00:00Okay, so a couple things there from Steve Eisenman, who just addressed the media,
00:04and then we'll get back to NFL draft and Pistons, which are a lot more fun to talk about.
00:09But obviously, there's a lot of scrutiny on Eisenman.
00:13He says that he has spoken with Chris Illich.
00:17He's very disappointed.
00:20He's extremely supportive, but they'll have further conversations in the coming days.
00:26I doubt those further conversations are going to result with Steve Eisenman being fired.
00:31I don't think he'd be at the podium today doing this if he were likely to get fired.
00:36Now, things could change.
00:37There could be some completely huge argument or something that takes place
00:41or philosophical issues that get in between them.
00:46But I want to sit in that room and hear the convincing case that Eisenman has to present
00:57that he can build a winner because I can't do it.
01:02The most convincing case is he did it in Tampa.
01:06It was a long time ago.
01:08And Joe Dumars built a championship team and deserved an opportunity to try and rebuild another one.
01:15And it wasn't working.
01:16They moved on.
01:18Eisenman built a championship team, unfortunately, in Tampa, not here.
01:23And the proof of concept that he would have to sell me on.
01:27And sometimes you sit down with people you don't think are doing a good job
01:29and they talk to you and you realize, okay, they explain what's going on
01:34and you come out maybe a little bit more sympathetic.
01:36I don't know what Eisenman can say that would lead me to believe that this is working.
01:43Or it's going to work.
01:45It's not working.
01:45Obviously, it's not working.
01:46But I think the conversation he has is a frank one.
01:49And I would hope that Chris Illich says, all right, you tell me what you need
01:53because I'm giving you all the resources you need.
01:55Why is this not working?
01:56What are you going to do?
01:57What has to be the plan?
02:00And I would imagine that Steve Eisenman would talk about, okay,
02:04well, we need to change some of the roster.
02:08At least, okay, this is what I'll project for myself anyway.
02:11They need to change some of the roster.
02:13They need to get bigger.
02:14They need to be more physical.
02:15And you have to find those players, whether it's in free agency or through trades.
02:20You've got to do that.
02:21Throughout the organization, it is a real problem to find forwards that are bigger than 6'1", 6'2".
02:30They just don't have them.
02:32Aside from a couple of defensemen, they don't have big defensemen either.
02:38And certainly not guys that are going to hammer you through the boards.
02:41I mean, the only one that does that is Mo Sider.
02:43And he's fantastic.
02:45But they need to find more physicality when it comes to defense and really bigger wingers.
02:51And they don't have them.
02:53They haven't drafted them.
02:54Right?
02:54Like Carter Barry may have all the problems in the world, but it's not like he's 6'5".
02:58Or 6'4".
02:59They just don't have those guys in the organization.
03:01So they have to go outside the organization and find that.
03:04And I got the sense of what he was saying in the 15 minutes we listened to him.
03:10I think that is something that's going to be an area of focus in this offseason is to try and
03:15get players in the bottom six that have to be bigger,
03:20they have to be tougher to play against, and they have to be productive.
03:25Hearing him say we'd like to have just a real checking line, a shutdown checking line is what he said,
03:33I think we can all agree on that.
03:35But, you know, it's seven years into it, why haven't we put together a shutdown checking line all this time?
03:44It's frustrating all around.
03:45I'm sure it's frustrating as hell for him because I'm sure that he had big dreams of what he was
03:49going to do with the trade deadline.
03:50And then you find out that the asking price is, for him, too much.
03:56And then he got to back away from it.
03:57And then, you know, you probably overpaid to get Falk.
04:00But, you know, Falk's a good player.
04:02He's definitely a top four defenseman and need to have a guy like that.
04:06But it's going to be a tough offseason without question for the Red Wings because even he said,
04:13he's almost softening up already that don't expect much free agent-wise because the good free agents get re-signed
04:19by those teams.
04:20But the Red Wings have money to spend.
04:21And I don't know if this is the greatest free agent class we'll see this offseason.
