Driving to the Basket: A Detroit Pistons Podcast - Episode 217: Player Vibes, Surprises, and Areas of Improvement (with Zariq of Bullyball)

Episode Date: November 10, 2024

This episode, featuring Zariq of Bullyball.net, discusses player vibes, the surprises of the season so far, and the areas in which the Pistons most need to improve. 

Welcome back, everybody. You're listening to another episode of Driving to the Basket. I'm Mike. Hope you're all doing great today. Coming at you today with a Saturday episode with our guest, Zarek from BulliBelt Credential Pistons Reporter. Zarek, it's great to have you on the show. Yeah, it's great to be on here.

Thanks for having me on and reaching out. I've listened quite a few times. There's a few Pistons podcast I listen to in my own free time. This is one of them. Yeah, I'm glad to be on here. I'm excited to talk Pistons basketball, especially after yesterday. Yeah, for sure. And it's great to having on the show.

I appreciate you coming on. So before we start, why don't you tell the listeners a little bit about your work? Yeah, so I do photography, writing, reporting with bullyball. It's www.bullyball.net. We do pretty much a little bit of everything on our website and then on our social medias as well. But me specifically, I definitely specialize in basketball. and the Pistons. I do my photography, which you can find on our website,

but you can also find on my social medias at at Zark, Xavier. And then our socials are at Real Bulleyball and everything. I've had the pleasure of being credentialed now for my second season, and I did my first game of the season, actually. Well, I did a preseason game at the Breslin, but I did my first regular season game this Monday, this past Monday with the Lakers game. and I got to cover LeBron for the first time,

and I'm supposed to be an objective reporter, but man, like that was a special moment for me. Growing up, I was a huge, huge, like, from the, pretty much since I can remember huge LeBron fan. Like, I remember, I met his mom, the infamous game where he ended the Pistons dynasty, basically. They had, like, in one go. 2007, right?

Yep. I was there for that. And then I think I met his mom. mom the year after, I want to say. And that was just, that was so cool for me to just meet his mom. Remember, he threw his arm sleeve at me once at a Miami game. Some other kid caught it, but it's not a big deal. But yeah, the fact that I got to take pictures up close of him and brawny was ridiculous.

But yeah, I just, I do a lot of photos, writing, and then I also do video as well. I have a video essay I've been working on for some time for the pistons and just kind of like the long form of how. we got to, you know, where we are today. That's a long version of just me saying I do a lot of Pistons content, basically. Yeah, that's great, man. And if any of you want to check him out on Twitter, he's at Zarek Xavier. So you mentioned being a credentialed reporter last season and this season as well.

We don't often get to hear about kind of the, well, insofar as, of course, credential reporters have to have to operate on the, you know, based on the guidelines given to the buddy organization, I think, and I'm sure you'd agree. that there's a certain misconception about, you know, why aren't reporters coming out and just blasting the team? Obviously. Yeah, you can't do that. I think you can just say anything about anything,

but, like, it really doesn't work that way. And especially, like, not everybody gets to have themselves in the opportunity like I have where, you know, I get to see this firsthand. And I understand why people want to hear everything. It's just, like, guys, if I told you everything that I, like, see and hear, I would not be able to walk back into that same arena, the same man. You know what I mean?

It just doesn't work like that, unfortunately. Absolutely. But, or not but, but, and you are still able to give us a decent idea of how things look behind the scenes. And before the episode, you and I were talking about your experiences last season, and you picked a great first season to become credentialed. You know, a little sarcasm there. And, you know, looking a lot better this season.

why don't you tell us a little bit about the differences between the locker room and the overall vibe? I think you said, even going back to press day, you know, between last, you know, last season versus this season. Yeah, I remember last season. I, my, the official start of the off season really was like the Monty Williams press conference where they introduced him. I was actually my very first press conference I did was Dwayne Casey's last one. So I got to speak with him actually for like 20 minutes after. And I was just like so impressed with how, you know, personable and just a nice human being, Dwayne Casey is. Yeah, seems like a great guy.

Great guy. Like that was my first press conference. I think I was like 19 at the time. And I was like this, I was like the fact that he took like 20 minutes out of his day to talk with me. I was like, that's insane, right? Then going from that to Monty. And I'll, I don't want to phrase this in a way where it makes it seem like, you know, he's just like a bad dude or whatever. Like at the end of the day, everybody has, you know, their own life circumstances and everything like that.

But it was pretty clear from like the jump that like, if anything, because again, I initially, I hadn't, nobody honestly had any reason to believe that he would be gone in a year and seen as like, you know, the coach that a lot of Pistons fans see him as. I did know that right from the jump though it would be different and he seemed a lot more reserved and that was fine and you know like he didn't seem as eager to talk to people which was fine but I did notice like and I can tell you this I was with like the players for that for that press conference because I take pictures right I was more focused on like getting their perspective from like the press conference and um you know they're all like you know somewhat paying attention but like you know looking off looking elsewhere looking down at their shoes whatever uh and the minute he said you know and you know it's about the money you know it's like it's

you know it definitely is about the money every single like every single head snapped right towards that podium and look directly at monte and i just thought that was so telling at the time I was just like, wow, I thought, like, wow, that's a lot of honesty. You know, I was like, maybe they respect the honesty. Because I think you want to approach these things, especially at the time, you know, my first time around these things, I was like, oh, you know, maybe they respect the, you know, the honesty and seeing it optimistically. But looking back, that probably should have been a sign number one. And I think the vibe around the team, I don't want to make it seem like it was like, you know, hell on earth.

