Driving to the Basket: A Detroit Pistons Podcast - Episode 83: Rising (and Falling) Stars

Episode Date: February 3, 2022

This episode discusses the three Pistons named to the Rising Stars Game---Cade Cunningham, Saddiq Bey, and Isaiah Stewart---Killian Hayes' move to the bench, and the early consequences of Jerami Grant's return to the lineup. 

Welcome back, everybody, to drive into the basket, part of the basketball podcast network. I am Mike, joined tonight by Dante. I wish I could come up with another funny reason why Tommy is away, but we've already gone through the NFL combine. Yeah, yeah, it's tough to, it's tough to replicate. That was funny last time, and it's tough to replicate that. So don't blame you. It's just me and Mike tonight. It's just Mike tonight.

That's what it's going to have to be. Yeah, absolutely. So, yep, got as usual, a lot of good stuff to talk about tonight. But first, I know that Dante wants to give a shout out to Matt Stafford, who definitely doesn't listen to this show. Yeah, it has been, it's been an interesting, some might call it an emotionally draining week in sports, especially if your name is Dante. So we've got friend of Detroit, Matthew Stafford, Super Bowl bound now, which is, I, listen, I know a lot of Lions fans are happy for them. And I'm sure everybody saw the video of the one Lions fan in the Stafford jersey, watching the Rams game jumping up and down.

I'm not that guy. I just, I can't root for other teams like that, but Matthew is a good dude. He gave us a lot of good years. And I wish him the best personally, but I'm probably a Sincey fan two Sundays from now. And then obviously some fantastic playoff football.

And then the Pistons too. And then you've got Cade's massive game against the Nuggets. And then Cade comes out with a bad game. and then half a bad game and half an amazing game. And it was just lots to get into, man, lots to get into. But before we do that, there are a few housekeeping items that the three of us wanted to get out of the way first. Then we'll jump into the episode. So just for the sake of being honest and to demonstrate our gratitude, we want to thank the listeners

because ever since the Cade Cunningham sweepstakes, right, ever since the lottery, listenership has really increased. And you guys are coming out listening to everything. episode consistently and the three of us really truly appreciate it and so we're always looking for ways to you know improve to drive engagement with you the listener so of course we've got our user submitted question segment you can ask us those questions on the Detroit Pistons discord of course we post every episode on the r slash Detroit Piston subreddit feel free to comment any kind of suggestions any thoughts that you had about the episode we're more than happy to read them

In fact, I'm pretty sure we all read all of them and implement those changes if we all think that it would make for a better show. So we do have, we're thinking we're talking of having some cool stuff coming up where we're going to involve the listeners more. But for right now, I think we'll leave it at that. And also, feel free to follow us on Twitter as well. It's at to the basket pod, not the number two. It's the T-O. To the Basket Pod. Yep, to the BasketPod.

You can follow us on there. You can submit users submitted questions there too. So yeah, I think that's it for the plugs. Are we ready to get into the episode? Absolutely, yeah. So I would say our first item today, the NBA, just earlier today, released the rosters for the Rising Stars Challenge. Rising Stars this year, 12 sophomores, 12 rookies,

and a very new piece of work for players from the G-League Ignite team. G-League Ignite team, of course, is the G-League team, as it says in the title. But these are players who went straight out from college. Instead of going into the NCAA, excuse me, not straight out of college, straight of high school, pardon me. Instead of going to the NCAA, they get paid to directly. Of course, in the NCAA, you get paid now for the use of your likeness and so on and so forth. But you get paid directly by the G-League Ignite. That's where Jalen Green came from last season, J-1 Hardy, who is a really big thing heading into this season,

but has really struggled in the G-League is with the Ignite this year. I don't know. I think he's playing in the Rising Stars game. Yeah, I think so. I think so. Yeah. whatever the case, the Pistons are well represented. You've got Cade Cunningham, of course, on the freshman team, or on the rookie team.

On the sophomore team, we've got Sadiq Bay and Isaiah Stewart. So definitely great to see Detroit players recognized. I can't remember the last time the Pistons had a player in the Rising Stars Challenge. Let alone three, let alone three of them, right? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I think that Andre Drummond was the last one. I could be wrong. Maybe Kyle Singler, though I think he was drafted before Drummond, whatever the case.

I remember Drummond had like a monster game way back when because, you know, whatever. I don't like that guy. In any case, yeah, so it should be fun to watch. It's going to be in some sort of tournament format. I haven't really taken the time to understand it yet, but it's something I'll definitely do watching. And of course, the Pistons don't have any actual all-stars, but that should come as no surprise. No, and listen, at this point, like this is about the best that you could hope for. A lot of young nucleus of guys, right?

And it's nice to see that three of them have been recognized. And we've sort of got this thing in Detroit, right? There's a great radio guy, Matt Derry. He does the Lockton Lions podcast now, but he was on 97-1 for many, many years. And he always used to say about players, are they good or are they Detroit good? Like, are they good in the broader context of the league that they play in? Or do we just think that they're good here in the local news sphere? and no, our young nucleus is definitely pretty good.

Now, you say what you will about Isaiah Stewart. We're going to get into him a little bit later, but Cade Cadyham and Sadiq Bay, these guys are absolutely, in my opinion, young rising stars in the league. And it's nice to get a little bit of recognition for sure. Absolutely. Yeah, Kate, of course, needs no explanation.

Like the Cleveland game, or certainly the game against the Nuggets, which the Pistons, unfortunately, did not win, which is what it is. Wins are, and so, excuse me, losses definitely aren't the worst thing. in the world right now. But the games against Denver, particularly the second one, and the game against the Cavaliers, of course, really just highlighted again how special Kate is and how fortunate,

tremendously fortunate the business were to win that draft lottery. Just the sort of, I know this is almost a trite term at this point, and even with respect to Kay, but just the it factor, how he brings himself into big moments and just even just on a possession by possession basis. I saw he said something, the effect of that for him, every possession is its own little game. And when it's over,

you know, you just, you move on, you try to do the best you can in one possession, then you move on to the next one. That's a great mindset. That's such a great mindset.

