Driving to the Basket: A Detroit Pistons Podcast - Episode 196: 2024 NBA Draft Deep Dives - Matas Buzelis

Episode Date: May 30, 2024

This episode takes a close look at possible top-five pick Matas Buzelis of the G-League Ignite.

Welcome back, everybody. You are listening to another episode of Driving to the Basket. I'm Mike. Hope you're all doing super well today. So big news, though that's not really quite big news yet, is that Trajan Langdon basically scooped himself. He changed his Twitter profile, which now says president of basketball ops at Pistons. So I think we can probably conclude that the hire is official. even though it's pretty weird for somebody to do that without the team actually announcing it first. Whatever, we knew this was coming. So now the clock begins on what happens with Troy Weaver, what happens with Monty Williams. And really the offseason truly kind of begins. Now that the Pistons finally have a decision maker. It only took well over a month after the season ended. But that's pretty characteristic of this organization.

I can't exactly remember. I think it took even longer than it had back when Van Gundy... Tom Gores, that guy fired Van Gundy back in 2018. I believe that was in mid-May. Dwayne Casey wasn't hired until June. So whatever the case, here we go. Things might not happen all that quickly, though I would hope that we would find out about Weaver

and about Monty Williams within the week. and I hope to find out that they are both going to be unemployed come next season. It might shock you to hear me say that, given that I've been such a proponent of both of them. Okay, of course you're joking. Neither of them deserve to have been employed for the last six weeks. You know, any, I think, a typical team would have looked at these two woefully incompetent. People amongst the worst in their field in the NBA right now, the worst in their field where coaching is concerned with Monty.

I couldn't say in terms of overall management, Weaver's probably the worst there too. But like I said, you see bad general managers like Weaver on a not uncommon basis. You don't see bad coaches like Monty very often. Extremely rare because rarely do coaches come in without any intention of actually doing the job at all. So hopefully some big news coming in the next few weeks from the Pistons. Draft is still, it's actually the draft's a little bit less. in a month away. So we're coming up on that. And I think it'll be an eventful offseason in general. And there will be certainly plenty of time to talk about that, though, you know, the time between

the draft and the opening of free agency, actually, that period is not particularly long. I mean, just my general thoughts, I don't know, I don't need to get into those quite yet, but something I think is interesting to think about is just if you look at where the Pistons are right now, in terms of, you know, if you were to begin next season today, you know, who would be part of that rotation? Obviously, you know, this goes without saying that, you know, the guy who will be there is Evan Forney. I know, I'm just kidding. Though he did end in the season is the highest paid player on the team. So, Cade is obviously going to be there. I'd be surprised if Jaden Ivy has moved. It was surprised, excuse me, surprised if the Sarat Thompson has moved, if Jalen Duren has moved.

So I think the guys you can look at who are, and I could end up eating my words, but you've got between Cade, Basar, Ivy, Duren, Fontechio, and Grimes. You got six guys I think are very likely to be on the roster next season. I think if the Pistons keep the pick, or if they trade it for another player, you know, for a win-now player, that's seven. And then you've got Sasser and Stewart. I mean, that gives you nine guys. I'd really be shocked if all of these guys were on the rotation next season. And hopefully there's a coach who's not going to be playing a 10-deep rotation in any event. But even just having nine guys there, I'd be surprised.

I would be very unsurprised if Isaiah Stewart in particular were not in the team next season. Because I think that the Pistons, and I would, if I were them, try to get somebody and probably Isaiah Hardinstein would be the dude they look at. or take a cap dump like Quinn Capella maybe if the Hawks decide to draft Alexander Tsar and then they have Anyaqo Kongwu who's you know whom I would keep over Capello if I were them so maybe they try to dump him for it for a low price or maybe so maybe the Pistons take on that cap dump it's only a year or they sign somebody whatever the case I think it's very very important that they have a contingency for Duran both in the event that his defense still

sucks somebody who can step into the starting lineup and do a decent job. And also to just to push him, you know, if that's needed. I don't really think too much on the mentorship side of things. I mean, mentorship, you got plenty of guys who don't play anymore, who can mentor you. I'm not thinking that they should bring in a center to do that. But anyway, so let's say they do that, and I think it's basically necessary. Then where does Isaiah Stewart fit in? Guy can't really play power forward. Sure, you can be your third string center. Is it going to be worth keeping him on the team when maybe you can get some decent, probably modest draft assets from a contender.

