00:00for the Pistons offseason what to do with Jalen Duren Omari Sankofa Detroit free press
00:06has a price tag how much money did he cost himself Sankofa writes it's difficult to
00:14see them offering a max deal after an all-star regular season Duren fell flat in the postseason
00:20averaging just 10 points and 8.5 rebounds that's a good start right not gonna max him understand
00:24he didn't perform but since an NBA team with cap space can offer a maximum of up to 44 hello
00:31Lakers
00:32a deal with the Pistons would still likely cross 40 million annually he cringing like I am well okay
00:43so it says a team could doesn't mean a team will he's saying likely the Pistons would pay over 40
00:50million dollars but that's if somebody else is willing to offer him a deal worth that much money
00:56don't we all believe that he's lost a little bit of money so what's read is he'll likely cross 40
01:02million annually okay I would cringe there's no question if that comes to fruition yeah you don't
01:08want him for 40 million dollars a year for context Jared Allen who just outplayed him is a 28 million
01:13dollar player if you use this postseason to evaluate the long-term you know core of this team
01:24you saw a Sar Thompson make a strong case to be part of it and you saw Jalen Duren make
01:30a case not to
01:31be and I have some concerns about the two of them operating in the same spots of the offense and
01:39one
01:39of them's an all NBA defender and the other shriveled up in big moments so I think being anywhere near
01:4640 million dollars would be catastrophic to pay Jalen Duren and I will offer you an NBA history lesson
01:52when we consider Jalen Duren I want you to go in the way back all the way back to 2022
02:00the not so
02:02distant NBA past the Phoenix Suns were a 60 win team
02:10they lost in the second round at home in a game seven embarrassing by 33 points
02:18that offseason DeAndre Ayton was a restricted free agent they couldn't get a deal done with
02:24them before the year wanted to see how it would play out that offseason rolled around and someone
02:30else the Pacers offered him a max and the Suns matched
02:37the Suns would advance no further in the playoffs with DeAndre Ayton and one year later they had to
02:42trade him with a first to get him off the roster
02:48makes you think
02:51sure there's a lot of things that'll make you think most importantly is the performance by Jalen Duren in
02:57the postseason now I think the biggest question is why was there such a big drop-off why did he
03:04go
03:04from almost 20 points a game 19 and change to 10 a game why did he go from double digit
03:11rebounds
03:12to right around seven a game yeah and I my answer some of it's probably mental right people speculate
03:19I don't know some of it is his skill set is easier to take away in a seven game series
03:24with more
03:25sophisticated defenses he is quote only 22 but it's his fourth year in the league and he does not have
03:30a polished postgame a face-up jumper or any ability to stretch the floor he has to catch oops and
03:36drive
03:36to the hoop and dunk so is that not a skill set that is replaceable easier to defend you become
03:45a
03:45player who can't create you are dependent on what the defense gives you that's not a player that I'm
03:50locking in at mega money because then John how do they acquire these secondary scores and necessary
03:57pieces while also paying Cade and Assar and some of the guys they have Duren becomes a roadblock he gets
04:03in the way and and for anybody who doesn't like the Aiton comp DeAndre Aiton was a guy who'd get
04:10you
04:1015 and 10 in the postseason
04:14it was good for 18 and 11 at his peak in the NBA he was a former number one overall
04:19pick and Phoenix
04:20couldn't they couldn't fathom letting him walk for nothing you can't guys I'm not asking you to go
04:27back to like Bill Russell black and white footage this was like three four years ago it literally just
04:32played out a 60 win team embarrassed at home max is out there big limited player regrets it immediately
04:39Trajan Langdon if you're going to opt out of making meaningful moves for a year to evaluate
04:45can I just ask that you make the right evaluation like don't don't don't shortchange the team
04:52and then ignore what we all learned in the postseason and pay the guy anyway well Jim it's not a
04:59max it
04:59would be 40 million dollars is damn near a max well and this will be the first time that we've
05:04had
05:06the experience of watching Trajan Langdon go through this process right he he told us like
05:12we don't know what we have we were we're trying to learn I'm okay and all right now you take
05:17all the
05:17data you have and what does that mean when you are forced or you're faced with the decision of
05:25do I let him walk because somebody else is going to give him a max if somebody else gives him
05:30a max
05:31to me the decision is easy you let him walk and he's not a max player what if you don't
05:37max him
05:37out then what's it going to take to retain his services what's the contract somebody else offers
05:44that you have to match and and I know it trust me whoever wrote that I forget who you said
05:49it was
05:49Omari Sankofa free free press beat writer knows more about this than than certainly I do so I'm not
05:56going to challenge him on his you know how he came to that number I just wonder because of what
06:03we
06:03have heard from around the NBA that he's lost money how much money has he lost well it that's why
06:13it's
06:13such a fascinating offseason because okay let's say Omari shooting high and let's say that's it's not the
06:20case that the Pistons have more leverage how far can they walk him down and keep him is it 25
06:29to 30 a
06:30year is that insulting to him I mean I really don't care about his feelings his production doesn't
06:36deserve any more and if someone else is willing to do that deal or outbids the Pistons you work out
06:45some kind of you call their bluff you work out a sign and trade you try to get something small
06:48yeah and then you weaponize that cap space you can make it a three-team deal and try to take
06:52somebody else into it there's ways to get creative it's not like you have to lose during and just
06:57a black hole opens up in your organization act accordingly weaponize the cap space involve
07:04trades there's ways to still do something with it 248-539-9797 what do you got here's one thing I
07:11want to say so okay we sign him for less 25 million dollars whatever the number is okay so if
07:20we sign
07:20him I'm sure he's still playing 35 plus minutes a night next to Asar Thompson so does that fix the
07:26problem do you feel better that he's not he's making 15 million dollars less and we're still running into
07:31these same challenges well with the two playing together it kind of leads to my question of is he
07:39easier to defend yes he doesn't have post moves which makes him easier to defend a lot of his
07:44points are there are there are either on second chance opportunities or he finds the ball in his
07:50hands and it's an alley-oop dunk or it's just a I'm right there if he's easier if he's easier
07:59to guard
07:59because of that isn't it true that because of the warts that the Pistons had they were an easier team
08:05to
08:05defend in the postseason because they didn't have that second shooter that second playmaker that
08:11second guy that they could go to to score yeah I mean to your point if they had that guy
08:17would they
08:17have advanced past Cleveland with Durin struggles yes but would it also make Durin better yeah I mean
08:24if they had that because we talk about it no doubt it makes Cade better there's no doubt it's just
08:29the
08:29ability to get that kind of player becomes more difficult the more you pay Durin there's a salary cap so
08:35yeah that to Greg's point okay if the number is lower could you deal with it it'd still be an
08:40issue yeah but now I'd have more money to round out the roster and be at peace with it and
08:45you know
08:47make a run at this yeah speaking of that that player
08:52we want help from you guys we're putting together a list it's kind of ongoing throughout the show today
08:58who are some names for the Pistons to target in free agency if you if you can't call in we'll
09:04collect
09:04text but we'd love for you to pitch a player for the Pistons and we're going to keep track of
09:09all
09:09of these and do something with it this week who are some targets you can call in on the Durin
09:13stuff
09:13we definitely want to keep that conversation but looking ahead what are the players who you think
09:20could be available via trade via free agency names you've seen floating online that interest you
09:25248-539-9797 it's 97.1
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