And you can really see it when he plays. There was a, there was a post in the subreddit a few days ago asking about Cade's ceiling. And I dropped a comment. And it was lofty praise, but Mike, what you just said there about

how each possession is its own little game, I think it speaks to how Cade's greatest strength. And of course he's got these physical attributes, the size, the length, the shooting touch. But his best attribute is his brain, right? The way that he can decipher, you know, what the defense throws at him, manipulate the defense, and then make the best play. And so going back to this post, asking what is Cade's truest ceiling? And I said that Cade's ceiling was like a 6'6 foot six, Chris Paul. And I know that that seems crazy, just a few months into his career. But when I watch Chris Paul, I see someone who understands the game at a

level, at a notch higher than other guys who are paid millions of dollars to understand the game at a high level. He's just so far above his competition. He's so smart that he's always going to have a place in the league. And he's always going to be impactful. He's always going to be productive. He's always going to perform. And when I watch Cade break down a defense at the age of 20, it just my mind just goes wild with what he could. be. And I think that it doesn't, there are people who who may not believe that Cade, or at least pre-draft, might not have believed that Cade had the ceiling of a Jaling Green or an Evan Mobley when you talk about his physical attributes. But someone's mind for the game can't be understated.

Yeah, absolutely, I agree. He's definitely got very special basketball IQ to, you know, to pair with what's obviously also excellent potential as a leader. And it's worth remembering, I mean, the guy's less than half of a season, counting the games he's actually played. Crazy, right? Less than the season in the NBA. Yeah, he's definitely got a long ways to go. There are a lot of improvement that can be had, not just in his game, but physically speaking, he's already quite strong, but you can see there's a lot of, you know, he's got a lot of

space to add strength and just muscle and. Oh, for sure. And, you know, it's probably makes some physical improvements even beyond that. I think I'm certainly not the only person who's been pleasantly surprised by his ability to find his way to the basket. and he does so or has done so. Oh, I mean, in the first place, he just has no trouble getting into his spots.

And I mean, that was that was one minor concern. Like, is he going to be able to get there in the NBA? And he does. But he's getting there right now largely just by tactical excellence. And that's made it more difficult for him to get, defer him to get to the free throw one. And it's like that with some other players as well. Of course, these are different players like Kyrie, you know,

whatever you want to say about him. And absolutely he's a douchebag. And I don't think anybody should disagree with that state. arguably the best ball handler of all time. It does not get to the line very much for that reason. I'm not comparing Kate to him, but I mean, it's just some players who are able to get to their,

who are able to get to spouse to score at the rim without taking a lot of contact, aren't going to get as many calls. Like Derek Rose didn't get many calls because he just, you know, he found ways to score there without really getting touched. So, Kate, though, eventually when he gets more comfortable and also just stronger,

like when the guy is really going to be able to have guys on his back, when he's driving to the basket, he's going to get a lot more of those calls. I love what you said about tactical excellence. I love it because that's what Kate is, right? He's a tactician. And so I agree with your assessment about the free throws, right? Sometimes you're a little too slippery for your own good. Like you're not just barreling in there like a Janus or like a LeBron, right?

You're slithering your way to the basket. But given the fact that Kate has been able to use his mind to decipher these defenses in the NBA, I can't imagine he'll have any trouble. using his mind to figure out how he can leverage his skills into trips to the line. So I think that's coming with experience for sure. Yeah, definitely. We've seen also his move toward being a three-level score. I mean, this is less about his brains, but he's been putting a lot of time into the mid-range

game. That's something that's difficult to perfect. I mean, they're a very small, this is a very small number of players in the NBA who is actually able to make mid-range pull-ups and efficient shot for the most part. The mid-range game has really gone out of style because it's, I mean, if you're not shooting somewhere in the high 40s there, it's not really worth you taking those shots. So, you know, just because 45% from mid-range, that's 30% from 3. I mean, it's pretty easy to decide which shot you want to take. Yep.

So, but if you can pull that off, then you become exceptionally difficult to cover. Yeah, it's just another tool, right? It's just another tool for you to employ. Yeah, absolutely. You easier or more difficult to guard, right? And that opens up the rest of your game. And so if Kate can be that true three-level score, which is already showing flashes of, his ceiling just creeps up and up and up.

But then maybe one day we are looking at that six-foot-six, Chris Paul. Yeah, I mean, it's funny. And because we were saying not similar things with when it came to Killian Hayes about about a year ago, it was like, okay, well, if, you know, if he can do these things, then he could be, you know, like the eight best point guard in the league, you know, if he can, you know, shoot, pull up threes and shoot, take mid-range shots. of course with killing, it's more kind of like you have to be able to do this if you want to be, you know, a viable point guard, you know, a decent point guard at all, starting point guard

at all in this week. I'm just thinking about it. It's just no relation whatsoever. But yeah, with Kate about 40 games into his career, you're really seeing flashes of that. The guy can definitely shoot pull up threes. You saw him flash some stepbacks against Cleveland. I think those will come. He's got such a pretty shot.

You always think it has a good shot, a good chance of going in. Yeah. And so, yeah, I mean, if you can get the mid-range game in there, great, because that just means you have to play Cade that much more close. if you can't leave him open. Like you remember, yeah, like Luke and I'd say what you will about Luke, and he's doing pretty well with the clippers right now. Yes.

Yeah. So he was actually a pretty effective pick and roll player, and that was because he was a threat to score from everywhere. I mean, he was a decent passer too. I mean, teams really had to play him up close from mid-range, though, because there was one season, I believe, well, he was always a threat to shoot close to 50% from mid-range, which is definitely an efficient shot.

So if you have to cover him off the pick-and-roll very closely, you, then it opens up opportunities for others. But Kate, of course, you cover them closely. It gives them opportunities to blow by you as well. So it's just, I mean, I know both of us can talk and can just, it could talk about Kate and just. Oh, all day, all day. Yeah, we can talk about all day, all night.

But let's, you know what, we got to give some love to the other true three level score on this roster, Killian Hayes. You want to talk about Killian Hayes? Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. That was a joke. That was a joke, guys.

Absolutely. Yeah, we can, but we'll talk about Killian a little bit more. further on in the show, but I know you've been happy with the performance lately of your boy, Sadiq Bay. Oh, right. What do you feel you've seen from him? Yeah, because things have definitely changed at the beginning of the season we had between us quite a bit of disagreement, like is what they're doing, making sense, you know, just trying

to run them as an ISO score from the perimeter. And, you know, I think we all kind of reached agreement that it was a terrible idea. Unfortunately, that is pretty much completely gone at this point. And he's found other ways to be effective. Yeah. Yeah. I think some of those tools that he gathered during that, you know, trepidious time there where he was trying to figure out what he can do and what he can't do against NBA competition.

And that, of course, states back all the way to this year's summer league, right? He is finding a way to score even when the three ball might not be dropping consistently. And if you're going to be competitive, now I'm not saying being competitive as the goal right now, but eventually, right? If you're going to be competitive, it behooves you to have guys on the floor who are not one-dimensional. And I'm not saying that Sadiq has completely broken out of that one-dimensional mold just yet. But what I do think is that he's not entirely useless. When he's not hitting his threes, he can. I agree. Yeah.

