Talking Pistons off-season

Hey, it's a Wednesday and you are in the sports office. I'm Woody Woodruff and you are locked in to 30 minutes of the best sports talk that we can generate. And alongside me today is my pal Lauren Edwards. Lauren, how are you? I am doing well. I just got back from Bayview. You know what? I saw that you were out on the boat race or the sailing race and all that, but you know what? I have to give you a little bit of the stage here because you were a prophet in the World Cup. So I'll give you the stage. Go ahead, quickly. I'm just going to say, vamos España. I said it on the sports office that they were going to win the whole thing. Dan Miller was sitting right there and I told him it was going to be España and they won. All right, now that we got that out of the way, let's get into tonight's show, shall we? We're talking NBA and for that we bring in one of my favorite guys, Cody M. Davis from the Detroit News. Cody, what's up my man? Oh yeah, he's here. Hey, in case you guys didn't know, the M stands for massive. So what do you got for me tonight, Cody? We're talking about the Pistons. How you been, my man? Man, I've been good. Sorry, unfortunately, I couldn't be in the studio tonight. I'm literally still in Houston enjoying time with family and friends. But other than that, it's been a whirlwind trying to keep up with the Pistons. I just came back from summer league like two weeks ago. I had an opportunity to see the rookie, Buka Okori. He looks really good. Chas Lanier looks like he's ready to step up and have a bigger role in his second year. But overall, man, I've just been enjoying the offseason without the, I guess, minor drama with everything that's going on with Jalen Durant. Cody, before we get into all that, let me ask you something about the summer league, the atmosphere out there. I mean, we saw Kate Cunningham and a few of the other guys sitting courtside. What's it like just being in the arena? Man, it's crazy because it's like more of a laid-back type of NBA atmosphere, so to say. I mean, what do you know? You've been around the game long enough that a lot of times when you go to a game, especially like big games, there's a lot of restrictions. Even us reporters have to go through. But in summer league, whether you're in Thomas and Mac or you're at Cox Pavilion, it's a lot laid-back. Anytime, whether it's the first or second game, you see some of the main guys come in on the sideline. In a way, they're cheering their guys on, but they're also doing some scouting themselves, getting an idea of how they're going to play alongside someone like Ibuka, Chassel, and even Isaac Jones, who had a pretty solid outing. But overall, man, the atmosphere in Las Vegas is laid-back, chill. Everyone is just out there just to enjoy the game of basketball. Sounds like vacation to me. Hey, look, I want to get the fans involved right now. You see the number down here. You can text the show right down here. So get going because I definitely have a couple of questions for you fans that I'll be throwing out as we get going in the show. Lauren Edwards here with us. Let's get going. Cody, let me ask you this. How much of this season revolves around getting Jalen Durant's future settled before anything else? That's literally the number one most important aspect of this team as of right now. It was the number one important aspect at the start of the season. It definitely became the number one aspect during the season, and now here we are in the offseason. We are getting close to, what, maybe a month since the start of free agency, and it's literally the most important thing because we talked to Trajan Langdon at the end of the season. We talked to Trajan Langdon before the draft, during the draft, after the draft, and every time we talked to him, he always says the number one important thing that he wants to do is make sure that he keeps the core guys together, and that's that's J.D. and that's Asar Thompson. I was going to say, are you concerned about maybe the clock ticking as we keep going with this? Because you said every time you see him, it's the same thing, and nothing seems to be getting done. I'm not going to say I'm concerned because at the end of the day, the Pistons and J.D. Camp, they still have time. I mean, they have all the way up until, what, media day, which is always the last Monday in September, you know. Then, of course, the next day after that will be training camp. I don't think that this is going to drag on to the point we start talking about holdouts and all that other good stuff. So, as of right now, I'm not concerned, but if this goes into, let's say, the start of September, then you could probably say, okay, things are starting to get a little nerve-wracking here. Lauren, get in. But no, it is during a solid number two. I have my thoughts. I question that. You know, like, Cade needs a number two. Jordan had Pippen, right? Who's the Pippen? Who is his Pippen? I would say Jalen Dern literally is the Pistons number two, and I know that's crazy to say. A lot of people have started questioning it only due to the fact that we saw his performance in the playoffs, and I understand a lot of people are, you know, concerned about it, and I get it. However, I always looked at it from a standpoint, one, this was the first time that in Dern's career where he was literally the number two in terms of on the scouting report, and two, and most importantly, and I think, Woody, I said this on the show last time, I remember the last week of the regular season, we was in Orlando, and I wanted to get a sense of how are coaches literally starting to change their identity, their game plan in terms of getting ready for Jalen Dern, because back then it was just, yeah, keep him from being a lob threat. Well, now he has this breakout year. He's literally this team's number two. What do you do to try to slow him down? And I remember former Orlando Magic's coach Jamal Mosley said, the one thing that you got to do is collapse the paint, and I never forget game one inside LCA, it was maybe the second offensive possession that the Pistons had. I can't remember who it was that tried to give J.J.D. the ball. They collapsed that paint, turned over, and they broke out the other way, and it ended up being a score for the Magic, and I knew from that moment that J.D. was going to struggle in this playoffs because he was going to struggle just because the Pistons didn't have the correct personnel, and you were going up against one of the best defensive-minded coaches in Jamal Mosley at the time, and that's literally what we saw, and that's why he struggled so much in the playoffs. Let me throw this out as a sidebar here. You talked about things getting better in the east. Will the Pistons be able to reach a one seed if LeBron is in the east? That's a text that I got. That's a good question. That's a good one. It all depends. It all depends where he go. I will say the only team that I could see him going to making them the number one seed in the east will probably be Cleveland, the