So I think Isaiah Stewart would be much more useful to a contender than he is to the Pissons at this point just because he's a very playoffs applicable center who will thrive equally and drop and switch coverage. Because, I mean, of course, if the Pistons are starting Isaiah Stewart at Power Forward next season, something's gone tragically wrong. He notwithstanding the fact that he shot 38%. he was arguably the worst starting power forward in the league. And I think I went through the list recently and found that he was undoubtedly the slowest

player to get significant minutes of power forward, period. That just all goes back to his mobility. So as much as I love Stewart, as much as I think he's a great tone setter in the locker room, if the Pistons do acquire another center, it's going to be a little bit difficult to find where to play him. And though I do like him as a backup, it's an issue that if you bring him into the starting lineup, then unless he's like an elite pick and pop threat, then you're really taking away a lot from Cade because Isaiah Stewart is and always will be terrible

on the role. You know, it's just his physical limitations. So there's that and Marcus Sasser who had his positive moments this season and when he's on it, you know, when things are really looking good for him and his pull-up twos, can actually, I think has sort of like, maybe not quite so high, but like a Lou Williams-esque look to him. There's just a guy who can make really tough shots and parlay the fact in those situations that the defense needs to always have a guy close to him to prevent him from taking difficult pull-up to his team's that he can make into creating opportunities for his teammates as well. But, you know, Lou Williams was kind of a much sure thing back when he was actually a good player, whereas SAS was going to be a second-year

player. And can the Pistons really afford to go into next season with one qualified? handler on the team that would be Cade. Ivy still hasn't shown if he can really be a primary handler. I have my doubts, and that was the case before last season. I don't think Ivy was ever coming into the league as a primary handler. I think he's much more of a driving kick guy than anything else, not really a guy who can lead in offense. So Sasser, when he was first drafted, it was like, okay, well, it felt like they were drafting an undersized shooting specialist, and those guys can be useful, but I just don't think that if I were the front office, I would not risk a lot of roster functionality on the notion that Marcus Sasser can become a qualified, a guy who can lead

an offense. So I wouldn't be surprised if he's gone. It was a weird pick. It was just a weird pick because if you're at Sasser's size, you know, he's not a bad defender, but he's not a good one. He can just be scored over in many situations. I mean, if you're that size, just your fit in any given lineup is going to always be inherently precarious because you can't feel two undersized guards and hope for your defense to not go pretty wrong. So maybe he's just third string blank guard next season and or just situational shooting specialist, but you look where this team is right now just in terms of the guards on it and then they need to kind of beef up a little bit in terms of scoring. You've got Cade. I think Ivy will still be here. And you've got Quentin Grimes. And

that's a lot of your minutes. And if you're going to sign Malik Monk, I mean, you're going to have to reshovel things a bit. But you're going to want another handler, another reliable handler. And I just don't think that's Sasser at this point. I'd be having to be proven wrong. But I don't think they'll take that chance. So maybe he's still on the team. But this is just all to say that I would expect some guys are on the fringes to be moved.

Otherwise, it's basically, you know, draft pick. You got nine guys. And then you sign some guys in pre-agency. And, okay, I guess like Isaiah Stewart and Sasser. and whoever else is just not playing or playing very little. And that's possible. But I would think that they would be looking to get something out of those players. So anyway, just some random thoughts to start out the episode, I suppose,

and I've managed to get to 10 minutes on the back of random thoughts. So I'm going to make a bit of a departure from how I usually organize things and answer some questions first before I get to draft prospect me talking about. It was Matas Buzellis. number one uh you know thank you for by the way i didn't get to this is a listener who submitted this uh to which would have been for last week's episode i was rushing to get last week's episode out at it did somewhat reasonable time on a friday and unfortunately didn't get to this so uh this question assuming money williams is gone would i do a straight trade of durin to the

portland to the portland trailblazers for aiden because it helps portland get under the tax apron and the pistons could get a due to might be able to help so it is worth reference that Portland is a team in an interesting position because they're not actually, the luxury, they're not at the tax line, they'll be close to it, but in the apron is actually six or I can never remember, six or seven million, six or seven million above the tax line. But Portland's an interesting situation in that they do have a very high salary load for a team that probably is still not going to be able to compete. You're still, I mean, that salary is primarily, primarily found in DeAndre Aidan, Anthony Simons, and Jeremy Grant.