He can drive to the basket with a lot of strength. He's very strong. You know, he's very strong. There are people who watch every game know that there's always that one Sadiq possession where he kind of gets tied up right around the basket. He lowers his head. He just bulldozes into who. is around him with his shoulder.

And then he goes up for an easy uncontested layup because he just blew his guys back, right? He's a strong player. He's someone who can get to the rack there if he really tries his, if he sets his mind to it and he tries his best to do so, he'll get there. And I believe, Mike, you're the statistician of the two of us. I believe that his percentages from inside the ark are increasing. And look, it doesn't have to look pretty. It doesn't need to be perfect.

But the more ways that Sadiq Bay can help this team, it should go without being said, but I'll say it anyway, the better for the team. So I'm ecstatic with the improvement that we've seen from Sadiq. And really where it goes from, where it goes now, he needs to be a little more consistent. But I think that'll come with age and experience. Yeah, I would say so. I mean, his decision making has improved a great deal,

even just over the course of this half season plus. Definitely. So I do disagree that the early ISO experiment really did good things for him. I mean, I think primarily what we saw, who knows, maybe there was some minor benefits to it. But I think what we largely saw was just him. pretty much fell apart on offense and then and then just become discombibibular to the point we became a defensive liability as well like we can definitely agree i mean i know you really like

he was horrible for his first like jes well there's no denying that that's of course everybody saw it yeah so yeah for his first uh really up until shortly before uh all of the covid absences he uh he was he was terrible through his first like 25 or so but yeah he's playing in an entirely different game now i would say that still he's going to, I think he's going to be a perimeter shooter who can create some offense rather than a guy who creates offense and does perimeter shooting. Yeah. But there's no problem with that.

I think he's still going to do, you know, as his career goes on, he's going to primarily be doing his damage from the perimeter. And that's still where he's focused. But yeah, but what he's added and how his offense has changed since that early stage of the season when it was like, okay, Sadie could take the ball and score as if that's not like the absolute most difficult thing to do in the NBA. You know, it's just take the ball and great offense from the perimeter one. one.

He's instead making smart cuts the basket when he's off the ball. He's initiating offense from the interior, which really plays a great deal more to his strength, you know, to his physical strength. And he's a very strong player, just, even by NBA standards, he's very solid. I mean, even just seeing him up close last weekend, you know, I don't know, for those if you didn't listen to that episode, I managed. I was very fortunate to get to sit at the courts at in the Pistons versus Nuggets game for the second and third quarter.

orders. And he's definitely very well built, no doubt about that. So yeah, he's just, he's, he's been going for smarter offense. Definitely his percentages inside the arc have drastically improved. He was just, he was attempting so much horrible offense early on. And he's just taking better shots. But the thing I've been most impressed with lately is his evolution from an early season, black hole to actually making the right pass a lot of the time. Yeah. Yeah, he's, he's able to find guys across the court, excuse me, on the other side of the arc, for example, when he's driving right, you can find guys in the opposite three-point line. Yeah, he could toss a skip pass or two, for sure.

Yeah, so yeah, he's been making the right pass to his credit more and more and passing out of bad situations rather than trying to force shots. So, yeah, I've been impressed. I know we differ on our opinions as to his ceiling. I think I'd be happy if he were the fourth best player on a contender. I know you think he's capable more than that. and I hope I'm wrong and you're right. Yeah.

So, yeah, so we'll see. But definitely the fourth best guy in a contender is a really good player. I mean, that's like, that's like where we picked him. Especially where we picked them. Oh, 100%. And I think that's such an important piece of nuance, right, when discussing Sadiq Bay is look, yeah, but like Mike said, we differ on his ceiling. That's okay.

Only time is going to tell the player that he eventually becomes. But I think it's pretty clear at this point. He was an absolute home run. draft pick at that spot. He's someone who very evidently, at least to me, is going to help this team out for a long time, you know, barring some trade that I don't foresee right now, he's going to be on this roster, he's going to be a piece, and he's going to be effective while he's here. Like I said, the consistent needs to come. But for right now, I don't know how anyone is, is anything less than elated with how that pick has turned out. And really, that's what you're shooting for

in those later, you know, back half of the first round picks, right? That's just a, that's just a grand slam. So I'm very, very pleased with what we've seen thus far. And I'm extremely pleased with the progression that he's shown this year, too, especially after a slow start. So between him and Cade, we're very well represented in the Rising Stars game. And then let's, do you want to talk about Stewart now? Yeah. I'll just end with Sadiq by noting that, yeah, over his last 20 plus games or so, you know, about the last six weeks, he's averaging about 20 points. And of course, you see some inflation there because he was being used on such high volume. Right.

You know, during that short period of COVID absences. But nonetheless, you know, over that time, shooting about 37% from three is, I mean, his efficiency hasn't been great when shooting about 43% overall. But it's definitely a drastic improvement from where he was. And he's just a guy, I know we said this after he was drafted. He's a guy who can count on to make, he's wise beyond his ears. You can count on him to make the right decision. majority of cases, which wasn't the case earlier in the season, which was a little bit concerning

when he was awful, but he's definitely rebounded. And that sort of foundational piece, I mean, like I said, I know that there are, that a lot of people have high aspirations for him, fourth best player and a contender. I mean, that's, that's a, that's a very valuable player. Definitely. And also clearly a leader at the age of, I think he's 22, 23. Yeah, at that age, clearly one of the team leaders already. It's the kind of guy you want, man.

It's the kind of guy you want on your team playing next to. 100%. Yeah. So, yeah, we're going to move on now. Yeah, as you alluded to, Dante, to a guy who hasn't been quite as good. Not the rising star. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly. We were talking earlier and I was saying that the more appropriate game for Isaiah Stewart might be the falling stars game. Yeah. Man, as there's been regression from last season. The guy is an absolute eyesore on offense. A tremendous offensive negative. And he's still a steady defender. I mean, he's having his issues with fouls. You can't, you can not take that away from Isaiah Stewart. He is a steady interior defender. He makes the right reads, puts himself in the right positions. He is a menace guarding the paints and he's a solid room protector. But except for against guys who can just jump over him, you know, whether they're, whether it's like the Damian Willards of the world or just guys who are taller and more athletic than him, then he has trouble. That's the issue, Mike. And that's the issue. And I hate,

listen, I'm very critical of like Killian Hayes, right? And I know it's not fun to, to, to, to get on here and speak to all the listeners and have to be down on our players. But with Isaiah specifically, it hurts a little extra because I know he's a fan favorite. He's one of my favorites. And he just, he plays so hard. He plays so hard. And a lot of what's gone on this year is through no fault of his own. I hate to harp on it, but it really is those physical limitations.

