00:00We've got sidetracked.
00:01Did Detroit get dissed?
00:02Did we?
00:03Well, you tell me.
00:04Okay.
00:06I just decided on the eve of the playoffs here,
00:08let's go look at some predictions.
00:10And here's what I found.
00:11And the headline doesn't have anything to do with all these predictions,
00:14but ESPN's Zach Graham did the whole bracket,
00:16and he's got the Pistons losing to the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals.
00:19Brad Bach and CBS Sports, Pistons lose to the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals.
00:23John Gonzalez, CBS, Pistons lose to the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals.
00:27James Herbert, CBS, Pistons lose to Cleveland in the second round.
00:30John Maloney, CBS, Pistons lose to Boston in the Eastern Conference Finals.
00:34Sam Quinn, CBS, Pistons lose to Cleveland in the second round.
00:38Jasmine Wimbush, CBS, Pistons win the East, lose to Oklahoma City.
00:43And then there's the Athletic, which does an anonymous player poll.
00:49And 146 players respond.
00:52Who will win the NBA?
00:54And you can't pick your own team.
00:57Hmm.
00:58Okay.
00:58So they asked, 146 players responded.
01:02Half of them, 50, predicted that Oklahoma City would win the NBA Finals,
01:08the NBA Championship.
01:1025.3% predicted the San Antonio Spurs would get the Larry O'Brien Trophy.
01:168.2% predicted the Boston Celtics would win the Larry O'Brien Trophy.
01:227.5% predicted the Denver Nuggets would win the NBA.
01:274.1% said Detroit.
01:31And then the Athletic followed up with a couple of notes.
01:33And one of them was Detroit got dissed.
01:35They write, okay, dissed may be a too strong a word.
01:38Only by a bit, though.
01:39The Pistons have been the Eastern Conference's best team by record for the majority of the season.
01:43They finished the regular season 16-22 in secured home court throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs.
01:48There's a lot to like about the Pistons, including Cade Cunningham, tough Maximoffer persona of the Pistons as a whole.
01:54One player who voted for the Pistons said, quote, tough team out of the East.
01:58Not an easy team to beat.
01:59They play physical as hell.
02:01They dictate the physicality of the game.
02:03And if you don't go in there and play physical with them, they will beat you.
02:07They will beat the blank out of you.
02:10Still, despite the respect the Pistons earned, the Celtics led all East teams in the vote, finishing with 8.2%.
02:16Jalen Brown is a deserving MVP candidate.
02:18So our balloting revealed a relatively recent return of Jason Tatum from the Achilles tear.
02:24Adds the Celtics' chances in the players' eyes.
02:26Detroit finished fifth in our poll.
02:28Cunningham's health no doubt played a central role.
02:30He suffered a collapse on March 17th at the height of our balloting.
02:32And didn't return until April 8th, one week after the balloting ended.
02:35So that might explain it.
02:37One voter said, quote, the Pistons are really, really good, but it's hard not to pick the Thunder again.
02:43So, I mean, if this was done in the middle of Cade being out with a lung collapse, I could
02:51see it.
02:52I mean, it'd be like if Tatum wasn't back with Boston or Harden went down for Cleveland or something of
02:58that nature.
02:59It'd be the same thing if they lose a great player.
03:05But I guess the question for the people today is, do you think the Pistons are going to win the
03:08East?
03:08Do you think they're going to win the East?
03:10If you had to bet your life savings, would you bet it on the Pistons to win the East?
03:14Wow.
03:15Now, this is a weird question because I think I would.
03:19I think I would.
03:22But it changes the dynamic a little bit when you're talking about your own money.
03:26Like, if I really believe this, run to the window and get them at plus 450, right?
03:32Because that's what they were yesterday, as we talked about.
03:34And I don't even mind all this stuff.
03:38In fact, I think this stuff helps.
03:39It has no bearing on reality.
03:40I think it's interesting that we could find one writer that picked the Pistons to win the East.
03:46And I haven't found one yet to pick the Pistons to win it all.
03:50Which is, isn't that highly unusual for a one seed?
03:54To be.
03:55To be.
03:56Now, nobody's picking them.
