Driving to the Basket: A Detroit Pistons Podcast - Episode 39: Trade deadline recap

Episode Date: March 26, 2021

This episode recaps and discusses what the Pistons did (and did not do) at the trade deadline, speaks on trades made elsewhere in the league and the implications those could have for the Pistons in the race to the bottom of the standings, goes off on some tangents, and ends with some talk on Hamidou Diallo ahead of his probable Pistons debut on Friday.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Driving to the Baskets, post-trade deadline edition. We're going to this about nine hours past the NBA trade deadline, which was at 3 p.m. Eastern on the 25th. So this actually turned out to be the busiest deadline day in NBA history. 17 trades involving 23 teams and 45 players. The Pistons, of course, only involved in one of those trades. that was Dilanwrights to the Sacramento Kings for point guard Corey Joseph, 2021 second round pick from the Lakers and 2024 second round pick from the Sacramento Kings. So let's just dive straight into it.

Dante, your thoughts on the trade. Well, I think, yeah, there are a couple different ways that I could tackle my thoughts about this. We could talk about it in a vacuum or we could talk about it as part of the larger, like the grand scheme of things. So I'll start with just the trade itself. I was a fan of it. Corey Joseph, obviously nothing special. I think he was having probably his worst year statistically, but most of his money isn't guaranteed next year,

so he'll just be waived no problem, probably just a throw-in. I'd be surprised if he plays at all. And then as far as the two second-round picks are concerned, one is this year, right? I know it's the Lakers pick, but we still secured one, and now the Pistons have got,

I believe it's three second-round picks this year. And, you know, we've discussed second round picks a little bit on this podcast before. And people discuss them as, oh, you know, they don't really matter. You can buy them. You can sell them. It is what it is. But I sort of view second round picks as, and I think you guys will agree with me, sort of a mechanism, right, through which you can facilitate trades. So more often than not, right, rather than buying a player out, you might be offered some kind of a second round pick and trade them to that team that's offering them.

And so in that way, second round picks are pretty useful. it's always nice to have them. So to get them for someone like Dilan Wright, who I talked about him before, I never thought he was all that great. He had a good three, four game stretch. But at the end of the day, he was playing good basketball sometimes. He was maybe helping us win games that we really ought not to be winning. And so overall, yeah, it's pretty good.

And probably my favorite part of this trade, I would imagine most Pistons fans are pretty excited about this. It shows that Weaver has the right idea. when it comes to the guardroom. And so Dennis Smith, Jr., Sabin Lee, Killian Hayes when he returns, which will hopefully be shortly. And, of course, Hamidio Diallo now,

those are the right now, that's the future of your guardroom. And so they're going to get a chance to shine, right? Because DeLon was really eating up a lot of minutes, and now he's no longer here. So this is it for Dennis Smith, Jr., we're going to toss you out there. I'd imagine he'd be the starter, and we'll see what he's got. And then Sabin Lee, you're going to get a bigger role.

And Killian, whether it's off the bench or starting, He's going to get a big role as well. So overall, I'm a fan of the trade. The compensation is what it is, probably the best that we could get. But what it means for the future of the young guards on this team, that's why I'm a fan of it. So if I had to give it an instant grade, probably a B. I'm curious to know what your guys' thoughts are.

But yeah, it's a B from me. Yeah, I 100% agree with you, Dante. For me, the most exciting part is certainly what it signals. I don't know if this is the best trade available for Dilan, but the fact that we took back Corey Joseph not playing well at all this year he's not going to contribute to wins the way the Dilan was and then two second round picks

that's looking to the future that signals to me that Troy Weaver is committing a little bit more to the rebuild I think there were so many games that were like a little too close and then some of them that we actually won and when the margin of error is that thin getting rid of what is ended up being our best point guard is going to make you significantly worse

just the nature of the role that he played if Dilan is playing well, and he did play well, he was just a very steady presence. I think that was hurting the pistons in terms of like the tank race. So I'm really, really happy that Troy Weaver brought back a player who's not going to contribute to wins. I don't think Cory Joseph is a very good player. And yeah, like you said, this is a guy who was averaging 30 minutes a game before. So now we have to fill in those minutes. I think Dennis Smith Jr. and Nass Sabin Lee, who got his minutes cut a little bit, are going to get some of that.

and then we'll see what Corey Joseph gets. That's another guy that Casey coached in the past, so I don't know how they're going to divvy that up. But I was really happy with that. And then as far as second rounders, yep, three of them this year. Maybe that's something that you can package down the line for like a late first. I don't know what we were going to want to do with that, but it's a good thing to have.

They're tools. Yeah, they're tools in your tool belt, right? So, yeah, I agree with you. I'm with you. Totally with you. What do you think, Mike? I'd grade the trade as, On paper, pretty unremarkable.

I would suspect, I mean, I'd suspect that there are two things that went into it. Number one, the desire to get more assets and to restock on second round picks down the line because the pistons are without them, I believe, from 2024 to 2027. For what a little that's worth. But also just to make the team worse, it's nice. I believe that we verse cognizant of the fact that you have to watch yourself in the tank race here. It's very, very, very, I'll repeat. I've said this before, extremely important to this rebuild.

Essential, really, that the Pistons get a high pick this season. And of course, you're not guaranteed. Well, put it this way, if you're the worst team in the week, you're guaranteed a top five-five pick. And this is a five-deep draft, though increasingly it's looking like it's really strongest in the top three with Mobley, Cunningham, and Green. But it's just important to finish low, and there are some teams that are on the fall, so to speak, like the magic.

We'll talk about that later. They were on the fall already before they basically got to the first. roster today. So I appreciate it in the capacity of makes the team worse, certainly. Dennis Mett Jr. is nothing special. Saban Lee's not ready. He needs to be able to play off the ball and he just can't do that right now. I think that's, oh, yeah, I'll go on to Cory Joseph a bit. So, yeah, making the team worse, great, getting some additional assets, great. The Pistons do have three picks now. They have Charlotte's pick, that of Toronto, which they got in the trade for Bruce Brown from the Nets and then the Lakers.

So I believe you'll see, you might see the Hornets fall a little bit just because Lamello is out and he was probably tied with, I mean, who knows, maybe I'll get castigated by Hornets fans for saying this because honestly I'm not super familiar with the situation. From what I can perceive, he was one of the most important players of that team along, you know, the two most important guys, it seems to be he and Rozier, but that guy, whatever. In any event, you could see them fall a little bit. They were already a negative point differential team.

Only by about somewhere in the area of negative one, I think. But you might see them fall. Just remember that, like, the 10th seed gets into the plan tournament. So, even if they, yeah, so that could wind up being a decent pick. The Raptors pick could wind up being a decent pick. That'll probably fall in the 30s. somewhere. Though who knows, maybe they could turn it around.