Does that team really realistically have the talent to compete for anything? I mean, if you feel like Scoot is really going to come alive, and you hope that Anthony Simons can stay healthy, and you feel like, you know, you can rely on Malcolm Progton to stay healthy, too, and Robert Williams, and Matisse Thuyball is going to take a leap, and Shaden Sharp, who missed most of the season, is going to be healthy and take a leap himself. I mean, they're on a bit of a mess of a situation over there. because Scoot is still raw.

Simons is pretty, has been pretty chronically unhealthy. He's a great shooter when he can shoot, you know, when he's around, but he's been pretty chronically unhealthy. Aidan is always nebulous in terms of what you're going to get from him. Grant's a good player, more of a number three guy. At the time he's missed over the last couple of seasons is very suspiciously, been largely at the end of seasons when the Trail Wizard is trying to tank. Brogden is chronically unhealthy.

Robert Williams is chronically unhealthy. Theible still hasn't gotten it together as a shooter. So basically you've got a team that's at this point got $167 million in salaries for next season. That's before, I mean, they can get rid of some non-guaranteed guys. But they, that I believe, get them down to about 160 against a tax line of 172 million. So needless to say, they don't really have a lot of means to substantive. improve the team, they could be looking to dump some salaries. So I've been over this, that second apron teams, and I always feel the need to reiterate this because I feel like

the second apron has been just drastically misrepresented as a way of punishing teams that have high payrolls. The intention, both of the current apron and the CBAs, the upcoming CBA's first and second aprons, is to restrict talent acquisition rather than punish talent retention. there is only one salary, excuse me, not only one salary, only one clause, you know, only one consequence for being about the second apron that isn't, you know, that's an actual penalty rather than just a restriction. And that's that if you are above the third apron in three out of the previous five years, then your first round pick gets kicked at the end of the first round.

For a contender, that's palatable. For a non-contender, you know, for teams that are looking to dump salary or for whoever else, any team that's about the second apron, then I have to worry about that right now. but for the most part, it's just restrictions to keep the rich from getting any richer. And if they lose talent, it's just that it's that much harder to replace it. It's just an additional way to try to enforce parity. So, yeah, the second apron team's contenders, I mean, arguably that it just doesn't really change the calculus very much. They, or at all, really, they can't afford to lose talent.

And the flexibility that they will regain from being below the second. and first aprons is very, very unlikely to allow these teams the ability to replace any substantive talent that they have lost in the process. You just can't really get, like, if you just dump talent, a lot of these teams are asset poor, too. Like, the Nuggets have, you know, own very few. They have very few tradable picks. The Timberlows have very few tradable picks, you know, for example, those too.

So you get more flexibility in terms of what you can do with trades, but you don't get, you Now, the flexibility isn't super meaningful, but also a lot of the second apron team just can't really make trades anyway. Just don't have the assets to do it. Even if you get below the first apron enough to use the non-taxpayer MLA, which is around $13 million, that's not going to get you a great talent unless somebody takes a really hefty discount. If you believe between the first and the second aprons, you just get the taxpayer mid-level exception, which is less than $6 million. So, but if you're a team like Portland, then you're probably looking to dump some salary unless you're very, very confident in your ability to contend this season with the roster of guys who are either very young or extremely injury prone or Jeremy Grant.

Or I guess DeAndre Aidan is also not injury prone. It's just endlessly a waste of talent. So would I do this trade? I mean, number one, I don't think that the Trailblazers would do this. I don't think they'd just dump him or send him away for a meager price, especially because Duren comes with major question marks of his own. So would I do it? That's a tough one.

See, the issue with D'Andre Aden is that I had very little respect for him as a player. I think that he's got a lot of talents and very little will, a poor work ethic and no killer instinct. The guy just doesn't really seem to care all that much about basketball. You can see him out in the court. He's often floating. he's often not working hard. He doesn't really care to impose his will upon any given game, despite the talent that he has.

He has not worked to improve his game really much at all. I mean, the guy, there is no reason why Aidan, who is perfectly good touch as a shooter, is still not shooting threes. After, goodness, how many years in the league has it been? Five? Still not shooting threes? I mean, the guy could be a genuinely good player if he actually cared to put forth a consistently good level of effort and to really care about the game. But he doesn't.

