00:00Doug Karsh and Scott Anderson, Kang behind the glass, Kenny on phones.
00:04Good Tuesday, everybody.
00:05Look, we'll hear from Trajan Langdon later in the show.
00:08And obviously yesterday was kind of a four-hour piston vent fest,
00:11which included a near crash out by me at the end of the show.
00:14But whatever.
00:16The frustration is, it still resonates from what happened in Game 7 on Sunday.
00:22But, you know, overall, as time goes by, you get some perspective
00:26and you start to see things differently.
00:28But not that Game 7 wasn't frustrating, but where the organization is
00:32and maybe what they need to do next.
00:35So Langdon speaks today at 1.
00:38And we'll find out maybe a little bit of insight on the approach towards the Jalen Durant contract.
00:46We'll get his thoughts on how you explore the trade market
00:48and see if you can find that second reliable score.
00:53Other contracts, Tobias, Javante, you know, in-house deals.
00:56And one of the things that I'll be intrigued to hear is what his approach is to the draft.
01:03The draft is something that, you know, there's nothing is guaranteed.
01:11It's lottery tickets.
01:14But it's interesting to watch trends in the draft.
01:18Every draft, every draft is different.
01:20But here's what's crazy.
01:24Last year's draft, the NBA all-rookie team, okay?
01:30So put on an NBA.com.
01:35Five guys make the first team.
01:37Those five guys went 1, 2, 3, 4, and 42 in the draft.
01:48The second team went 5, 6, 7, 11, 13.
01:57Last year's draft, all rookies, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 42.
02:03But the first four picks were all first-team all-rookie.
02:07The 5, 6, 7, 11, and 13 were all second-team.
02:13Now, like I said, and say all the time, every draft's different,
02:16but that's a draft right there.
02:19That's chalk.
02:20And that's where, when you get to 21, where the Pistons are, you go,
02:24okay, who's left?
02:26Now, every draft's different.
02:27The year before, NBA all-rookie team went 1, 2, 4, 9, and 39.
02:39The second team went 7, 11, 14, 15, and 21.
02:44The point is, 21 is not a spot where the best rookies are likely to be available,
02:53which is no shock.
02:54Right.
02:55But it's been closer, that's pretty amazing that 1, 2, 3, and 4
02:59all made first-team all-rookie.
03:02So here they sit at 21.
03:05Go ahead if you want to add something.
03:07I was just going to say, I'm not sure if it's terribly surprising
03:10because those are bad basketball teams that need immediate help,
03:13and those players can contribute immediately.
03:15When you're picking in the 20s, you're a good basketball team
03:18that doesn't need immediate help necessarily,
03:20or you certainly don't expect it from the draft.
03:22You're probably getting through free.
03:23I went back a bunch of years and couldn't find a 1, 2, 3, 4.
03:26Like, 1, 2, 3, 4 all being first-team all-rookie.
03:29But nonetheless, I just focused on the last two
03:33because these are the two drafts that Langdon had.
03:35Now, Langdon, the most common complaint we got from Langdon,
03:39really about Langdon from the trade deadline on,
03:42is that he didn't give it enough gas at the deadline.
03:46The deadline didn't give enough, didn't go big enough at the trade deadline.
03:52Didn't go all-in.
03:53Yep.
03:54And it's a point of frustration for fans.
03:57And I said it yesterday, and we've said it a bunch.
04:00It's hard to co-sign on these criticisms
04:01because it's almost impossible to know what trades were out there.
04:06And I think one of the most misunderstood things in sports
04:08is the word accessibility.
04:11Like, we had a guy called up and said,
04:13oh, I'm disappointed the trade deadline came and went.
04:16Pistons should have went and got Cole Knipple.
04:19Cole Knipple's been a great draft pick
04:23for the Charlotte Hornets, first-team all-rookie.
04:28There really wasn't a reasonable way to go get him at the trade deadline.
04:33They're not going to trade away a guy that they're building around.
04:36Who's got...
04:36Yeah, I mean, another one, Laurie Markkinen,
04:39like, the Laurie Markkinen and Michael Porter Jr.
04:43and Trey Murphy talk is awesome,
04:44but it'd be stunning if those didn't cut into a core
04:48that was helping the Pistons win.
04:50I mean, if you think about it, if you're in those towns,
04:52you're asking for a SAR.
04:54Like, you're asking...
04:55You are, no.
04:56Yeah.
04:56If you weren't before.
04:57Yeah.
05:00So, but here's an accessibility thing
05:02where I'll be critical of Trajan Langdon.
05:05The Pistons had a resource a couple years ago
05:07they might not have for a long time.
05:09And that's the pick at number five.
05:12And remember, you know, the last couple of drafts,
05:15the predictability of those drafts
05:18and how a lot of the top teams nailed it.
05:24I think if I'm going to be critical
05:27of Trajan Langdon right now
05:28about one of the reasons why they came up short,
05:31it's the pick of Ron Holland.
05:33Ron Holland has potential,
05:35and I'm rooting for Ron Holland,
05:37and I hope Ron Holland lives up to said potential.
05:39But Ron Holland's kind of a redundant piece
05:41on this roster.