And, like, there was all these horrible things happening all the time. but it just felt very gloomy, if that makes sense. Like it felt as if the team, and I want to say like genuinely the minute the losing started, it felt like there was a level of apathy around the team. And it just like was almost like cancerous were spread throughout. And it just was so interesting to watch because like after a certain point, you could tell, like, the players, like, didn't have anyone to rely on. And it just, it felt like kind of just a sad situation to be around.

I'll never forget, like, that Utah game where, uh, Cade, you know, it's the infamous, like, you know, we're not two and 26 bad, you know? Uh, I'll never forget, like, him walking in. And, like, I just never saw a professional athlete of his stature look so, like, genuinely defeated, like, beyond, like, a level of, like, I lost. It just felt like a level of, like, personal defeat. And I just thought that was so sad. Like, I genuinely felt sad for the Pistons.

And I felt sad, especially for Cade to now, you know, this year where, like, there was, like, there was just not, like, a lot of, also camaraderie last year. It didn't seem like they were necessarily a team on and off the court. Like, it was just a bunch of guys that played basketball together. But this year, I can absolutely tell you, like, from Media Day, I knew, like, the vibe around this team has completely changed. Like, I think they had, the social team had the Pistons players, like, have these disposable cameras that they were bringing around. And, like, guys would, like, come into, like, while we're interviewing one player, another player comes in and, like, and, like, start taking pictures of, like, the press room and, like, of, like, you know, the player. And then, like, they, you know, they're all, like, joking around and stuff. That was just not something.

And it's small, right? like things like this. I think most people might not think anything of, but like it says a lot about like the culture and how the overall vibe and of this team has changed a lot to where like they feel comfortable enough to do these types of things.

And you can tell like they genuinely like each other, which makes honestly a huge difference on the court as well. Yeah, I would imagine. So what do you think? Well, let's talk first about the coaching change. How do you feel Bicker staff does on a team culture? level. I'm very critical of coaches on the court. Same was the case with Dwayne Casey, of course,

whom I took issue with his coaching, particularly on the offensive side. At the same time, as I recognized that he was a very good leader and did a great job of holding a locker room together through a lot of losing. Like, you never heard a thing about players getting unhappy outside of that one instance with Hamidio, which seemed to blow over pretty quickly. So what's your impression so far? I can tell you that the approach he's taken, you don't necessarily even need to be around the team to see it. Because you can see even moments where, like, you know,

I remember it was after Jaded and Ivy scored in that Charlotte game, and they called timeout. He pulled Ivy aside and, like, you know, there was a moment. I think it got posted on Twitter. I want to say like Pistons Talk posted it. And it was like a thing where, like, he pulls him off to the side and they're having a genuine discussion that ends with like a hug, you know? Yeah.

And it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it seems just like a level of patience that he has with, with the players. But I think the biggest thing with him is that he, he, he approaches them as people. Um, and I was talking with Jamel McMillan, who is the Motor City Crews head coach. And, um, it's something that I think they both share. And it's something that like, they, they approach the player. And it's been a lot of talk. of this, especially in the Troy Weaver era, where it was like, you know, we approached, you know,

this team in terms of like roster accumulation of like, you know, we want people, not players, right? And like, that was always what they said. But a lot of things is like what they said and what actually happened were two different things. And not to say that there was ever bad people in the locker room or anything like that, but it just, it didn't seem like they ever took the time to get to know each other as people, you know, like it just, it just felt very transactional. and I can tell you like you can tell J.B. takes the time to get to know these guys. He takes, like, I know they spent some time in the off season just doing like team bonding exercises,

which like sounds silly, but like those are things that like genuinely make a huge difference. Oh yeah. And he just seems like a guy that like really emphasizes the person. And Jamel is like, I brought him up because he's someone that does the same thing. And it showed with the crews last year. And I know like not everybody pays attention to the person. the G League and it's fine. It's its own beast. But I remember being very impressed with just the relationships he had with the players were like, I remember the other was guys like Jared Rodin,

Malcolm Casillon, especially, Tosan and Womond. They would come to him, like in games, like during a free throw. They would go talk to him and like, you know, you could tell it was a productive conversation and they would have nothing but amazing things to say. And I just felt like that was such a contrast to what was happening on the Pistons front, that it almost was like, it felt like a complete culture shock every time I went to Wayne State Fieldhouse. So now where it seems kind of like a synergy, you know, between the two coaches where like this is something that they, they both value a lot. And I think it shows in terms of, you know, the on-court aspect as well. Yeah, that's wonderful to hear. And I neglected to mention this, but Zara covers the crews as well.

They're kicking off their season on Tuesday. So I'm sure to check that out. So, Let's move on to some encore talk. And things, I don't know. I don't know what expectations were. I think coming out of last season, general expectations were, understandably, that, well, this is going to be another bad season. Well, not just last season coming out of four and a half seasons that did not feature a lot of winning. Some do to priorities not being winning and sometimes being to not win.