And, you know, he's paid a lot of money. I don't think you can ever comment on that changing, you know, no matter which team he goes to. And I think it inherently detracts when the team he plays for to have a player who just plainly doesn't really have that professional work ethic that you need to have. So obviously Duren has his own issues with effort, and obviously Aiden has a considerably higher four than Duren because, you know, he's still a solid enough defender. He can be a strong defender when he tries, but that's an F, and he's sounding an awful lot in certain respects, like a certain piston who, you know, from the not so distant past, who played the same position and wasted his own talent through an even worse work ethic. but I'm just very hesitant to invite a guy like that onto this roster. And I think the Pistons still have a lot to potentially hope for if Duren, though it'll be a bit against the odds at this point, manages to just become like a solid, slightly above average defender.

And the book's not closed. Though certainly there are a lot of worries at this point. But man, that's a tough question. Because Duren in his current state is a bad defender, is a bad player. and he had his issues with work ethic himself. Man, I'll come back to that at the end of the show. I just can't decide at this point. Obviously, Aiden gives you much more guaranteed right now,

but I just don't like him. And Duren has the capacity, you know, I think it will be a harder working player ultimately. But the question marks on defense are just so huge, but I think does have it in him to become better in that area. And Duren, he's not going to be the sort of score at Aiton can be he improved a great deal as a scorer over his rookie you know between his rookie and his sophomore seasons and you know he still has all the tools the physical tools to be a

good defender of course doesn't mean anything if the mental tools aren't there that man i just don't want to answer this question should i really even bother to put this off i just feel like i'm usually not overly concerned about making a prediction and being wrong though typically i just don't i just avoid making predictions on when i don't feel like i have enough data and obviously there's no data to go on here. This is going to sound insane, but I just don't want DeAndre Aden on this team. But, I mean, that could possibly be in part because of the example of, I was obviously referring to Andre Drummond and just having a lot of contempt for professional athletes who act like he does.

But, I mean, just what he actually gives you for $34 million is not great. It's pretty good rebounding, you know, very, you know, certainly strong finishing. He can't really pass. He doesn't really get to the line. And, you know, I think he's just, he's just a downward force in the locker room. Decent rim protected, but nothing special. You know, I'd rather, I'd rather take a chance on Duran. So in that situation, I'd probably say no.

I just, I just have a little opinion of D'Andre Hayden. Okay. Now, with all that said, let's move on to a bit of draft talk. So, Mattis Buzellis, let's, you know, talk about him, talk about how he looks, what's good, what's bad. Six foot nine, so actually about a true six foot nine, measured six foot eight and three quarters without shoes, which is how things are measured in the MBO, though pites are almost invariably rounded up. At the combine with the six foot ten wing span, which is a little bit small for his height. you know, the difference between 6 foot 10 and 7 foot, for example,

might not seem that big, but, you know, at the risk of setting up a Michael Scott joke here, the inches really do matter in the NBA. Only 197 pounds of the combine, combine. So more than 10 pounds lighter than his listed weight of 209. Smallish hands for his size, but not really a big deal. His agility and the drills in the combine was pretty good, upper middling in terms of his leaping ability, more just a leaper. than an explosive leaper will be 20 on opening night, so a little unusually old, though not terribly so.

And despite the name, as he has of Lithuanian descent, I don't know if he has the same sort of champion's blood as Pistons legend, Deavitas Servetus, but we'll see, and that was a joke. Sorry, made that one for your benefit chase. So anyway, I was actually born in Chicago, and he played for the G-League Ignite. The G-Wing Ignite, it should be noted, were a complete another disaster last season, which can muddy some data for the likes of Bezellis and Holland, though I don't think too much. It just definitely didn't make their lives very easy.

They sucked. They were really, really bad. And the Ignite are gone now. Just with NIL, there's really no reason for it to exist, aside from guys who just would not want to, you know, like Ben Zimmons not actually want to do schoolwork. The Ignite was just a way for guys who didn't want to go to the NCAA and not get paid to spend their year after high school getting paid to play basketball. But you don't need that

anymore because the NAL, you know, if you're a good player, we'll pay you. You'll get money from that. So, his splits, 14 points, seven rebounds, two assists, two blocks, one steal, two turnovers. About 53% from two, 27% from three on relatively low volume, you know, a little between three and three and a half tries per game. Didn't get to the line much, just about two free throws attempted per game, and only 68% from the free throw line. He did. shoot 42% from three on, likewise, pretty low volume in high school. It's 19 to 45 and 12 games and shot 80% from the free throw line there. There are some questions about, you know, given just the change in the distance from the three-point line is the ignite, of course, in the G-League, use the NBA three-point

