Driving to the Basket: A Detroit Pistons Podcast - Episode 5: Summer League Recap (Reupload)

Episode Date: July 15, 2019

This episode recaps Detroit's Summer League, specifically with respect to player performances.   (Reuploaded due to a minor error.)  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi, everybody. My name is Mike, otherwise known as Narrowan, on the Detroit Piston subreddit. And welcome to episode five of the podcast in which we speak about Summer League. So I was considering doing free agency before this, but our Pistons Summer League has regrettably come to a premature conclusion as of last night's loss against the Nets. So I thought I would cover that first. So Summer League, Pistons did pretty well throughout the preliminary stage. as we know, they really ran into a buzzsaw with the Nets. The Nets had a fair number of NBA quality, NBA-ready players on that roster, including Jared Allen.

Jared Allen, when it came to certainly dealing with the Pistons front court, it was basically in Fantaside. It was a guy who was probably this last season already in the top 15 NBA's starting centers, and he was playing in Summer League. And Summer League, it should be said for the purposes of this episode, because I'm going to go through and evaluate player performances and kind of talk about what I think we learned from each player who played on the Piston Squad. It's worth noting that Summer League, when you compare it to the quality of the competition in the NBA, is very, very low. Bruce Brown was one of the best players in Summer League, and Bruce Brown, by NBA standards at the moment, is extremely raw.

He still can't shoot, for example. He's still very foul prone on defense. And, I mean, don't get me wrong. I've said in the past, the guys a ton of potential. But the point is that the vast majority of guys you see in Summer League will never make it to the NBA. I'm sure some of them might go on to have very successful careers overseas, but at the NBA level, most of these guys just don't have what it takes. Also, in Summer League, teams don't play like they would in the NBA.

They don't have the benefit of really spending all this time training together and working as part of a team over the very long. term under very experienced NBA head coaches and with all the resources afforded to your average NBA team, analytics and scouting and so on. So my point is just keep that in mind, you know, when evaluating how well a player did in Summer League. You can look at Jared Allen. Again, it's probably the most NBA ready and certainly the most NBA experienced player in Summer League. I believe he started 110 games for the Nets over the last two seasons. And I'm not sure exactly what he was doing there. But, you know, if they want him to work on something in

particular, if the Nets did, then Summer League isn't, you know, the worst place to practice it. But in any events, you look at Jared Allen, who dropped somewhat effortless 30 and 11 in only 24 minutes yesterday. That's something that he will never do in the NBA. I mean, probably not in that amount of time and with what amounted to comparatively little effort. So just keep the context in mind, keep in mind the difference in, you know, the degree of difficulty playing in Summer League versus the NBA. So we'll start with a guy who really personifies that, and that's Bruce Brown. Now, we saw some very nice things from Bruce Brown. Don't get me wrong, absolutely. The guy looked very comfortable as a playmaker. He looked a great deal more comfortable

than he was last season at driving into the baskets. He attacked harder. He just really looked like he knew more what he was doing. Last season in the NBA, as well as in Summer League a year ago, it was basically just an uncontrolled drive to the net on his part. I think it made sense. I mean, he was a guy who was used to overpowering opponents in the NCAA by just by pure athleticism. You know, by NBA standards, he's probably above average on the athleticism scale.

By NCAA standards, he's extremely athletic. So beating guys off the dribble without really using much. much in the way of moves probably wasn't all that difficult for him. And the NCAA, I mean, it's easy to look at guys in the NCAA and say, well, you know, they perform really well there. Maybe, you know, you know, you can look at guys like, I don't know, Spartans fans brought up, you know, a lot of them talked about, oh, what's Matt McWagan to do, you know, because he was signed to the Piss and Summer League team and saw no time, which was unsurprising

to me. He was, you know, unsurprising to me at least, because he was behind. a bunch of guys who were assigned to play for the pistons, and he was never going to get priority over them. But also just the guy by NCAA standards was a decent six-man. Like I know that he was, he made the NCAA defense team, and he was a fairly good three-point shooter. But even compared to Summer League,

the quality of the competition, the NCAA is low. Compared to the quality of the competition, you know, in the athletic standard in the NBA, it's really low. You got some very good. college players who just don't have what it takes athletically to cut it in the NBA, which is year by year, just somehow manages to continue raising the athletic standard in the league. Pistons fans know this very well from the unfortunate saga of Henry Ellenson,

who just does not possess NBA caliber athleticism, was always going to be a defensive liability, he was always going to have trouble beating guys off the dribble. And the only way he was ever going to make it in the league was as a bench score. And he couldn't shoot. So, So pistons waived him and so on and so forth. Even by Summer League standards, he was, you know, when he played in three Summer League leagues and didn't do particularly well in any of them, even by Summer League standards, he was athletically outmatched. So back to what I was saying,