And the Lakers, maybe you'll drop into the 40 somewhere. I have to be playing without LeBron for the next four to six weeks. And Anthony Davis, I don't think his timetable is quite certain yet. And I don't think the Lakers really care because as long as they get LeBron and Anthony Davis back, it's fine if they're the 8 seed. So it's nice to have those picks. Second round picks absolutely not useless. Yeah, it's not super common that they turn into a good rotation player. But it's like you said, Dante, there are definitely.

definitely good for trades. Absolutely useful for trades. Oh yeah. Yeah. And it's sort of a restocking at the cupboard as well, right? Because Mike, I think you just said this. Or it might have been Tommy or maybe you both said it because it's very apparent. Stan Van Gundy used to throw away second round picks like they were just absolutely nothing. Like the guy, the guy tossed a second for Jamir Nelson. Oh, that was a pick swap. But yeah, that'll that's. But it's, he didn't value them, right? It's in 2022. I think the pistons will be swapping with the Bulls in 2022. Absolutely great. he didn't value them. He also didn't value his second round picks. He didn't bother a Spencer Demwitty.

He drafted Darren Hilliard, who was a bad pick and cast him away after about a season and a half. Two seasons, I think, but the guy didn't really play a tremendous amount. He drafted Michael Gabinaget was like 24, and he only lasted a season before Van Gundy bought him out of his second season. It was only 500K in dead cap. But, yeah, I mean, second round picks have grown increasingly

valuable as a means, as a straight. pieces and also for guys on flexible contracts because you can you're not bound to the first round pick rule so so back to it yeah so i'm satisfied with the trade uh this is just kind of unremarkable as far as the return goes it's fine getting i would say that that just getting rid of delana making the team worse down the stretch is the most important part of this trade so if we had to grade it sure i'll give it a b plus whatever but cori joseph i think he'll play if he's on the team there's maybe an outside chance that he gets bought out,

but I doubt it. I don't think they'd do that. As a veteran presence, he was apparently useful on the Kings. Tyrese Halliburton said that Joseph was like a brother to him, like an older brother. Dearon Fox praised him for

the work that he did with Corey Joseph on his own ball defense. The guy's captain of a Canadian basketball team for whatever was captain. I don't know if he still is for whatever that's worth. But apparently he's a good presence. He's also a Casey vet. He played for two seasons under Casey.

It seems to be exactly the kind of guy Casey likes hardworking, very defense-focused. So he'll be on the roster, whether he starts or not, as anybody's guess. But I'd be very surprised if he didn't start. Excuse me, if he didn't play. Yeah, he hasn't been doing too well this season. He really hasn't been very good at all since he was traded from the Raptors. And he's always been kind of like a single-digit scoring guy. It actually has always been a single-digit scoring guy in terms of averages.

So what are you getting from him? Getting a guy who might be able to provide some leadership in the locker. He's only 29. He's a bad shooter. He's 32% catch and shoot shooter. He's most always struggle to actually space the floor. And he's a, you know, a decent passer, nothing special. Pretty turnover prone.

And, yeah, there's nothing special about the guy, nothing at all. Even if he does play, I don't think he's really going to help the pistons. But I think the case he will look to him as a sort of mentor. mentor figure two degree and, yeah, I think he likes Joseph. And if you have these veterans on the team and they have a good place, you know, a valuable place in the rotation, they're going to play. So, yeah, that's what I think about the trade. It's good.

And in Corey Joseph, like you said, only about two and a half million guaranteed next season. He's probably off the team. You know, you just do to see what did cap. So, yeah, anything else you guys want to add about the. right trade um no i mean i i think we i think we covered it generally between the three of us yeah we touched on it makes the team worse um shows a good direction as far as you know weaver's very cognizant of the fact that this team is um he's cognizant of the position that this team is in and yeah a little cherry on top it's restocking a cupboard that stan van gundt just absolutely cleared out for no

apparent reason so we've cleared it out too wever i mean in the canara trade gave it for a second round picks. I'll be honest, I forgot about that. I guess I consider clearing it out, trading those seconds for absolutely nothing. And I never would have guessed that I would have brought up Jamir Nelson twice in one podcast, but like what was that? Yeah. He traded, yeah, he traded, as a pick swap with the Bulls for next season. He also traded away a pick that the Pistons had in, I believe in 2022 also in order to bring in James Ennis. Oh, yeah. I remember that. Yeah, this is what happens when a desperate general manager is trying to, who is also the coach, just trying to save his job.

It's very dangerous. The responsibility is to give somebody a... Yeah, and this is why you don't put executives in, you know, and this is maybe just a more general philosophy, but it's like, it's very, very difficult to put executives into a, you know, when this year you're done type of situation because if it gets to that point, you probably should have parted ways with them the year prior because of desperate GM, yeah, they're like a wounded, cornered animal.

They'll do whatever it takes to survive, even if it's at the expense of the team. So, or the team's future, I should say. Absolutely. There's this funny link between Joe Dumars who did the same thing, of course, by trading away Brandon Knight and Chris Middleton, who was then largely unknown, but was promising, for Brandon Jennings and signed Josh Smith. Oh, yeah, and he also, he traded away Ben Gordon with a first round pick in order to clear the space to sign Josh Smith to the largest creation contract in team history. A plus. Absolutely, wonderful. In any event, yeah, he brought on, Jennings, who was a chucker at the time, and who was a chucker throughout the vast majority of his tenure with the Pistons.

He had, like, that one good month after Smith was showing the door, but he was quite bad with the pistons, whatever the case. So he traded away, he traded for Jennings as part of a panic move to save his job. And then Stan Van Gundy traded Jennings. It was Jennings and Elias over expiring contracts to the magic for Tobias Harris. That was a good trade, of course. But, yeah, so that Jennings trade got him Harris, whom. he subsequently sent over in a terrible trade for Blake Griffin in an effort to save his job. So fantastic people in the Pistons had employed.

Yeah, I know I could criticize we were quite a bit earlier in the season, it was just primarily because I was very alarmed at what was going on. But he's, I'll give him kudos. The first year is, I think, actually gone pretty well. Of course, it will be determined where the Pistons finish and how they draft. So next up, the only other two guys who were really identified in trade rumors were Wayne Ellington, who was actually, according to the Detroit sources, it was deemed the most likely to be traded. And he didn't go anywhere.

And then Mason Plumley, who was thought of as maybe, you know, there was some chatter around him, I think particularly surrounding the Brooklyn Nets, but not very much. and he of course will will stay with the Pistons yeah do you guys have any thoughts about those two not going anywhere I have a lot of thoughts

go ahead far away yeah so I think we all as Pistons fans we broke this down into three separate parts right it was what's going to happen with Dilan what's going to happen with Wayne

what's going to happen with Mason we just talked about Dilan obviously he's gone and that's good But, yeah, it was pretty disappointed that Wayne and Mason remained on the roster. So as far as Wayne is concerned, there was a lot of smoke, like a lot of smoke in recent days, weeks, whatever you want to call it. We all thought Wayne was going to get traded. I thought for sure he was going to be, I would probably have put it at a 99.9% chance.