But I think, understandably last season, which was literally the worst season, any Pistons fan in existence, had lived through. definitely lowered expectations going forward quite a bit. But just speaking generally, what has surprised you so far? And I'd ask as well, you know, what hasn't surprised you, but let's leave that, you know, for a little bit later. So, yeah, how have things gone differently than you expected? Gone differently? I think with J.B., obviously a lot of talk is like, you know, when he came in was like, you know, he's very defensive-minded.

And I thought, I think the word defense has almost become like corporate jargon with the Pistons the last few years. It's a buzzword. It means nothing. Because year in and year out, you would hear how much they emphasize defense in terms of team building and what they want the quote unquote culture to be. And then you just never saw it. Actually, you saw like the antithesis of it. you saw like some of the worst defense in the NBA. And obviously this team isn't like, you know, top 10 or top 15 in defense. But the fact that you have a roster that inherently isn't very, like, strong defensively,

like your two strongest defensive players, or I guess you could say three defensive players would be like on paper, Stuart Holland and a SAR. You don't have a SAR. And then you have Stewart and Holland, first of all, talk about. surprise. I didn't initially expect him to crack the rotation when they drafted him. I thought he would spend time in the G League initially, but I think part of that also has to do with, you know, Asar still not being cleared, but still like the fact that he has come out the gate and genuinely had a positive impact on this team from day one is really impressive. That's a huge surprise of

itself. And that's not because I was never, you know, low on Ron Holland. I was actually very high on him. I just didn't think it would, you know, happen this quickly. And obviously, you can tell he's still raw. And it's ironic you mentioned Hamadu. Because to me, he reminds me a lot of, like, the best of Hamadu in Detroit in terms of, like, role that he has here, where he's really just like the energy, like, defensive pest. And he crashes the boards on offense. He just has the advantage of being, like, three inches taller than Hamidu. But smarter, too.

Yeah. He's a very smart basketball player as well. which for he's 19 right like for a 19 year old it it shows because it's it's not it's still a very young team but like they're not you know 19 20 year old young they're like you know kind of around my age like the 22 23 24 year old age demographics so the fact that he can come in and make a difference is really surprising but back to the defense as a whole like the fact that like every player tries on defense and I can say that confidently like every single player really like makes an effort on defense especially

Ivy I've been impressed with on defense. Guys like that, like even a Tim Hardaway who's not known for his defense, you know, like you can tell he doesn't really take possessions off on defense. I haven't really seen a lot of laziness on defense. So even if you're not defensively, you know, talented, the fact that there's still that emphasis on defense and that you're getting guys like your veterans to buy in on defense is a huge surprise and a huge win for this team thus far. Not to say like their defense is incredible, but

just the want factor is really surprising for me. And I would say that's been like my biggest one thus far. Yeah, I agree. I think that Baker staff has done well at making the roster more than the sum of its parts on defense, which not every coach is necessarily suited to do. I totally agree that defensive personnel is an area in which this team is weak. I feel like Trajan Langdon, and I completely agree with this philosophy, he focused more on acquiring personnel who may not be quite so good on defense, but could allow

the Pistons to finally, for the first time since like 2017 or at least like the first, you know, month and a half of that season run a modern NBA offense, which I think is so critical to player development. So I thought that the Pistons would come in and be, you know, pretty average offense, but pretty bad on defense. And to his credit, you know, like you said, I'd say outside of maybe only Jalen Duren, who's definitely taking some games off, everybody's working hard. And the defense, is actually as of last night's game for what it's worth after only 10 games. Like the 14th ranked defense. Of course, you can get, yeah, with only 10 games under your belt,

you can get blown out in one game, it would be down on like, you know, 20th. But so it doesn't, well, maybe not quite that bad. But yeah, the sample size is relatively limited at this stage. But I completely agree that it's been surprising that the defense has been pretty able, despite playing against some difficult opponents with not so great personnel on the piss and side of the moment. Yeah, they are ranked 22nd in defense at this point. At least, I don't know, I try to get my stuff from cleaning the glass instead because she takes a new account garbage time, but there's still 22nd there too. So that's, you know, that's still impressive. And I think

another person, like specifically on the defensive aspect, like, I mean, he's always had this element of his game, but I feel like you haven't seen him try this much until this year is Cade. where when I initially listed like those, you know, Kate, it was a Stuart Holland Assar. I was like, I feel like I'm doing a disservice by not listing Cade because I think defensively, I think this is probably, honestly, the most impressive part of his game thus far this year to me is that he's really, I feel like, taken a leap in terms of defensive effort because he has the size to match up with like, you know, your wing players.

I think, you know, in Charlotte, like, that's probably like one of the only guards. going to match up with a point guard that's going to match like the size and physicality um that kate has but overall like the fact that he he can switch from you know guarding you know your point guard to and i think he does a really great job of guarding big wings like the way he guarded lebron um on monday was like genuinely so impressive to me though like he held lebron to a pretty poor shooting night um and lebron was passing out of a lot of opportunities i thought that was really impressive as well. Yeah, Cade definitely couldn't be pushed around. A thing with Cade, as a rookie, it looked like he was a little bit slim. I don't get to be anywhere near the team on a regular

basis like you did. I got to sit court side in a couple of games, one was in his rookie season. And the guy didn't look big on TV. He looked very, very hefty in person, and he's quite a bit bulkier now than he was back then. So, yeah, definitely here. I tend to live, excuse me, I tend to listen into the opposing broadcast. I watch on week pass out in Colorado. And you just hear constantly like, you know, this guy's a big body, you know, tough to push around, you know, can take bumps and still score.