Bruce Brown looked really raw on the way to the basket the last season of the NBA and last year in Summer League. And he looked a lot better this season in Summer League. It's this summer and Summer League. it's clearly something he's been working on, and he just, he looked much more natural on his way to the basket. It wasn't just I'm going to drive right and try to hook it in, which is what he used to be. So that's certainly encouraging. The fact that he clearly has very good cork vision is encouraging.

I think we saw that last summer as well. But, and just overall, it's, it made for a successful summer league appearance because he was just really able to drive the baskets and attract a lot of attention. use that core vision in passing of his to dish the ball to an open teammate. And he's got that sort of court vision that allows him to kind of see who is behind him as well, just, you know, so to speak. He's able to make hook passes to guys who aren't in his range of vision. And that's great.

That's something you always want to see. It's something really good to see from anybody. Now, and it's worth noting that his offseason was only about 10 weeks old when he came to Summer League. So, you know, obviously you weren't expecting to see him, you know, have made progress in every area. But where his performance in Summer League wouldn't translate to the NBA is that he still can't shoot. So one thing about Summer League, like I said, you don't have teams really working with a set defensive scheme. And you don't have teams operating on the basis of scouting and so on and so forth.

And so guys were just playing Bruce Brown. Brown like they always, you know, excuse me, like you normally would play any player, which is by defending him at the three-point line. And they, also, of course, he was working, I get to the point I feel like where I'm beating this, you know, this is a dead horse I'm beating, but he was up against guys who are, who are considerably worse defenders than he's going to play against in the NBA. But, you know, that's less, that's the less important point here. More important point is that this wouldn't be possible for him in the NBA if he can't shoot, and he still can't shoot. At Summer League, he was passing up all sorts of open three-pointers.

He didn't shoot well on the ones he did attempt. He clearly still doesn't have a jump shot, which is a massive problem. You know, if you just look at him at first glance, it's like, man, he's doing great in Summer League as a playmaker. Maybe he could play some backup point guard or something like that, and the answer is, no, he really can't at this point. Teams will, in the NBA, will play him differently. They know how their average opponent plays.

they play a set defense and they do they'll do exactly what they did last season, which is just back up five, six, seven feet into the paint. And just then they have a guy able to, you know, around to help on whoever comes into the paint and whether that's Blake Griffin or somebody trying to drive in there. And Bruce Brown knows this. He knows. He said in an interview with what I believe was the Detroit Free Press. He said that he knew that him being on the floor made life harder on Blake Griffin.

And it absolutely did because Bruce's man was free to just rotate to Griffin in the post. or if Reggie Jackson was wanting to drive to the basket off the pick and roll, Bruce Brown's man would just go in there and then you got, you know, usually the center who's defending the paints and Bruce Brown's man defending Reggie Jackson or whoever else is coming into the paint, and it's a huge problem. So that would basically wipe out Bruce Brown's ability as a playmaker really right off the bat because, you know, he was making heavy use of the pick and roll, and that's what a lot of guys do when you're looking to.

the pench right to the basket. But what his opponents would do in the NBA is just go under every screen, which means you don't chase the guy under the screen, you just go behind the screener, and then you back away toward the basket. And then suddenly Bruce Brown can't beat you off your first step because, you know, you're too far away from him. And he's got to drive into what amounts to double coverage and then good luck making plays for anybody because the other team just strictly defends the shooters on the floor and just dares Bruce Brown to shoot. And if you can't make that shot, then, you know, what options does he have? He's got to pass the ball.

