00:00Here we go! Opening night! I know you're fired up, Jim.
00:09Can't wait, baby! Let's go!
00:11Yeah, get those season tickets ready!
00:13Revved up for Red Wing hockey! Let's go!
00:15Uh-huh. Oh, boy.
00:17You're a young man. You're making investments.
00:20Playing the long game. This has got to be one of the longest game
00:24investments you have in your portfolio.
00:27Oh, yeah. You're just hoping to get in on the ground floor
00:31and see where it takes you in the next, I don't know, decade?
00:38Yep. You want to buy low, right? That's what they say.
00:40Good morning, 97.1. Jim Costa, John Jansen, Heather Park,
00:44Gov and Greg behind the glass. We have a lot to do on what is a football Friday,
00:48but also the return to the ice for the Red Wings.
00:51We are giving away a pair of tickets every hour on the show today.
00:55This hour, a pair of tickets for tonight's matchup with the Rangers.
00:59You're going to want to listen the next time you hear
01:01Red Wings, my Red Wings.
01:03Oh!
01:04Call in. Be there tonight.
01:06A lot has been made about the atmosphere.
01:07Yes, the next time.
01:08Yes, a lot has been made about the atmosphere tonight.
01:10You want to be there? Listen this hour. Your chance to win.
01:13We'll get to Duren, but we have a question for Heather Park.
01:15I do. I like to pick at the relationship scabs
01:20and see if we can make something bleed a little bit.
01:23Cool.
01:24Are you packed?
01:25No.
01:26Are you going?
01:28Maybe.
01:30This is even better.
01:32Are the dogs ready to go?
01:34Colin have them all fed and ready to take to the kennel?
01:38No.
01:39So he is going.
01:40There's no ifs, ands, or buts about that.
01:44He's going, but it's who is he going with is still the question.
01:48I woke up with a really sore throat, and it's raining,
01:50and I feel like the universe is telling me, like, don't go.
01:54As of last night, like, the last word was, I am going.
01:57But I am not packed, nor are the kids.
02:00When are you leaving?
02:00Or when is he leaving?
02:03Well, if he took both kids.
02:05No, he has to wait until I'm home.
02:07Okay.
02:08I would think he'd wait.
02:09You'd want to say goodbye.
02:10Yeah, I'd do a game-time decision.
02:11Yeah.
02:12It's the car.
02:14No, no, it's not that.
02:16It has nothing to do with that.
02:17It's the car that I drove.
02:18Oh.
02:19In which car is being driven.
02:21Did we cause an issue yesterday?
02:23Oh, no.
02:25The issue is already there.
02:29So as of last night, the last thing that was decided is that I'm going.
02:33If for some reason he cannot get the dogs in because he has not reserved a spot,
02:37then I will stay home.
02:39With the dogs.
02:40And maybe Brooks.
02:41Okay.
02:41Okay.
02:42All right.
02:43So it's just shaping up to be a good weekend either way.
02:46It's still exactly where it was yesterday.
02:48Yesterday.
02:49Yes.
02:49Which, okay.
02:50Huh.
02:51I know.
02:52So this being a last-minute decision, you're only reminiscent of Jalen Duren last-minute decision?
02:57Yeah.
02:58Yeah.
02:58I mean, Heather is waiting until the 11.59 hour and just right before midnight, and so
03:08did Jalen Duren.
03:09And as the clock was ticking last night, and I was thinking this morning when I saw the
03:17news, because I didn't see it last night.
03:18I should have texted you.
03:20I could have given you a little heads up.
03:21Yeah.
03:22Although I have mine on do not disturb, ignore, and since I do treat you like one of my kids
03:29at times, but you are not.
03:32And so the message wouldn't actually get through until about five o'clock this morning.
03:36I hit notify anyway.
03:38Send it through.
03:39Uh-huh.
03:39And so it's, we wake up this morning, and Jalen Duren has accepted $200 million.
03:51There are people wondering, so what was all of this for?
03:54Right?
03:55It's all drama.
03:57It's all, it's, it's, it's negotiations.
04:00That's what this was.
04:01He waited because he kept getting, right?
04:04The money and the wait clause, he kept getting.
04:08So, yeah, I'll wait till the end.
04:10Does Trajan have another $10 million lying around?
04:12Now, eventually Trajan drew his line in the sand.
