Driving to the Basket: A Detroit Pistons Podcast - Episode 15: 2019-2020 Season Recap and Player Reviews, Part Two

Episode Date: July 30, 2020

This episode recaps the 2019-2020 season, discussing takeaways and reviewing individual player performances. Part two of a two-part episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to part two of the season recap. Moving on to Luke Kahnard. At the end of the season, actually, with a lot of success, before ultimately seeing it undone after only 26 games. He was out with injury for the remainder of the time. He was apparently basically good to go when the season ended, but never got to see any more minutes. I think they were going to play him in, like, the next game.

In the two months he played, he actually displayed a lot of improvement along the board, just in terms of not only his production, but also his confidence, he was really, whereas he had passed up a lot of shots in the past. He was just shooting whenever he got the opportunity. He was scoring well on high efficiency, and his performance is actually better than those numbers would indicate

because Dwayne Casey just threw out his time at the business and he was a bizarre tendency to forget about Kinar and when Luka's on the court, and that happened a few times this season. So he took on a greater role as an offensive creator, both for himself and others. It's the fact that he's such a good shooter, it meant that guys had to cover him, that opened up opportunities for others.

So, and he ranked pretty well, I think, 80th percentile among the NBA as a whole as in pick and roll efficiency. He improved to creating a space for himself around the perimeter, created books for his teammates, doubled his frequency of assists over the previous season. You maintain a high percentage in the restricted area, though he's still had trouble actually getting there. and settle for mid-range a bit more than he should have.

And, yeah, his defense even got a little bit better. He'll never be a good defender, I think, just poor wingspan, poor lateral mobility. But whatever the case, you know, we're not talking to Profile of an All-Star. This is just a guy who can be an effective score given the opportunity. And they actually come shortly before the deadline. There were trade talks between the Sons and the Pistons featuring Kinnard, The Sons apparently saw him as a high-volume big minute six-man, into whose hands you put the ball.

That was actually how I always picture him in the Pistons. That opportunity was pretty much a race when they signed Derek Rose, who really needs to have the ball. But I think the greatest possibility of the Pistons' new course is that he is traded at the draft, maybe to the Sons. The deal fell through because the Sons were worried about protections. If they get like the 10th pick, I think it absolutely makes. sense for them to trade for Conard because, you know, they're really wanting to compete soon.

Canard just doesn't fit the time out of a rebuilding team and he's also going to be in line for a new contract next year, you know, in the summer of 2021. I don't see any reason for the Pistons to give it to him unless they're suddenly very good, which would be weird. Also concerns about his durability, durability, excuse me. But if he's on the team, just continue to improve getting to the basket, continue to be decisive, continue to work on, just really, I don't think his ceiling is much higher than it is right now. Yeah. So I'd give him, let me just get to the key stat here.

Luke, one of only four players in the league, this is absolutely cherry-picked. I had trouble with him. One of only four players in the league to average at least four assists and two and a half three-point is made per game while shooting 40% of the three-point line. It was actually 39.9% but the stat still holds. I give him a grade of good, actually.

I think he was actually doing really well before he get injured. Yeah. Yeah, I see him more as a good trade piece than a part of the future because, one, the injury risk. I mean, we saw what tendonitis did to Reggie Jackson, even though Luke's game isn't super reliant on athleticism, he doesn't have, he's not much of an elite athlete by NBA standards already. So that combined with the fact that, yep, he's a little old. and he's a little too close to signing what's probably going to be an eight-figure contract right at the start of a rebuild.

I don't like the timeline there. I would definitely try to move him for an extra pick if we can. Yeah, I mean, there's not much else to say about him, really. I would you great him. It would have been nice, huh? I would you grade him. Good, yeah. I mean, he's just, he's a lower ceiling player.

What he is right now is probably like 90% of what he's going to be. Maybe he gets a little better at shooting. Maybe he gains a little bit more passing chops, but it's about it. And I think that for a Pistons team who really need to go like all in on a rebuild, you don't want to make the decisions. Like, we already have Luke. Unless he's like a sixth man, in which case he's a pretty good fit. But we already have like a guy like Derek Rose who personally, I think we should try to keep.

but I'm sure we'll get to him. Yeah. I agree on Luke's ceiling. That was really one of the misgivings about the draft pick in the first place. I'm not a part of a lot of people, but that's a story that's been told many times. So moving on and down the list, and we're getting up there in time right now, so I'll try to speed up. I was going to say we'll try to speed this up, but that's more, I need to speed this up. I'm definitely droning on at length.