And this is the same sort of thing that Ish Smith ran into in the playoffs. I mean, Ish Smith at this point in this career is a more polished driver and a more, you know, just a lot more experienced than Bruce Brown, of course. But against the bucks, all they did was they said, okay, well, we're going to back into the paint. We're going to back your man into the paint. and we're going to dare you to either shoot from the perimeter. Because, you know, what we're going to do,

we're going to back your guy into the paint, and we're going to cover the shooters on the floor, and admittedly the Pistons didn't have a ton of those. And admittedly, Dwayne Casey, really, for some reason, that continues to elude me doesn't like using offball screens to get his guys open. But, you know, with the results that generally during the regular season, when you had Blue Kennard and Thaun Maker on the floor, I mean, Thaun Maker was open all the time

because guys are more than happy to give him that shot. When, in reality, he should have been setting screens for Conard to setting screens for whatever other shooter happening on the floor so that they get themselves open. But Dwayne Casey had him spotting up instead, which is a terrible idea. But, you know, that is what it is, sadly. And, but whatever the case, in the playoffs, the Bucks just said, we're just going to back off. And your choice is to take a bad shot that you probably can't make or drive into double or triple coverage. And again, you know, being on the floor at least one of the non-shooter. It certainly hurts Smith. I mean, putting two non-shooters in the floor is asking for,

is asking to really have severe trouble with spacing unless you're a team like, you know, the Warriors of the last three seasons, we get away with it because they had three of the best shooters, you know, in the world on the floor, but pissens don't have that and neither to most teams. So that basically neutered it Smith. I mean, he was absolutely horrible in that series. And granted, his mid-range touch abruptly just like that. left him at some points in the season. You know, used to be a, you know, he used to be a fairly decent mid-range shooter off the dribble if you left him open. That was gone this season. And it was, to be honest, never really all that reliable to begin with. But whatever the case,

Bruce Brown will run into the same problem in the NBA. I mean, guys will just defend him in the same way. And, you know, Ish Smith had the benefits of, you know, being extremely quick and having many years in the league. And Bruce Brown doesn't have that. But, you know, You've got to be able to shoot if you're playing at the guard positions. Absolutely. You've got to be able to shoot certainly if you're a small forward. If you're a power forward, it's best if you can shoot if you're a center, but you can get away with not doing it.

But the fact that it's so valuable to have that for the purposes of spacing and having that extra three-point shooter on the floor, it just really opens up your offense and opens up your offense further. It makes you very difficult to defend, and that's why traditional centers are really on their way out of the league. But just as a guard, you know, as a guy who's going to play Bruce Brown's positions, which are, you know, point guard through small forward, you've got to be able to shoot, non-negotiable. And if you can't do that, then you're a spacing liability in the NBA, period.

So that's something he's really got to work on. Like I said, only 10 weeks since the regular season. And, you know, you can't expect, you know, it would be nice if he showed that kind of progress. But, yeah, it clearly hasn't made it. But Brown is very clearly a super hardworking guy. He's already said that he has been working super hard. primarily in his shooting, and hopefully you can get it together, because if you've got a Bruce Brown who can shoot, then you know, then you've got a super versatile player who can line up at any of three positions,

a guy who could play a point guard, guy who they could put in the starting lineup next to Reggie Jackson, who's kind of a defensive liability, and just in general, because the starting lineup is just not going to be very good defensively this season. and a guy they could play in a playmaking role off the bench, a guy they could be, you know, and this is kind of a lot of big grandiose, but a guy that could be looking at his starting point guard of the future. I mean, he need to make a ton of progress. But, you know, super valuable will have a guy who can, you know, is released with Swiss Army knife who's athletic, can drive to the basket, can shoot.

He's a good playmaker. He's a good defender. Those guys are super valuable. And if Bruce Brown can learn to shoot, then he can be one of those guys. can't learn, if you can't learn to shoot, then he's going to be a spacing liability, period. And offense is king in the NBA. It's games are won or lost on offense. His defense is valuable, but games are one or lost on offense.

And if you can't shoot, then you're a minus on offense. At least, again, you can get away with it to an extent when you're a center, but obviously Bruce is not a center. So you've got to be able to shoot. So that's, you know, that's the linchpin. That's what he has to be able to do. And he can work on everything else and get better at everything else. but if he can't shoot, then he's going to be a player of very limited value in the NBA.

And that's just the unfortunate case. But in any event, it was encouraging to see what he could do and hopefully can get a shot together. Because if he can, then absolutely he's fit to play big minutes in the NBA. And, you know, I can't say enough good things about the guy as far as his potential and his attitude. He's clearly a super hard worker. He's clearly a team first guy. He's got leadership potential. So he's got a lot to offer the people.

