, hey, you want to come back here for 7 million bucks? Let’s go. And and that could be the direction that plays out. I I kind of not even kind of I very much don’t think that’s how it’s going to play out, but but you you never know. The the complications are a little bit with that is when we had talked before about paths it was maybe you stay over and that’s how you then use the non- tax payer to resign Beasley you keep shruders bird or I think it was early bird rights that’s how you get him paid keep hardways bird rights that’s how you get him paid but we’re not there now right those guys are gone so now we’re in a spa where all right you don’t really need to hang on to rights for guys anymore that’s what leads me to believe we probably went this cap space route here and they’re probably sitting on a little bit of spending The room exception is 8.7 and I just I actually heard this question get asked on the front office show and so I want to bring it up here as well that can be split. Right. So earlier we talked about a third point guard or potentially a fourman. If we were talking Trey Lyles and they wanted to bring in Monte Morris or Delano Banton is a name I’ve seen Pistons fans throw out. If those guys were willing to sign for $4 million each, that is something they are very willing or not, willing is not the right word, capable of doing with that room exception.
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, you can split that up if you want over a couple guys. Challenge was when you start talking about splitting an exception that is like eight, let’s just call it 8 million bucks. You start talking about splitting that you’re splitting between four and four. And I know what happens there is we’re going to look at it cuz you’re going to see, oh well the minimum a veteran minimum amount is only like 2.3 million, but that’s what gets charged for your cap sheet. The veteran minimum amount for a guy’s got six, seven, eight years of service. You’re up over 3 million. And at that point, it’s like, all right, we do we really need to split this. I mean, you could you could have two guys that are like, “Hey, we both want to come in, give us 4 million a piece, and off we go.” So sometimes you get the combo deal there from an agency, right? Where it’s like, “Hey, we got two guys. are both will of play. You want to split it, but I think it’s probably more likely if they go that route, they’ll use the the the exception to just lock somebody in and get them. Your other option is you just carry it, right? You sign a couple minimum contracts, carry that room exception into the season. One that gives you spending power, something happens into the season. It also can be used as a trade exception if you wanted to do that down the line. It’s a smallerish trade exception, but there’s probably my guess off the top of my head, I don’t know this, so nobody quote me on it, but there’s got to be 80 or so players who would fit inside an $8.8 million trade exception. So So you’ve got some optionality there with which direction you want to go. It’s just, you know, there’s it’s it’s when people ask, well, like why would you create a trade exception in a trade? You know, who cares? Nobody ever uses them. One, that’s not true. They get used quite a bit now. But the other thing is it’s like like I always use my dad as the example. My dad never went to the job site without his toolbox because he didn’t know. And he’d rather be at the job site with his full toolbox of tools to fix the machines he’s working on rather than be like, “Well, I got to go. I got to go back to the shop cuz I didn’t bring the right tool for this job.” You put the tools in your tool belt or your toolbox. If you need them, they’re there. If you don’t need them, it’s nothing lost.
Didn’t Atlanta just trade for Nikil Alexander Walker? was was that was using their trade exception, right? To to fit him in.