05:43And if you think about what this team needs,
05:46I'm going to go all stony here.
05:47I'm going to go full stony.
05:49But Matos Bezelis or Bud Carrington,
05:51who were on the board there at five,
05:53are guys that, you know,
05:55score in double figures and can shoot it
05:57and really would be,
06:00in many ways,
06:01where they have developed here in Detroit,
06:02we don't know.
06:03But as far as criticism of Langdon,
06:08I don't know that this group
06:10is going to have another shot
06:11at a top draft pick anytime soon.
06:14And Ron Holland is a developmental piece.
06:17It could happen for him.
06:20But, I mean,
06:23how good would Matos Bezelis seem to fit with this team?
06:26How good would Bud Carrington
06:27seem to fit with this team?
06:30And so, I guess,
06:33as far as what I think is fair criticism,
06:36I'm going to focus on that.
06:37And I hope Holland turns out to be worth it in the end.
06:41But that's where my criticism of Langdon
06:44is more focused on.
06:45No, I get it.
06:46And I'm a huge Ron Holland fan,
06:48but I don't think I envision Ron Holland
06:51in the future here
06:52of being a guy who's going to be
06:53potentially a 20-point scorer.
06:55I think he's a guy
06:58that really helps you out defensively.
07:01And you need those players.
07:02And hopefully he can develop a shot
07:04and maybe he's a 3-and-D guy down the road.
07:06But, I mean, he can be explosive
07:09because he's so quick and fast.
07:12I was really disappointed.
07:14It's probably my biggest disappointment
07:15with the Pistons
07:16aside of, you know, failing in Game 7.
07:18But just from a personnel standpoint,
07:21my biggest disappointment in the playoffs
07:23is that they didn't use Ron Holland.
07:26That, you know, your brand is defensive basketball
07:30and they just didn't use him.
07:32And I was really pissed after, you know,
07:34seeing him thrown at the end of that game.
07:35That was Game 5.
07:37And he was just locking down
07:40on Donovan Mitchell when things got,
07:42you know, Pistons were making
07:43a furious comeback at the end.
07:44They put the starters back out there for Cleveland.
07:46He locked in on Mitchell
07:47and he wasn't giving him a millimeter.
07:49And I'm figuring, okay,
07:51he's showing JB and the rest of the team,
07:54I got this.
07:55This is the guy that's going to beat us?
07:57Not next game.
07:58I'm showing you how I can lock down on him.
08:00And then they didn't even see the floor.
08:01Or if he did, it was mop-up duty.
08:03That was disappointing to me.
08:05So I'm hopeful that he can be a bigger contributor.
08:09But to your point, yeah, it's disappointing
08:11if you've got a top-five pick
08:13and you're not landing somebody
08:15who seemingly would be a fixture on this team.
08:19When I brought this up,
08:20Kang made a great point.
08:21You have no idea how these guys would have fit in
08:23with less playing time than they got on bad teams.
08:27But their skill sets
08:28and what they brought to the table,
08:32it feels like almost exactly what this team needed,
08:35especially, Bozellis especially.
08:37But what they needed,
08:39honestly, when it comes down to it,
08:41it's not Ron Holland.
08:42What they needed was a healthy Jaden Ivey.
08:45That's what they needed.
08:46If Jaden Ivey hadn't torn up his leg
08:49in two different ways,
08:51whether it was breaking the leg
08:52or the knee injury that he suffered,
08:54I mean, that was your guy.
08:55That was the guy who was going to ride along
08:57with Cade Cunningham,
08:58score 20 points a game,
08:59be that consistent player.
09:01He's obviously got talent to shoot beyond the arc,
09:03but he got hurt
09:05and then they were able to spin,
09:08well, they traded him,
09:09didn't get much in return,
09:11but in fairness,
09:13he wasn't offering the Bulls anything either
09:16and they've released him.
09:17So I don't know what his future is in the NBA,
09:20but that's also,
09:23it's a misstep in hindsight because of his injuries.
09:25But what would have been like if he never got hurt?
09:28Would this be a different,
09:29would we be talking about a team in the offseason right now?
09:33It's a great question.
09:34And, you know,
09:36I'm kind of focused on all Trajan's decisions.
09:39Yeah, because that's not a Trajan.
09:40And Trajan's our guy.
09:42And I think this is a huge offseason for him.
09:45And I'm not saying,
09:46look, Trajan's a bad GM and I'd move on from him.
09:50I'm just saying,
09:51when it comes to the criticisms
09:52of why this team came up short
09:54and Trajan's culpability in it,
09:56I'm more focused on getting
09:58kind of nothing in the Cleveland series
10:00out of the picket number five from two years ago
10:02more so than I am
10:04what he did or didn't do at the trade deadline.
10:07Well, when you're looking at
10:08building your core group of players,
10:10you would think that someone you take at five
10:12is going to be part of your core.
10:13And I'm not sure the Pistons think that at all
10:15based on how they used it.
10:17Kang, I want your thoughts on this in a minute.
10:18We'll get to your phone calls and feedback.
10:20Two, four, eight, five, three, nine, 97, 97.
10:22It's Carson Anderson, 97.
10:23Someone.
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