So, yeah, in terms of his ability to switch on the bigger players, totally. I mean, LeBron is a big guy, to say, to the least. I mean, not as big as he used to be, but, yeah, big guy. Yeah, he's just, like, in person, like, huge, dude. Like, there's a few players, like, I've met that, like, you know, obviously like our seven footers and like you're that's like wow that's a large individual but i think the outside of taco fall who who i did meet back uh in the motor city cruise like 2021 i want to say 22 um the largest people i have come across are jelan durin who's not even seven foot he's like

six nine six 10 i remember uh first time i met him you know like you did the dapp up and like i for for For context, I'm like 6-2, 6-3. And I have always been made fun of for having large hands. I genuinely got like my entire hand like overlapped by his. Like that was the first time I was like, Jesus. Like this, because it's just like you talk about stature. Like it's just like a large stature. And like LeBron, that was that was different where I was like this dude's like gigantic.

Like he's built like a professional wrestler. It's something that like I feel like TV doesn't really. show enough. Yeah, and this is slimmed down, LeBron. I mean, during his, I mean, it's hard to say about LeBron during his prime, because in some ways, I mean, he's managed to extend his prime into his 40s, which is unbelievable. But during his prime, he may have been as heavy as 280.

Like, the guy, yeah, the guy's huge. Another player who is remarkably bulky, like Isaiah Stewart, seeing him up close, is just like muscles on top of muscles on top of muscles. And that made it all the more remarkable to watch Yokic. just body him. Yokic is incredibly strong, you know, despite how he might look. I mean, anyway, I digress. That was just really remarkable for me.

But I actually forgot how we got in this topic. What were we talking about? We were talking about biggest surprises of the season. Yeah, defense. All right, Cade. So Cade, yeah, being able to hang with larger players. Yeah, I always felt with Cade, I felt like as a rookie, he was a guy who could defend three positions reasonably well and was an average defender, which was fine, which is why

It was so befuddling for me last season when he just started making mistake after mistake after mistake at times during games, you know, generally just failures in coverage. And granted, everybody became dumber last season under that coach and in that situation. I mean, it was remarkably how headless everybody became. But I feel like he's been quite a bit better. I think he does still, his biggest weakness is that he can get caught ball watching and leave his guy open on the perimeter, like what we saw with Cam Johnson, for example, like in the first quarter against the Nets.

but you know I agree he's been largely solid I feel like he's gotten better as the young season has gone on so yeah yeah with that game winning block yesterday as well like the the read he had from yeah from switching off of guarding trade to to making that read that he knew he was going to dump it off to Okongwu in the paint I was like that it was such a improbable block that he was able to do I thought that was so impressive yeah that was saved a lot of broken heart cards too. I can only imagine how all this might have, you know, might have felt to lose by way of two buzzer beating a row. Yeah, exactly right at the buzzer. Yeah, that's watching the Hornets game, man, watching that just happened on the basis of a failed box out. That was, that was tough,

especially for a guy who I think shouldn't have been on the floor in the first place in Malik Beasley, but that's a different topic. Yeah. Yeah. Who else, anybody else on the roster who's been a surprise for you? Like, Jaden Ivy, did you expect him to make this leap? Yeah, that's also a big surprise. I feel like I almost didn't mention him at first because I feel like it goes without saying at this point, but I feel like I should give him his flowers outwardly a little bit more. I think, and this is going to sound silly, but I remember going to open practice back in like, I think this was like start of October. And I saw Ivy, like the way he was hit, like he was, I don't think he missed a single corner three all game.

And he was getting given, like, grenades, you know, end of the, end of the shot clock. Like, shots that typically, like, he wouldn't make in any point in his career. It looked confident, and he was making every single one. And then I think the way I saw him driving to the basket, a lot of times in the first couple of years, even, like, you know, with everything last year, like, a lot of it wasn't his fault. And I really feel like the fact that he's at this point now where he's genuinely, like, become, a second option for this team, despite losing a year of development, is incredible.

But even last year in the minutes he was given, you could tell when he drove to the paint, a lot of times there was no plan. Like it was very reckless in the way that he drove. And it's almost like he has this kinetic energy that, like, he just drives with that, like, you know, works in his favor. But at the same time, like, when he drives, it turned into a lot of turnovers. it was like he's he's making a jump pass that like he clearly didn't plan on making and now like durin wasn't ready for it so it turns into a turnover um things like that i thought were his biggest

weakness was like when he drives he also wasn't going up strong enough i felt a lot of times his physicality this year has been so impressive and that was something i could tell literally from open practice was like the level of tenacity he drives with um with the added strength that he has gotten because we talk about physicality and, like, you know, stature and everything like that. He's gotten a lot bigger since last season. Like, genuinely, like, his shoulders, and this is, I don't know, irrelevant to some people, but, like, his shoulders last year were, like, you know, like, he's always been a scrawnier player, typically, but, like, this year, like, I remember he came in and, like, his shoulders were, like, wide.

I was like, he's built more like Russell Westbrook now. And I would say before, he was built more like a John Morant. and the fact that the fact that he was able to maintain his speed while also now adding this physicality and the strength to his game is is so impressive and I think the level of control he has coming into the paint now is has been really surprising and the fact that like his three point this three point shot has made such a leap and you know some some of that can go to Fred Vincent and I think some of that's probably just you know working on his own because Vincent only got here in like June, July.