And I was thinking about how I wanted to tackle, talking about Stewart. And it really just boils down to like, he's not tall enough. and he can't jump high enough. And I know that sounds simple, and especially for a show where we brand ourselves on, you know, the fact that we have this, this really in-depth analysis to really just come on and say, listen, he's too short and he can't jump high enough. It sounds simplistic, but it is the truth. You know, I can't remember a time this season where Isaiah has won, you know, a 50-50 rebound.

What Isaiah needs to do to win rebounds is he needs to make sure he's positioned correctly. He needs to gain his leverage. And he needs to just time it just right. to grab those rebounds. If someone is bigger than him and they're matched up in the low post, he's losing that rebound battle every single time. And that applies inversely, right? To the other side of the court, too,

he struggles on offense, mainly because he doesn't have an easy way to get baskets. You know, I've lauded his touch around the rim before on this show. And I still do think he's got a nice soft touch for someone of his size and someone of his age. But unfortunately, you know, if you can't get the ball over your defender,

it doesn't really matter. And then moving on to what really is the X factor for Isaiah, the shooting, oh my God, like to say that he's regressed is an understatement. These shots are not even close, Mike. They're not even close. Absolutely. Yeah, he's dropped in mid-range. He's dropped from about 50% last season where he was actually legitimately valuable.

I mean, if you left him open, that was a high-efficiency shot for him. He's dropped in the mid-30s. Oh, man. Yeah, he had a big game against. against Denver, but that was really the only game this season in which he shot well. From three, he is, I mean, I had the stats up in front of me just a little while ago. I believe he's below 15%. He was 33% last season.

That's crazy. Yeah, I would say it's beyond just this physical limitations, really. Those are an issue when he has to compensate for them on offense. Like, yeah, he can't really jump. He's not by any means a bad paint score when he gets the ball in advantageous position there. He's actually got a really good touch, but he can't, yeah, he can't jump. he's just he's not a factor on the picking rule he is undersized and he can't jump that means it's really hard to get him the ball terrible hands sorry to interject Mike he has terrible hands

like I have not seen a player especially someone who really needs to dig in there and grab those those tough to get passes have such poor hands like it's very noticeable it's definitely a negative to his game yeah absolutely I'm sorry if you guys heard a little bit of typing I was just looking up those stats. Yeah. So from from mid-range, 51% down to 36%. From three-point range, 32% down to 14%. Yeah, his efficiency overall,

of course, has dropped. I mean, if you're going to be a traditional center, which is this season, I mean, you really want to be really good at the rim, and he is not. So yeah, it's like basically all he has to offer right now, and this is partly coaching, but it's partly just what what he can reasonably offer. I mean, he sets a pick,

and then he just rolls into the paints where he's doing nothing but clogging it. I mean, given his limitations physically he's got to be able to shoot the ball in order to be valuable. Again, we've said it. I think we all agree about this. Even if he's a good shooter, he can't realistically start. Like maybe if you're running a good, like a really good role man next to him, like, even that I don't know.

Even that I don't know. Yeah, it's tough. Yeah, it's not ideal. The guy's a super hard worker. I don't doubt that he's a really good team presence. I remember saying after the draft, like, you know, if it doesn't turn out to be a great, you know, a particularly good player, he can be team dad for the next decade. but yeah it's just been so disappointing on all offense he is just a massive negative like he can set

strong screens and then he rolls into the paint and he does nothing yeah he does worse than nothing he clogs the paint yeah like you you know with a player like him he has to be a threat to pop and like he has to be a player you cannot give space to at the three point line you cannot give space to midrange that's what made him effective to a degree last season is that he generated space in that fashion and we've said you know we've talked about go Garza, for example. And, you know, the only way he's going to make in the NBA, in my opinion, is if he's threats, a high percentage threat from everywhere and you just can't give him space. Stuart, of course, has more, you know, to say he has more to offer than Garza on the,

on the defensive end would be drastically understating it. But he, yeah, it's just, it's really ugly to watch him on offense. I mean, it's just tough to watch. It is. And it's unfortunate. And listen, this is the reality of player development. Not every single young guy that we get in here is going to develop. up on this exponentially positive path, right? Where they're improving, improving, improving. I've said it before. Development is non-linear.

And sometimes that development doesn't shoot back up, right? Sometimes it just is what it is. And I'm not going to write off anybody early in their careers. I'm certainly not writing off Stewart. But what I do think we can say with certainty is that there are some glaring. And I'm talking glaring flaws in his game. That if he doesn't improve, things are not looking. quite as bright as we maybe thought this time last year.

So to say the least, right? And going back to the shot, too, we talk about the percentages, but even just from a visual standpoint, they're not, they don't look good. They're not even close. So then you get into these, are these confidence issues, are these mechanics issues? And right now it's just a mess. He's a mess on offense, like Mike said. And whether or not he offers a great deal on the defensive end, which I would agree with you,

Mike, he certainly does. we know that this is an offensive league, right? This is a league based on offense. You need to be able to be a threat to do things on offense. And you need to help your team. You need to fit into the flow of what we're trying to do on that end of the floor. And if you can't fit into the flow of what we're trying to do, and if you're actively hurting the team in some capacity,

I don't know how valuable you are on the floor. And that's just the reality of it. Yeah, you've got, I mean, if you can't shoot, I question really where you can go as a backup center. I mean, there's some, yeah, basically, the replacement value at center is very high. Basically, what that means is that you have a guy who can do his athletic who can come in and set good picks, roll strongly to the baskets, you know, score at a high percentage in the interior on opportunities that others, that others create for him, whether that be lobs or just passes underneath the basket and do a, and not be a defensive liability. I mean, you can, you know, you can be a decent backup center. So Stewart can't really do a lot of those things. He can't catch lobs. He's not. a good role man. I mean, he's a much better defender than the average backup center. But, like, he has to be able to shoot. I think if he's going to make his way in the NBA,

you know, as a good player at all. Because right now, with the skills he has, he would not be able to fill in as a starter effectively. And even as a backup, you'd really be of somewhat questionable value. I mean, traditional centers are not worth that much in today's NBA, unless they're very good at a bunch of things. Like right now, Isaiah Stewart is a traditional center who is not a good role man, who cannot catch lobs and his efficiency right now. It's true shooting is 55%, which is horrendous for a traditional big, which he is right now. I mean, that just really illustrates what he is worth on offense when he can't shoot. I mean, if you're a traditional big, you want to be scoring,

your true shooting should be in the 60s somewhere, your better ones in the mid to high 60s. So, yeah, it's a problem. It's sad to see. I think all of us are in agreement that he can't be the long term starting center by any means. No. It's just ugly right now. Yeah, as of right now, certainly not.