Pistons, but that shot is the thing he's got to have. Otherwise, he's always going to struggle in the NBA. So good summer league for Bruce. It's kind of cool, I guess, that he was only the second player ever to put up a double, excuse me, a triple double in summer league after Alonzo ball a couple seasons ago, a couple summers ago. So, you know, good play out of him, and hopefully we can get that shot together, and we see him doing more of what he did in this summer and the upcoming season. That said, if he does play in the starting lineup, he's, of course, not going to have much of a playmaking role. Blake Griffin takes the, Blake Griffin is going to, is on the ball the most out of any of the starting lineup, of course, that's how you play around him.

He was the primary ball handler whenever he's on the floor. Reggie Jackson is the secondary. This is the primary ball handler whenever he's on the floor, and Griffin is not, whenever the two of them are on the floor, just whoever's with them is not going to get to handle the ball very much. So, you know, who knows what will be done with him. But, Yeah, we'll see. Even if he's just a guy who can play very good defense and shoot threes and can maybe score some off the drive, then fantastic. That's a guy you can viably start. One thing to mention about his defense, still super foul prone, and that's something he's got to cut down on.

Was he a good defender last season for the most part? He kind of struggled fighting around picks, which he continued to struggle fighting around picks in Summer League. And he struggled a little bit defending the three-point line. That's still something he's got to work on. but free throws are just such an incredibly efficient, just a great source of offense. Like Andre Drummond, he's not a good free throw shooter, but you sing 59% of your free throws that's still very efficient offense. And a lot of guys are in the 80s and some of the very best are in the low 90s.

So if you follow a guy and send him to the line, you're giving him a great scoring opportunity. And Bruce Brown, like I've said before, if you take centers out of the equation and centers are naturally the most foul prone players in the league because they're defending the rim. If you take centers out of the equation, Bruce Brown was the most foul prone starter, consistent starter in the league. I said consistent starter at around, started more than 30 games or 30 or more games. Yeah, he followed at a higher rate than any other consistent starter in the league. So that's something he's got to work on.

He continued to follow in Summer League. And don't get me wrong, the guy is, you know, he's a pit bull on defense. I mean, he's one of those guys who really just, you know, makes it his trade. It's very important to him to play good defense. And he's got all the makings of a good defender. He's got those good defensive instincts. He's quick on his feet. He's very good lateral movement.

He's got a respectable wingspan, and he's just, he's got those instincts. And so it's just another thing he has to work on. He has to become Westfell prone. So in the end, what have we learned about Bruce Brown from Summer League? that he's a pretty good playmaker. He's a pretty good passer, and certainly he has the capacity to improve off the drive, but still needs to work on his shot. Also, still needs to work on his overall offense because he wasn't efficient.

You know, he granted, his efficiency was dragged down by the fact that he only shot 20% from three. It was only on two and a half attempts per game, but nonetheless, he only shot just 41.3% from the field altogether. Though it is, he did a decent job of getting to the free throw line. Not great, but decent enough. That said, it wasn't enough to boost his efficiency and to, you know, up to what you would consider an acceptable level, even, you know, certainly for Summer League.

And definitely, you know, if you put a transplant that average into the NBA, it would definitely not be good enough. You know, for statistical purposes, he actually continues to lead the Summer League and assists per game at 8.2. Second best right now is 6.4. and on the entire Summer League, 13 and a half points per game, yeah, 8.2 assists per game, 8 rebounds per game.

So pretty good as a rebound or two, and that's something he can do in the NBA as well because he's very bouncy. So, yeah, that's what we learned about Bruce Braun from Summer League. Moving on to Kyrie Thomas. So Kyrie Thomas was kind of the number two guy in the team, and he certainly did well from a three-point range. It was kind of his average was artificially, not artificial. He was kind of inflated by the first game where he did very well.

He didn't do quite as well in the next few games, the next four games rather. He ended at 38.2%. And Kyrie, you know, 13.4 points per game, 2.2 assists, you know, before rebounds and, you know, quite a few turnovers. But, like, not a ton, but, you know, two per game against 2.2 assists, obviously, is an ideal. So Kyrie was brought kind of out of his elements. The guy, as he, again, as he had demonstrated. in college and again demonstrated at summer league he's just not a good ball handler he's he's not good at going downhill and trying to beat his guy off the dribble he just he doesn't have the

best handles he's uh he's kind of prone to losing the ball he's not good at driving into coverage i mean these are things i suppose he could work on but the guy you know the guy is is already i believe actually no i know um the guy's 23 years old so you know i mean obviously it's not You're not like at the end at that point, but if you look at a guy at that age who still kind of looks lost as a ball handler, he's probably not going to develop that kind of skill. Some guys just don't have that sort of IQ or the handles. And just overall, though, I mean, so Kyrie's efficiency as a result of, you know, he was put on a lot of two-point sets. And he didn't do well at all. Like his field goal percentage was lower than his three-point percentage.