So I was pretty stunned that he's still on the roster. And given the fact that it doesn't sound like he's going to be bought out, it left me pretty frustrated. I think that Wayne doesn't really have a place on this team. When he's hot, you know, he causes us to win and none of us really want to win off the back of Wayne Ellington. And then most often he's not hot and he's too old, really, to be athletic to play defense to really contribute in any meaningful way. So he's just sucking these minutes from, like we just talked about,

all these young guards that we really need to prioritize playing. And so I wanted Wayne gone desperately. And for there to be no takers, for nothing to kind of materialize is, yeah, I would chalk that up as a loss for sure. And, you know, we've been talking about this. There's this idea of reverse logic, right, where fans like to start with, you know, their own conclusion. And then they kind of build their narrative around that. And so we as fans, we want to assume that our front office is competent and that every single move went exactly according to plan. And it's all a part of this grand vision.

But in actuality, you know, maybe Troy didn't get the exact offer that he wanted. and maybe things didn't materialize quite as he had kind of envisioned, right? And so I think the plan was to trade Ellington and then it fell through, so that's disappointing. And then as far as Plumley is concerned, we've talked about Plumley ad nauseum on this podcast, but I think you have to tie it into Isaiah Stewart a little bit and you have to think, okay, it seems very unlikely to me that this regime would spend a top 16 pick on who they view long term as a backup front court player at that because, you know, four or five, whatever.

I think that his role is going to continue to grow, if not this season, then at least going into next season, certainly the season after that. And so Plumley's numbers are never going to be this good. If Plumley's numbers are this good again, then I think something has gone wrong. And so because I don't think he's a piece for a championship team,

I feel like we should have cashed in when his value was at its highest. So his value is at its highest right now. And given the fact that we weren't able to unload either of them, Yeah, it's disappointing. And I can't imagine it was exactly a part of the front office's plan. So overall, yeah, the Dilan trade was good. But as for what else went on, yeah, it's certainly disappointing. And I don't know, what do you guys think?

Maybe I'm just crazy. I also was, yeah, very, very much surprised that we didn't trade him. I think it's possible that they looked at what they were looking at. Like maybe we're going to get like a very late second rounder is what I would expect. And they thought maybe it's just not worth it. And maybe the fact that. Wayne isn't looking to be bought out. I think maybe he just wants to stay here,

and they like the fact that he's a good veteran presence, and maybe they value that more than the potentials 50s round or 50s second round pick, and that's fine. I don't know if he's going to get the same minutes that he was getting before. I think Hamadu is much more the makeup of this team, and while Svi was getting very inconsistent minutes,

and I think Wayne was getting what would have been the positional minutes there. I think Hamidu is going to cut into that, regardless of how well Wayne is playing. And if Wayne wants to be here, and if he's just going to be a good veteran, I'm fine with keeping him. The second rounder,

or whatever tiny return, in theory, we're going to get. Maybe that's just not worth it to Troy Weaver. Maybe they appreciate the stability that he provides the leadership and whatever it is that he brings. Maybe they just wanted to show that they were going to hold.

firm on something that was pretty insignificant, relatively speaking. I'm okay with it. I think I still would have preferred to have moved on from Wayne, but I'm not losing sleep over it. I don't think Wayne's going to get the same heavy minutes that he was getting before now that Amadu is here, so I'm okay with it. Yeah, I mean, I still do think there's a chance that he does win us like an extra game or two, and maybe that does end up being critical at the very end of the season because,

you know, we know Wayne. He has that ability to go, to get really hot sometimes. So that's worrying. But other than that, maybe they just value it. This is like the sort of thing that it's just, it's all behind the scenes. You have to make these guesses. Maybe it's just a matter of they thought that he was more valuable here than not here. Yeah.

Would you say it was likelier than not that, you know, what they had envisioned didn't exactly materialize? Perhaps. I mean, definitely because of the fact that they seemed intent on trading him and then they didn't. Maybe I don't know if it's more likely that they just changed their mind or if, yeah, what they thought they were going to get didn't materialize. Who knows? Yeah, maybe Mike knows. Yeah, regrettably, I don't.

My sources have just absolutely run dry. I guess I just haven't been paying them enough. But I'm not convinced that the Pistons were necessary or were really offered anything. There are a couple aspects to this. You never know exactly the way, of course, nobody knows exactly the way that the trade deadline is going to go by many accounts

it was the deal the uncertainty of what exactly was going to happen with Norman Powell and Kyle Lowry in particular

I think a third player was named and Aaron Gordon yeah that really held up the trade market like it's one of the reasons probably that today

was so incredibly active is that a lot of the teams basically those are just dominoes that were going to like I saw some people compare it to that tanker that's still stuck in the Suez Canal that's blocking an incredible amount of traffic through one of the world's busiest waterways. That that was Lowry and Powell and Gordon.

And then when some things happened with Gordon and Powell in particular, and Lowry, of course, didn't happen. I mean, you really saw a flurry of activity. So, you know, maybe he just kind of got lost and there just wasn't a time to, They're just the opportunity to never present itself. There just wasn't time to make a deal. But there's also just the fact that there was only one pure shooter who changed hands today. That was JJ Reddick. They, that the Mavericks actually paid a second round pick.

I'm not exactly sure what the second round pick is. I know it's just 2021. I'm not sure if it's a Mavericks pick or not. But if you're going to pay a second round pick and you're checking, you know, for example, you're going to pick between J.J. Reddick, who's played 110 playoff games and Elington, who's played like 12. I think that's a pretty easy decision to make. It's entirely possible that there just wasn't a market there.

I think it's unlikely that Weaver would have just said, well, I don't have the offer than I want. I know that they like Wayne for his veteran leadership, but I don't think that would have been enough to keep him around. I just, I really just don't think it would have been enough to keep him around. So my supposition would be that there were really no offers that materialized, Much like last season, a lot of people were thinking, okay, we've got Markiev Morris. We've got Langston Galloway.

They're both having good seasons. Markief Morris can go and certainly contribute on a playoff team, and he did for the championship. Lakers started some games. I think the only games he started were in the series against the Rockets when the Lakers went big with David's at Center because the Rockets had gone mega-small-Bowell with PJ Tucker at center. And it worked. I mean, the Lakers, it worked for the Rockets. It did not. Davis just annihilated the rockets.