Oh, June, I think, yeah. Yeah, it was June. Yeah, so it's just the fact, yeah, because he got here before J.B. did. I forgot about that. Because I remember the people thought that was going to mean Monty was staying, and I just had to stay quiet. I don't know. But, yeah, I just, I remember that, like, he's just been working off-season with Fred. And then I just think part of this is a natural development.

And I'm just honestly as a viewer, as a reporter, and just as someone who's watched him since Purdue, I feel proud. I feel proud of like the leap he's making. And he's generally become like one of my favorite players to watch just in the NBA. Yeah, it's interesting what you said about, I like your point about how he's managed to add that size and still, you know, maintain that incredible athleticism of his. I mean, sometimes I'll be watching him play and it's just like, goodness, I wish I could run that fast. It's like that must be amazing to basically like, you know, go-cheetah mode, basically just be able to glide down the court at incredible speed. But I feel like he's actually managed to improve as a vertical athlete

because Ivy has always been, like, there are always a lot of comparisons between he and John Morant. And in terms of, like, nobody matches John in terms of, like, just overall athleticism in the league, in my opinion. But whereas Ivy was very close in terms of his burst. and his top speed, it was the vertical athleticism, but I felt like that's comparison often fell apart, because Ivy would often not really get up too high when he was attacking the room,

and this season he is. But yeah, I agree just he's grown a great deal. I always felt like Ivy was going to be a guy who was going to come online in his third season. Nonetheless, I mean, given what happened last season, I think, you know, this is basically his second season, almost, you know, basically having an entire season where you have to work against your own coach.

But yeah, I completely agree about playing more under control. His finesse has really impressed me. Right now, I'd say he's, in terms of all-around scoring, like he has a lesser creation mode than Cade, but I'd say he's been the most important scorer so far. It's very close. He's averaging about 20 points per game on 48, 40 shooting at this point. The shot for him has come along so much.

And, yeah, it's just been great to watch. I knew I was going to say something else. but it just basically just comes down to that. I think we're seeing a lot of growth from him. Oh, yeah, I was just going to echo what you said about his work ethic. I think something that's persistently underappreciated in some players. Isaiah Stewart is another one of them is just, it's a real force multiplier when you have a guy who has an incredible work ethic.

And that's something that's, yeah, it should be. That was something that, exactly. That was something that I think J.B. had mentioned at the beginning of the season was like, they had to get him out of the gym. And I think that really goes to show like how much, you know, he's he's been, he's been working. And I feel like he won't come out and say this, but I feel like there has to be a level of almost spite that is driving him. You know, like we're last season, obviously like it goes without saying that like he had to, he had to overcome a lot, right? Oh, yes.

And to now taking that as motivation to having the season he's having. I feel like there's a level of spite that's motivating him. And I feel like spite is a hell of a motivator. Like that really gets you a lot of places. And I think he plays with that. And I think it's been, it's been really interesting to watch. Yeah. He's definitely playing with an edge.

And yeah, I'd call what happened to him last season, a basketball injustice. I can't ambiguously. I can't even imagine what it must have been like for him. Yeah, man. Yeah, it's not a good time. Yeah, another surprise for me, I don't think it's going to last necessarily, because nobody keeps shooting this well. But Tim Hardaway, Jr., whom I had pretty significant reservations about that trade, both because I wasn't prepared for the business to give up my Grimes quite that quickly, but also that Hardaway Jr. was coming off of a pretty bad season with Dallas, I felt like the draft compensation wasn't so good. But to this point, seems like he's been a very steadying vet.

He's been considerably less bad on defense than I expected. And actually, against Brooklyn, played some pretty good ball denial defense against Cam Thomas. And, of course, he's been one of the league's elite play finishes to this stage. How have you felt about his play so far? I've been very impressed with Tim Hardaway, especially because of his preseason performance. I thought that was a little worrying initially. And I guess it goes to show that not everybody, you know, maybe takes preseason as seriously.

Just because I feel like in preseason, it wasn't even the fact that the shot wasn't falling. It was the shot selection. Like I felt like in preseason, like he would get the ball. And then all of a sudden, like I'm seeing Tim Hardaway ISOs. And I was like, I just, that's not, you know, a recipe for winning basketball for the pistons, right? It's like, you know, if he's getting the ball in his hands and putting it on the court. Because that's someone who you just want catching the ball and shooting the ball, pretty much. And I've been so impressed with the level of consistency he's played with thus far.

It feels like at this point, like he's genuinely reliable for them. And he's been probably the most reliable vet on a night-to-night basis in terms of three-point shooting, even like a Fontechio. It wasn't until the last couple of games where he's really seen much of anything fall. And Tobias as well, where, you know, last night he started seeing the corners. three fall a lot more and that genuinely made a huge difference in them really taking that huge first quarter lead but i think that tim hardaway has been like a guy that he's kind of he's gotten to replicate his best moments in dallas so far with with the pistons and i obviously i think it's a silly comparison like the luca and kate thing but i i do think he can play a similar like pretty

much almost exact same role that he played in Dallas because of how Cade plays. And I feel like you can see in real time that Cade is getting used to having guys that he can kick out to, like a Tim Hardaway, who he trusts to knock down the three. And it's been very impressive. And I've also just been very impressed with like he doesn't take every shot that's offered to him. Yeah. Because that was something that was happening in preseason that I was a little bit worried about because I was like, if that's how it's going to be, then like it felt like the level of like kind of like playing for yourself that I felt like was happening a lot last year because, you know, when things get bad, you stop playing for your team and you start just playing for your stats

and thinking about your next contract and things like that. But this year, I've just, I've been very impressed, like in the regular season with, he passes up some shots to get a better look. And it's the overall like ball movement that I've been seeing from this team has been great. Like I remember there was a place Isaiah Stewart made last night. I think it, he might have found Tobias. I can't remember exactly who he found. Yeah, off the roll. Yeah, that's, yeah, exactly.

