- 2 days ago
Detroit Pistons have earned the one seed in the Eastern Conference. Who deserves the most credit?
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00:00Yes, Wings lose at home again.
00:03Yeah, as exciting as that 10 minutes of hockey was,
00:07don't just play hockey for 10 minutes.
00:09It's a 60-minute game.
00:10Yes, well, they have three more home games,
00:11two more on the road,
00:12so you'll probably have three chances
00:14to see Patrick Kane's last action as a Detroit Red Wing.
00:19You think so?
00:20Oh, it has to be.
00:21I mean, what's the minimum for a veteran of his stature?
00:25Like a million-something?
00:26I don't know.
00:26The cap's going up.
00:27Whatever.
00:27He'll be 38 next season.
00:30He's just a specialty player.
00:32He can't back-check.
00:34Look, he still has very good offensive skill,
00:38not what he had.
00:40Look, he can't be playing in your top six.
00:41No.
00:42He can play on power play and spot them every once in a while.
00:48He's part of the problem.
00:49If he doesn't come back, they can get Tarasenko to come back.
00:52There you go.
00:53He had his 22nd goal of the season yesterday.
00:55Mm-hmm.
00:56Text says wings have no heart, no grit, no playmakers, no goal scoring.
01:00Well, you're not going to win very many games.
01:02They dump and chase with forwards who don't want to hit anybody.
01:06Lucas Raymond has no heart, won't go to the middle,
01:08stop skating two or three times, cost plays and opportunities.
01:12Steve said at the deadline, or after the deadline,
01:14that the roster, the depth, and the goaltending
01:16is there to make the playoffs.
01:17He said it on this station.
01:18Fans have to get away from making excuses for him and the team.
01:22Let's get to Nathan and Warren.
01:23Nathan, good morning.
01:25Good morning, gentlemen.
01:29I've been saying that for a few years, but his talent,
01:32his evaluation is terrible.
01:34I mean, it's not just him, though.
01:35I know it's his guys.
01:36It's the Drapers.
01:37It's all the guys he's given jobs to.
01:41But, I mean, he always had a guy that would protect him,
01:44watch his back, right?
01:45He always had a probert, a kosher, a Shanahan,
01:49that they could operate on the ice without having to worry about
01:52if they're going to get knocked out.
01:53How many times has Larkin been taken off the ice, you know,
01:56where it's like he's got the crap kicked out of him,
01:59and a couple weeks ago at the end of the game,
02:01he's having to fight at the end of the game
02:02because we don't have a single player on our team
02:05with a set of testicles.
02:06Well, that was him.
02:08DeBrickett had the fight.
02:09But you're right about Larkin.
02:10Yeah, DeBrickett fought, too.
02:13I'm just sick of seeing Sider swing at one person
02:16and then, like, he wrestles with them.
02:18Sider's not that sweet.
02:19I'm good with getting rid of him, too.
02:21He's not that good because everyone has him on a pedestal here,
02:25and I guess you just watch a different brand of hockey than I watch
02:28because the guy turns the puck over all the time.
02:30Him and Evanston have not had a good last month.
02:33We'll say that.
02:34And that's what I'm sick of hearing,
02:35the excuses from not only just the media, the fans,
02:38like, oh, he hasn't had a good month,
02:40or he hasn't had a good this.
02:41He hasn't had a good career.
02:42Let's stop pretending like this.
02:43Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
02:44Sider has not had a good career?
02:46He's not one of the top three defensemen in the league,
02:49but he's a really good player.
02:51He's not one of the top three.
02:52He's not one of the top five.
02:53He's not one of the top ten.
02:55Oh, no, no.
02:56He's going to get Norris votes this year.
02:58I mean, come on now.
02:59And this is around the league.
03:00This is just a Homer thing with Sider.
03:01Sider's one of the top ten defensemen in hockey.
03:04And he's going to get crushed because he doesn't score points
03:06like, you know, Hughes or Orinsky, but come on.
03:10Let's not get carried away.
03:11Yeah, I know.
03:12And I get it.
03:12Everybody's worked up.
03:13Right.
03:14And they should be.
03:15It's the same thing I vaguely, not vaguely,
03:19I succinctly remember doing shows with Jeff Blaschel as our guest
03:25and him agreeing with me,
03:26this team is just too easy to play against.
03:28And it's been going on for seven years.