Yep. Yep. Yeah. And they may still Well, again, we’re going to find all the stuff out here and by the end of the weekish, some of the deals take a little bit longer to finalize, but when July 6th hits 12:01, everything can start going official. The advice I give, if anybody watches front office show, you know, I always say, you know, a deal’s official when the team tweets about it, cuz that’s that’s how you know that that it’s actually done done. And when those all start going official, we’ll start getting details shortly after that. And then what happens in that position is they’ll be in a spa where you can, how do I explain it? You can kind of then see how this all pieced together. There’s a chance Atlanta maybe NL Alexander Walker’s number comes in slightly lower than what we think. They fit both him and Luke Canard in and now they have the full non taxpayer still to spend cuz you can split these things up. The only signing exception you can’t use as a trade exception is the taxpayer Emily. And that one’s also small enough that it’s pretty rare that you’d ever split that cuz you’re not going to get a lot of value out of splitting that one. And then can with the Ducket Robinson signed, can you just kind of break down the numbers with that just so people kind of understand how that came about? Yeah, I had to I had to text Keith about this for the listeners like Keith, I don’t understand. like I understand base year compensation and half out and full in and these numbers aren’t they’re not numbering for me. This this doesn’t work. And then Keith amongst the 3,000 text messages he’s getting respectfully text me back and explained it quickly. So
yeah, you might be overestimating a little bit there on the number, but it Yeah, it’s I mean it’s this time of year, right? There’s a lot of stuff happening. But uh let me just double check make sure I find number correct. I believe it’s like 8.3. Is that right? Yeah, a little over 8.3. So, the trade bands now work slightly differently in in this current CBA. So, what what happens here in the trade bands are the lowest band doesn’t apply barely, which is part of why that this is well, it would have been close anyway, but $0 outgoing to up to 8.277 million. you get to use 200% of the outgoing salary plus a little buffer of 250K. So that that’s where you can get there. In Fonteio’s case, he falls into the middle trade band which is you pick up at a 2.77 and it goes through just over 33 million. 33.1 million that you use the outgoing salary plus you get 8.5 million extra. So that’s the one we stick on, right? Is right there. he his outgoing salary fits in that that allows you then to use that ex what they call it is an expanded trade exception in a trade. So they get to plus that 8.3 outgoing up by as much as 8.5 and that’s how you bring in Duncan Robinson at 14 and change is there that’s how you match the salary on that on that one. Now to be completely transparent, one acquiring a player via sign and trade or acquiring player using more money than you send out. Those are either one is going to trigger trigger a first apron hard cap. So they will be hardcapped at the first apron. They’re miles away from it. So it’s not a concern with that. Just to finish it off just cuz it’s this is the educator in me. So I got to do it otherwise it’s going to bother me. 33.1 million and up, you get to use 125% of the outgoing salary plus 250K. So that’s like the big trades. And then if you’re obviously over the first apron or the second apron, really the first apron is the main one, you can’t send you can’t take back more than you send out because that again triggers that first apron hard cap. Just to be clear, it’ll be hard capped at the first apron by virtue of sign and trade and taking back more money. But there’s a double hard cap. you you’re just hard cap. That that’s it. So that that’s where they’ll ultimately land.
Okay. I have two questions to get you out of here. One is still directly to the Pistons. The other one is the NBA at large. Dennis Shruder deal. Why was it being talked about as a sign and trade? Was the Valentunis move to Denver part of that? Is that now not a chance of a signing trade? And I heard somebody mention like Detroit should make it a signing trade anyway and just like exchange some seconds so they can create a trade exception. So like what what what do you think might end up being what do you think might end up happening here with the Shruder stuff? Cuz it feels like that’s not done and completely dead even if it’s not Malik Monk.
Omari this guy says I’ll get you I got one more for you about the Pistons and then ask seven Pistons questions all rolled into one.
You know what’s funny? It’s all good. This has been a critique of me my podcasting since day one. Literally a month into my podcasting. It says stop asking people multiple questions within one question.
I don’t mind it. You got to squeeze in as many as you can. You know,
5 years later, I can’t stop doing it.
Bryce, I still say you know and write as my regular sentence ender. So, I’m certainly only giving you a hard time cuz you’re my buddy.
Yes. No, I know.