Yeah, that was Tobias early in the game. Yeah. And he never would have made that. Yeah, he never would have made that pass last year. I mean, I was actually pretty impressed. Exactly. Exactly. And the fact that you're seeing a guy like Tim Hardaway make those types of passes as well,

obviously he's not rolling a lot of times, but they do use him occasionally as a screener, which I thought has been really creative because I guess it may be not that creative in terms of just the general NBA, but, you know, for Piston's offenses. Oh, yes. probably the most creative offense I've seen this far. Oh, yeah, no doubt. But yeah, he's been super consistent. I think, like, more than anything, like, that's been super surprising for me.

Because obviously, every shooter you can't expect to have a great night every night. But for what it's worth, he's been great for them. Yeah, I think he's been very good. And I completely agree with what you said about him being responsible in his shot selection. I think J.B. is giving a lot of flexibility and just basically carte blanche on offense to his veterans. So Hardaway and Beasley and Tobias, and I feel like Hardaway's been very responsible with it. You occasionally see the turnarounds pull up, you know, long mid-range jumper he attempted yesterday, but does have been pretty rare.

I feel like Beasley has been a lot less responsible, unfortunately, but yeah, Hardaway, I feel like he's been a very good teammate, and he hasn't taken any time off on defense at all. He's been he's been a hard worker there, maybe once too. I mean, I would hope it's just because he wants to. to put forth a professional level of effort, but I imagine all the talk last season about his awful defense probably didn't sit too well with him. Yeah, I can't imagine it did.

Yeah, so let's move on to a final, you know, is this a surprise to you that the Pistons are four and six after ten games, despite a pretty darn difficult schedule? Honestly, I, despite how bad last season was, and the season before that, and before that, I had a level and I think you know I generally when it comes to things like I want to hope for the best even like covering this team because obviously I grew up a Pistons fan right like it's no secret but I still try to remain pretty objective here and I feel like going into last season you had some

level of like oh you know maybe Monty makes a difference and you know a fully healthy Cade year but You knew that team, like on paper the roster, especially with the lack of talent accumulation they made that summer. Things could have, no one would have expected to be that bad. But no, I don't think anyone was really expecting them to be world beaters. But this year, I did expect them to be in like the 30s when it comes to the wind range. And I will say like initially I thought they would start out a lot worse. I thought this would be kind of similar to that 22, 23. Orlando team where they kind of started out really rough and then they found their way like closer to

you know the midseason point where like they end out really strong um but this team has pretty much come out swinging and i i think that's a testament to jb um i think that's a testament to just this team overall like the guys have really bought in and i i think their level of compete like with the team like Indiana night one. The fact that they took a Cleveland team that's now 10 and 0, they took a team like that to the wire, like despite starting out pretty poorly in that game, the fact that they, you know, were able to come in and make that like a serious game has been really impressive. Like the only game I can say thus far that they really just looked out of their depths in was that New York game. Yeah, let's forget about that one.

That was terrible. Yeah, which yeah, that was that was reminiscent of the Pistons of last season. But as a whole like their level of of competitiveness has really impressed me and I didn't know if like initially they would come out this strong and they have and I think yeah I'm surprised and I think it's even more surprising when you think about the fact that they could very much realistically be like six and they should be six and four right now that Charlotte game they they should have won right like that that came down it came down to the last second but they got they got careless um in that game and I think that's ultimately what cost them. And I think like kind of the same thing for the Indiana game where they were leading for a good

amount and then, you know, got careless in the fourth quarter. Like their fourth quarter play has not been good, but it has improved since that first win with Philadelphia. But if they didn't start out as like the worst fourth quarter team in basketball, this team would be six and four. And you could even make an argument for seven and three, which unbelievable, right, compared to last season where you didn't see your fourth win. I think it was like end of January almost where they didn't see the fourth win. It's very impressive and I am absolutely surprised.

Yeah, me too. And it's also come in the midst of some underperformance, particularly by Tobias Harris, who remains a pretty important score for this team. Of course, we've seen Tim Hardaway shoot close to 50% from three and that's not going to last. But on the other hand, again, Fontakio, who is expected, I think, to come in and play a pretty significant role off the bench. It's been awful so far. I don't think that's going to last. I mean, he's got a long track record as a shooter, at least. And Beasley is also outside of those first three games.