So, I mean, that's quite rare for a guy who. who's attempting seven, you know, seven threes per game. And it just shows how much you struggle from two-point range. So fortunately in the NBA, you know, if he makes it in the NBA, and I think he should, even if it's only a bench player. Some guys, I mean, it's fine. If they just play fairly good defense and sink their threes at a good rate, you know, you're in good shape.

I mean, not every guy you put on the floor is necessarily going to be able to drive to the net. I mean, you look at guys like Danny Green. he's been very valuable in certain offenses throughout the course of his career like but the spurs he if they had not if they had won in 2013 I think you can make a very good case that he would have been finals MVP and that's a guy who absolutely cannot you know it's very rare that he drives to the baskets and he's not good at it he's a guy who takes threes or occasionally pump fakes and takes a two and he's he's a good defender you know he's gone a little of it downhill in that respect, you know, as he's gotten older, he was never the most athletic

guy to begin with, but you can be a very valuable player in the NBA if you're a good defender and guys can dish you know, can issue the ball at the three-point line and you're a significant threat. So the fact that Kyrie isn't very good at working with the ball really isn't a very big problem necessarily. Now, his defense wasn't all that great. It wasn't bad, but, you know, I wouldn't call him a defensive standout, which is a little concerning at the summer league level. He was, I believe, two-time defensive player the year in the Big East. I mean, it's not the best conference in college basketball, but nonetheless, it shows that he was a good defender at the college level.

You know, a feat helped by the fact that at about six foot three and three and a half inches in shoes, he's got a six, ten and a half wingspan. I mean, that's gigantic. It's not a guarantee that you'll be a good defender. like Reggie Jackson has a freakishly long wing span. It's six foot three, seven foot wingspan. So it's not going to make you a good defender by default. You've got to have that IQ, but it certainly helps.

You know, you can be a little bit more out of position and still have the length to make up for that. So, like I said, I think Kyrie was driven out of his element. He's just absolutely not good as a ball handler, and he wasn't at the college level either. And I think the piston, maybe wanted to see what he could do in that respect, and he did not impress. He also certainly didn't impress getting to the free throw line, point four attempts per game.

Though in his defense, it was kind of weird. He was going to the basket and getting hacked a fair amount and just not getting foul calls. I'm not sure what that's about. But, you know, I think even if he had been getting those calls, you know, he's still not, he's just not good at drive into the basket. The guy does not have the best first step, and he just doesn't really have the moves. So that's what we learned from Summer League. Well, one more thing, actually.

Playing with confidence is a big deal for this guy. I think, like we saw that in the first game. We saw it at times elsewhere. There are guys you just really have to put in a position to succeed, and they'll do well for you. Kyrie was not put in a position to succeed in this tournament because he was asked to do a lot of stuff that he's just not good at on offense. You know, he can hit the occasional mid-range jumper off the dribble.

But beyond that, I mean, his utility is primarily found at the three-point line. Yeah, he's just, you don't say this again. He doesn't have the moves. He's not a good passer. He's not an awful passer, but he's not a good passer. He doesn't have very good vision. So we've learned that decent three-point guy, not mentally the strongest, needs to be playing with confidence.

And, you know, a decent defender who can hopefully improve. And it's just that his, his, His place in the lineup is, you know, where you could be in the lineup is, at least in this upcoming season, is kind of nebulous. Hopefully, Bruce Brom will develop his shot, and then, you know, in that case, I think it's all but certain that he'll take his place in the starting lineup again, and that's fine. Because a backcourt of Luke Conard and Reggie Jackson is probably just going to get absolutely eaten on defense. So, and Coach Casey, really, just he values. defense to a degree that I don't agree with. Defense is important, but his philosophy is if you can't play defense, then you're not going to be on the floor. When in today's NBA, where offense is

significantly favored over defense, the opposite is true. It's you can't be on the floor, again, unless you're a center. You can't be on the floor if you can't shoot. And guys who can shoot but can't play defense are far more valuable than guys who can play defense but can't shoot. But nonetheless, that's Coach Casey's philosophy. So assuming Kennard on the bench, you know, where does Kyrie Thomas play? He can't play the points. Like maybe in a situation where he's with other guys who are able to, you know, other guys who'll be handling the ball, you know, I guess fine in that case. And he's a switchable defender because that wingspan and the fact that he's kind of, he's got a very, he's strong, you know, he's certainly a well-built