03:31Well, and that's the point where it's not a Blaschel thing.
03:34It's not a Lalone thing.
03:35And it's not a McClellan thing.
03:37Yeah, it's the roster.
03:39The guys who you thought were going to be tough and mean,
03:42guys like Rasmussen and Soderblom.
03:45And, you know, what happened to him?
03:47All of a sudden, he's like, knows how to use his 6'10 frame now.
03:52Basically, he's 6'10 on skates.
03:53That's what I meant.
03:54Yeah.
03:56Okay, we could dwell on the wings,
03:57and I know we'll spend some time on them later in the show,
03:59but I want to make sure that their being so bad on the ice
04:02doesn't take away from as good a team as we have on the hardwood.
04:05That's nuts.
04:07It's crazy.
04:07So the Pistons have the one seed,
04:09locked it up for the first time since 07,
04:11and the turnaround in a short amount of time,
04:13two-year span, they go from a 14-win team
04:15that's had an NBA record 28 consecutive losses.
04:18Yeah.
04:18Right?
04:19Tom Gores dropped $60 million to fire a coach.
04:23And since that point,
04:25this is as remarkable a turnaround as we've seen.
04:28Yes, it is.
04:29And credit to Tom Gores,
04:31the entire organization,
04:34Trajan Langdon,
04:35the hiring of Trajan Langdon,
04:36the scouting.
04:37I mean, be able to find a guy like Danis Jenkins.
04:40You know, he didn't get drafted,
04:42but you saw something there
04:44that put him in the G League.
04:46He had a good summer league last year,
04:48and they are just so good.
04:50It doesn't make a difference who's playing.
04:52They still win games.
04:54Now, granted,
04:54some of them are against a team,
04:56teams that also have a lot of guys
04:59who are injured or aren't very good,
05:01but I'm sorry.
05:02The fact that Philly's starting
05:04to get their crap together.
05:05Now, I know Embiid didn't play the other night,
05:07but Paul George did.
05:08He's back.
05:09Max, he's back.
05:10They still have a lot of talent.
05:12And then the Pistons don't have Cunningham or Stewart,
05:15and they're crushing people.
05:19What they did last year
05:21was one of the greatest single-year turnarounds
05:24in NBA history,
05:25and then to take it to another level this year
05:27and be the one seed.
05:28Who do you give the most credit to?
05:30Like, if you're a Pistons fan,
05:31please fight back against the Red Wing calls
05:33we're getting,
05:33and call in and talk about this basketball team
05:35and highlight guys that you deserve,
05:37that you feel deserve credit
05:38for what's taking place here.
05:40Because there's no shortage of dudes,
05:42and it could be front office,
05:43it could be holding a whistle and a clipboard,
05:45it could be someone who's playing in these games.
05:46There's a lot of guys that deserve a lot of credit
05:48for what the Pistons have done.
05:49So, I could take another angry Red Wing call.
05:52I'd like to start working in some Pistons calls
05:54this morning.
05:55248-539-9797.
05:57Who would you spotlight most
05:59for what's taken place over the last two years?
06:02I think it's,
06:03if you have to take one,
06:05I think it's J.B. Bickerstaff.
06:07Because he's gotten,
06:08look, Cade Cunningham's going to know
06:10he's going to be a great player,
06:11but he's gotten the most out of him.
06:12He's got him to play defense.
06:14Duren, you know, yeah,
06:16he was a young,
06:16he was drafted when he was 18.
06:18You'd hoped he was going to get better and better.
06:20He has,
06:20but under his tutelage.
06:23Now, we're going to find out.
06:24I mean, he got fired in Cleveland
06:26because he didn't have a lot of playoff success.
06:28You know, he's 0-1 in the playoffs here,
06:30but that was different.
06:31Just getting there was a big deal,
06:33and they played well against the Knicks.
06:35I give the majority of it to Bickerstaff.
06:38I'd have no issue.
06:39He should have won Coach of the Year last year.
06:40He's going to win Coach of the Year this year.
06:42He's the guy tying everything together.
06:44Individual pieces weren't fitting with Monty Williams
06:46because Asar was here.
06:48Duren was here.
06:48Cade was here.
06:49They didn't have a lot of shooting.
06:51Those same issues are still true.
06:52The difference is they're not winning 14 games.
06:54They're going to win damn near 60 games.
06:56Correct.