Certainly not. And I think, listen, we've been, I think that's enough negativity for right now. on your favorite, your favorite topic, Mike. Oh, we want to move on to Killian Hayes. I mean, I would just say with Stewart, you know, not to roll back. Like all of us, you and I and Tommy really like Stewart as, you know, just as an individual. I mean, there's nothing not to love about his work ethic and his and his focus as a teammate. I hope we've made that clear.

I think we have. I think nothing but the best of Stewart as a dude, right? I'll always remember him charging like at LeBron James across the court, right? That was an all time. times, not just once, but four times. Yeah, I know. He went full on linebacker. So that, that's the kind of guy. And when you talk about team dad, right, that's not a terrible thing to have. There are worse things to be than a career team dad, maybe someone who could be a spark plug off the bench. So obviously, none of us are writing the book on him. None of us are admonishing

him, you know, as a guy. We're just pointing out, look, there are some very serious, there are some very serious flaws in his game. And they need to be addressed. If they're not addressed, then we question his long-term utility. And yeah, I think that about does it for our rising stars. I doubt we spent a little bit longer on that than maybe we wanted to. But that really is, those are the pertinent storylines when it comes to this team are the young guys. And so you got to forgive us if we go on about them a little bit. And speaking of the young guys, actually earlier when we, I thought we were going to transition right into Killian Hayes because I've been really itching to get Mike's take on.

Because we talked about it a little bit, but not like two at length. I've been itching to get Mike's take on Killian off the bench. So Mike, why don't you kick us off? And now a quick word from our sponsor. The moment we've been waiting for since September is finally here. In honor of the big game, Draft King's Sportsbook is giving new customers 56 to one odds on either team. Bet just $5 and get $280 in free bets if your team wins. Draft King's Sportsbook is now live in New York,

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an official sports betting partner of Super Bowl 56. 21 plus minimum age and location requirements vary by jurisdiction. See DraftKings.com slash sportsbook for full list of requirements and state-specific responsible gambling resources. Voidware prohibited, and if you have a gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler. So, Killian, I think it was, I mean, I was surprised that he was ultimately put on the bench. Because I know that the organization really wanted things to work out between he and Cade. I know that they didn't want Killian to just be, you know, right off.

There's definitely an agreement to three of us that his value dropped substantially the moment Kade joined the team. No, no. was, yeah, Killian profiled as this kind of possession, heavy pick and roll, heavy guard, who was going to run the offense. And of course, Cade has considerably better utility in that role than Cillian, you know, than Cillian does. I mean, Cade's ceiling is in that role is astronomically higher.

And Cillian doesn't really have the tools to be a highly effective all-ball player, even if he could shoot. So I'm glad that that was given up upon, you're given up on rather, because it just wasn't going to work and it was super ugly. So, I mean, we've got Corey Joseph playing shooting guard right now, which I don't think is ideal. I would love for Frank Jackson to be given that opportunity. And Dwayne Casey, in his not so infinite wisdom, has rarely played the two of them together, Cade and Frank in good lineups with Cade as the primary ball handler and Frank playing shooting guard.

I mean, I think that's, it's an obvious thing you could do. And of course, Twain Casey's not going to do it. Of course not. So, yeah, Killing to the bench, I don't think it's really. made much of a difference for him. It's given him more chance to be impactful, but he's just still has glaring holes in his game. I mean, to his meager credit, he's been going to the basket more. He still doesn't attack rim protectors. I mean, he's still attack against his direct assignment. And it's like good for him. He's been drawing more free throws, but he still can't shoot.

And that's, that's just a glaring hole in his game in general. He still takes a lot of bad shots inside the arc too. But the fact that he cannot space the floor is an issue. We are a long past the era in the NBA in which point guards were just these super possession heavy guys who didn't need to shoot. I mean, that's like Russell Westbrook, for example, but just in general, Killian just, he just remains a deeply incomplete player. You have to be able to space the floor. You have to be able to score effectively in some way.

He's gotten better at scoring at the room. He still has his issues. He cannot score from the perimeter. He's made like three threes and six games since being put on the bench. So does he look better? Yes, but he's starting from a very low point. He still is not breaking down defenses and creating, creating for his teammates off the dribble.

They're not very well anyway. I'll just come back to it. Killing Hayes, if he does not become an effective for a spacer, has no hope of surviving in the NBA, none. Like, no ifs, ands, none. He is a decent defender. He is not a world-beating defender. I mean, he's a plus defender in most situations,

provided he's not being asked to defend explosive guards like Jean Morantz or even Westbrook who will absolutely annihilate him, whether in isolation or in the pick and rule. But he has to be able to shoot. He can probably make a career in the NBA. If he can shoot, he has to be able to shoot. There are no ifs,

or butts about it. He has to be able to shoot or he is done. I mean, and that is true for the vast majority of perimeter players, but particularly for Killian. Mike, I think you held back a little bit there. Would you mind restating that and telling us how you really feel about him as a player? I'm kidding, but it's, it's,

yeah, I hear you. listen, you can't, we don't want to get on here and pull punches, right? And the Killian Hayes thing is not a fun topic for any of us to talk about. I, listen, I personally, I much prefer plugging my mic into my laptop and talking about the Kate Cunningham's and the Steebys of the world. Oh, sure. And the way in which they're impressing us and the ways in which what they're doing on the court spells a brighter future for the organization that we all love. That's just, I prefer doing that. But when it comes to obvious, you know, blatant negatives, we got to tell it like it is. And the reality with Killian is that this, what he has become, right, or maybe a better way

to state that would be what he has proven to be was certainly not the plan. It was certainly not Weaver's vision. It was certainly not Casey's vision. And it's certainly not what the fans wanted to see. So I think I'm trying to adopt, you know, a little bit of, I'll give Tommy a shout out, because this is sort of Tommy's attitude. You got to take the little victories at this point, right? You know they're not going to drop Killian. It doesn't make a whole lot of financial or trade compensation sense to drop them. Yeah, he's a 20-year-old.