line. You combine that with the fact that he is still pretty weak. Did that make a difference? Volume as well either way, just not enough data. And unfortunately, I can't tell you down to the granular level about a shot profile. as I would have been able to with G-League prospects in the past because the G-League website for some reason got rid of that data. It was there last year, if I recall correctly, it was definitely there a year before. So his role in the Ignites who just had a mess of a roster,

and not really much in the way of great playmaking was basically just the score. So let's talk offense. So one thing that does characterize him, he's a pretty smart, poised player with solid offensive IQ. I would just start on offense. I break this down between offense and defense. Pretty solid offensive IQ. He's more of a reactive player than just one who makes the decision and goes ahead.

So, you know, he can. He's got the poise and he's got the smarts to get started on a drive, for example, and not just blitz ahead with whatever his decision was, you know, to make the right moves to, in many situations, make the right pass. Decision-making and decision-making potential certainly is there. And that's more and more important today's NBA, especially when it comes to passing. Very, very important, no matter who you are,

to make the right pass these days. Just the standard keeps rising and rising. Like five years ago, it was kind of remarkable that Nick Nurse with the Raptors, you know, had almost all of his players doing the driving kick thing. Like Kauai Leonard averaged, I believe, upwards of five assists in the playoffs just by driving and kicking. All those guys could do that. These days, almost everybody has to be able to make the right pass if you're not a center. Like it was remarkable last night between the Mavericks and the Timberwell was weight in the game.

that I don't remember to whom he was passing, but watching Derek Jones Jr. I don't think he was attacking a close-out or whatever, he was driving into the interior, and even he made the right pass. Like five years ago, a guy like Derek Jones Jr. would be just attacking the rim. He would not be, you know, passing out to, you know, to a man at the three-boy line. So in any case, you know, Buzellis isn't, you know, a strong playmaker at this point. I'm not sure I'll ever be, but I think that he will develop to make the right pass in these situations. And, you know, he's got a pretty quick mind, and that's, you know, that's definitely a useful thing.

He's agile, pretty good footwork in terms of Euro steps, the ability to make spins and just this footwork around the basket when he's trying to score around the rim. Pretty good handle. You know, guys got a small bag of moves to, you know, to reach into and is not particularly turnover prone. You know, he's, he's a guy who can handle the ball and put it that way, probably above average handling. above average handle for a player of his size. And pretty just shiftier around the basket in general, and pretty solid touch around the room as well, provided he's not trying to finish through contact,

and I'll talk about that later. His shot, of course, is, you know, that's the big concern around him. We'll talk about that when we come to his weaknesses, but the form is actually decent. There's nothing fundamentally wrong with his shot. And, of course, it's worth wondering if it's just, you know, a matter of him struggling from NBA three point distance in his year with the ignites and what can be done about that. But this isn't a situation like Assar Thompson, for example, who was just coming in

with a busted shot form, or any number of players are coming in with a busted shot form. Or for those of you who remember legendary second overall pick, Michael Kitt Gilchrist, who had just an absolutely hideous shot. I mean, go look it up, go look up with his with a shot. if you want to see something that'll make you flinch at how ugly it was. So that's not the issue with him. And so, I mean, the fact that it's mechanically solid is definitely a positive indication. Whereas a guy who's coming in with significant issues with his shot, that's more of a concern. Of course, the proof has to be in him actually making shots.

But as far as his on-ball potential goes, it can most likely will be able to attack the rim in mismatches, particularly, you know, just with the help of that handle. you know, with the help of his footwork. And, yeah, I think he'll be able to do that. Just got to put on some weights. He has some shot creation upside with pull-up twos in which he was actually decent this season, though on low volume. And again, as I'm so much of a fan of saying, most guys don't do it. Most guys can't make that a useful shot on any sort of significant volume. I mean, you see it with him, like these high-release pull-ups and fadeaways.

And, like, they look good. it's like okay maybe you've got you know some some brandon ingram and you know um and ingram you know can't you can't um but most people just can't it's just not something to bank on but yeah mismatches and you know just just get into the rim through open lanes and whatnot you know i don't think he's got super high upside as an on ball attacker unless he becomes really good shock reader but you know he'll be able to do some things and then his off ball potential you know if he can shoot and cool um you know That's his off-ball potential is that attacking closeouts where, yeah, his handle and his, you know, and his shiftyness and just his solid touch will help him in a situation in which I think, like I said, he will, I believe, make the right passes. So if you have a guy who's able to shoot and, you know, can just do the right thing on the way to the rim when he can attack a close-out, obviously that's helpful.