But, you know, of course, Davis, of course, played a lot of his minutes at Power Forward. But not at that point. In any event. So, Mark Heath, I mean, you have a solid guy who can, who's a solid seventh man off the bench, who can play Power Fort, you can play some center in small ball lineups. He's, you know, he's a decent post player and a reliable spot of three-point shooter. He got nothing. Langston Galloway, having a.

career season for what it's worth one of the best beyond PJ Tucker he was really the best corner three point shooter in the league he was just having a very good season overall he got nothing so you just you never know it's not it's not certain that an offer was even given and of course we've said this on the podcast before we've noticed several times wayne has had an inconsistent season his percentages do not tell the tail he he was super hot he had a horrible stretch which he was averaging one three-point or game, like 19 and a half percent from the three-point line. And then he's gotten back to being hot again. So that's also, there's a heat check shooter there versus a guy like Redick,

who isn't as in the greatest season, but he's a no and generally fairly reliable commodity. So I'm not convinced that there was even an offer made, whether it's just because the time didn't allow or just that Ellington wasn't judged a hot commodity. because, yeah, like I said, I mean, his percentage doesn't tell the tale. And much like Galloway used to be amazing for stretches and that horrible for others. That's a concern. If you're picking between that guy and another guy who's got 10 times as much playoff experience, almost what, early 10 times, and his generally has generally been reliable.

So I agree he's going to see less minutes probably when you see Hamadud Diallo, who, I mean, you've got Frank Jackson, his two-way player. In my opinion, it has very little off starting a shooting guard right now, just because options are limited unless you want to start waiting there. And perhaps tellingly, he just hasn't been played many minutes, even though he's playing well. So I do think he'll see DL there. But we'll see from the backup minutes soon.

Who knows what Wayne will get. Josh Jackson has played most of his minutes at shooting guard, actually, though. Yeah, I think that's on this season, about three quarters. So I am unhappy at the process. of Wayne going Flamed Door mode and winning the Pistons one or two games. But we'll see. As far as Plumley, I would have been shocked if he were traded. Weaver went to lengths, including stretching quite a bit of salary.

I would have been Plumley on. And I think a fair amount of that was just for his overall presence, not necessarily on the court, but just as a culture guy in the locker room. and I would have been surprised if he'd been moved, you know, two-thirds of the way through year one. I think there really would have had to be, have been an offer that made sense, even though by all accounts the business are high on Isaiah Stewart, I think they just like Plumlin, and he also gives them the opportunity to bring along Stewart in whatever way they wish. So I would like to see Ellington gone, but, you know, if there wasn't a market for him, there wasn't a market for him.

And, yeah, so the trade deadline was just, it was a little bit, it was, it was, it was a little of disappointing me on eventful, but I don't think necessarily anything was, was, was done incorrectly. We'll find out, I'm guessing, if there, if there were any offers for Ellington. But like I said, you look back to last year, Galloway, nothing, Morris, nothing. So I don't think it's out of the question. So, yeah, if you guys don't have anything else to add, we can move on to what helped a little bit of what happened else we're in the league. Yeah, let's do it. All right. So the big news, of course, comes out of Orlando.

There had been whispers that the magic were, I mean, Aaron Gordon had asked for a trade. There had been whispers that the magic had even made Voochovich. They're an All-Star Center, one of the best scorers in the league from his position. Really just an all-around good score. He's really the only thing you can't do is attack the basket off the drive, which is a helpful skill that you don't really need it. center. And most, you know, there aren't very many centers who can do that, we can do that effectively. So, yeah, ultimately Vucovich got traded to, to the Chicago Bulls, the return there,

along with Al-Farukamino, is a decent defensive forward. For Otto Porter, Jr., Wendell Carter, Jr., and what I believe was the Bulls' first round pick this season, and in 2023 or 2024, I think, 23. 23. So that's big. Big for the Bulls who we discussed in an earlier episode, you know, are they potentially a team who could, you know, who could end up blowing the standings,

who could, you know, competing with the piston for the 30th spot. And we concluded it was very unlikely, but certainly they're going all in. I'm not super confident that this trade will really do much for them because I don't think that Vujovic, Zach Levine combo is really going to win you more than if you're lucky, one playoff series.

But it's just notable for what Orlando did. They got rid of Evan Fornier, who was really their second best score for a couple second round picks. For anybody wondering why they only got a couple second round picks for it, they didn't have to take it back any salary because Boston absorber into the trade exception. The magic guts, I think, a $17.5 million trade exception just by trading Fornier and taking nothing back. I'm surprised that they didn't just immediately take Bledso, whom the Pelicans were trying to move along with an asset immediately into that trade exception. But they'll probably

find some use for it as part as part of the rebuild. And of course, Forney was on an expiring contract, but just the ability to send them without taking salary back and get that trade exception was valuable in and of itself. So, and then the third trade, they sent out Aaron Gordon for Gary Harris, RJ Hamkin, who was, I don't know, I think picked in the teens, Tommy, right, in 2020, 2021, 2021, 2020 draft. Yeah, and a first round pick. So, yeah, the Noggets really got out the roster. I mean, they traded away their three most important players. Fultz was having a sneaky bad season when he went down, a horrible efficiency.

That's what comes of not being able to shoot three. and just attempting low percentage 2 is on high volume. But it leaves the magic as another team who can compete with the pistons and the race to the bottom. So really what you're looking at here is because the wizards, I think, are out of the picture, because they've started winning some time ago. And the cavaliers looks like stemmed the bleeding to a degree. So your prospect of bottom four of the rockets

who will hopefully improve when you get Well I think you basically have everybody back by now, don't you? Because Ola Depot is gone So you really have to depend on a core of John Wall and Christian Wood Maybe the Trail, maybe the Timberwolves will improve

Once you got Towns Beasley And Brussels playing at the same time And maybe with Edwards who has still been really inefficient Maybe he'll pick it up but the magic now are terrible. Like, legitimately awful. I don't even know who, yeah, Cole Anthony probably is their presumptive starter at point guard. Whenever he returns, he was bad before he went down.

They're awful. So that's a danger. And again, the Pistons really want to finish last so they get that guaranteed top five pick. It is a disaster for this team if they pick outside the top five, most likely. So, yeah. So, yeah. I mean, for all that Troy Weaver has done, the best player, if this team is going to be a contender, the best player is probably not on the team yet.

It's critical that the Pistons get a top five pick. And the only way to guarantee that is to have the worst record. And so I didn't, I forgot to mention this when I was talking about Ellington and Plumley. But even though they might not have wanted to trade them for various reasons, this gutting in Orlando here really adds, you know, a team to the race and a, big, big, big way. Like, yeah, Mike, it's, it's absolutely essential, you know, that the Pistons give a top five pick here.

And the only way to guarantee that is to be the worst team. And this is something that I, I think I failed to mention it when I was talking about my overall disappointment and, you know, Plumley and Wayne still being on the team. It's like, yeah, the front office might not have wanted to trade them for various reasons, but at the end of the day, Orlando was just gutted. And, yeah, we've heard whispers that, oh, they're going to unload this guy and that guy, but I don't think I expected or we expected anything to this extent. And so right now you're looking at Detroit, Houston, Minnesota, and now Orlando, right,

as very, very serious contenders for the worst record. And it's like the chances are I wouldn't trust the draft lottery with my life. I would bet anything that we'll probably be picking in the worst spot that we can possibly pick. It's just the ping pong balls haven't bounced our way. And so it really is in the best interest of this team to have the worst record. and the best way to do that is to not have good players on the team. I know it sounds simple, but it's the truth. And so I'm pretty worried about what went on in Orlando.