04:15I hate that he got back down this bad.
04:17I hate this deal.
04:18Well, I think this was the number that, that Jalen, or sorry, that Trajan was going to get
04:24to anyway.
04:24And so I, I don't have as big of an issue with it.
04:27The issue I have is I don't think Jalen Duren is worth it.
04:30And so I don't know if it would have mattered.
04:34I mean, if it was five at 160, 150 is more what I think he is probably worth.
04:43Like a SAR.
04:44Yeah, exactly.
04:47Yeah.
04:48Somebody that can't shoot.
04:49Now you got two guys who can't shoot making $70 million.
04:53Uh-huh.
04:53And I like SAR.
04:54I prefer to SAR.
04:56I would have just chosen him.
04:58Just chosen him.
04:58And, and I guess they can still trade Duren at some point.
05:01I think they'll have to, if they're ever going to win an NBA title.
05:03I don't think Duren can be your second highest paid player on an NBA championship team.
05:08A center.
05:08It just becomes harder now.
05:09Center who can't shoot.
05:10He's not an elite defender.
05:12So, I mean, it's, he's just going to clog up the floor, your cap sheet.
05:15I'm really concerned they're going to waste Cade Cunningham's prime.
05:19And they very well might.
05:21Um, and it just depends on, I mean, things get complicated.
05:24Obviously, when you get into the second apron, you get into, you know, things further down
05:27the road, how much we've already seen Tom Gores be willing to open the pocketbook.
05:32He did that with the coaching staff.
05:35And is he going to be willing to do that for a year or two and just say, you know
05:41what?
05:41I'm willing to pay whatever it costs and, and pay whatever penalties I got to pay to be
05:49able to put a championship banner up in, in, in the LCA.
05:53Like, I think if we're talking about paying centers like this, they've got to be Jokic,
05:58Wemby, right?
06:00I mean, they have to be those kinds of players.
06:01Well, those guys are going to, I mean, they're, they're in a completely different stratosphere.
06:05No, I know.
06:06But I'm saying like those guys can, can be go-to options.
06:10Like, okay, I'll go down a level like Joel Embiid when he's healthy.
06:13Sure.
06:14Like those are the guys we're talking about committing major resources at the center position.
06:17Otherwise, I just don't think you're getting what you're paying for.
06:21I agree.
06:23It's just, I, now it's just a matter of, okay, well, let's see what Jalen Duren is this year.
06:29What's he been doing all summer?
06:31And, and because we heard from JB yesterday and one of the things JB talked about was,
06:36yeah, we're going to have to get him up to speed.
06:38The last two years we had this plan in place and we heard it from Trajan Langdon at the end
06:43of the year.
06:43Hey, we'll have a plan in place to continue the progress of Jalen Duren.
06:48Well, he wasn't around.
06:49And so if he was so hurt, is he going to look at anything that either JB or, and I
06:56don't
06:56think the issue was JB, but anything that the Pistons send him to say, hey, work on these
07:01skills, work on these things.
07:03You would think they would be common.
07:04You'd think he would be doing that, but we don't know.
07:07Well, let me ask you.
07:08And JB doesn't know.
07:08It's at the center of this.
07:10Is he still unhappy?
07:12Like, did he take this because it was the most money he could get, but he very much
07:16still wants to play somewhere else?
07:18Or was this all posturing and now he's going to show up big old smile on his face.
07:23Let's go after it.
07:24Like, what is his mental state after all this?
07:26Was this a ploy or is he actually disgruntled?
07:29When the checks start clearing, I believe he's going to look at it and go, you know what?
07:37I've got a pretty good life.
07:38Yeah.
07:38Um, I, I'm okay.
07:40And, and we, we jokingly did it after dear John.
07:43It was an add on yesterday in regards to it.
07:47My answer was, does he have an issue with Kate Cunningham?
07:52Does he have an issue with the SAR Thompson?
07:54Does he have an issue with any of his coworkers, his teammates?
07:57Does he have an issue with JB?
08:00Now that's where it might get a little fuzzy because how much was JB talking to and agreeing
08:08with Trajan Langdon?
08:09How much of that does Jalen Duren even know?
08:11Yeah.
08:11I was going to say, I would imagine the coach front facing stays out of it, you know, behind
08:16the scenes gives input, but, but doesn't actually stand in the way of the player.