Also, solid on cuts, and that's where his athleticism actually is going to primarily manifest itself in that. that, you know, he's a strong two-foot leaper, though cuts are a very small, very low-volume form of offense in the NBA. So what actually comes to his athleticism, which I think I think I should have noted more extensively just than the introduction. So he's not a bad athlete. He just isn't the particularly great athlete. His first step is very average. It's like you're not going to beat anybody on a routine basis with his first step. There's nothing special about it whatsoever.

And like I said, he's more of. just a, like, he's a fairly good leaper, but he's not an explosive weeper. So he can, you know, get up to however many inches, but he's not going to get there as fast as some other guys. And he's not super bursting in transition. I mean, he's, he's an average NBA athlete for the most part, except in situations where he has a runway, you know, then he's a fairly strong lever, but you got to have a runway to do that. And preferably an off-the-ball runway, because though he is a pretty good two-foot leaper, he is not a very good one-foot leper at all. He's average. It's not great.

You know, very, very average NBA, I thought we decide from that. So defense is upside, weak side rim protector potential. I mean, the guy generally, he's active off the ball. He knows when to collapse. He knows one to jump. And so he's probably a guy who's going to be able to, you know, provide you with hopefully good amount of weak side rim protection. Or in situations in which the center gets beat and he can come in and provide some just backup rim protection. You know, some guys are disruptors like that.

He gets himself into passing wins as well. He just really effectively uses his length. And goodness, I really didn't mean to make this joke, but it's like, okay, some guys have length. Please don't make this into, not meaning to make this into an any window at all. But yeah, some players have length but are not good at using it. And some players may have less length, but are, okay, I just can't do it. You know what I'm saying, basically. He's only got a 610 wing span, but he uses a very effective.

effectively. 610 isn't bad. It's just less than you would expect for a guy who's 6-9. But yeah, he's good at taking up space, basically. And he tends to, when he's off the ball, know where to be so that he can be disruptive. So, you know, having a 6-9 player who's able to, he doesn't really fly around, but knows where to be and can, you know, can help play defense at the rim and can swallow up space and passing lanes and so on and so forth, that's helpful. helpful. You know, not everybody is a disruptor that way. Not everybody knows where to go in terms of collapsing to help defend the rim and so on. So, and that's sort of a characteristic about him, is that he does find a way to make himself useful. I think he stays active, you know, on defense, really in both

ends, but particularly on defense, finds a way to just make himself useful, be assertive, and just make an impact. His on-ball defense is decent but unspectatious. than may or may not ever actually be really good. That is going to depend upon some physical development. Talk about that in the moment. But, you know, decent enough lateral movement. I don't think he'll be a liability. In terms of his on-ball smarts, you know, I think he's got it in him to be, you know,

mostly just an average on-ball defender. You know, not a liability unless he never bulks up. But, you know, because he, you know, he keeps his arms positioned well. he moves his feet fairly well. I just don't think he has the tools or necessarily the defensive eye, you know, the on-ball defensive IQ to be, you know, a genuinely good defender. And just in general, smart rebounder, you know, just, again, knows where to be. And pretty hard working, stays engaged in plays.

Again, asserting and contributing, assertive and contributing, generally good IQ in terms of just finding ways to be involved where he can. Now on to the bad. And number one on the list where the Pistons are concerned is shooting. So, like I said, his first. form is good. He has some, you know, small bit of track record as a decent shooter on low volume, certainly, and from the high school slash NCAA three point line. But some pedigree is, some small bit of history is a good shooter. So it's not like he's coming in with just a history

as a bad shooter. But if you're the pistons, your question is, is the shooting going to come along? And can you really, really bet on that? So I mean, that's a big thing. Of course, the shooting has to come long, just like with any other player. Certainly with Boozellis, who's going to be, who's going to flop out of the week if he's a bad shooter. I mean, there's not even, there's not any question in my mind about that. So, the shooting is a concern. It's less of a concern than the likes of this are, again, because the form is pretty good. But if you're the pistons at this point, you know, just that the fact that he shot 27%, 27.3% from three is a concern. He is physically weak, you know, less than 200 pounds at 6.9. He needs to put on a lot of strength.