And we really need to secure that franchise guy. There's a good chance the best player on a championship team is not on this roster right now. And so the only avenue to do it is we're seriously being threatened right now. Yeah, absolutely. I would say that I don't know how much worse really trading Elinton would have made the team, Even Plumley, not entirely, entirely sure. I don't think it's a foregone conclusion that replacing him with Stewart would make the team any worse. It would just be whoever was playing back up center.

You wouldn't have Stewart coming off the bench anymore. Like Stewart, as we've said in the past, he's the only player who has consistently made the team better. He has, he's the only player with whom the pistons are a positive team and a positive differential team. That doesn't necessarily, that has to be contextualized. but yeah, you got rid of Plumley. I agree the team would have gotten worse. The same time, I don't think Weaver was willing to just, was willing to toss Plumley away.

I mean, Dilanwright was added later on in free agency. Plumley was one of his core guys that he wanted to pick up. I don't think he was just going to toss Plumley away as kind of like a panicked reaction. But it just goes, it goes back to what he did in the offseason. Assuming that he had a latitude to do what he wanted and Tom Gores didn't insist that the pistons really focus on winning culture. It's just really hope that the compete while rebuilding doesn't come back. He's playing with fire a bit.

I hope it doesn't come back to burn the pistons. That's all I have to say. Yeah, I was just thinking about that just now. You are kind of treading this line where you're trying to make it so this team plays a really nice brand of basketball. And when you watch it, like, it's a lot of fun because this team plays so much harder than a lot of teams. They execute well.

And you just don't see that with a team like the wolves. So how do you become the worst team while still playing like a decent brand of basketball? That's a really hard thing to do. I don't know if they'll be able to do it. But at the same time, you have to look at, I mean, Troy Weaver has to look like, you know, maybe we finish sixth. You have a 20% chance of picking sixth. Is that worth that risk?

That's something he has to look at. Because like if you want to be the worst team, like go process. level sixers, you're kind of undoing a lot of progress in terms of like the culture that they've built thus far. And I think that the way that they've built this team, whoever we pick is going to seriously benefit from that as opposed to a team like if somebody were to go to the wolves, maybe that's not the best place to learn winning habits. The Pistons, I think this team is going to bring that out and whoever they bring on. So that's something to consider. But yeah, Orlando is now in the tank race. The Pistons are currently two and a half games behind the,

the wolves as we record this two and a half games behind the wolves for that worst record and then Orlando is five games behind so we are the same distance from Orlando as we are from Minnesota the worst team I don't know how many games we have left I but there's just there's a lot of time for anything could happen and it's just really important that the pistons don't go on a winning streak at this point that would be super painful to watch I know that there are people who are still going well, no, I'm never going to root for this team to lose. Well, at this point, what benefit is there to going on a win streak? You're just going to put yourself right back in the middle,

and I just can't get excited about that. This team isn't a good spot for once. They need to be a little bit, they need to lose enough games to where they get that top five pick. But for once it feels like we have direction, and they're thinking ahead. And I just don't want them to lose that. But yeah, no, it's going to be essential that we stay in front.

front of Orlando and the tank race. So that'll be something to keep an eye on. No, it's tenuous, man. I don't envy Troy Weaver at all because, yeah, you got to consider how do you weigh watchability versus losing, right? And the fact of the matter is that this team is competitive on most nights. Like, there's very few blowouts. And so with a little bit of luck and, you know, some shots falling that may not have fallen,

like this team could easily have won two, three, four more games than they are than have. And so you got to wonder how many times we're going to flip the coin and it ends up on the side that we want, right? It's going to be tough. A lot of these games are going to be toss-ups. And yeah, we could really, really use every loss that we can get, right? So this is a nerve-wracking race for sure. And I just don't know how we're going to handle it because the fact of the matter is some of these core pieces that are not going anywhere, like Stuart and Bay and Grant, like they're good enough to win some games, man. like the Pistons are a better team than Orlando right now.

Oh, I thought it's out. They're way better team than Orlando. I mean, like I said, who is conceivably the best player on Orlando's roster right now? I really couldn't even tell you. It might be Terrence Ross. Oh, yeah, Terrence Ross. I do think it's Terrence, yeah. Yeah, good call.

I forgot entirely about him. Terence Ross is like your fourth best. So it should be your fourth best starter on a good team. Fournier is gone. Like, if you look at their starter, to begin the season. And these are also their five top players in terms of points per game. You have Vujavich gone, Fournier gone, Gordon gone. Fultz, like I said, was really overrated, but he's out for the rest of the season. So yeah, Terence Ross is your best remaining score.

And your two best players after that are Cole Anthony and, goodness gracious me, who would have been having. Well, Jonathan Isaac is a plane. But he's out, yeah. Yeah. So your two best players after that are Cole Anthony. And, either Michael Carter Williams or James Ennis. And that's horrible. They're going to be awful. Now, the Pistons have 29 games remaining. You don't want to win any more than like seven of those maximum at this stage.

Yeah, so it's going to be a tough one. And the Pistons, you know, as much as they are in 15th in the East and have not won many games at all, they've been unlucky as far as the tank goes. They've been a pretty healthy team. They have basically, I mean, they've been lucky with opponent absences. As much as people want to point to the Pistons is look at their wins. They're all really good teams. They were very fortunate with absences. Guys like Davis, Embed, Bubler, you know, both point guards for the Celtics in one game.

And, like, yeah, I mean, that's unfortunate. So it's a little worrisome. Yeah, it's a little worrisome. I think that the rockets have enough to keep their heads above water, maybe with wall and wood both playing well. And again, the timber wolves could do better. And the timber wolves seem intent on doing better. I don't think that I think if the timber wolves finish worse than the league,

they still get a 60% chance of surrendering their pick. So I think the Timberwolves' ideal situation is to get into a place in which they'll lose their pick, but it won't be completely humiliating and deflating for their fan base. So yeah, it's scary and there's not much to do right now, but hope for the best or hope for the worst, as it were. So why do we move on from here? Just discuss other trades that were made at the deadline. I know that we're going a little bit away from Pistolman at this point. Of course, we already went over a couple of the major ones, those being Vukovych getting sent out, and Aaron Gordon.

getting sent out to the Nuggets. I'd say what's interesting about Aaron Gordon getting sent over. This is partly a consequence to the Jeremy Grant trade, I would say. Gordon definitely doesn't come anywhere close to replacing, at least based in his past career performance basing, replacing Jeremy Grant as a three-point shooter. But they've been hurting for defense since Grant was gone. Excuse me, since Grant left.

