00:00But I did want to get to the Pistons a little bit here
00:02because I heard some growing concern from people
00:07as we're 24 hours into the free agent period,
00:11and Jalen Duren has not been signed to an offer sheet by another team.
00:15So there has not been any thought of a sign-and-trade
00:19that it looks like Jalen Duren, his market has kind of dried up now
00:23with other centers going to other teams.
00:26And we welcome him back here with the Pistons,
00:29which I think all along was the plan the Pistons had,
00:31and they were going to match any offer anyway.
00:35But Collins was really the only major signing they had.
00:39There's a report that Marcus Sasser has been traded to Dallas,
00:42and this could all be part of some wild sign-and-trade thing
00:45that goes on, be announced next week.
00:47But your thoughts on where the Pistons are right now,
00:49what still has to be done, and maybe what could be done.
00:53So I'm on a bit of a rollercoaster with how I feel about Langdon and the Pistons.
00:57At the end of the season when Langdon had his press conference,
01:01the idea I was getting from that and the feeling I was getting from that presser
01:04was that Langdon was kind of going to bring back most of the same guys
01:09and try to add here or there on the margins.
01:11That's what it seemed like to me, right?
01:12But that's the way I read it.
01:13I don't think Doug read it that way, but that's the way I read it.
01:15And then we head into the offseason,
01:18and then he starts creating these flexible cap moves,
01:21moving on from Stewart, and then the Isaiah Joe things happen,
01:25and then the draft happens.
01:26And I'm thinking, okay, maybe he's setting himself up.
01:29And then all the rumors come out.
01:30The Austin Reeves room.
01:31Yeah, the Reeves, the Trey Murphy, the Kawhi, the Kyrie, right?
01:36Or Brown.
01:36Yeah, Jalen Brown, all this stuff, right?
01:38So I'm like, oh.
01:39And he did do all these moves to create extra cap flexibility.
01:42So I'm thinking, Trajan does have a plan that's bigger than what I thought.
01:47And even after the draft, he mentioned again they need playmaking.
01:50They need someone to create shots.
01:51I'm thinking, okay, he knows that Cade Cunningham needs some more help.
01:55And then we go through the next couple days,
01:58and the biggest signing, like you said, is Collins.
02:01And they move on from Harris.
02:03I think this current roster, and I'm including Jalen Dern on this roster
02:07because he hasn't gone anywhere yet.
02:09Pistons still own his rights.
02:10I think overall, talent-wise, Gator,
02:12they are a better team than they were at the end of last season.
02:17Are they good enough to win the championship?
02:19No, they are not.
02:22So I'm still not calling it over because the offseason isn't over yet.
02:25But as of right now, I do approve of what he's done.
02:28But I also feel this can't be the end result.
02:31You know, I feel like there's still need to get that true secondary scorer
02:35who can create his own shot, who you can count on a bucket
02:38without Cade Cunningham on the court.
02:40And they haven't done that yet.
02:44But I'm not going to crap on the offseason so far.
02:47Like, some people are because I do think they are better.
02:50Sometimes you find your superstar, and the Pistons are lucky they have one
02:53in Cade Cunningham, and then you try to alleviate some of that pressure
02:56by getting him a better supporting cast.
02:57And I think he's done that.
02:58I think that Isaiah Joe and Collins are better than what they had last year.
03:04I just don't think it's enough if you want to get to the next level.
03:07And so I'm waiting to see, is there a next move?
03:09Is there another bigger move?
03:10Is Trey Murphy still on the table?
03:13Yeah, I'm kind of on board with you on this.
03:15I feel like they're probably a better team right now than what they were
03:19when they finished the season.
03:22But the landscape of the Eastern Conference has gotten better,
03:25and the Pistons didn't get appreciably better to put themselves
03:28in that conversation anymore, at least in my mind right now.
03:31Now, I think there's still something else that's coming that's brewing.
03:34I have to believe that because I think all along they were talking about
03:38the triumvirate of players, their core group with Duren, Thompson,
03:43and, of course, Cade.
03:44And knowing that was going to be the case, and they still were going to go
03:47after Austin Reeves, okay, well, that other move hasn't happened yet, right?
03:53I don't think that's made up in the aggregate of signing Isaiah Joe
03:56and Collins.
03:57I don't think that that's the case.
03:58I think there has to be something more to it than that.
04:01Um, that remains to be seen.
04:04And the concern I have right now is that, A, you're not good enough
04:10to compete with the other teams in the elite in the Eastern Conference.
04:13I don't think right now.
04:14Um, but the bigger concern I have is you've changed the identity of this team,
04:21I think, and maybe significantly, uh, and going from one identity
04:27to perhaps another.
04:30And this is just a personal thing for me because I liked that they were the tough
04:34team on the block.