Because at this point on offense, he is too easily redirected or knocked off the ball entirely. When he's driving, he, you know, has it in him to be a, you know, a guy who can exploit mismatches, but only if he's able to actually exploit those physically. If you're 197 pounds and not significantly heavier than that, I mean, he's got to put on quite a bit of strength. That's going to really hurt his ability to exploit mismatches at all at the NBA level. It's going to make it significantly harder for him to attack off the drive. Right now, he's so weak that finishing, I mean, he's going to really hurt his ability. It's not like, you know, so weak's the way of putting it, but the lack of strength also makes it really difficult for him to finish through contact.

So that's a problem. On defense, the disposition, if he doesn't bulk up significantly, he's going to have, he's just basically likely to get bullied. And, yeah, so the guy needs to put on weight, and he's naturally skinny. You know, generally it can be done to what degree can it be done. But right now, he's weak, physically weak for his position, like remarkably so, and that needs to change. And you can't just guarantee, unfortunately, that the guy's going to fill out to the level that you would like him to. His playmaking ceiling, I think he'll be able to make the right pass. Will he ever be genuinely like a guy who you can give the ball to and expect that he'll be making plays for teammates?

Probably not. Maybe you get like a four assists per game guy, which would be great. Well, probably less than that if he's not playing a significant all-on-ball role. And he's not going to be playing a significant on-ball role unless he really exceeds the expectations as a creator. So this isn't so much of a minus. This is just something to be noted that I think he's going to top off as a makes the right kind of pass guy. Maybe a little bit beyond that, but beyond whatever makes the right path, whatever is beyond, makes the right pass kind of guy and before, you know, is a good passer.

So, yeah, I think he's just, he's likely to top off as a makes the right pass kind of guy. His athleticism, again, mediocre first step really limits his on ball potential, even if he continues to improve his smarts on the drive, which I think he will, even despite him having an above-average handle, I think at this point for a forward. And just, yeah, despite him being a fairly intelligent player, it hurts. I mean, it just hurts to have a mediocre for a step. And if he really bulks up, then that can change. Because in that situation, I'm sure you're not going to be beating somebody off the dribble by way of burst,

but you can still at least use your combination of decent athleticism and strength to attack guys off the dribble. But helps to be athletic. Yeah, and his first step just isn't great. Again, his leaping ability off of one foot also just isn't great. He's not going to be a guy who's really going to be skying to finish at the rim. Though at 6'9, you don't really have to sky. It's still better to be able to jump than to not be able to jump.

And, well, he can jump, just not very well. And finally, it just kind of comes down to, in this I put into the bad category, you know, what's his upside? Like, you're taking a risk on him being able to develop physically and most importantly develop as a shooter. And what are you getting if all that comes together? What's what are you realistically getting? Whereas if one of the other doesn't happen, then his path to being a good NBA player,

especially with the shooting, granted, but also just if he just stays physically weak, which is significantly less likely, then, you know, what's the upside you're getting if he doesn't really defy expectations in terms of his on-ball creation ability? Because I just don't think that the defense, I don't think that there is a ton of defensive upside there. I think that he can be a positive defender, but like a strong defender. I think his on-ball defensive upset just isn't that high. Basically, he's a classic 20-24 draft guy.

You'd never consider taking him at number five in a regular draft. This isn't early to more probably mid-teens guy in a typical draft. Like, not a guy, in my opinion, you would be surprised to see go number 16. So it's just how it is in this draft. I mean, it's not necessarily a ton to get excited about, but a guy who can potentially contribute. So why would you draft him? He draft him in the hopes that he can fit into that long-wing archetype,

though again, his wingspan isn't super long, but he's a big wing, six foot nine. I can play some decent defense while, you know, hopefully giving you some good shooting and some limited ability to create offense. And the pistons do need wings. Everybody needs wings who can shoot and play decent defense. And, you know, if you draft him in that case, you know, maybe you're hoping also that his on-ball creation is shot creation can also be a thing. And that's, you know, if he can create in the mid-range, that'll make it easier for him to

to attack off the dribble as well. And, you know, that'll just open up his game at large, you know, and maybe you get, you know, maybe you get a strong score there. You know, maybe he's even got pull-up three-point potential in that situation. You're really just hoping for, you're really just hoping that he blossoms as a shooter. And again, his form isn't bad. And his, in his form on pull-ups, even, is, you know, is decent. So it's not a other question, but it's a lot to hope for.