I hope it's entertaining, but I'm definitely spending a lot of time in each player here. So next is Svema Kailuk, who was really a surprise. He got his minutes, thanks to the injury to Karnar, and to Brown's move to point guard. Actually played most of his minutes in small forward, which is a team at which the, excuse me, position with the team was very shallow, really only Tony Snell was true small forward. And he made most of the minutes.

Placed second amongst qualifying teammates in three-point attempts per game and led the roster in three-point percentage. Also a good transition score that was about always good at. this season, but, you know, simply quit players who can convert threes on high volume will always be useful, particularly if they're guys who can curl around the screen and shoot on the fly. Svee is definitely able to do that. Now, it's Dynesides, like I said, near total lack of utility anywhere else, and terrible showing, just he's an awful defender.

And Dwayne Casey's come out and said that maybe, you know, he sees point guard minutes with Svi. I don't necessarily think that's the case. But, you know, who knows, maybe? For right now, no, he was terrible with the ball in his hands. He was just awful from within the arc. Terrible when he was asked to handle the ball. I mean, he was just disaster from within the arc,

and he was given some run on the pick and roll, and he was awful. So, nonetheless, not a bad season. Improvement for next season, you've got to focus on scoring at the rim, which will allow him to really diversify his offense and make use of his chops as a passer, which are there. Since he has really short arms and really isn't very explosive, he just basically need to become crafty, he would just generally get stuffed this year.

He just got blocked constantly. Thanks to those same qualities and bad defensive instincts, improvement of this defender is probably out of the question. So, you know, this stuff is tolerable, even if he doesn't improve at all. As long as he maintains top performance as a shooter, he'll be an asset to distance. So as key stats, there are only 45 guys in the NBA

who attempted at least four catch-and-shoot threes per game. Of these, be ranked 10th, 3-point percentage at 42%. So he's an elite shooter. certainly. So I get him a great or good. I mean, this is a guy who came over in the bullet trade and in place of another second rounder. The Lakers said you can either have him or you can have another second rounder.

I guess since Chos Fee, he's cheap. They'll probably keep him long term, I think, just as the kind of affordable role player you want who doesn't cost much against the cap, but actually gives you production. What do you think? Yeah. Yeah, no, that was something I should have mentioned in our last episode because for all the the negatives I had for Stefansky. That was one of the better moves that he made.

It was one of the more forward-thinking moves, and it's paying dividends. I mean, guys who can make these catch-and-shoot threes are the ones who don't need the ball in their hands. They're great people to have on the perimeter. They open up driving lanes, passing lanes. It's good to have a lot of guys, like a guy likes to feed Mike Ayahuacouk who was just, you plug him anywhere, and he can give you production as a three-point shooter. But he's a pretty one-dimensional player, and you hit most.

You hit pretty much everything else. It's a good addition to the Pistons, and I hope we keep him. It was solidly good. Yeah. All right. So moving on to the aforementioned, oh, excuse me, Derek Rose is next in the alphabetical list. So Derek Rose, first season with the Pistons, he really continued his redemption arc as a solid NBA player that he began last year at the Timberwolves. Because if we all remember, I mean, after.

after those series of injuries, so that series of injuries rather with the Bulls, he went on to have two bad seasons with the Bulls, a mediocre season with the Knicks, and then basically a lost season after that in which he almost retired apparently, or he was in quasi-retirement for the NBA. So did well with the Timberwolves last year,

came in to do well with the Pistons. Definitely one of the only players for the Pistons who is genuinely in the running. One of the only two players, the only one of those, Christian Wood, is genuinely in the running for the team season of MVP for whatever little that means, nonetheless.

So he was more or less consistent at an insane start to the season. This slowed down from there because it was completely unsustainable. But, you know, for the most part, he was steady. He was produced effectively from the field. The team's lead guard and one of the only players in the team, along with Kennard, who could actually effectively create offense. And its overall most valuable scorer, good in isolation, and on the pick and roll, stayed healthy.