And last night, for the most part, been, he's been bad for about more than half of the season. I mean, he's at this point shooting about 35% from the field and 33% from three. So, yeah, so this is all come in the midst of some underperformance by, you know, what we're expected to be, pretty solid role players. So yeah, it's been a surprise for me too. And the Pistons have been pretty fortunate in terms of health outside of ASAR, of course. And, you know, they've lost one and one and a half games of Jalen Duren. And, you know, hopefully it continues. I think depth is one of the, you know, is really one of the vulnerabilities of this team. But yeah, for me, especially with 10, you've got 10 games coming up. It's going to be a relatively easy schedule. So it'd be interesting

to see where they go. So only got a little bit more time here. But let's briefly touch on on probably the primary areas of improvement you'd like to see, like the areas in which the pistons really need to improve. Well, it's the elephant in the room is the turnovers, right? Yes. That is quite literally their Achilles heel. That is the number one thing keeping them from being six and four right now, like being over 500, which is ridiculous that 10 games in, we can say the pistons should be over 500.

It is. But they should be, and it's because of their turnovers. And I think they get lost in the passing lanes a lot of times. And I think part of that is the fact that they have a lot of guys who want to make jump passes. And I think as fun as they are to watch, right? Like, everybody wants to make a flashy pass here and there. It is not a reliable way to distribute the basketball on offense because you telegraph it, like so, so, so clearly. And, you know, Ivy has a tendency of doing that, although his turnovers haven't really been

as bad as Cade. And I am one to sing Cade's praises anytime, right? Like I, I, I, since OSU, like, before he was ever a Piston, I have been saying, like, he will be one of the five to ten best players in the NBA, like, in his career. He will end up being, like, one of those guys. But the turnovers are a serious issue. And he's, he's a piece. part of that but I think you know even like a Tim Hardaway as good as he's been like you know he's had some turnovers. Malik Beasley's had some turnovers pretty much anybody on this team has has turned the ball over Tobias also I think which which you talk about you know maybe a negative surprise was like you know I just I didn't expect him to turn the ball over as much as he did I remember the I think the Indiana game he had a couple

it's just it's something that I think they can refine by the end of the season obviously you're still going to turn the all over no matter what, especially as a young team. But I think a lot of them are careless. And I think a lot of them happen when they go on runs, because this is a team that gets very excited about winning, which they should be, right? Like they didn't do a lot of winning last season, and you can tell like they really want to go out and make a statement this season, which is great. But they get so excited that they start making careless passes, and that's when other teams start going on runs. And then on the other side of things is when other teams start going on runs, a lot more careless basketball happens, which leads to a lot more turnovers, hence that, you know, Atlanta

comeback yesterday, um, where Atlanta, they were down, what, at like, by 21, 22 points at one point. 24. 24. Yeah, there we go. 24 points. They were down by 24 points. And the pistons won by the skin of their teeth. And it was legitimately because of turnovers. There was poor shooting as well. but the turnovers are the number one thing killing them right now. Yeah, it's been ugly to watch, like genuinely painful to watch at times. And of course, the primary culprits are unsurprising with the handlers, Cade and Ivy, who are both very young. Cade has gotten a lot of shade for them.

I mean, the thing is, Kate even playing last season under some of the worst coaching of all time and in a lineup that had far less spacing, was considerably less turnover prone. So I definitely disagree when it said that, oh, this just Cade is super turnover prone and this is just how he is because you know is it about like 2.2 assist turnover last season which isn't great but not awful and it's just been a real struggle this season so yeah i i agree that that's that's the primary primary issue that needs to be addressed now if if j bicker staff was to somehow get a hold of your cell number and call you

after the show and said you know and say czaric how do we fix this what would you tell him it's tough because this team almost kind of reminds me of those late 2010s uh sacramento Kings a little bit because they really like to play in transition a lot. And playing in transition leads to a lot of silly mistakes. So it's almost an element of I don't want them to, you know, slow it down, but they kind of have to a little bit. Like I think there was quite a few times, like even yesterday, I want to say it was Tim Hardaway, who made like a full court pass to Tobias after an Atlanta turnover. And it went into like the third row. I think if they just got a little more disciplined in their transition offense,

like, when you get a fast break opportunity, maybe let's slow it down just a little bit, right? Like, obviously for a guy like Ivy, I'll never tell him that. But like when a Ron Holland, I think honestly, like, the Holland potential game winner in Charlotte, as great as that was, it was completely out of control. Absolutely. me. Yeah, it was like it was a great play defensively, but like they get completely out of control. If there's a way to slow it down in their fast break offense, that's the key, right? Like I just, I personally, I would tell J.B. Hey, man, I don't know. I actually don't know how you, how you slow that down.

But it's just a thing that they obviously need to clean up. And I think once they do that, is when, you know, you can solidly say this is a team that should be in the play in race, which, again, ridiculous in the beginning of the season. But at this point, you know, there's seventh in the east. The east as a whole is not very good. I think it's a realistic expectation at this point. And I think, you know, if they can just refine that turnover issue, and obviously you've had poor shooting throughout with Tobias, with Beasley, with Fontechio,

Not really with Tim Hardaway, but those are your three, yeah, those are your three big shooters. Once that starts getting going and you turn down the turnovers a little bit is when I can confidently say like this team has really, you know, turned the page. For me, aside from that, of course, it's by far the biggest problem at the moment. The area of improvement I'd like to see, and this is part coaching, you know, part of the player's side, is utilization of the centers, which I feel like has been very, weird so far. And not all just utilization. Jalen Duren, of course, just has to come and bring it every night. And I mean, I feel like we see it sometimes and not at other times. And he's just, that's got to be an expectation. But his defense, of course, remains a question mark. But in terms of center utilization, you've got Stewart being used as a role man, which is not really what

is suited to and his shooting not really being utilized. And even Duren, when he's on the court, is seeing drastically lesser usage than he did last season. I mean, he is shooting like 80, you know, plus percent from the floor, but it's on very low volume. I mean, how have you felt about how the centers have been used so far and how they played? Yeah, during, you don't want to talk about negative surprise. I mean, I did expect him to come out and have a better season than he's had thus far, especially defensively. Like, I think that Lakers game, he did make improvements, and it's unfortunate,

like the very next game in Charlotte is, you know, he goes down. But I thought he held his own. in the paint for, you know, for what you could against Anthony Davis, because, you know, Davis still had a monster game, but like, you know, it's Anthony Davis at the end of the day. Only so much you can do. He's amazing. Right.