Why would you not draft him if you're the pistons? Because the shooting isn't there right now. and the on-ball defense isn't really super there either. It's not bad, but it's not good. He doesn't necessarily have far to go, but he's still an upside pick on both sides. More likely to get there on defense, but not to be necessarily good on defense, just solid.

And the shooting just isn't there, though. The shooting right now isn't there. His age is only a minor knock because he's only bringing this up. I'm not even sure why I mentioned that. He's a little bit above average in terms of his age at 20. I don't even know why I'm bringing that up. He's going to be 20 on opening night. But basically right now, he doesn't.

really have a role in the NBA with his current skill set. If the shot comes along, then he has something, you know, they does have a role. But it's just, it's really, things are very nebulous at this stage. So he ultimately becomes an upside player who's upside, even if the shot comes along, is questionable, probably not a high-ceiling player unless it becomes a strong-shot creator and very few guys in the NBA are strong-shot creators. But, I mean, if you're the pistons and number five ultimately gets you a guy who can shoot the ball pretty well, and that's possible for him and can attack closeouts and play decent on-ball defense and play some, you know, play some above average off-ball defense as a weak side rim protector, then that might not be a

bad outcome at number five. That's just in this draft. And a regular draft that would be a fairly disappointing outcome as you're looking for much higher ceiling. Now, his fit, really hard to point out because the Pistons don't need more guys. who can't shoot. I mean, you've, you've kind of got that issue on the roster already, needless to say, between Assar Thompson, obviously, Jaden Ivy Wesso, but still significantly. Cade Cunningham, whom I remain very confident, is going to get it together. Even Grimes, who I think will be on the roster next season, and did shoot well as a sophomore, but not so much as a rookie, and not so well this last year, though. He was kind of done dirty in the offense by Dibodone, a way that it

seems to have really taken him out of his rhythm. But you just, I feel like if the pistons are going to go for an upside They should go for a guy who's very high upside And whom they will just stash in the G league and see what happens I don't think Buzellis is quite that much of an upside guy I think that if they draft him They should also genuinely consider throwing him in the G league

Until he developed as a shooter But his fit right now For any player who is not a game ready player For this Pist and Steam right now His fit almost I mean if it's a center I mean there are no centers really worth looking at It's a different story

but yeah if there were a center who were just able to you know play on the role and then defended a decent basically just a basic reliable traditional center okay you know maybe that's a fit for the pistons a guy who can't shoot whatever i digress for a perimeter player for this piston's team if you can't shoot your fit is by default not ideal you know far from ideal given where this team currently finds itself so that's hard to point at now if he becomes like a 37% shooter, then his fit is inherently solid. At that point, it's just a question of what upside he can find, obviously. But maybe I'll change my mind on this. And, well, maybe I'll change my mind on it, but I just, I don't see his upside as being very, very high, though. But again, if number five

gets the pistons, a guy who can shoot in the high 30s from three and play decent defense and, and do some, you know, limited creation. They played decent on-ball defense and provide above-average all-ball defense. Then, you know, cool, that's a good use of the pick. But, yeah, Buzellis is not like your typical, you know, your typical, you know, number five upside pick. And the upside, even in that situation, in my opinion, just isn't going to be that high.

So, yeah, that's Buzellis. And I'll end this episode with a question that is not relevant to basketball. so I will try not spend too much time on it. I got the start bench cut game, and for those of you are gamers, have been asked to start bench or cut, the Mass Effect franchise, Dragon Age franchise,

and according to the person who answered this question, that one bleep in a Roman game, you always play franchise, that Roman game being Roma 2, Total War. This is an easy one. You start the Mass Effect franchise because Mass Effect 1 is great. Mass Effect 2 is one of my favorite games of all time,

even though Mass Effect 3 was kind of disappointing and they get a little bit too obsessed with a creative vision and said, no, sorry gamers, we're not going to give you any endings you like because this is our baby and you're just going to have to deal with it. Dragon Age 1, a good time, two really bad, three, decent, nothing special, and total war as much as I put a lot of time into it. Well, I haven't enjoyed it in a long time. I should never play those games.

They just eat hours away from my life. All right, so that'll be it for this episode. As always, folks, hope you all doing great. Thank you for listening. I'll catch you in next week's episode. Thank you.