And he was one of the best bench players in the league. worked hard. Defense wasn't so great, but it was tolerable. He did not shoot very well from the perimeter, and it just meant that his off-ball utility was not particularly great. That always comes at a cost if you got guys who can't play out the ball. Beyond that, though, it's really difficult to fault him for anything. Apparently, you know, management really likes him. They set the cost of a lottery pick for him at the trade deadline. I don't know if I necessarily agree with that, but it shows how highly they valued him. It's like you can either give him. It's like you can either give us this or we're going to keep him because we're fine keeping him.

Chief area of improvement for next season, three-point shooting. You want a guy to be able to feel comfortable taking those off ball, excuse me, those catch and shoot threes because then you can play off the ball. And you always watch every player on your, it's ideal if every player in the roster can play off the ball. His key stats per 100 possessions. If you're looking at stats on 100 per 100 possessions basis, which is fine for a player like Rose played big minutes, not so fine for a player like Bill Bowman.

Rose was 30-months banked players in points and first and assists. So I'd give Derek Rose a score. I mean, honestly, it's going to be hard to give anybody in the Pistons a score of great. I'd give him somewhere in between good and great. Based on his salary and his role, I think he had a very good season. Yep. I mean, I'd give him the great just because he played, he did kind of resurrect his career in Minnesota, but he continued to do so again here. And for a team that had so little

offense, he was just entertaining. And I'm happy that the Pistons set a fairly high price on him and then that they held firm at the deadline. I like that our front office has kind of refused to be the kinds who have been, you know, selling low for the sake of selling. Like I know that there were, I'm not sure what your thoughts were on this, but like, there were a lot of people who were like, all right, we're tearing this down. We should trade rows, just get the best. value for him and move on. I'm happy they didn't. I think he has real value as a veteran leadership guy or just a guy that like sells tickets honestly from a business perspective. I mean, Blake Griffin does that for almost four times the price and Rose is still just one of

the like favorites in the league. More than four times the price. Yeah. I mean for for it's it is still a business at the end of the day and I'm happy that we have somebody who's just fun to watch. would you want to trade him? At the debline, maybe. I mean, I think I would have been fine trading him for like a first round pick in the low 20s, or the high teens. At this point, I think he's most likely to be moved to the deadline unless the Pistons are really a surprise team. Because they're really, as much as I think management really wants to have him around because

he has a good presence and you do want those veterans. And apparently he was, you know, he had something of a leadership role on the team. I think when you get to like game 55 and you're probably not pointing on keeping the guy you want to trade up for something. Yeah, I mean, if they have, if they have the, if they're willing to extend them past this two-year thing and he wants to stay, I would be perfectly fine with that. I mean, especially if we draft a guy like Cole Anthony who's kind of similar in play style. And I think that he could really benefit from playing next to Rose. So, and even if it's not Cole Anthony, I just really like he. I just really like the way he plays.

I'd like to keep him. And even though he eats like a lot of usage off the bench, and that's not great for a rebuilding team, if Casey was willing to lower his minutes, lower his touches, I know that's kind of another one of those save Casey from himself type situations, but I would keep him. I mean, you're right that he is exciting to watch too, and especially, I think, for a Pistons fan,

that's, I mean, it's never something you want to necessarily, it's not a factor how much you want to make your decision. decisions. But as a fan, it's kind of, I find myself feeling like, yeah, I really, you know, I'm fine watching through the rebuild, but it would be nice to have some excitement there. We'll talk about that with Christian Wood as well. So moving on to Tony Snell, who was ostensibly solid, but actually bad. So his steadiness is three-point shooter really belied how poorly he played. He was not good for the bassons. I completed the season at better than 40 percent from the perimeter on a good number of attempts.