He was a valuable presence in the playoffs, playing next to Nicole Yokic and just being that athletic forward who could really guard guys from two through four. So Gordon's a tenacious defender, super athletic. He's not the greatest score. He's been inefficient really throughout his career. But it's a good trade for them. Gary Harris was an important perimeter defender,

but he's been out for most of the season. So I thought that one was interesting. Seeing Gary Clark get traded. Actually not Gary Clark, Gary Trent. Gary Clark got traded also. Gary in the league got traded today. Gary Harris, Gary Clark, and Gary Trent. So, yeah, Trent, it was a promising player who just finished his third or fourth season,

got traded over the Raptors guy with more upside maybe than Powell, maybe, and is on a restricted free agents. The Blazers who are still trying to compete, got a more ready-made player, Powell, who's having an excellent season. And, yeah, as much stuff has happened, I just, I don't think there's anything else. There's anything else that was really particularly interesting at this deadline. Oa Depot got sent over to the heats by the Rockets for whom this has just been a disastrous season in really every respect. You know, even in the trades.

They could have kept Carrizzlervert and Jared Allen. But I think that's, if I had a guess, it was for Tito, who said, no, I won Victor Oladipo because he is on a one-year deal and he'll be gone after the season instead of Lavert, who has more time left in this deal. You could have traded Levert for a good return. Jared Allen, you could have traded for a good return. I believe they could have kept him if I remember the way the trade went correctly. Yep.

So, yeah, that's what a, you know, just what a mess up on their part. they just they mega-bushed this one. So any other interesting trades? Do you know from you guys? Anything you're particularly thinking about with regards to the step line? Yeah, I've said this a couple times. I live in Raptors land and the amount of Instagram stories I've seen where it was like, thanks for everything, Norm and like a picture of Norman Powell,

blew my mind a little bit. Like I was like, really? So that was kind of, that was kind of, weird so that that power trade's been on my mind a little bit and uh other than that i found the oladipo trade pretty interesting i think um you know i think some people are going overboard with what his potential might be because i think uh what's the opposite of potential because he's he's spiraling downwards in a way that uh we haven't really seen before you know he went from an all nba level player to um well he was all nb a third team yeah 2017 2018 exactly and so he quite a fall from grace and

you know you can attribute that to the injury right but I don't see I don't see this really improving Miami all that much and so yeah really the highlight for me was the Powell trade and maybe maybe the Instagram stories will go away after 24 hours then I don't have to think about it anymore that's what's going to lauren not getting traded too I mean everybody was very emotional about the yeah everyone's strappeder fans and the idea of him losing and just that deal never materialized today as well yeah I thought he was going to philadelphia I saw that he was gearing up uh to be traded to philly and I thought oh cool I could still hate him It's cool.

But that obviously didn't end up happening. And so, yeah, I'm just sick of the Raptors talk, man. It's been quite a bit. And so that's, I didn't think Norm was all that special. Apparently he is. Apparently holds a special place in everybody's heart here in Ontario. Yeah. The only thing I could think of was, like, this isn't just pertaining to today,

but boy, the rockets are going to be hurting for a long time. Oh, yeah. They have messed up their future badly. I agree. That's the only thing I can think of when I look at this. Honestly, other than Orlando tearing down, that's like the biggest thing for me. So fun trade deadline. Yeah, they really messed up for sure.

Between, I mean, between the Westbrook trade and the Paul trade and the Hardin trade. Yeah, and the Hardin trade, which really wasn't that great. And Hardin, I think, in a way, kind of screwed them over. I think Shaq, who has a habit of putting his, really putting his foot in his mouth on national TV way. We put it well about Hardin is that he asked for a lot of things. and Darrell Morrie gave him to him. Hardin did not play well in elimination games in the playoffs at all. And ultimately, he got those things.

They expended a lot of assets to make those things happen. Chris Paul, they paid quite a bit. They really depleted a team to a degree. Of course, you're getting Chris Paul, but you give up Montreal Herald. You give up Blue Williams. Those are two of the best reserves in the league over a significant period. Who else did they give up? Patrick Beverly, that's a decent piece right there.

a bunch of guys for whom they had, I believe, full bird rights, would have had full bird rights, and the Clippers did on most salaries. And I think there were draft picks involved, too. Just to get rid of Chris Paul, you gave up picks and pick swaps to the Rockets, excuse me, to the Thunder. Yeah, that was horrible idea. And that was at the behest of James Harden, and then he just gave up. I don't like Hardin all that much. I mean, don't get me running guys, spectacularly talented.

But I just, I don't like him very much. But either way, yeah, you got Frita there, too, who really screwed them over. It is a guy who just was all about penny pinching and did not want to pay into the tax at all. And if you want to win a championship, you almost invariably are going to have to pay the tax. That's just the way it is. Not always, but you better be prepared to do so. Now, of course, you can move on to also some talk on the buyout market. Well, Marcus Aldridge, who is kind of a shadow of his former self as far as, I mean, he used to be,

A very good player and now is pretty slow. The struggles as a defender, but he's still a good shooter. He's still a good post player. And it looks to be going to Miami. Now, if Ola Depot really works out for them, I mean, fantastic. They, I mean, if they've managed to nail Kyle Lowry. And Ola Depot is a good defender, if nothing else, and if you can play him in a lesser role, which he will be playing Miami,

I think he'll do better than he was doing in Houston and in Indiana because Jimmy Butler is the top dog there. And it's beautifully. If they got Lowry as well, I would say, well, this team, maybe he can win the championship. It's just druggage now. So, I bet you pick up Aldridge, pick up Bulladipo, who will play better in a secondary role, and I think they're in good shape in the East.

One of the other significant bio-candidates is Andre Drummond. And, like, yeah, there was a reason why the Pistons traded away from peanuts. I mean, this guy is just not a very good player. The cabs got him. Reports came out that Allen came on to the team, Drummond went into one of his typical sulks. They asked him to play less minutes, and they asked him on point to come off the bench.

He said no. And if you're saying, why don't they just play him less minutes? It's because they presumably didn't want the guy to turn into a massive metal content, but that was going to happen regardless. So they weren't even able to garner a first second round pick for him. Part of that was difficulty in matching salaries. Maybe, you know, it's $28 million contract, and the fact that he is an expiring contract now.

but a lot of it was just that he's just not a very wanted commodity. I was having a horrible season with the Cavaliers for much the same reason that he was always, it was never nearly as good as he could have been in Detroit. So, yeah, humor me. I'll go on a one-minute rant about Drummond's, and I am hopefully not break my promise, not to talk much ever again about Drummond on this podcast.

I know I said I would never rant about him again. So this would just be a It's a mini round It's a monologue No, just call it a monologue I still see apologies made for Andre Drummond And I don't think he deserves them like

Oh, he's never played on a good team Or whatever You know, what motivation did he have to play You know, the Pistons? And it's like Those hold no water I mean, the guy was his own worst enemy He was also an enemy

at the pistons in this respect. He has a horrible mentality. He has a horrible, you know, that ties into, basically he wants to be an offensive superstar. He doesn't want to stick to the things he's good at. He wants to stuff the stat sheet and get his and is way more important to him than playing the right way, playing the winning way, playing for his team. He would, whenever things didn't go his way, he would pout and check out. He quit on the team so many times.