04:26But they can absolutely make something happen when it comes to trades.
04:30One final thought, and then we'll get back to the draft.
04:33One final thought for me is they look about as stuck a team as I've seen.
04:38I think they've overvalued the prospects who aren't developing that people won't want to trade for.
04:43And you can't get free agents because they get re-signed and you're not drafting in a great spot.
04:49I don't know what the next move is.
04:51Well, I guess my final thought is I don't know if they've overvalued some of these prospects.
04:56I know you're really soured on a couple of guys, but those couple of guys were drafted literally like two
05:00years ago.
05:00So I think this is a big playoff series for Grand Rapids to see if those players can showcase what
05:08they have
05:09and get some momentum going into the fall training camp and add some muscle or whatever it is
05:14and be tougher to play against and everything they're looking for.
05:17There's only so much you can do.
05:18But we do know that players can make a big leap one year to the next when they're 19, 20,
05:2421 years old.
05:25So I think that remains to be seen.
05:27But, I mean, this is – I'm not optimistic about what's going to happen this offseason.
05:31And I think it's really hard to add to a team that, you know, when the asking price is high
05:37and free agents aren't all that impressive.
05:40All right.
05:41There you go.
05:41So NFL draft tonight, Pistons, a lot to get to with them, including coming up today at 11.50.
05:48One of the players tells us what was said in the halftime locker room when they came out in the
05:52second half
05:52and went on a 30-3 run.
05:55Hear what a player had to say today at 11.50.
05:59In the meantime, we've asked people about the draft tonight.
06:03We know Brad Holm's pattern many times on draft night.
06:07We end up saying, whoa, do you think they're going to do what everybody thinks they're going to do
06:13and take a tackle?
06:14And if not a tackle, an edge rusher, which has been talked about for years,
06:17or do you think this is going to be a whoa?
06:212, 4, 8, 5, 3, 9, 97, 97.
06:24And if you do think he's going to do something that makes you go, whoa, what do you think it'll
06:27be?
06:273, from Strong5903 on Twitter, most likely, whoa, to me, feels like a defensive back.
06:35Thineman, McCoy, trading up far enough for Delane would sure feel like a holy blank moment.
06:41Jeffrey says, my pick for a whoa, Mansoor Delane, cornerback, LSU.
06:48What else do we got here?
06:52From an unnamed texter, I'm sticking to my Kenyon Sadiq pick.
06:56Great blocker, 4-3 speed, then Brad trades up to get us back into the first round
07:02and get his tackle.
07:03That's from Harold and Taylor.
07:06From an unnamed texter, I don't think safety is a whoa at all.
07:09I like the safety from Oregon a lot as the pick.
07:12We don't know about Kirby, and we don't know about what Branch looks like after his Achilles.
07:18I mean, I could see it.
07:20I think safety is a position of need.
07:22Yep, it is.
07:23I think the thing that makes it a whoa is, I don't know anybody who's projected that a safety would
07:30go to Detroit in their final mocks.
07:32No, I haven't seen that.
07:33And so, to your point, yes, that is a whoa.
07:36Yep.
07:37But, I mean, on a surface level, it makes sense.
07:41It's especially, you start looking at the tackles that might slide into the second round or the edge rushers that
07:46might slide into the second round.
07:47I think there's some talent there.
07:48It might be playing the draft board the right way.
07:51But, 2-4-8-5-3-9-97-97, you tell us what your whoa moment might be.
07:57And an analysis of the group think national versus local mock draft picks is really interesting.
08:06We'll get to that today at noon straight up.
08:08Inside the Piston locker room at halftime, a player tells us what was said today at 11.50.
08:13And how about those Pistons?
08:15What a response.
08:16That is what you call responding to adversity as they bounce back after a dreadful game one and send a
08:24message of what they hope the rest of this series is going to be.
08:272-4-8-5-3-9-97-97.
08:30More your phone calls and feedback as we continue from outside Comerica Park here on 97.1.
Comments