But he really persistently fell victim to the same utterly bizarre propensity for complete disappearance on offense that it really characterizes 10 years in Milwaukee and Chicago as well. Like despite the fact that he was a good three-point shooter, he was so prone to falling off the offensive map that the Pistons actually became worse at scoring when he was on the floor. Like just looking at pure statistics outside of Thon Maker, the whom we just forgot to go over apparently will get to him I missed him on the list did did write analysis on him but no player who began around the season of the pistons made the pistons

worse on offense than snow and you know conversely with the exception of maker no player benefited the offense more from his absence than snow also throughout a two months span beginning of the outset of December no player made the pistons worse altogether than snow Not a problem at that stage because you're not winning games anyway. Though the Pistons were kind of in sort of purgatory between, are we going to try to win or are we going to try to just rebuild here and play for the draft. But whatever the case, you know, if he's not scoring, well, then well, his defense within the arc was absolutely terrible.

So it wasn't good for the Pistons. He'll almost certainly be back next season. His player option represents way more money than he'll ever see. He's ever likely to see on the open market again and also the free agent market. market is going to be probably pretty hostile, given the lower, what's all but certain to be a lower cap. So he'll probably, you know, that means he'll be 99.99% sure activating his player option. You know, a possible route for improvement is being more assert of an offense or something, but he's 28. The guy almost certainly is what he is.

I'd say it was still worthwhile trade. You know, even the front office did botch the return of the 30th overall pick. but you know, you can. I don't think Casey will, but if you got a better guy you want to develop there, you can easily just give Snell small minutes off the bench.

So, a key stat for him. Of the 138 players who started in at least half of their respective teams' games, Snell ranked 128th in points per 100 possessions, excuse me. The guy just disappeared. So I'd give him bad on the season. Not bad enough to be terrible,

but certainly bad. Yeah, I almost can't even give him a grade because I, like you said, he disappeared so often. And when you told me that you wanted to make this episode, I genuinely forgot he was on this team. Like I didn't think about him for the longest time. The other kind of key stat is that he didn't miss a free throw this season. I think he might have broken the record for most free throws in a season without missing one. which is, or he sort of did because the season was cut short and other teams are playing more games. But whichever way, I mean, he was just so, he was just completely invisible on offense.

Sometimes you'd forget he was on the floor. So it's fine that he's coming back. And it's so strange because like the more research that I do or like the more I try to look into like what a good wing player should have, like being able to. Shoot reliably from the three-point line is so important. And yet, he doesn't impact games. So, I don't know, not good, I guess. He's just such a strange player. Yeah, another guy who was just severely overpaid by a believe Jason Kidd.

Yeah, that's like you said, you think that a guy who can shoot a very high percentage from three is automatically going to be useful, but he was not. As far as his free throws, yeah. Didn't miss any, but he attempted 32 in more than 600 to 1,600 minutes, which meant that if you were to play him all 48 minutes of a game, he would average about one free throw attempt. So, yeah, I mean, it's a stat, but it's one of those kind of loaded stats. That's whatever the case. I think mostly just people used it for fun because, yes, no, it just wasn't good.

It's just funny. Yeah. So moving on to Thonmaker, team's preeminent whipping boy amongst the festival. fans. He got a lot of criticism and pretty much deserved all of it. Put it simply, he did nothing well and a lot of things badly. He basically had the backup center position tied down by default at the beginning of the season, because he gave it to him, played some minutes of power forward as well earlier in the season. And ultimately, to the relief of the fans, well, let's put it this way. the upside ultimately was that he played badly enough to get out of the rotation.

The downside is that we had to watch him for that amount of time. Just bumble around the court because he was awful. He improved over the course of the season, but never to an extent that actually made him a worthwhile presence. He got minutes because the pistons were where they were. He somehow maintained good efficiency, but on just extremely low volume. He was pretty much useless on offense. On the other end, he struggled to defend the guys at center who were only,

almost invariably on the opposite side, big enough to bully him in the paint. It's not really much better on the perimeter. And he had been a decent rim protector. Prior to this season, he devolved into a disaster. Kevin Garnett once, who trained him in the offseason once, named Thon a future MVP material, but nobody's perfect. So, Thon isn't under contract next season.

He's a restricted free agent by all accounts and any degree. of logic they won't be giving him the qualifying offer. Because, I mean, he's been named an extremely hard worker. His teammates will love him. Maybe they'll try to bring him back him a minimum contract to be the third string center. I think that's the only, the only real situation I see in which he returns. If he does return, his area's developments, everything. You know, if you want to be a good center, you've got to defend the rim well.