He quit on the team in the 2019 playoffs. he completely undermined his own effectiveness through his horrific mentality. And it was what was to blame was his own behavior. And it made him a lot less than he could have been. And also it's just it's inexcusable. It's completely inexcusable. You can say whatever you want. Oh, he was on a bad team, whatever.

Fact is that there are multitude of players, multitude of players every year who are on bad teams. Pistons are one of them. These guys go out and they try their hardest. Nonetheless, you know, irrespective of how bad their team might be, because that's what a professional does. And Drummond is not a professional. So, yeah, so he'll get bought out.

Who knows where he'll go? I don't have high hopes that he's going to mature overnight, and I'm sure that that's a consideration. I know it was reported by the athletic that it was a consideration in trading for him. I mean, this must have just been further confirmation about what GMs already knew, but just the fact that he was even being, you know, he was just being as typical egot. statistical, you know, egonautical self and, I don't know if ego maniacal, but very self-centered self in Cleveland.

But, I mean, yay for the guy, if he goes on to, you know, to mature overnight and to a good role player for a championship team, I'm not going to be happy for him if he wins a championship. The guy was a disappointment in Detroit, and that's not because of a salary. It's because how he conducted himself. So that's how I feel about Drummond. No, I did. again, whether he goes on a success or not, the way he conducted himself with the Pistons was a disgrace.

And I honestly don't wish him success at all. That's pretty strong. You always how you really feel, Mike. The Red Wing's at Julius Arena had this slogan painted above or right near the entrance to the locker room, which says to he to whom much is given, excuse me, from he to whom much is given, much is expected. And part of it was that, yeah, German was given that big paycheck,

and he was given all that responsibility. And he just decided to be to, the only word that comes to my mind is man-child. I don't like that word for whatever reason. He just, he just, he never, he never behaved himself professionally, ever. Even if he had been a player making $5 million and not comporting himself professionally, I would have disliked him. I disliked him more because he was given this big contract and all this responsibility

and knowing that he was basically being named the franchise player and he's still never matured. Never. So why should I? I mean, the guy, the guy comported himself completely unprofessionally and just really inexcusable manner. And why should I hope he's successful? He really just screwed around with the pistons, you know, more or less his entire time with the team, not playing like he should have, not playing in a way that would have made him more effective, of not playing in a way that would have justified the investment made in him.

You know, why should I hope the guy is successful at all? No, I mean, you've heard that anybody who's played high school sports, right? You play for each other. Everybody holds themselves accountable. You know, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, right? It's like when somebody who's making that much money and who's expected to be, whether it's rightfully so or not, kind of your franchise piece it's like, or your franchise centerpiece, you do expect a certain level of professionalism

and an element of, you know, it's not just about me, me, me. I'm playing for the team. And so, yeah, Mike, I agree with you. At a certain point, you have to conduct yourself like a mature professional. And so there were some moments where I did like Andre Drummond when he was here. And I probably wouldn't go so far as to say as I don't wish him success, but you're entirely entitled to your opinion. And I can't disagree with any reason that you've given.

But your thesis there, your premise about conducting yourself and what should be expected of someone who's given a lot. I couldn't agree more. I absolutely agree. And one thing that we can praise Troy Weaver for, he's not bringing in guys like that. Absolutely not. Yeah, definitely. I would say with respect to, I mean, Drummond was really the antithesis of Detroit basketball culture, like the antithesis of basketball culture in Detroit. And I, like one of my favorite drum and related moments. No, not really drumming related, but it was. I appreciated watching Chaunty Billups during the 2019 playoffs just to lay into him. Because here was a guy who was, you know, it was really, you could probably say the leader of that really beloved going to work team that was all about playing for each other.

And all about working hard. And it was basically, you didn't call him out, you know, in the name of, maybe he did in the name of just how you play in Detroit. Like, I just quit on the team. And then, you know, and here's a guy who really. I was really qualified to say it. Like, what on earth are you doing in any context? But, yeah, we've said it before. Stan Van Gundy gave no thought to team culture.

None. Like, really none. And Weaver really has. And, yeah, he's to stock the team with guys who are really, yeah, who will work hard every night and will play for each other and play for the team. And I think Detroit basketball, you have three tenets to it. You play for each other. you weave everything out in the fore you know you work super hard and you make your opponent's

wives miserable and drummond did none of those things he made my life miserable sometimes exactly i just it comes with it i don't know if either you guys have watched the sopranos uh are you kidding me okay i'm italian so gabagool yeah gabacool so it's uh when uh during wevey is wake and what's the what's carmelis father's name i can't remember it's it's right on the tip of my tongue here um but i could look it up quick whatever whatever he goes he goes on this rant about about livia who's who's tony soprano's mother who was a narcissist and so on and so forth and he's like he's like yes you know we we suffered uh for years we suffered suffered under suffered under that young woman's for years.

It's like, yeah, it's like with Drummond, you know, years, we had to watch that man. Years. Years. Years. He estranged me for my own enjoyment of the sports. Ruin, God knows how many goddamn games I don't even want to begin to count. Oh, man. Remember the scene with Chris's intervention there?

That's what we should have sat Andre down and given him one of those. Yeah, the scene, the scene in which Chris disrespects his mother and gets the crap. And Chloe slaps them, and then Tony's like, my mother's funeral, disgusting. Do you remember that? Yeah, that was a good one. Now it's a Subranos podcast we're doing now. Yeah, it's what Carmilla said. I happen to know that you were high at my mother-in-law's wake.

You talk for 20 minutes straight, nothing but gibberish. For anybody listening who hasn't watched The Sopranos, it's my number one show of all time. Has to be. It's a show that has no good guys. So if you don't like shows like that, then I really, had trouble with it after a time because all of these people are despicable parasites, or the families who are just, uh,

who are just willfully ignorant. Mm-hmm. Anyway. All right. They're a mafia families. Yeah. What? No, go on.

Yeah. Yeah. So let's move on to, uh, to, to, to a final topic here. Uh, now that we've gone on, you know, on, uh, on a tremendous, often a tremendous tangent. Uh, that is Hamdoodio, who has been upgraded to probable for, the game against the nets. And, yeah, it's entirely possible that this podcast will have been posted after that game.