guy, particularly for his size. So, I mean, defense shouldn't be an issue. People talk about him is undersized. He's only one and a quarter inches short on the Bruce Brown. He's got a longer wingspan. So it's just, you know, if you're playing Kennard at backup shooting guard, which I think will be the case. Where does Kyrie play then? I will note that I'm afraid because Dwayne Casey has a long history of playing favorites with underperforming veterans that Langston Galloway will somehow find his way into the rotation, despite the fact that, A, he shouldn't, and B, he's just not a good player, and he hasn't been so far in the NBA. Langston Galloway, I know I'm going way off in a tangent here, but he's just this otherworldly

unreliable shooter who can either light up the opposition or just have a horrific game. And he's not the greatest defender. He's not athletic. He can't, you know, again, you don't have to be great at driving to the best. basket, but you don't want to put a guy on the floor who you just, you don't know if you can rely on him at all on any, literally any given nights, you can look at Langston and say, well, I don't know if you're going to be great or you're going to suck. And that's not a guy you really, that's not really the ideal guy for any offense.

And last season, well, last season you could have made the arguments that, that Kyrie could have come in and done a better job than say Bruce Brown just on the basis of being able to shoot. ultimately we never found out, and now it's a moot point. So who knows where he'll fit in next season? Maybe he won't get his chance until, you know, I wouldn't say until, but hopefully it's not until, I'll say unless injuries strike. And even then, it's not necessarily certain that if he, you know, even if he is possibly the better player than Galloway and a guy whom the Pistons would

benefit from developing, it's not certain that he'll get those minutes over Galloway, who, again, coach Casey is just one of the guys that coach Casey has a history of just getting attached to guys like, you know, to underperforming veterans and favoring them when they don't deserve it. Anyway, that's it for Kyrie Thomas. So moving on to Svi McAliuk. So Svi actually struggled a significant amount from the field. And including from three-point range, last summer league did a great job in three-point range. Not so much this time. He started off pretty strong and then tailed off.

He was given a lot of ball handling duties. That I believe was by design. Dwayne K. He said, you know, I think Sveemichalia could play point guard in the NBA. I'm not sure if I agree with that. But the guy certainly flash some moves. You know, he's a pretty good dribbler. You know, he's got some pretty good moves.

He's certainly got good court vision. Like, without a doubt, he can be a playmaker off the pick and roll. You know, those guys are valuable guys who can, you know, you give them the ball and you give them a pick and, you know, either they can launch a quick three and hopefully, you know, if they can launch a quick three and hit it with a good percentage, or you, and basically that forces defenders to not go under picks. You have to follow them around to pick. And that just helps open things up because his defender is automatically behind him,

and then a defender has to come and face him on the way of the basket, and that opens up somebody else and so on and so forth. It's just a common rule. Guys who are able to shoot are going to be more valuable on the pick and rule. Of course, it's almost kind of a moot point because there are exceedingly few guys who are getting minutes at the guard positions or at small forward, or really any guys who are just running the pick and roll consistent. There are very few of them left in the NBA who can't shoot.

But back to Svee, his real bar in the NBA is going to be that he's just not athletic. He's just not. he doesn't have a very quick first step. He's not explosive. He's not a good leaper. And he's got a short wing span. These are all things that will make it more difficult for him to gain separation and to get to the basket. And he was struggling to a degree to do that even in Summer League.

Granted, it would have been helpful on a pick and roll, for example, if he had better roll men to feed. Since the guys he had were just not particularly good. But really, you know, as nice as his ball handling was, I think, based on what we saw in this summer league. And granted, you know, the guy's not old by any means. He's only 22 years old. But, you know, there's space for him to prove. We'll put it that way.