So, when we get into the shooter of it all. So, let’s let’s rewind when it was really, hey, this might be a signing trade. There’s a lot of talk about Malik Bunk coming back, which I I would have loved for the Pistons if they could have made it work, but you weren’t just getting Dennis Rutder signing trade from Malik Bunk. They were going to have to plus that offer up. I imagine was going to be where that goes. And that’s would be my guess is that’s where that fell apart was the what else are you going to send out in addition. So now when we kind of get there, the the thought process with that that idea was one, it’s really kind of the only way you were going to get Bleke Monk would have been through a sign and trade cuz you needed to have money going out to get him. So that was that was part one. The other part of that was the Kings were in a position where it could have got a little funky if they just straight added Dennis Shruder with the first apron for them. They could have been a little little tight to that. Now, by trading Valentunis out and bringing back Stars, they I’m keeping it very simple and high level. They cut that they they cut it Valentuna salary basically in half. That gave them wiggle room. So, they no no longer needed to get off of another salary to to do that. So, that’s that’s all kind of rolled into why didn’t it happen is probably reasons with that. Now, your next part of make it a make it a trade exception. You could, but if I’m the Kings, I want to say, “Okay, well, I’m doing you a favor here because we can sign Dennis Shruder straight out.” And that’s that that’s one of those creatively rounded deals that will be for the taxpayer MLE. It could have been a little more if they were doing the sign and trade part for Monk, but but it that will be for the taxpayer MLE, but what’s going to happen in this position here is you would land into a spot where Detroit would probably have to pay a little something. that might be a second round pick or something like that. It’s not you. It kind of became invogue for a little bit there to turn every straight signing into, hey, can you do this as a signing trade and give us that? The Celtics did it with Gordon Hayward once upon a time, created this giant like 25, it was the biggest at the time. It’s it’s since then surpassed $25 million or so trade exception. And now it’s kind of turned into a position where all right we don’t teams are not necessarily doing that as much and I’m not going to rule it out. I’m not going to say it doesn’t happen. That would still then it it there’s Kings already going to be first apron hardcap by using the non taxpayer as the mechanism to get shruder but it just gets a little messy into that position. So it doesn’t I I don’t know if Detroit wants to pay them to do that. I I don’t know what the value would be especially if you’re already sitting on an $ 8.8 an $8 million exception anyway. It doesn’t really matter.
Okay, I promise this is the last question and there will be two questions within it. It came out that maybe only a 7% bump on the salary cap in 2627. My two questions are why and did this surprise teams slash affect is it going to affect teams? Can you can you explain that and break it down a bit?
Yeah, it’s a really great question. It is I’ll ask I’ll answer the second part because it helps answer the first. I don’t know that teams were fully surprised by this. I think they were maybe a little like, all right, let’s see. There are some that feel, and this is the way it used to be with the NBA. It used to be, let’s be a little more conservative, cuz if you hit the planning periods, which is like roughly the trade deadline, is when we’ll get another update on where the projected cap is for next year. So, let’s say they say it’s 7%. Then at the trade deadline, like, yeah, I would think it’s going to actually be closer to like 8 and a half. And then when we get there, let’s say they say, “Actually, it’s gonna be 10.” Then everybody’s like, “Hooray, more cap space. Let’s go.” So, no one really gets too up in arms. If it comes in higher, they don’t want to say 10 and then say, “Actually, guys, it’s only going to be seven.” So, caught off guard maybe a little bit, but some were preparing for it to not be 10. Part of the reason it came in lower and there there’s a there’s any number of reasons for it, but a big chunk of the reason why is all across the league they’re having these RSN issues where whether it be the bankruptcy of the former providers caused issues there with the teams getting the payments that they should have got. It all flows into the what’s called the BRRI or basketball related income calculation which determines the salary cap and the tax aprons and the revenue dist distribution and all that stuff that that there’s worries that that’s not solved. In addition, you’ve had now I think we’re up to three, maybe four teams say, “Oh, we’re just going to take our stuff and put it over the air,” which is awesome for the fans, but it doesn’t bring any money in if you’re just we’re dropping it over the air because no one’s paying for those rights. So, so you start to add a lot of the the the revenue from the local markets in and you don’t get that. that starts to cause a little bit of little bit of an issue and that’s why there’s some uncertainty even though they got the big windfall with that. Now, here’s the thing that teams are a little more nervous about and I think this could be the reason we’ve seen one rookie scale extension announce Jabari Smith Jr. We’ve not seen any others and part of the reason I think behind that is if you give them standard in a rookie scale