00:00Okay, just real quick to the previous caller because we are short on time.
00:04He's right about Durant's deficiencies.
00:08Keep in mind that much of what we deal with is you cannot pay a player like this
00:13who can't be counted on to score.
00:16People don't want to pay him that money because he's not the Robin on the offensive end.
00:21And so he might be misinterpreting the fact that we focus on that
00:25with this is the feedback that we get in most of these.
00:27So I don't want to disagree with him.
00:29I don't disagree with him.
00:30Although slightly, he might have over-exaggerated something, Gator.
00:34Yeah, and that's how much of an impact Jared Allen had with Cleveland
00:38and how much he was dog-walking or whatever he said with Jalen Duren.
00:43Allen had a couple of nice games against the Pistons,
00:46but by and large, wasn't anything special.
00:48I think he averaged 14 points a game against the Pistons in that series.
00:52And even when he would flare up, he wasn't the number one guy on that team
00:56or even the number two or the number three guy on that team.
00:58They had way many other options other than Jared Allen.
01:03I'm just looking at this and it's like, all right, I think there might be some revisionist history
01:07or just remembering, hey, he had a big game in game seven against the Pistons where he had 23
01:12and he was still the third leading scorer in the game.
01:14So, you know, he's not wrong, but we're kind of reacting to most of the feedback that we get,
01:21which is essentially centered around you can't pay a guy like that that doesn't score.
01:25Well, that's I think his point, Doug, was real quick.
01:28The last thing is, yeah, maybe Allen didn't go off or Carter didn't go off,
01:31but you know who didn't go off?
01:32The all-NBA player, Jalen Duren, and they were able to shut him down.
01:35And that's the point.
01:36No other center that's not all-NBA or all-star should be shutting down a $40 million player a year,
01:41which he wasn't making last year, but he is now.
01:43Yeah, and he, I think it's pretty clear that their plan is with Duren and better shooters.
01:50On that end, Duren becomes far more reliable.
01:54But something that Omari Sankofa points out is even with the extension,
01:58Jalen Duren falls outside of the top 40 in annual NBA salary.
02:05There are still over 40 players that make more per year than Jalen Duren.
02:10So he's not getting paid like he's a top 20 player.
02:15He's due for the extension.
02:17He got the extension, and people don't like it because they think they overpaid for it
02:21because of what they saw in the postseason as opposed to what they saw in the regular season.
02:26Now, he's going to have to get better in the postseason.
02:29There's no question about it.
02:30And obviously, everything's in front of me.
02:32He's going to have to do that.
02:33And now, apparently, there's a little bit more reporting on what happened to get this deal done.
02:38Okay.
02:41This reporting does not make me feel better.
02:45It's from Sam Amick in The Athletic.
02:49I'm going to read a bunch of this because I think it's important.
02:53According to Lee's sources who were granted anonymity to speak candidly about the negotiations,
02:57the Pistons owner spent, and meaning Tom Gores, spent Duren's decision day sending a meaningful message that played a pivotal
03:05part in his decision.
03:06After all the acrimony of the past four-plus months from the Detroit offers that Duren deemed well below his
03:13market value to the short-lived weight clause that only made matters worse to the puzzling lack of communication with
03:20president of basketball operations, Trajan Langdon, along the way,
03:23Tom Gores made a promise to Duren and his family that he would help provide a more positive Pistons experience.
03:33What the hell does that mean?
03:34I don't know.
03:35Does he not elaborate what that means?
03:38No.
03:38Then what?
03:40I don't know.
03:42A more positive Pistons experience.
03:44Hmm.
03:45It was, at minimum, an acknowledgment that this sensitive situation had gone sideways, and with Duren already in Detroit with
03:52his family on Thursday,
03:54having waited until the 11th hour to assess the massive risk-reward calculus of the qualifying offer route one last
04:00time,
04:01it was the reassurance that he needed to sign on the dotted line,
04:04but the issue that put them in that dicey place to begin with most certainly remained.
04:12Ah, the story goes on to say...
04:14What's the issue?
04:16For starters, league sources say there have been internal concerns about whether Duren would be disciplined enough in the gym
04:24to truly earn this kind of payday.
04:28Rival executives highlighted this element in recent days with Duren's work ethic over his first three seasons,
04:35known to have inspired questions about his commitment to conditioning in piston circles.
04:44Okay, that is not what I want to hear.
04:49Is someone who has taken the position that he is young, they know better than anybody else if his work
04:56ethic is there to get better?
04:58Is he doing everything in his power to be a more complete player?
05:03I don't like this reporting at all.
05:06This is the first we've heard of this.
05:09Again, for starters, league sources say there have been internal concerns about whether Duren would be disciplined enough in the
05:14gym to truly earn that kind of payday.
05:16Rival executives highlighted this element in recent days with Duren's work ethic over his first three seasons,
05:22known to have inspired questions about his commitment to conditioning in piston circles.
05:25Their reluctance to go higher with the offer all but confirm the fact after his all-star breakthrough season last
05:32season,
05:32they want to make sure he kept up his devotion in the gym to make the leap forward.
05:39Now, this is a little encouraging.
05:41Later in the story, it says,
05:42For all the scrutiny surrounding Duren's massive dip in production in the postseason,
05:47several rival executives who had interest in him were convinced that his poor performance was an outlier.
05:53The combination of Duren's age and promise shown in the previous six months gave them reason to believe as much.
05:59The gap between the viewpoint, that viewpoint, and the piston stance had everything to do with the tension in the
06:05talks.
06:07So, some people from other organizations still wanted him and they think the playoffs were an outlier.