But at this current stage of his development, his utility in the NBA is primarily just going to be as a shooting specialist. Maybe he'll see some time with the bench lineup. Maybe he'll be the backup small forward. But he's only going to be useful in the NBA if he can sink those threes. and he's probably going to be a defensive liability. Again, as a guy who is just not very quick on his feet, at least for the position that he plays

and has a very short wingspan. You know, I think his outlook for this season is just shooting specialist. And overall, I wouldn't say he had a particularly good summer league. I mean, you're shooting 37.5% from the floor and 32.5% from three. That's just not a good performance against a competition. competition of that quality. He was very turnover prone as well. I mean, he did manage four assists per game, but it was against three turnovers per game. So not the performance, probably that the Pistons Brass were hoping for, especially after how well he performed last season. That said,

last season, he wasn't. As far as I remember, was not handling the ball this much. I could be wrong about that, but I don't think that I am. So that's what Svi is. We just, you know, we learned that he may or may not be ready for NBA minutes. You know, he flash some cool moves just like he did last summer. But at this point, what the best of Pistons can hope for from him next season is that he comes in and is a real threat from the three-point line. So moving on, Jordan Bone. So Jordan Bone picked up with the Pistons on the third game because the trade that brought him to the Pistons wasn't approved until. shortly before then. So what did Jordan Bone show us? Jordan Bone showed us the same kind of

explosive athleticism that he was known for in college. I mean, he was he was tops and in almost all of the athletic categories, like in terms of vertical weep and shuttle run and so on at the NBA Combine. Now, Bone still quite raw. He was not good from the the floor. He certainly struggled from three point range. He just struggled from the floor in general. I mean, and he struggled on the way to the basket as well, which is, you know, which isn't encouraging, and, you know, hopefully he can improve. But his offense were a lot of great deal on just going around picks and taking long twos. And long twos are the most inefficient source of offense in the NBA. That's just, that's, that's, you can't cut it in the NBA with that kind of, you know, with that being a

primary means for your offense because offense, you know, the defenses in the NBA are going to be significantly more difficult than what you saw in Summer League. So the guy really has to improve on his way to the basket. He has to improve as a three-point shooter. Guys who can shoot threes and are very good going downhill toward the basket will always have a place in the NBA. But guys who do don't have either of those are going to be in trouble. You've got to have a three-point shot, period. But, you know, if you can shoot threes, it'll be valuable. But if you're playing point guard, it's very, very nice. If you're here, you're here. able to, you know, it's, you know, it's really ideal to be able to penetrate and be a threat on the

way of the basket. And with Jordan Bone, of course, guys are always going to have to defend him, you know, because you just, you can't leave a guy like that open on the way of the basket because obviously it'll score. So even if he's not great at finishing, he'll still be able to, in a drive and dish. But he's looking very raw. He's got potential, you know, like a lot of the guys who go to the system. He's got to learn to shoot. He's got to learn to shoot better. He didn't do a good job in the Summer League. And in Summer League, as I've said, probably several times in this podcast already is far easier than the NBA. So, but, you know, beyond that, he worked really hard. That's nice to see. He's super quick. Defense was a bit of an issue, not help by the fact that, you know,

he's about six, two and a half, and he's got a six-foot-three wingspan, which is, you know, which is bad. I mean, that's, that makes him, excuse me, he's six foot three, I think six foot three and a half wingspan or something like that. Basically, his wingspan is not significantly greater than his height, and his height is, he's not very tall. He's not small by NBA standards, but nor is he tall. So that's a disadvantage. That's a disadvantage on defense.

It's also a disadvantage at scoring at the basket because it's nice to have longer arms. So he'll be playing in the G-League. He's on a two-way contract, which means that he's not going to be spending much time with the pistons. But, you know, I mean, they have a third string point card and Tim Frazier. So he'll be fourth in the depth chart. And he'll be playing the vast majority of his games with the Griffins. And we'll see how things go.

But a guy who was picked as late as he is, most of those guys don't make it in the week. We can hope for the best, and we'll see. He was certainly exciting to watch just because of how quick he was. But overall, not a very good performance. So with Jordan Bone, we've learned that he really needs to work in a shooting, and he really needs to work on his moves on the way to the basket. And as a passer, didn't really flash anything special.

So the last one, or the last two on the list, rather, as far as guys who are under contract to the Pistons, are guys who didn't play much. one was Seku Dumboya. He wasn't cleared until the final game. You just, you don't take risks in Summer League. It's just not worth it. If a guy looks like he's injured, you don't want to risk making that worse.

So Dumboya came in. He played only 13 and a half minutes. Again, he only played the final game, so we played 13 and a half minutes in the entirety of the tournament. He looked very raw. It looked like a guy who potentially could be good at everything, but right now isn't particularly good at anything. again, very limited time. But he kind of looked a little bit lost on defense, on offense.