Yeah, exactly. He's a raw, 20-year-old, foreign, well, not foreign. He's from Florida, France, whatever, hybrid. But he does have some upside, right? And you don't want to dump him for nothing. But as of this moment, we know that they're going to continue to play him as long as he's here. I highly doubt he's going to find himself in the G League or find himself out of the rotation altogether.

So while he is here and while he is playing, I'm going to try and look for the positives. One positive that I'll say or that I'll relay to the listeners is that I entered the pre-Killian Hayes on the bench era with a 0% confidence level that Killiam would ever be useful for this team. And I think right now I'm sitting at 1 to 2%. And that may not seem like a massive jump, but like going from 0%,000. zero to one to two means that he showed a little bit of life. He showed us something.

I agree with you, Mike. I think he's driving to the basket with a bit more confidence. He's looking to be an offensive factor. Now that doesn't mean that he is one, but at least he's trying. I had a buddy at the game. He was at the Cavs game. I couldn't go, unfortunately. And he told me that Killian looked so just not confident in his handle, in his shot,

in his drive, in anything. And he said to me something that I actually agree with. He said, you know, Killian's got a lot of tools at his disposal. He's got fantastic vision. He can pass the ball just on a frozen rope. And there are tools there. There are things there that you can maybe unlock, you know, unearth and sort of grow. But unfortunately, we just haven't seen them yet.

So if the way for him to gain his confidence back, if the way for him to develop his skills is off the bench, you know, against theoretically lesser competition, I'll take the small victories. You know, I'll cheer when he hits an open three. you know, when he finishes a floater, I'm happy. Right now that's what it's about. You got to watch Killian. You got to look for small, right, you've got to look for small areas of improvement. And maybe those small areas of improvement will build up into some substantial improvement eventually. Yeah, that's all it is.

I agree that there's absolutely no reason to drop the guy. I mean, I know that it's been very disappointing and just some disappointments can parley itself into, oh, you know, he screwed whatever. I mean, it does not be who of this team in the least. to give up on Killian anytime. Definitely not. You see what you can get out of it. His issue right now is that on offense, he's not good at anything.

He is not capable of running an offense at all. I mean, yeah, confidence. Sure, yeah, he looks like he has more confidence. However, it's like it's relative to zero confidence at all. When I was watching him up close in the Denver game, the one at Ball Arena, so the away game, basically the Pistons played a home and home. He just, he looked like he was running scared.

He just didn't look like he belonged at all. but and so he's still not a competent offensive lead. He cannot break down defense. He can't run an offense because he cannot break down defenses off the driving great for his teammates. You just can't do it. And we're talking actually attacking down the middle, drawing double coverage on hinging the defense and making passes to whoever's open.

I mean, that's a useful skill. Like you said, killing a super high IQ. He's a really good passer. But he can't do that right now. And he can't shoot threes. I mean, he's just, he hasn't,

he has very, very little to offer. So yeah, looking better, I mean, that's, yeah, that's a very relative thing. And at this point, he's still not even a qualified backup point guard. No, definitely not. And it's such a, and it's a negative feedback loop too, right? Because you work on building his confidence. And then if he goes out there and he doesn't perform his confidence gets worse and that scales with his level of play.

And then it's a negative feedback loop, right? And I think it's very telling that the two people that I'm friends with who just went to games recently both relayed the same message in that Killian Hayes does not look confident up close. I wish Tommy was here because Tommy's the one who, I think he said it in the off season that he thought that Killian's problems were mainly mental. I don't know if I'm willing to go that far, but I do lend some credence to the idea that we would probably see a pretty different player if he was operating at maximum confidence,

but unfortunately going out there on national TV and sucking, for lack of a better word, is not doing anything for anybody's confidence, at least nothing positive. And so unless he really turns it around, I don't see that aspect of his mentality changing. It's kind of got to be a wait and see game and see if something clicks and if he can figure it out fast. Yeah. I mean, one of the things that is persistently irritating me about killing, it's like, okay, a player goes out and struggles. I mean, and then what is basically is, you know, more or less his rookie season. It's like whatever.

Let's really kind of piss me off about killing. This is refusal to do what all the rest of his teammates do, which is charge into the interior and take contact. It's just an aspect of the game. You have to be willing to do that. No, he's always fading away for these weird, you know, left-handed push shots rather than driving. Right, rather than driving with full force into your man, into the paint, and getting those higher percentage looks. He's just not doing it.

Yeah, he's not doing it. And it's key if you want to break down defense is to do that. Even now he's just driving left and taking relatively low percentage layups. The reason that it's remarkable is that he's taking contact from his defender at all. So you look for the positives, but what you're seeing, you know, what we've seen so far, in the last, I think, five games he's been coming off the bench, is improvement from, like, one of the worst players in the league to just really bad. But, you know, there are some positives.

But if he could just shoot the ball, if he could shoot a hit his open threes of like 38%. He would immediately become a significantly more valuable player. He would still be a very incomplete point guard, but it would be something. It just it would be something. At the same time, and nobody likes to hear it this way, it's like, okay, he's playing badly. At least he misses shot to key points. the Pistons lose games and they move one step closer to getting another conceivable difference maker in the draft that they still really need. Yeah, you know, I don't subscribe to that

line. I like this young players succeed where they can, right? Yeah, they would succeed where they can, but, you know, we're talking about Killian Hayes here. I hate to put it that way. But, you know, we all still all hope for the best for him and none of us is big. Yeah, none of us is big on saying it's over for Killian Hayes and drop him and that's it. You know, that's not the case. It doesn't behoved the Pistons. Doesn't even make sense. Doesn't even make sense. No, it doesn't make sense at all. So, you know, you hope that he comes, I don't think we'll see, maybe we will, but I don't think we'll see significant improvement from him this season. Who knows, maybe next season.

So, yeah, moving on to the next, or, no, obviously the big story today, we're recording this just after the pistons lost against the Pelicans, is the return of Jeremy Grant. Now, I, Jeremy Grant, unfortunately, came back in his first shot, which he made was a pull-up long two. Yeah, you love that. was a pull-up long two. You love that. And then his first shot, no, I didn't. It's not at all. And when he came, when he came off the bench, when he came back for a second stint in the game,

he didn't play a ton tonight. His first shot was a pull-up long two. And I'll say it again. I mean, some of this is Dwayne Casey, who absolutely cannot resist. He's like a kid in a candy shop when he has a veteran who he feels he can eyes out. And he can just give the ball and say, please shoot, you know, like a couple of seasons ago, it was all NBA Blake Griffin, where it was like Casey's game plan was hugely dependent upon Blake just taking the ball and creating offense out of nothing.