08:20But what does Jalen Duren believe?
08:22Yeah.
08:23And, and what does he think?
08:24And, and if I'm, if I'm Trajan, I try and, you know, and put up all of these different
08:29fences and make it appear like, Hey, JB doesn't have anything to do with this.
08:35This is a front office issue.
08:36So when Jalen Duren does accept the obvious that he comes back, he doesn't have an issue
08:43with the coach.
08:43He can have an issue with, with the front office all he wants.
08:46And people do that all the time.
08:48People play under contracts, um, that are very lucrative, but they have issues with the
08:53front office yet.
08:54They're still able to produce because the issue's not with the teammates.
08:58The issue's not with the coach.
09:00The issue was with somebody that you may not even see every day.
09:03So now that the Duren saga is over question mark, how do Pistons fans feel?
09:08Two, four, eight, five, three, nine, 97, 97.
09:10Cause I don't feel very good.
09:13I'm concerned.
09:14They're going to waste Cunningham that they've, they've paid too much and it's going to clog
09:18up their cap sheet and their floor spacing.
09:20You let us know.
09:21I mean, there are, there are people out there that liked Duren.
09:24Maybe you're thrilled today.
09:26Hey, we kept our all NBA guy.
09:27We got our one, two punch two, four, eight, five, three, nine, 97, 97.
09:31But Hey, at least with a guy that they contender, they actually had something out there for
09:39him to make a decision on novel.
09:41And, and Trajan Langdon is a permanent fixture for, for this franchise versus an interim or
09:51a player entering that weird space, that contract purgatory, like Simon Edmondson.
09:58What do you think tonight's going to be like at little Caesars arena?
10:01Weird.
10:01Yeah, but it less weird because like you, you can't boo Larkin if he doesn't play.
10:09Right.
10:10And, and, and it sounds like he's not right.
10:12Uh, Todd McClellan saying yesterday, Larkin won't play either game this weekend, Friday
10:16or Sunday.
10:17And so you're not going to have that moment yet.
10:21Simon Edmondson isn't there.
10:22So you don't get a chance to cheer a guy that I think everybody has is, is, is a fan
10:27favorite.
10:28And some of it is because of his play.
10:29Some of it is just because a, he showed up, didn't have a contract.
10:32In fact, it's not on the player it's on, and I don't even know if it's on interim GM.
10:38If his hands are tied, it's not, then it's on ownership.
10:41So then fans, how do you respond?
10:44Like when you, when that puck is dropped, how do you send the message?
10:48Yeah.
10:48Because you don't want to, you're not booing Alex to break it.
10:52No, they're not going to want to boo the players unless the play is poor.
10:55If they're down three, that's something that happens in the third period.
10:58Yeah.
10:59Well, I went to a couple of years ago, they got booed in the second period, right?
11:03And so like, okay, that can happen.
11:05But how do you send a message to this team when they're, when you want a direct message
11:11to ownership and front office yet it's the team on the ice.
11:16Yeah.
11:16Like they'll do their red carpet and, and the fans will go and they're going to want
11:20to see their favorite players.
11:21But when the, when the arena opens up and the presentation begins, they're not going
11:25to show Sean Horkoff's face on the screen or Chris Illich's face on the screen.
11:29Well, you wouldn't think so.
11:31Although maybe, maybe Chris Illich will be sitting somewhere in amongst the lower bowl.
11:37Yeah.
11:37The lower bowl.
11:38Yeah.
11:39He periodically does that as he told Wojo.
11:42But yeah, it's a bit of advice for them.
11:44I would not do that unless you want to be booed endlessly.
11:48Yeah.
11:48I don't think they're going to put those guys up.
11:50It's not going to be a Sheila halftime Calvin Johnson thing.
11:53Right.
11:53Wouldn't think.
11:54I wouldn't think.
11:55But that's going to be, they've done some weird stuff, weird energy tonight at little
12:01season.
12:01We took a call this week from a guy who said, I no longer have tickets for the season, but
12:07I paid to go because I want to be that guy tonight that sends the message.
12:11So I don't know how you do that as a fan tonight, what your opportunities will be, what
12:15people's plans are to four, eight, five, three, nine, 97, 97.
12:19Want to check in with the hockey fans today.
12:21And of course, people on the phones want to talk during we'll get to it next.
12:2597, one.