06:15I mean, look, the Athletic does really good work.
06:17I have no reason to doubt Sam Amick.
06:19If I take this at face value, I don't like the concerns over his work ethic.
06:24That flies directly in contrast with what I hoped to be the case.
06:30So, I might need to step back.
06:32Because that undermines my belief.
06:36And also, what about the fractured relationship?
06:38Because we haven't heard from Jalen Duren is the argument, right?
06:41Yeah.
06:41Now, we're reading a report that the owner had to get involved at the last minute.
06:47To provide him a more positive experience.
06:51The relationship with the front office.
06:52To be clear, I'm processing this in real time and I don't like it.
06:58But, at first glance, my thought is that there wasn't a ton of discussion that went on between Jalen Duren's
07:08agent and Trajan Langdon.
07:10Like, the Pistons have made an offer.
07:13There may have been a counter and that was it.
07:16And that both sides stayed quiet for a while waiting for the other one to blink.
07:20And this might be Trajan Langdon's process.
07:24Hey, we made him a fair offer.
07:26We're waiting to hear.
07:26You know, they'll come back to us when they want to come back to us.
07:29And that Duren's camp wanted more of a discussion on that.
07:35They wanted to be contacted more.
07:36They wanted to feel like, wait a minute, aren't we negotiating here?
07:41But two parties have to come to the table to talk about these things.
07:45I don't know.
07:45That's just how I'm looking at this.
07:47I have no idea.
07:49And nobody's on the record saying it either.
07:51So, it's just strange.
07:54We'll know more when Duren's in front of the cameras and microphones.
07:57Not everything has to be said the way you think it's going to go.
08:00Remember what happened when Dylan Larkin got up last week?
08:04That was weird.
08:06Yeah.
08:06So, I mean, this could either be, you know, hey, everybody relax.
08:10R-E-L-A-X.
08:11We got this.
08:12We're good.
08:12I'm happy as hell to be here.
08:13I love my teammates.
08:15Love the coaching staff.
08:17My family is happy to be here.
08:19Can't wait to get things started.
08:21You know, or it's going to be, you know, we had some bumps along the road.
08:24And, you know, we're continuing to smooth those things out.
08:26And, you know, we'll look forward to the season.
08:30Let's get back to your phone calls.
08:32Rob in Detroit.
08:32Hi, Rob.
08:34Hey, guys.
08:36Good to talk to you all.
08:37I had the call when your man in the back said, what has Jalen Duren done?
08:42And I was like, man, have you been watching?
08:44He's gotten better every year of his career.
08:47Every year.
08:48You go back and look.
08:49He's better every year.
08:51In the playoffs, yes, he fell off.
08:53But so did everybody else except for Cade, Asar, and Tobias.
08:56So all the team fell off.
08:58And that's why they couldn't score.
09:00And, yes, they were able to pack the paint and cut off the lob.
09:02It's not rocket science.
09:04That's where the shooters will help with that.
09:05But, again, I think the young man will get better.
09:08But, again, I'm glad you mentioned his salary.
09:10If you look at his salary, you guys are getting caught up.
09:13That's just the league's salary now.
09:15Guys are getting $40 million and $50 million.
09:17Devin Booker is going almost $70 million.
09:20So the money, you've got to take that out of it and just deal with the player
09:24and is he going to keep developing.
09:26And based on his track record, you say, yeah, he just was All-NBA and All-Star.
09:32He was talking about the 22-year-olds in the league and how they fall off.
09:35Well, they didn't make All-NBA or All-Star.
09:37Only the one-name guys did that, Allen Iverson, Magic Johnson.
09:42You can go down the list of who made All-NBA before 25 years old.
09:47It's a short list.
09:48And those guys, you know them by name.
09:50So the fact that he did it, and, yes, is that center, which is easier to do.
09:54I get all of that.
09:55But then look at his salary based on centers.
09:59He's about eighth.
10:00Dude, it's not that many centers better than him.
10:03In the Eastern Conference, Kat and Giannis.
10:05You want to say Miles Turner is better or Zubac is better or Anthony Davis is better?
10:14Go ahead.
10:15I disagree.
10:16Hey, Rob, thank you for the phone call.
10:18Jake is on a cell in next.
10:19Hello, Jake.
10:21That's a garbage truck.
10:24Fantastic.
10:25Are you going to hear me?
10:27What's a garbage truck?
10:28What's in front of them?
10:29Oh, I'm just walking by three kids and we see a garbage truck.
10:32Awesome.
10:33All right, what do you got?
10:35I was just trying to bring up the regular season.
10:37I know it's a lot different than the NBA, but, like, I went to the Pacers game on my birthday
10:42and Durham put up 31 and I think 15.
10:45I couldn't name one starter on the team.
10:47With all the load management, I'm just wondering if that plays a factor in the stat padding
10:52throughout the regular season.
10:56Wait, what?
10:57You think that because of the way that the load management happens that Durham was only
11:02putting up big numbers against teams that were resting players?
11:09Yeah, essentially.
11:10I mean, like, when do you see a night where almost all of the players are playing on a specific
11:15team?
11:15Actually, most nights.
11:16I mean, honestly, the load management, it's not like they...
11:19It doesn't happen.
11:20It happens.
11:21It clearly happens.
11:23But it's...
11:24Most nights, most players are playing.
11:27They get load management here and again, but...
11:30Every once in a while.
11:31But it's not...
11:32It's...
11:33I think you're overstating how much load management has people out of the lineup.
11:38We'll get some Red Wing bold-ass predictions at 1120.
11:40More of your phone calls coming up.
11:41Carson Anderson and 97.1.