He kept trying to post up, which is probably, you know, he was playing overseas in France. It was a pro league, but not a very high quality pro league. He was probably able to just, you know, to just body people in that league in a way that, you know, wouldn't have been possible even in summer league and certainly not, you know, at the NBA level. And, you know, overall, he just, he's super young and he's super raw. and Ed Stefanski is the Pissons general manager, or, you know, it's his de facto role as general manager, has said that the front office envisions Dumbly has a guy who's going to contribute a couple of seasons down the line.

And if he can come in this season and do well, then fantastic. That would be just great. He could take the back of small forward minutes. You know, wonderful. I don't think that anybody should bank on that, because he's got a ways to go in his development. And finally, Davida, Servetus, also very, very raw. He only played about 35 minutes in the tournament.

I think the vast majority of that was in garbage time. He's going back to Europe. The Pistons are stashing him there. I think that was always their plan with their second round pick. He'll preserve a roster spot. He won't be counted against the cap. And Servetus is just not ready in any fashion. He looked lost on defense.

He just didn't really look comfortable on offense. and his body is an NBA ready. So he's just a guy you send him back to Europe, and you hope he's maybe ready for next season. But he's just very, very obviously not ready in any capacity for the NBA right now. And there's no reason for the Pistons to even stash him in the G League. It's just best for all involved if he goes over to Europe and continues his development against an easier level of competition,

considerably easier level of competition. So that's it for the Pistons' Rock. roster, not the Pistons roster, rather. That's it for the guys who played in Summer League, who were under contract to the Pistons. There are a couple other guys whom I know fans were looking at. Those are Matt Costello and Dante Hall. So we'll start with Hall. What he did show us is that he's a fairly athletic guy. And, you know, at the Summer League level, he's a fairly good rim protector and a decent rebounder. What he also showed us, he has Eric Morland levels of offensive IQ and ability, which is to say none at all. He's pretty much helpless on the offensive ends,

even at the summer league level. He doesn't have those instincts. He doesn't have any touch on the basket. Of course, he can't space the floor at all, and he couldn't in college either. He's not even a good three-point, a free-throw shooter, rather. He's struggled in college. He struggled again in summer league at less than 60%. And from the field, just 38% or a guy who's playing center. I mean, 38% for anybody is an ideal. 38%, you know, for a guy who's playing center, normally just scoring around the basket is just really, really bad. So maybe the Pistons will assign him to the Grand Rapids Drive. He, I would say with 99.99% confidence that he will not be signed to the Pistons roster.

This don't have a backup center, but he's definitely not fit for that. And finally, Matt Costello. So Costello played pretty well for the Pistons by Summer League standards. again. He was a fairly good rebounder. He did okay in the pick and roll. He provided some rudimentary floor spacing, though. He shot 30% from three. He worked hard on defense. He was as hard working as you would expect from his days at Michigan State, but not an NBA caliber player. At the summer league level, he can do a fair job of defending the rim that you saw against New Jersey. He just had no hope of stopping Jared Allen. And he struck.

against some of the Nets guards who were just too quick for him. So at the Summer League level, he can defend decently well. You know, his lack of athleticism doesn't make him a straight out liability there. But even then, he's struggled to defend without fouling. I mean, the guy averaged upwards of five fouls per game, and sure, you can, you know, you can manage, you know, in Summer League, when you have 10 follows to give, you know, maybe you play a little bit more fast and loose.

But those are fouls that, you know, I think those are fouls he was going to commit anyway because he's just, he's not quick enough to position himself on defense against the much quicker players he was playing against even in Summer League. And at the NBA level, the standard of athleticism and skill is that much higher. So, you know, again, he was a decent but not great interior score. At the NBA level, his lack of athleticism would make him just a huge liability on defense on the perimeter and in the paint. he's undersized to boot. Basically, the only way to be able to play defense is by following. And obviously, you can't do that in the NBA.

And as an interior score in the NBA, he wouldn't be good either. I think it's very unlikely he will actually get a, I mean, maybe he'll get a non-guaranteed contract with an NBA team. I think it's extremely unlikely that he'll see any significant time in the NBA or that he will ever make it in the NBA. I hope for his sake, because he seems like a great dude, that he can parlay the summer league performance into a better contract overseas, but I think you should expect that you will, again, as with Dante Hill, 99.99% will not be with the organization next season.

So that'll wrap up this episode. Next one will focus on what the Pistons did in free agency. As always, thanks for listening. See you next time.