You've got to bulk up so you can actually defend guys in the paint. and you have to not suck on offense. He's useless as a role man. He's half decent as a perimeter shooter, but his form is garbage and makes him completely unreliable. And he's not a good paint score. The guy's like the worst kind of tweener. You know, he's as far as his position,

he's not bulky enough to play center to score on the paint or to defend the paint as a center. He's not good enough as a perimeter. shooter or a perimeter defender to play his power forward. So, yeah. His key stat, he was so absolutely absent from any meaningful roller contribution in the offense that, like, I did a lot of research from this from play tracking data, which the NBA makes publicly available.

Maker was so absent that he didn't actually qualify for inclusion in any of it. So, and he was the only, you know, his volume was way too low to be included in any of it, despite being a consistent member of the rotation, he was the only consistent member of Freud's rotation to fit this description, you know, to earn this extremely dubious distinction. So I'm going to give him the not so coveted grade of terrible. I think Thon was very bad.

I still don't regret that the Pistons traded Stanley Johnson for him, obviously, because Stanley Johnson was awful too. He was even worse than Thon this year somehow. But at the beginning of his first, season, it's like, why didn't we just train Stanley for an expiring deal? Once you got further into the season, the Pistons weren't winning. It's like, okay, well, whatever, he's here. Who cares anymore?

All right, what are your thoughts? Yeah, I mean, there's just not much more to add to that. I don't know if it was, I don't know if he was actually one of Casey's favorites or it just felt like that because every minute he was out there felt like he was out there too long, but he just, he needs to find a role. I think what he really needs to do is just focus on. being a decent three-point shooter. He's just, I don't think he's going to bulk up enough to be a passable center.

He's, he's not mobile enough really to be a good power forward, but he's certainly not good enough to be a modern center. And his release is high enough that I think it would be very hard to contest his shot. So I think if he could just reliably knock down threes, that's his, that's his best chance at staying in the league. That's all I could say about him. Yeah, I think, I mean, I think if you're on a rebuilding team, if you bring it back because the third string center,

needs a real good locker in presence, then fine. I think if he can be decent at protecting the rim and he can hit his three's reliable, reliably, excuse me, then he might have sort of some odd role to occupy. Because, you know, he's, you know, the guy is somewhat quick for a seven-footer and has a long wingspan, you know, even though I think, somebody once described them as a guy is like a guy who is playing a fighting game. Like a fighting video game, but hasn't more than the controls yet.

Like his level of coordination. I think that was on Instagram and if I remember correctly, Blake Griffin liked the comments. Yeah, I mean, that's my problem with him. For such a lanky guy, like usually these skinnier guys are more mobile or more agile. he's not he's such a it's so strange like usually these these guys who are his size and his weight they can shift their weight a little bit better but he can't that's why i feel like if he was just a spot of three point shoot i know he had some nice blocks because he's got crazy length but i just don't i don't know if he's even worth it as a third stringer when you can bring in a lot of these like

hyperathletic guys who can just rim run and catch lobs i mean maybe you find another gem but yeah yeah I wouldn't want to see him get the position over somebody with more potential. Here's the other thing about Maker. I mean, there was all this hoopla and controversy about his actual age or on the draft. He might be 22. He also could be 26. And that means there's a whole lot less space for development, most likely. I mean, of course, guys do reinvent their careers at that point.

But, you know, a guy who's 22, you kind of got to have maybe more hopes. All right. So moving on to the final guy on the list. Last but certainly not least is Christian Wood, who came into the season of Pistons He was playing them off waivers from the New Orleans Pelicans. So he ended the season on a non-guaranteed contract. He beat out Joe Johnson for the final roster spot. And it turned out to be the story of the season.

He gradually got more minutes, especially as he won over, he won Thon's minutes by playing well when Thon was terrible. And played the majority, I think, ultimately of his minutes at center. He played some minutes at power forward mixed drummins. Whatever the case, he was along with Rose. He's the only guy who compete with Rose's potential season MVP for the Detroit Pistons. Really just a revelation on offense. Really just the guy really had it had almost everything,

like not a superstar level, but really almost everything you could ask for from a modern MBA center. So he, oh, pardon me. You got allergies over here. So he was a highly effective offensive player in pretty much every facet. He's one of the league's most accurate scores in the restricted area, I think 70-something percent. He was actually amongst qualifying players was the most efficient role man in the league. He was one of the most efficient on putbacks. Amongst qualifying centers, he also trailed only Carl Anthony Towns in efficiency and spot-up shooting.