06:56So I had no issue spotlighting J.B.
06:59I do want to make sure Asar gets some highlight time,
07:01though, because the way they play,
07:03they're a defensive team.
07:05He's third in the league in blocks and steals.
07:09If you want to talk tip of the spear,
07:10who lets you be the best defense that you can be?
07:13It's Asar.
07:14There's no doubt about it.
07:15He's unbelievable on defense.
07:19The only problem I have with Asar is crunch time,
07:22you need a bucket.
07:23I know.
07:23He ain't getting it.
07:25That team sag off of him.
07:26Right.
07:27But I'm saying, who are you?
07:28What is the way that you rebuilt this?
07:30You're a defensive team.
07:31Correct.
07:32You're the number two defensive efficiency team in the NBA.
07:35They are living up to the cliche of the Pistons' successes
07:39in the past decades.
07:41Right.
07:41And it's a cliche, but it's true for them.
07:45They play their asses off.
07:46They play hard.
07:47They defend.
07:49They'll hit people.
07:51Not afraid.
07:52They hit people more than the wings do.
07:54They're more physical than the Red Wings are.
07:56I don't.
07:56That's pretty sad.
07:57I don't fight it.
07:58I don't dispute it.
07:59Either do the wings.
08:00They don't fight it either.
08:01Let's get to Q in Detroit.
08:03Q, thank you for calling in to talk basketball with us.
08:05Thank you for having me, guys.
08:07I love the show, man.
08:08I love listening to you guys every morning when I get off work.
08:11I love the show.
08:13So, I just want to start off with saying I give all the credit to JB.
08:19I don't know what he's doing.
08:21He got this team playing really, really good.
08:23And it'll be a perfect way to really, really take it to the next level, beating Cleveland
08:29in the second round.
08:30But what I really want to talk about is how the media disrespect the Pistons.
08:35How people say, oh, Cade is hurt.
08:37Boston's going to take over the one seed.
08:39And I think the Pistons took disrespect to that.
08:42And they started playing even better.
08:43Like, honestly, without Cade, it just seemed like they averaged in 30-plus assists ever
08:48since they lost Cade.
08:49I know.
08:51You're right.
08:52It's weird.
08:53Because the Pistons were getting tons and tons of national love.
08:57And then, all of a sudden, you know, when Tatum came back and the Celtics were playing
09:01really well without him.
09:03I mean, Jim, you're Mr. Cash the Ticket.
09:05I believe the Pistons are fourth best odds to win the East.
09:11I still think, isn't Cleveland and the Knicks and obviously Boston still ahead of them, odds-wise?
09:17I don't know why the Knicks are ahead of us.
09:19That, we already showed that.
09:21I'm with you on that.
09:24Well, let's not get crazy on what happened in the regular season.
09:27Because last year, the Pistons had a 3-1 advantage on them in the regular season, too.
09:32If we have Stewart.
09:34Thank you, Q.
09:35I think that's a different series.
09:37Probably.
09:38Kat's not going to do all the stuff that he was doing in that series with Stewart.
09:41He don't play the same with Stewart.
09:43I don't know.
09:44I don't want to say he's scared of Stewart, but he puts fair in some players, honestly.
09:48He does.
09:50No disagreement.
09:50The Red Wings need that, too.
09:52They need a player to put fair in some way.
09:54I don't know what's going on with the Red Wings.
09:56You're not wrong about it.
09:57They're so disappointed.
09:58And to your point about when Cade went down, I was one of those people that's like,
10:01oh, boy, here goes the one seed.
10:03This team, it's a blessing in disguise.
10:04Right.
10:05Because I think it forced them to lock back in on defense.
10:07I think it rallied the troops.
10:09And I think they'll be better for it when it comes to playoffs now.
10:12Right.
10:12The biggest question is playoffs.
10:14And I'm sure he'll be second-guessed a lot during the playoffs.
10:17If they lose a game or two, whatever, is the rotations.
10:21Are you going to play 10 guys in the playoffs?
10:23You're talking for JB.
10:24Yeah.
10:24Yeah.
10:25Look, 248-539-9797.
10:27We may be guilty of looking ahead to the playoffs and not appreciating this turnaround enough,
10:31but damn it, we're going to try to make amends for it right now.
10:33So we got calls to get to, people who want to spotlight Pistons.
10:35Talk about locking up the one seed.
10:37It's 97-1.
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