04:35I liked that they were doing things the unconventional way, that they weren't just
04:39jacking up threes to jack up threes because that's what analytics tell you.
04:42I liked that aspect of the Pistons.
04:44They were different.
04:46They're changing from that.
04:47And it's just a personal thing where I'm going to have difficulty adjusting to the new look
04:52Pistons.
04:53I'll probably end up loving it because Isaiah Joe can flat out shoot.
04:57Um, and it looks like they're, they're, they now have several shooting options on this team.
05:04Not necessarily the number two guy, but they've got guys that, but they got more floor
05:08spacing behind.
05:09Yes, exactly.
05:10More floor spacing.
05:11And I understand you're concerned with the identity of the team.
05:14I still think the identity is defense.
05:15Now they just might not foul as much and be as rough because they don't have to.
05:20I kept saying it last year.
05:21I know they won 60 games and they were the number one seed in the regular season.
05:24But when I looked at that roster and I was like, that is not a playoff roster.
05:27They're really going to have to need more talent if they want to be one to consider one of the
05:31elites in the East.
05:32And guess what?
05:33With that roster, which I think wasn't very good, by the way, they still were one game
05:37away from the Eastern conference finals.
05:39Now you upgrade even marginally, like I think they have, you should theoretically maybe get into
05:45the Eastern conference finals now.
05:46Now I do understand that other teams in the East did get better.
05:49Toronto with Kawhi is scary.
05:51I think Jalen Brown with the Sixers makes the Sixers better.
05:53Sixers look like they're going to be tough, yeah.
05:54But I think that made the Celtics worse.
05:56Either way.
05:57I agree with that.
05:58Halliburton's back and then you have to deal with the Knicks too, and I get it.
06:00Orlando Magic, if they're healthy, I think they're a threat as well.
06:03So I think things get a little murky with the East.
06:04You haven't even mentioned Cleveland.
06:06Exactly, right?
06:07And they could get LeBron.
06:09So yeah, I think the competition does get a little more tougher in the East, but I do think the
06:13Pistons got better and I think they went pretty far with a really not the best talented roster
06:18last year.
06:19That's why it's really important though, they get that next guy, you know?
06:23I think they need to separate themselves and absolutely get the next go.
06:26Do everything you can to get Trey Murphy or whatever that player is.
06:30You've got to find that player.
06:31The Eastern conference is packed with good teams.
06:35I don't know if they're great teams, but they're good teams.
06:38And you didn't even mention, we haven't even mentioned Miami and Atlanta that are going
06:42to be better teams.
06:43You know, Miami now that they've got Giannis out there to work with.
06:46Yeah, I didn't even mention those two.
06:47Yeah.
06:47So that's a lot of teams we've mentioned there.
06:50That might be eight teams we already mentioned that are going to be competing for the East.
06:53And oh, by the way, the defending NBA champs, the Knicks are another team we haven't even
06:57talked about.
06:58So the landscape of the conference is a lot tougher and we knew it was going to be tougher,
07:03but now that we've seen some moves made, like it was just going to be tougher by other teams
07:07getting healthy.
07:07But now that moves have been made to bring Giannis to Miami, to take Jalen, excuse me,
07:14Jalen Brown going from Boston over to Philadelphia.
07:19That's interesting.
07:20All these moves and in the LeBron situation, if he ends up going to Cleveland and I guess
07:26now he's the Kelsey favorite to go to Cleveland, if that ends up happening, I mean, that's
07:30makes Cleveland really tough.
07:32So yeah, the Pistons have to make another move, not killing them yet.
07:36And I don't think I'll kill them anyway.
07:37It's just, okay, you're doing a slow and steady approach, which is, it's fine to get from
07:4314 to 44 to 60.
07:45And if you've set your goals up that we've got to get past the second round, which is
07:49what he has said, what Trajan Langdon said, that rubs people the wrong way.
07:53Anyway, people want, well, they want the big leap.
07:55Well, the big leap was this year, but they want the bigger leap.
07:59They want you to go for it.
08:00Everybody wants every team in town to go for it, make the big move.
08:03And they haven't made the big move yet to go for it.
08:05No, I know you don't get a trophy for trying, but I do feel like the fact that they've been
08:09involved in so many rumors of bigger players, that does tell me at least he sees the need.
08:14You know, he sees the hole and he's trying to do something about it.
08:17Now, where I'll get really upset is if Trey Murphy does get moved and it's not to Detroit,
08:21then I'm like, man, that means he was available, like really available.
08:24You just need to go and press the issue.
08:27I want Trey Murphy as a piston.
08:29That feels like the move that they can make.
08:31If he gets moved elsewhere, it feels like a missed opportunity.
08:342-4-8-5-3-9-97-97.
08:36This is 97.1.
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