So in all, he really performed excellently in all forms of offense relevant to his position, except for spot-ups. and spot-ups are useful, but they're not really a necessary skill anymore. Defensively speaking, he was competent enough as a rim protector and able, though somewhat mediocre. As a general defender, he can defend out in the perimeter. Just his footwork isn't the greatest. In any event, though, he worked hard and he played his role. He was also the literally one-and-only piston, aside from, you know, if we're not including guys who saw very few minutes, or even then, whatever the case.

He was the only Piston who began and ended the season with the team, with whom the team was actually better than the opposition. He finished the season with a net rating. Everybody else was negative. So, you know, I don't want to sound as if I'm anointe him, the next big thing. Sample size remains small. The 10 years of starter was only 12 games. Pistons lost 11 of those. It really remains to be seen how it'll perform across a more significant stretch and also on a roster that is not bound to lose every game.

You never know if somebody is just a good stats and a bad team kind of guy. but, you know, I don't think that's likely. Nonetheless, whatever the case, the potential for a very solidly effective offensive presence is definitely there. Now, his future with Detroit's actually going to be a big decision for the front office, assuming Wood wants to stay, he's been kind of vocal on Twitter about wanting to win. I'm actually not 100% sold in his attitude. I couldn't really tell how much his teammates liked him, but that's entirely speculation, so I'm not even really, there's no real call to even talk further about that.

So there are a couple aspects here. assuming that Wood wants to stay on a team that may not be doing really much winning soon, the front office needs to decide two things. Number one, how much money you're willing to offer to a guy who has a very limited pedigree, very limited sample size. Number two, if you're not pointing a competing next season, do you really want to sign a guy who might actually end up being pretty good? That's actually, you know, it sounds like a strange decision to make,

but you actually have to think about that. You want to risk being back in the teens in the draft. And, you know, on the surface, you say, absolutely, the guy's going to be good. You know, you want to keep him. and also he's exciting to watch. That's absolutely like replacing Drummond with him was a lot of fun for a guy who's actually competent offensively and plays his role. So Weaver's note as preference for a series of one year rebuild.

It's really hard to know what that means because nobody comes into his introductory press conference and says, I promise we're going to feel the bad roster and not try to win. As far as improvement, he's with team next season. Find a way to generate offense for yourself. Basically, whether off the driver in the post, he's still very dependent on others to do it for him. If you can even make yourself like a threat in the post

to the point where guys have to come in double year or something and then you can pass the ball out and he's no slaps as a passer. He's good right now, but a center who can create for himself is going to draw more attention and open the offense further. Though just having five guys in the floor who could shoot was so great to watch. So key stats, finish the season with a plus 10.4 on-off differential, which is pretty darn good. Pistons were dressed.

drastically worse without him on the floor. As far as stats for play tracking, one and a half points per possession on the pick and roll and one point three four points per possession on putbacks drummins, who always made the least of his offensive rebounds, was 1.05 the season points per possession. So tremendous difference on putbacks. So I'd give him, I'd have to call the guy, you know, to give him the, a great on the season. He came in out of no way. He came in out of no where and really just ended up being arguably the best player in the team. Yeah. I haven't liked a player this much since Tobias Harris, honestly.

And to one of your points, for generating offense, what he was able to do, because really, like the past three months, I've probably watched his highlights against the Sixers, probably upwards of ten times because it's just, it was so much fun. And what he would do against these bigger, slower guys was he would kind of, back them back up and kind of size them up and try to pull them out away from the rim. And then I think it's called a negative step. He would take long strides to the rim. And these bigs had to, they had to follow him out because he was shooting just under 39% from three.

And it didn't matter if it was like a more mobile big like Nerlin's Noel or like the biggest guys like Embed and Bord. He was able to use his speed to kind of knock into them and get them off balance. and they were just trying to keep up with him. And so he had that threat where he could either shoot the three ball or he could go inside and go up hard. And this is something that this is just like a preference. It's not rooting in stats at all. But I appreciated the fact that every time he got to the rim,

he dunked it as hard as he could. And that isn't something that Drummond did not do. Drummond, a lot of times he would jump late and just try to do like these hooks. And it would always, not hooks, but like scoop layups. And they would drive me crazy. because sometimes they didn't go in, but not Christian. He would take these long strides and jam it. And I appreciated that.