And often Casey didn't even have his players moving on the perimeter to give whichever few players who could actually shoot threes in that team. And before that, of course, it was Demarta Rosen. And Casey just can't resist. And I think from this game, it's clear. He said before the game, you know, I'd like Jeremy to find his own way. But, you know, he's going to have to find his way in the team where it's arcating and Sadiq are going to be big guys down the stretch in close games,

and I'd like Jeremy to continue moving the ball. You know, this is Dwayne Casey who sometimes just says things and doesn't do anything that doesn't actually follow through on them. I think he's still not coaching Jeremy's shot selection, which is a problem. If he really wants Jeremy to come in and properly do his thing, he's got to use the guy in a full of the offense. Yeah.

It was ugly to. It was ugly tonight. Do I have permission to go ahead and disagree with you a little bit? Thanks, thanks, Womberg. Yeah, we spoke about this a little bit before we started recording. But I thought Grant was fine and I thought he was fine. I know he came in and he immediately took the long two. He hit it, which is, that's good.

You'd rather him hit it, right, if he's going to take that shot. And I think he had back-to-back long twos. and I know people were probably pissed. I was pissed when he took that second one, but then I rewound it. I mean, nobody was moving around Jeremy. He was making reads.

I watched very closely. He was clearly looking around checking for who's open. Nobody moved and he just popped one over a defender who did not have the reach or height advantage and he just popped one right over him. So I think, yeah, those shots can be coached out of his game. You'd think with maybe a more competent coach,

I know that sounds hard. Yeah. What it is. What we've got right now is not a competent coach and he's got two more years on his contract. That's well established and who knows where that's a discussion for another podcast. But with what we have right now, I didn't think Grant was too bad tonight. What I was expecting was Grant to be force fed the ball and for him to force bad shots

up. And I didn't see a whole lot of that outside of one or two instances. I didn't notice him a whole lot out there. And when I did notice him, I thought he was making plays. He was hitting his threes. he had a really nice sort of scoop reverse under the basket as the shot clock expired. And I thought that he did, in a sense, find his way in this offense and sort of fit in without making it all about him. Now, that being said, I didn't love Cade's usage tonight.

I know he went out with the hip pointer. I checked Twitter after apparently he went back to the bench. I think he's fine. Yeah, he was doubt for the return. Yeah, he was a beating way out of the game. It's probably not a serious injury. Obviously, we don't want to speculate on injuries. but it's looking like it's nothing too big.

But I didn't love Cade's usage tonight. And I think a lot of that has to do with exactly what you said, though, Mike. It's Cade and Cidique are going to be big parts of this. I would go so far as to say they have to be big parts of this. And so how do we reconcile if we do keep Jeremy? His role with their role, I don't know. Is Casey the guy to figure that out? Probably not.

Yeah, definitely not. But tonight as like a one-off, like his return, I didn't think it was too bad other than how Cade was used. Oh, yeah. So here's what I feel about Twink. Well, everyone knows how I feel about Twink Casey. I think I can't run an offense that uses more than three players at one time. One of them is going to be the center. And for all these games, when Grant was out, it was Cade and Sadiq and Stewart, who were doing everything.

You know, who are doing everything. And Killian would cover on the periphery and do very little, although it was very easy to cover him. and Hamadu would be used as a spot-up shooter in the corners, which was just the worst way to use him, the absolute worst way to use him like you saw. Like Hamadu, how do you use him? Even though he can't shoot, he's still the best pure driver on the steam.

You run on the pick and roll. You use him to attack easy matchups or mismatches, and you have him cut aggressively at every opportunity from the corner in case he was doing none of those things instead he was catering to Hamadu's biggest weakness, just that he can't shoot. So you saw it tonight. I mean, there was this one possession on which he ended up on all

who's probably like six feet, maybe even less than six feet tall. And you see from the very beginning that Hamidu was going to attack him. And he did and he did his successfully. So whatever the case, Casey just cannot, he seems even from his Toronto days, except for that one season in which Nick Nurse was running the offense, from which Casey apparently weren't absolutely nothing. Yeah. He can't run an offense that uses more than three guys.

And now you have four guys. He wants to use. He wants to use Cade. He wants to use Cade. He wants to use Grant now as well, in addition to Isaiah Stewart or whoever's the center on the four, who is just going to be involved. from setting picks and rolling the basket. So it was ugly tonight.

I think it was ugly for several reasons. One of them was what I just enumerated. Another was that Casey still basically let's Grant do whatever he wants. But just third is that when you have Kate on the floor with both Corey Joseph and Jeremy Grant, things are unlikely to run well and you're unlikely to get the most out of Kade. And so much in the NBA of having a successful team is maximizing the talent of your players, putting players out there who synergize well. altogether, and I don't see a way in which, well, at least under this coach, who's going to be

around for the foreseeable future, unless something unexpected happens, how they can make that work. So I'd still love for Jeremy Grant to be traded, but that assumes that a good package would come along, and we'll see. I mean, the deadline is an attempt. We're recording this on the first. It's not far off, and things can heat up as the deadline approaches. I would really like to see him move because I don't think that he's ever going to be a good fit with Cade, who's who profile else is this heliocentric creator that definitely, I would say not under this coach. I think the grant of the Denver Nuggets, my profile is a good fit with Cade. Unfortunately, though, we're all well versed in the story of there's a reason why Jeremy came here.

There's a reason why he flourished at the tort, like, well, for most of the season last year, was because he got to be the guy. And it doesn't make, oh, go ahead. She did best at the beginning. And I don't think that, I mean, he was actually better away from Griffin. and about equal, you know, his stats didn't really change whether he was on or off the floor with Rose. But last season, he started strong and then really went downhill. Yeah. He took pretty consistently. This season, aside from his first three games, he was pretty good.

But I don't think he came here to be the guy. I think that, and I would be shocked if Troy Weaver had promised him that because granted, Chudino had really not been anything as a creator before that. But he came to be a primary, you know, primary option in the offense to not be what he was in Denver, which was basically not option number three. He was option number five, really, in terms of his overall usage behind first, Yoketch and Murray and then off the bench, Michael Porter Jr. and Monty Morris. He came to be more than that, certainly. Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, and I think that with operating under Dwayne Casey, can he be more than that and fit synergetically with Cade? I mean, the sample size so far would tell us probably not. So I would have to agree with you, Mike. I hope that he's moved. And not because I don't like him as a guy, not because I don't like him. as a player. I just think it benefits the organization most to move on. And I do expect him to be traded. I think that there have been some, there's sort of been this like idea amongst Pistons fans lately

that the trade market for Grant is cooled. I don't see how that could be the case. I think what we did see were some credible reports come out saying, hey, the Pistons are maybe asking for a little more than teams are willing to pay or at least willing to admit that they're willing to pay. And that's sort of why a deal hasn't gone through yet, right? You hold your cards close to your vest, you start the price off high, and then ideally you come to some kind of resolution and agreement around the trade deadline or at the trade deadline. So before we hit the panic button on, you know, we're not going to get a return for Grant and he's going to stay and he's going to mess everything up. Let's wait until the trade deadline passes. I'd imagine, what is it? So it's

February 1st. Yeah, we're going to have. We're definitely going to have an episode out in addition to this one prior to the trade deadline. We'll go into that a little more in detail during that but I want him to be traded and I still expect him to be traded. So let's not hit the panic button just yet on that. Yeah. I would be very disappointed if he weren't traded unless it were to come out that there were just no good offers made because. Well, I'd still be disappointed in that case.