After that game has already been played. I'm going to do my best to get it up before that. In any event, just our profile in Hamidu, Diallo. I'll just run through real quick. You guys can share your thoughts. Diallo, I know we talked about him a bit, you know, on an extremely long episode a couple weeks ago. super athletic long has a good amount of defensive potential ferocious at attack in the basket he's good at that not a good shooter that's his main weakness right now and you're really just banking on his and his

ceiling if he's a guy he's a decent pass or two off the drive not great but good enough that he can participate in the offense as ball handle or anyone have as many ball handlers on the floor as again so as many guys who can pass yeah off the move so if he can become like a 36-brose percent spot up three-point shooter on wide open attempts, you know, hit those with a decent, you know, a fairly consistent degree of, a degree of accuracy. Then he becomes a guy who can attack closeouts and either make his way to the basket or pass, and then you've got a fairly good player on your hands. I was saying I projected that he could end up, I remember who said this, but somebody,

one of the reputable personalities, NBA personalities, Bashi-Dig. get around $10 million per year and free agency from the Pistons. And Weaver clearly thinks quite highly of him. Yeah, and he will take, I do presumably come in, you know, if they're willing to start him right away and take away the minutes of current starter shooting guard, who is Frank Jackson, and I don't think he has anything to offer. Anything, but that's for another time. Yeah, this is another one of those moves.

I think weaver, this is one of Weaver's guys in OKC, so I wasn't too surprised that he brought him back. But watching his highlights, this is a guy that fits Weaver's mold of like hard, the guys who run really hard in transition, attack the basket. He fits that mold to a T. I think he'll fit in really nicely with this group of guys.

This kind of goes back to that. I think I mentioned it on a recording once. Troy Weaver has amassed this like group of guys who are super long, super athletic, hard workers, or some mix of those attributes. But a lot of them, most of them can't shoot threes. And I think it's, the list I'm thinking of is like, Sekudumboya, Josh Jackson, Sabin Lee,

now Hamadu Diallo, if just one of those guys starts hitting threes at an acceptable rate, you brought in these three guys, all those guys for like really little, like little to no cost. And that's great value on return. Because these are guys who are high ceiling.

they're just like they're just missing one key attribute. And once they get that, once they get the shooting down, that unlocks a huge portion of their game. You're looking at like long-term starters now, as opposed to guys like Svi, who at best, he's a guy who's going to be like a rotation player. And if you're a contender, like a guy like Svee who's just like a pure shooter off the bench,

you can find those guys a dime a dozen when you're a contender. You can just pick up that guy. He's a little bit older off the buyout market. Find that guy at that point. But right now the Pistons need guys who can really make impact. I think those are the guys that Troy Weaver is looking for right now. So I thought of it like this. Like Sam Presti has just amassed a stupid number of draft picks for the next seven years. Weaver hasn't done that, but what he's done is it's,

the more draft picks you have, the more chances you have to hit on somebody. What Troy Weaver has done instead is the more of these, these types of players, you have these more of these very athletic guys who just can't shoot, the more of those guys you have, if just one of them hits, it's great value. And that's what I think Weaver is going for here with Hamadu Diallo. I think you hope that one of these guys just puts their three-point shot together, and then they're a long-term starter. They're a guy who can really make an impact. So watching him, I mean, he runs hard. He attacks the basket. Great balance and transition. I really like it the way that he controls his body and contorts and changes directions when he's

going to the basket. If he ever gets his three-point shot down, he's going to be an impact player and he's going to be a guy who can really, really help this team. Yeah, I know that the Weaver said, put it early on, actually right around the time of the trade that, or one of the beatwriters said it for him, that he sees Diolo is a long-term piece. And now I agree, you're really looking at guys with high athletic ceilings. That's really what weaver's looking at, well, in a lot of cases. So, yeah, but of course, three-point shooting is really what you need. and I mean that that's the that is the non-negotiable skill in today's NBA and some guys just don't get it together some guys are very hard workers

they don't get it together the Diallo by all accounts is a very hard worker I always said this that's that Royce Young who has just been one of the writers I believe I'm not sure if he still writes it still would be writer for the thunder but he was certainly if not he was for quite some time he said he saw a bit of the Westbrook mentality and how Diovo attacks the basket, not the Westbrook mentality and chucking and, you know, chasing triple doubles, but that's sort of, you know, going on the way to the basket, but the intent of just murdering it and, you know, and plowing over everybody in your way. So that's good. And like I said, I do appreciate the culture.

You got any thoughts in Dielo, Dante? Well, part of the reason we're recording so late on Friday night is because I'm going away this weekend. So I won't, I won't be home. I won't be near a TV. Saturday night when Diallo's listed as probable. And I'm honestly considering buying league pass to just watch it when I'm up there. Because rather than watching a recording of the game, I'm so excited to watch him play that I would pay whatever it is for league pass just for that game just to watch it.

Tommy, your breakdown was pretty much everything I could have said in more. Like he's a plus plus athlete. And really the only thing holding him back from being a high level impact player, is the shooting. And, you know, that's not to discount it because shooting is a hard skill to learn. They're guys who go through their whole career and they're never more than like a 30% three-point shooter. But at the end of the day, he's like 22 years old. And so I would bet that someone who, like you said, Mike, has that Westbrook mentality. I know you said it specifically in terms of going to the net, but, you know, if somebody is that ferocious, you know, attacking the basket,

you ought to imagine they, you know, they attack their training with the same intensity, right? And I have every I have every bit of confidence that he's going to work diligently at his shot. And if that thing starts falling at an average to above average clip, then we've got a very, very talented player on our hands. I'm extremely excited to have him on the team. And the more I think about what's gone on with, you know, what the compensation was in that Svee trade, I think this has the potential to be a very, very good trade for the Pistons. Yeah, we'll see.

At the very least, I don't necessarily agree, Tommy, that players like Svi assuming he's hitting his threes, which he's. still isn't doing with Oklahoma City. He's actually shooting around 31%. 31 and a half, I think, from three with Oklahoma City since the trade. If he's hitting his threes, he's a guy who can shoot, if we're looking at 2019,

2020, his percentage from the perimeter. He's a guy who can not only shoot spot up threes at a high percentage, but also motion threes. That's a very valuable skill. And who can handle the ball to some degree, create for his teammates to some degree, and attack open lanes to the basket. That's a valuable role player. It's not a guy you're going to want starting, That's a valuable role player, even if he is, I think he's conceivably just hopeless for good on defense.

But I agree a player like that who's almost certainly reached a ceiling, is not particularly high ceiling or is very close to it at least as no real appeal to a rebuilding team. So, as I said a couple weeks ago, I was definitely a big fan of the trade. And it's definitely one of the big excitements this season has just been watching the youngsters play, whether that's Dennis Smith, Jr. coming onto the team. Who knows how well he'll do when he's been pretty meh. But it was exciting. Watching him come onto the team is exciting seeing we get his chance.

It'll be exciting to see a D.L. get his chance. And it's been kind of a turnover from a bunch of veterans to really the team's youth, just getting more and more, just a makeover with the youth getting more and more of the chances. Absolutely. Absolutely. If we see Hayes, Diallo, Bay, Grant, and Stewart on the court at the same time, I'm going to cry. I think I will.

I'm warning you guys, I'm going to cry. So that's something I'll do. Yeah. All right. So that'll be it for today's episode. As always, thank you all for listening. We'll catch you next time.