03:57To win the whole thing.
03:58It's very unusual.
03:59But it speaks to what happened during the season.
04:02I mean, Tatum out for a long time.
04:04Now he comes back and they're the favorite.
04:06Well, without him, they didn't play as well.
04:08So, I mean, I think it's that easy.
04:11It comes down to injuries.
04:12I don't think if he were playing there the whole season and the Pistons had won the East by three
04:18games or four games or whatever they did, I think it'd be a different story.
04:21But because he didn't and because Harden wasn't on Cleveland for the entire season to see them, what they would
04:27be like for a whole year, it has the difference there.
04:32Kang, would you bet your life savings on the Pistons to win the East?
04:35I wouldn't.
04:36And it sucks because I obviously really want them to win the East.
04:39But I think it is for me and maybe a lot of people is, one, we've never seen them do
04:44it before.
04:44They're a very young team, very inexperienced.
04:46They've never won a home playoff game or playoff series, this team, right?
04:49This specific team.
04:51And two is, if you just look at the roster, the overall talent, they're less talented overall than the other
04:58teams.
04:58They just are, you know?
04:59You look at Boston's roster.
05:01You look at the Cavs.
05:02The Cavs have two legit stars.
05:04Boston, two legit stars.
05:05The Knicks, a lot of people would take Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns definitely over Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren.
05:11So with that being said, I just don't feel confident enough to think that Pistons are going to come out
05:16of the East.
05:16I like them to get to the Eastern Conference Finals, but whoever they face, it's going to be a tough
05:19opponent.
05:20It's going to be a tough opponent.
05:21And I mean, getting to the Eastern Conference Finals means they've got to beat Cleveland at some point here.
05:25And Cleveland is obviously a pretty well-established, good team.
05:32I would take them.
05:33I would not bet my life savings by choice.
05:36If I had to, I would reluctantly put it on the Pistons, but I would also want to take the
05:41field in any of these bets.
05:43I wouldn't take Boston.
05:44I'd take the field.
05:44I wouldn't take Detroit.
05:45I'd take the field.
05:46I wouldn't take Cleveland.
05:47I'd take the field.
05:47But the only way I could keep my life savings was to put it on a team to win the
05:51East.
05:52I'd put it on the Pistons and hold my breath.
05:54But, you know, it's a very tricky thing when you start talking about your own money.
06:04It changes the dynamic, right?
06:06Yeah.
06:06I mean, I'm not running to the window.
06:08Forked my nose in a dark alley, you've got to make this decision.
06:10I would bet on the Pistons.
06:12And I mean, they have my 51 that they win the conference finals.
06:17I think they get there, and I do think they win it.
06:20But it's not a very strong field.
06:24I'm not extraordinarily chesty about it.
06:26I think it'll be a battle no matter who they play because I think Boston and Cleveland present real obstacles
06:34for this team and real challenges.
06:36But I think the Pistons are built for success.
06:38I think that they've treated the last month like it's been the playoffs with players out.
06:45But, okay, next man up.
06:47And the next man up was Dennis Jenkins, and he did a great job.
06:50The next man up was Paul Reed, and he did a great job.
06:53The next man up was Kevin Herter.
06:55You've got to show us what you've got.
06:57And he has.
06:58And Duncan Robinson, same thing.
07:00And Tobias has been reliable and consistent.
07:02So this is a team I think can really do some damage.
07:06And I think they're going to march right to the conference finals.
07:08And, yeah, I lean that they would win it.
07:10I would bet that way.
07:11I mean, people out there, do you really, really, truly, if your life savings would depend upon it, would you
07:17put your money on the Pistons at this point?
07:19248-539-9797.
07:21It's Carson Anderson.
07:22Just a reminder, we've got the best of what Brad Holmes said yesterday.
07:25We'll get to that a little bit later in the show.
07:28Also, our daily Lions draft news aggregate thingy where we get all the very latest reporting, including some really, really
07:35interesting stuff on the Lions today.
07:36All that coming up here on Carson Anderson on 97.1.
07:39Natural Way Lawn and Tree Service is where you get green and stay green with Natural Way.
07:44888-GET-GREEN is the telephone number.
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