I'd still be disappointed. Yeah, I think that at this point and certainly under this coach, I mean, so if you were to get granted a position where you had a competent coach running him within the flow of an offense, like sure, the guy is a capable shooter who can create off the drive and effectively attack the basket. But if you were just having him do that from within the flow of a well-run offense, you know, and having him played to his strengths, then sure, you know, you have a capable number three. I continue to think that a capable number three on a contender.

But that's not how he's ever going to be used under Dwayne Casey. And Dwayne Casey is going to be here for the foreseeable future. Yeah. It's like you want to keep these players away from Dwayn Kacey. And I think for the sake of the youth on this team, it's best if Grant is not here. Yeah. Yeah. No, well said. Well said, man.

So, yeah, that's Grant. Yeah, that's Grant. Do we want to jump into some user-submitted questions here? Yeah, let's go ahead with that. So the first question may actually have was one which we have already answered, which was, you know, pleased with the small sample size of killing coming off the bench to the second units. Yes and no, he's been better, but he's still been really bad. Yeah, we answered that and if you want to hear our answer to that, just rewind.

Just rewind a little bit. We went pretty in depth on that one, I think. Yeah, so the second one of K to sideline for a few games here based on my, you know, if I've got some background in anatomy, I think maybe the Pistons will play it extremely safe with him. But a hit pointer is just really, that's basically just a bruise. And maybe it can be, you know, it can vary in severity, just like any other injury. So it's possible we see him out for a few games. But if he sideline for a few games, what would you like to see the Pistons out of this Pistons team?

Oh, that'll be tough. I might not be watching. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding, guys. I still love Sadiq Bay. Still a Jeremy Grant guy. I got to see what that trade value sort of yields year leading up to the deadline. But that would be, I think at this point in the season, and I think with how dejected, obviously there's been spurts of like, you know, the big game against the calves for Cade, the win against the nuggets. But for the most part, this has been a pretty depressing season. And I think to go into the stretch here without Cade would be a tough pill to swallow for a lot of people who just

just want to watch some fun basketball, you know, after a long day at work or something. So what am I hoping to see if I have to find a silver lining there? I mean, if Sadiq can play efficient games being, you know, the one B to Grant's 1A, if grant can be efficient too and sort of make sure that his trade value stays where it's at, if not elevate his trade value. And I'd like to see a little more out of Killian. I know that that we talked about that ad nauseum earlier in the episode. but yeah, maybe if he can just keep making those small strides,

maybe with more opportunity to do so in Cade's absence, that would be nice. So those are three things I'd keep an eye on. Yeah, I'm not sure who would step into the starting lineup. I think that they would probably opt to keep Kow in coming off the bench. Yeah. Maybe you'd see, I would like to see Frank Jackson in the starting lineup, just see how he operates there. The trouble is that I think that Casey really just depends on the bench.

So, yeah, with Cade out, I would like to see Hamadu actually. used properly. I think he would be the one who would go back in the starting one up, use him properly in the ways that I enumerated before. That's a big one. Yeah. Yeah, that would be really nice. I don't think it's going to happen because I don't think Casey is capable of doing that. For all we know, Casey'll slog Garza in at the two, right? You never know what I do. So that would be something. Yeah. So, yeah, Grant, I guess, playing some big games. And I would really like to see Tray Liles traded if anything could be gotten for him. I think maybe you draw a second round pick from him for a team that is also,

or maybe a little bit more for a team that is looking to bring in a useful role player and dump some salary for whatever reason. I have not gone into which teams might be interested in that, but he's been playing really well lately. So he continues to play well, great. And if all these things happen and the Pistons continue to lose, I'm not average. I've seen some confusion, not from you, Dante,

but that tanking means asking young players to play badly. That doesn't happen. No. Anywhere. It doesn't happen anywhere. Well, actually, if you, if you, if you look at Brian Flores' lawsuit against the NFL today, it was alleged that the Miami Dolphins owner offered him $100,000 per loss. Wow.

Yeah. It's, it's, that's, that's kind of a bombs shut, like a bit of a media circus waiting to happen if that proves to be the case. But, we're talking about the Pistons right now. In the case of the Pistons, I would imagine that's not happening. So, yeah. Yeah, the Pistons have, uh, they've, they've very much. very difficult remaining schedule as well.

I believe they only have a few games against bad teams. I can't remember if they have one more game against the magic. They have, yeah, they have one more game on the schedule right now. They have one more game against the magic. Goodness, they've got a very difficult remaining schedule, and that's probably for the best. Yeah, like I said, like I said before, and I know you disagree about losing games,

but we definitely agree that the Pistons need another high-level talent in the draft. I mean, it's such a big deal. Yeah. No, we definitely agree on that 100%. Yeah. Yeah, so, yeah, they've got one more game against the Thunder that will be a big deal as well. I really don't want it to be like last season where I was just watching these games down the stretch and getting really stressed out, hoping the Pistons would lose.

So there's that. I hope that all those things happen and that the Pistons continue to lose games. Because I do think we saw last season. that you can have a really bad season and still have your youth develop very effectively. Yep. So yeah, that's it for the user submitted questions. Like I said at the beginning, you know, we're really looking to further drive user engagement with the show.

So follow us on Twitter at To the BasketPod. You could tweet episode suggestions, user submitted questions at us. We read all of them. You can join us on the Discord, the Detroit Pistons Discord. And of course, we post all of the episodes on the R slash Detroit Pistons subreddit. and we're very open to your thoughts, suggestions, and feedback. And like I alluded to earlier, we may have some cool stuff coming up for the listeners that will probably relay at a later date.

So, Mike, if you don't have anything else to add, I think that's going to do it. So we appreciate you listening and we will see you in the next episode.