As far as do you bring him back because you don't want to win, I feel like it's not going to be that big of a deal because most of the other teams are trying, they are trying to lose or trying to win, rather. And having one good player out there and Christian would, maybe another two or three good ones and Derek Rose, maybe Lou Kinnard. I don't think we're going to win a significant number of games.

I think next season will pretty easily be in the top three worst teams. And giving up Christian Wood, I don't think that's in Troy Weaver's plans. What he said was you do one-year rebuilds, and he's not interested in tanking. And depending on your definition of tanking, I think the Sixers way of fielding one of the worst rosters possible is one definition of tanking. And when I say I think the Pistons should tank, I just mean don't try to win. But I also don't mean don't bring back good talent. I mean, this is an opportunity for the Pistons to not just look for good talent in the draft,

but maybe sign up more guys like Christian Wood who are coming off the waiver wire or guys who are in the G League. Robert Covington was on our G-League team and the Sixers found him there. So this is another opportunity for the Pistons to find more guys like him. So I would certainly say that I would probably be fine committing upwards of even 15 million to Christian Wood. Just because the Pistons don't need all their cap space, they're probably looking at a four-year rebuild. And I would be really sad to lose him. I know I talk so much about, you know, it's very easy to see these players in a more positive light. because you like them.

And I have probably even said that that's not how you should evaluate talent. I don't know if that's what I'm doing here. But the more I watch his highlights, the more I notice little things, like the way he was able to step around guys on the perimeter to drive inside. I just really like his game. And I think the Pistons might have even stumbled on like the formula for the next generation of NBA centers here.

He's still pretty light. Maybe he puts on a little bit more weight. but he still needs to keep his mobility. But Christian Wood, I think he could be like a long-term future piece for the Pistons, especially if he can maintain his energy. And he would obviously need to at least shoot like 32, 33%. He doesn't have to shoot 40% forever, but it would be great if he did. But he just needs to be scoring threat because part of his game was just pulling guys out

with the threat of scoring from distance. and then taking those long strides in and jamming it on whoever was in front of him. So I would definitely be in favor of keeping Christian Wood. So keeping him should be like one of the top priorities in my mind. Yeah. So I take it you're going to give him the great grid. I would give him a fantastic even. He was that good.

So I agree. You kind of just have to keep him, even if not only because he could be very good for the fans. fans also. He got, amongst what few fans were watching, became very popular. But he's also, he's a sort of exciting player that you just really want to, you know, who's fun to watch. You mentioned his dunks, absolutely. Guy went hard to the rim.

He's just a very depth of dunking on people, too, even when he carried the ball himself. He's, I tried to analyze his biomechanics a bit. The guy is, he's both springing and a legs, and he seems to have just in a, in a fantastically strong core, just because his ability to bring down is he's not the biggest guy. He's not the strongest guy, but his ability to just bring down his upper body under the rim is really just something else. As far as catch and shoots, he has 40% this year on just under two attempts per game.

And, yeah, when he's at the, when he's at the perimeter, you're right, he does have a wave just when he's up against his slower center, just pump faking. and if they bite, then he's past you, and that's that. I've seen people question, is he powerful, is he his center? I think he's undoubtedly his center. I think he's wasted a power forward. He's the best if you use him as much as you can on every play,

including the pick and roll, which is still a very central play type in the NBA. And, you know, if you put him a power forward, you're taking him out of the play. And kind of wasting him, there's also the fact that his ass, it's kind of like Tobias Harris's power forward. You know, he's smaller than the average. Well, honestly these days, he's not really smaller than the average power forward. But it used to be that he was more of a small forward who would play a power forward because he was just so much quicker and he was a very good matchup against guys who was slower than he was.

That's what Christian Wood is at center now. You mentioned watching the highlights against the 76ers. I remember a play in which he was being guarded by Horford. He pumped faked. Horford bit. Horford's a good defender. He half bit. And Christian Wood was just passed him with one step.