Yeah. And the season he's having is incredible, despite, you know, the Lakers kind of being on the downward side of things since starting out strong. But, you know, that's the Lakers. I just, I think that Duren is someone that, it's, it's tough for me to say, like, in terms of utilization, because, like, there's only. so much you can do when he's kind of a defensive liability, which he's been for most of the season. Offensively, like, I think the two-man game with him and Cade is as good as it's been,

but I think there's been limited opportunities to use his playmaking, which I think is a strong aspect of his game that makes him, you know, a unique asset for the Pistons. I think he is a unique case because I can't say much of my. issues with his season thus far are because of his utilization. It's more so like you got to see it more from him. He has to show a little more want. And I think he had mentioned last season, like, you know, like everyone thought, you know, the ankle injuries, like he was trying to preserve himself on defense. But he came out and said like, you know, that was just, you know, I had to lock in more. Oh, it was bad. Yeah. He barely tried for almost the season. Yeah. And I just, I don't know

what it'll take for him to, to really, you know, come in. and take that side of the basketball game a little more seriously, but that's something that's really got to improve. In terms of utilization, I think my issue has been the late game scenarios. Like, I think yesterday, Stuart, you know, he was in a good position to guard tray, but they should have been more prepared for the dump off to Enoch, which is exactly what happened in Charlotte. Granted, they didn't run any bigs out there.

in that scenario, which, you know, talk about utilization. Like, that was head scratching to me. Oh, absolutely. But I think, you know, Stewart, again, you talk about utilization. Like, he's been great, but I don't know how much of that I can credit to how he's been used versus just kind of letting him play the center position again, you know, because like he now, the center position is he'll come out and tell you, like, that's where he's most comfortable, right?

Like, they kind of forced him to stretch out to be a, uh, a, uh, a, uh, a, uh, he's kind of forced him to stretch out to to be a four last season. And you talk about, like, how he's been used, the lack of, you know, three-point attempts on his half, head scratching thus far. And J.D. says, you know, that's on him. So, okay, great. Let's maybe, you know, stretch the floor,

get him more opportunities to show that part of his game. Because, you know, like, what was the point of those years of development with his three-point shot? Where, like, you know, last season, he was getting pre-point. decent volume. And now it's like it's it's almost like a non-factor in his game. Like I think it's it's extremely confusing. And you saw like when Paul Reed, you know, the minutes he's played this far.

Like yesterday, he stretched out to the three point line and hit a corner three at some point. So it's just, it's weird to me that Isaiah Stewart hasn't been used as the stretch five. And he's really just been like kind of a back to the basket big on offense like a screen and roll instead of a screen and pop, like, that's been very confusing to me. I think Paul Reed thus far has been used fairly well. I think his offensive skill set is not necessarily, like, as extensive as Isaiah Stewart in terms of, you know, creation for others.

But I think, like, the fact that, like, you know, you can get him in some mid-range opportunities and let him kind of, I think Paul Reed used as a role man makes a lot more sense than Isaiah Stewart. Not to say he can't be, but, like, You know, one of Stewart's, he's, Stuart, and this is just me, since his rookie year. Like, you know, you always have your personal favorites when you watch a team. Like, Isaiah Stewart is just like the definition of Pistons basketball, right? Like, that's just like, that's a guy that I've always enjoyed watching.

But me knowing that, I would never put him consistently, like, almost exclusively in a screen and roll situation where, you know, he's in a situation where he has to go up against, like, Anthony Davis and outjump him. because that's just not his game, right? Like, as an undersized big, he also isn't extremely, he's not a very vertical athlete. Like, his skill set is outmuscling you, but it's not, you know, out jumping you. And that forces him to kind of take those, like, hook shots or those kind of, like, wild layups that he takes sometimes that typically rim out. So I just, I feel like utilizing him as a stretch five a little bit more will help them a lot on offense. Yeah, I agree.

All right. So I think we're just about reaching the end of our time here. So any closing thoughts? Well, I feel like I talked everyone's year off a little bit. But I really appreciate you having me on here. I get a bit yappish. Oh, man, that was great. Yeah, I did. I love having you. But yeah, this is a great time. Yeah, for me too. Now, I really appreciate your passion. I loved having you on the show. And believe me, as somebody who typically solo records and spend some. 45 minutes to an hour talking straight. This was very refreshing. So thank you. All right, folks, so this was Zarek Xavier. You can find him on Twitter at Zarek Xavier. He writes for bullyball.net.

So check it up. It's a pleasure to have you on the show. And as always, folks, I want to thank you all for listening. Hope you doing great. Catch you in next week's episode.