is to give the player an 8% raise those raises start outpacing the cap growth every year. That’s where you can run into all of a sudden it’s like, man, rather than the cap going up 2% more for a few years than than the contracts. Contracts are going up faster than the cap. And that’s where all of a sudden you end up just tighter to those margins, whether it be the tax, the first or the second apron. You you just everybody’s running really tight against those. They want to be very careful. So, I think that’s probably put a little bit of a pause in why we’re not seeing rookie scale extensions because normally some of the no-brainer ones, which there’s only be to be completely honest, there was only a couple no-brainer max ones in this year’s rookie class like Paulo Bankro and maybe Chad Homegrren, Jaylen Williams definitely a no-brainer. It that that could be why there’s just a slight hold. I think those guys will still get it. Anybody who doesn’t get a non-Max, it generally tends to take a little bit longer. So like I wouldn’t worry if people are like what’s going on with Ivy? What’s going on with Duran? You know what’s going to happen with that? So the last piece I will say too is there was it didn’t impact it this year because you have all the new meteorites money coming in. Playoff series were very short this year. We didn’t get very many seven game series. So that’s a little bit of less revenue that goes in there which if if let’s say we had gotten a whole bunch of seven game series get more revenue that piles in. But remember the cap growth was was not to use the same word but capped at 10%. So that spillover doesn’t end up as great to the next year. So that could be why that numbers down a little bit among other reasons that we don’t necessarily really really get too deep into their merchandise things or there other things with that but it’s really hard to know. All right so Daryl Gulp says good morning from the future New Zealand Pistons contingency reporting. We love to shout out our listeners and viewers from all over the world. Um, somebody tweeted at us that we like reporting on the spot. Like, yes, we love to shout it out because it’s really cool, guys. I literally text Keith after we started recording this whenever all of your cap questions came in. So, one, that’s what we do for you guys. We bring on the best with all due respect to Kyle Mets. We bring on the Keith Smith and have him explain it so we get all of the right stuff down. And also, this is why Keith is the goat because he stopped his day to join us legit 20 minutes after I text him. So, that’s incredible. Thank you so much, Keith. O2, you have anything for Keith before we let him go and get out of here?
No, that’s all I have, but we really appreciate you peeling behind the curtain of capology and all the different mechanics that are into it. One fun like one fun thing about being a beat writer is that every single offseason there is one cap mechanic I’ve never covered before that I have to learn. So, that’s always fun. But, we love having you on Ke. We appreciate it. Really?
Yeah. Me too. Like I like this year the big thing for me to refresh myself on was the whole you can’t wave and stretch too too much money. Right. Threshold on that.
This is the Bradley Bill thing, right? Like I never understood it until now.
Yeah. So and I’ve tweeted about that. I actually wrote about it. I I played off one of my favorite childhood books. I wrote about Bradley Beal and the terrible horrible no good very bad contract. So you you got you know if anybody’s a fan of Alexander and the terrible horrible no good very bad day and he’s moving to Australia that I I played off that but but I wrote in there about this why they can’t straight wave and stretch Bradley the deal cuz they’ve already got some dead money on the books and and it just gets messy. So it’s yeah there there’s stuff I have to double check all the time and and refigure out too. So I I never get frustrated or upset with folks cuz this stuff is really really complicated. And depending on your team situation, you may go years where none of it matters. And then you may have, oh my gosh, it all matters right now. And we got to kind of learn all of it here on the fly. But that that’s why that that’s that’s why I’m here. I’m happy to help. Real quick, Keith is on Twitter on Blue Blue Sky, Keith Smith. Check out both of follow both of those. The Front Office Show is YouTube. I’ll let you do it. Let Let everybody know where they can find you.
Well, yeah. NBA Front Office Show on YouTube and then anywhere you listen to podcasts, same names. You could get Bryce and I’s marathon draft show. I I if you if you’re driving somewhere for the fourth or or you just need to get away from everybody for a little bit at the barbecue, throw that on. And in and when I tell people we went through all 30 teams and all 59 picks, we went through more like 90 players cuz we covered a lot of the guys who went undrafted and linking up on two-way deals and camp deals and other stuff. We talked a lot about them because nobody knows these guys better than my guy Bryce.
Appreciate it. O2, take it away, my guy.
Yes. With that, big thanks to our audio producer, Robin Chan, our editor-in chief, Dakota Evy Nichols, and big shout out to West Davport as always, and we’ll talk to you all next week. [Music]

Bryce and Omari dive into what fans should know about Caris LaVert, Duncan Robinson, and Chaz Lanier. Later, the guys bring back friend of the pod Keith Smith to help explain where things stand with the salary cap for the Detroit Pistons.

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