And Horford just didn't even try. He stopped and would dunked it. If he gets on his way to the basket, full tilt, he's almost certainly going to dunk it or drop out. So I know you wanted to talk a bit about the contrast between he and Drummond, which I think was very, very, very marked contrast. Yeah, this is one of the things that I've been looking more into what the next generation of big men will be. and I think that it's going to be more players like Christian Wood who are mobile and can kind of keep up with the much faster pace of the modern NBA. And that's something we can talk more about in like a future episode even.

But people kind of underestimate how much better Christian Wood is for his teammates compared to André Drummond, which we did talk about a little bit. but one of the things that we mentioned we talked about earlier was these rankings that another site did how they already put Christian Wood above Drummond on the center list and I get it I think Drummond probably has far more individual potential just in a vacuum but Christian Wood he opens up he opens up the lane he's faster up and down the court. And another thing is you look at the highlights where Drummond is on the floor and the highlights where Christian is on the floor.

And the team's transition offense is totally different. When Drummond would get the ball or when he would get the defensive rebound, he would take it and he would hold it for an extra couple seconds and then he would give it up. When Christian got it or somebody else got it. Don't forget the full court passes that always got picked off. Oh, my God. God, yeah, there were just so many plays like that where Drummond was just detrimental to the team without even seeming to realize it just because of his natural play style. I think Christian Wood's play style is just so much better for the modern NBA.

So I do think Christian Wood plays, I think he contributes to winning basketball more than Drummond does. And in that sense, I think he is the better player. Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, it was just such a relief to me personally to see Drummond off the team to not have to watch him. But there was the additional joy of watching a mechanically sound modern offense with five shooters. I mean, the pistons still had a bad offense, but just based on the personnel on the floor. But, I mean, just, you know, relatively speaking. But it just opens up so many more options for spacing for fast-paced play.

It's just, it's just a joy to watch. The Pistons have never really had. The last real stretch five, the Pistons have was Bill Lambier. The last stretch five they had, I think, on the roster at all, was certainly in the starting lineup. Because Bill Lambert was actually ahead of his time. He could shoot threes. And so, yeah, what is just, he's a lot of fun to watch.

And you really transitions from Drummond, who was just all about himself and a bad offensive player who, who styled himself as great offensive player, and who really, like you said, slowed the pace and he's just outdated. And I think before anybody wants to start naming Wood, a very good center, you've got to have more sample size. Yeah. It sucks to say he just never know.

But I think he's on his way. And just the contrast was just so significant. This is just so significant. This is a lot of fun to watch. And he really just, like you said, he does give you a lot more options and a lot more opportunities. Absolutely. Yeah. So this is certainly by a long margin.

become our longest episode ever. So that'll be it for this episode. Next episode will be the start of our draft series. We're actually going to be doing that before the draft lottery. It just gives us more to talk about as part of it. And also, I'd say that's just mostly it. To be perfectly honest, there's not really much to talk about with respect to the Pistons right now.

There will be more, I suppose, when, when, if the second bubble transpires, that'll be fun. But right now, you know, we just got a new GM, but it's going to be about four months before we see him to get to do anything. Three months now, actually. So the next time, I believe we will be discussing the Biggs who are available in the upcoming draft. Yep.

Some of the guys we might be looking at you. All right. Oniakka, Kongwu, James Wiseman, Obi Top. And the other thing I want to do in that episode is kind of look at Christian Wood even further because depending on whether he's back, he could be like, he's like the benchmark guy. And he'll be, he'll be, there's so much more to his game that I would like to discuss. And I think in the context of these like up-and-coming centers, that could be a fun topic. So looking forward to that.

The name, the name I keep forgetting to bring up is Jaron Jackson. He's the other guy. Another guy really sees is the archetype in the modern center. Somebody who can both create offense. You can all of, excuse me, create offense, stretch the floor. and protect the rim, which what isn't great at yet. But I also think, yeah, if we're talking about centers, but I don't think the Pistons will ultimately take one, hard to say,

though I think their decision in the draft will certainly be informed by their level of confidence as to whether or not they can bring him back because I think you're right that it's a very safe bet that they will try. So in any event, thank you all for listening, and we will catch you next time.