team that I think that he's going to go to, and he should go to. I mean, this whole so proper drama story, but I think that's the only team I could see him going to the Eastern Conference and making them by far the best team in the east. Even if he go to Miami, I still have some concerns there. I mean, yeah, you still have Giannis, you have LeBron, you have Bam, but even then, I think that's not as strong. If he go to Cleveland, the team, what was it? About a year ago, we saw them win 64 games and we saw them even without LeBron and even with, I guess, somewhat of a step back that they took this past year, they still made it to the Eastern Conference Finals. So I think if he goes to Cleveland, that's probably going to be toughest matchup at all. What'd you think about Miami? Maybe letting the cat out of the bag a little bit early with that social media text. It was crazy, man. I mean, put it like this. I've worked in media on both sides in terms of like the team aspect and PR. And of course, you know, now, you know, as on the beat, I would say you don't think that far ahead unless you are at least 90, 95% sure. That's all I'm going to say on that. Hey, you know, let me ask this. Is there a little bit maybe, because I'm hearing about Boston, I'm hearing about Philly, I'm hearing about Miami. Okay. All these things. Is there a little, maybe too much disrespect being thrown at Detroit? They seem not to be in next year's conversation yet the way they should be. In terms of them being quote unquote better than Boston. That's why I say the disrespect lies, because there's no way in the world you're going to lose. Just going off of this season alone, you know, a top seven player in the league, you trade him for Paul George, no disrespect to Paul George. I mean, he's probably going to be a hall of famer, but he's not the Paul George that he was in the OKC in Los Angeles. I mean, he's on the downside of his career. You still don't know what you're going to get out of Jason Tatum. So once you start looking at Boston, that's why I think Even as of right now with Cleveland, without LeBron, I will say that there's also disrespect there in terms of the Pistons and how good they're going to be compared to the rest of the Eastern Conference. Because I think if the Pistons just had a little bit more in the gas chamber, in terms of, you know, going into game seven, they probably would have beaten the Cavaliers in game seven of that second round series. And they would have been the ones going to Eastern Conference finals. Cody, I'm also getting a few more texts here. I got one right here. It says, what's the plan? Three teams in the East are significantly better. New York is still better. Cleveland is better. Boston, how do we add to the margins and expect to compete? Philly has surpassed them. Toronto, Atlanta, Orlando. That's coming from the text line. What's your comment? Well, we still got to hold on on Toronto because, you know, they got themselves in a situation. We still don't know if the trade is going to go down. So let's hold on for Toronto right there. But what I would say, the one thing about Trajan Langdon, J.B. Bickerstaff, you know, we've seen it over the first two years that they've been at the helms of the Pistons. They are still banking on a lot of their young guys still developing and still improving. And in the first two years, that's what we saw. I mean, we saw the All-NBA MVP caliber lead that Cade took. We saw the All-Star All-NBA caliber lead that J.D. took. We saw, I mean, if we keep it a book, if it wasn't for Victor Wimbiyama, you're looking at a fact that Osara Thompson probably could have had defensive player of the year this year. And we saw a lot of the other guys. I mean, we saw how good Janice Jenkins was. And so many of these guys, they're still looking at them where we see how good they were the first two years, but there are still levels that they could continue reaching, especially someone like Cade. So, you know, you're looking at it from a standpoint where those guys are going to get better. And the one thing that I do like, did like that Trajan Langdon did, I know he didn't go out and get the quote unquote big superstar and all this other stuff. But the one thing that he did do was make sure that he improved one of the major attributes that hindered this team throughout the regular season and definitely in the playoffs. And that was their three-point shooting. You added what, about four guys who could light it up from behind the arc, especially someone like Isaiah Joe. And that's not only their individual attributes, but at the same time, that's also going to improve the aspect of how other teams are going to be able to guard them. Because once again, you take a look at Jalen Dern's struggles, they was able to collapse because outside of Duncan Robinson, nobody else was a threat from behind the arc for the business. Now you add Isaiah Joe, you add Torian Prince, that's literally two guys that you added to where now you're looking at it from a standpoint, you can't collapse the paint on someone like Jalen Dern or double or triple team Cade, because you're going to leave, you know, a solid three-point shooter open. So it's going to be pick your potion, but in terms of improving this team's three-pointer and the ongoing development for a lot of these young guys, that's where the improvement lies with this team. All right, look, I got to take a quick break. And on the other side, I want you fans to get in because I've got a question for you. Here it is. By next year, the biggest storyline surrounding the Pistons will be. Send your text in. We'll check them out on the other side. You're listening to the sports office right here on Fox 2. Welcome back to the sports office. Woody Woodruff in the captain's chair on a Wednesday. We're talking about Pistons basketball with Cody Davis and Lauren Edwards. Thank you, Lauren. We got some more texts from you fans out there. Don't forget the number right down here. You can text in and I'll read them right here on the air. Here comes one right now. Pistons have no chance without another superstar. That's an interesting opinion. Can I say that? Yeah, go ahead. No, I'm just saying you need a number. He needs a number two. And it's OK to say that that Jalen Brown trade is the most whack attack thing of the year. He got traded for a bag of Doritos. Guess what? I also got an answer to my question that I posted before the break right here. And it says the biggest story will be how they start the season. Boom. Grab the momentum early. Thanks a lot, Robert, for answering the question. I agree with that right there. Why? You know, because they have to start the season early with a with a with a great push. Cody will agree with me on this, Cody. Oh, yeah, definitely. That's part of the reason why. I mean, that's part of the reason why they won 60 games last year. I mean, they started I can't remember what they started the season. I remember they lost in Chicago. They won in Houston. And I can't remember what happened after I think they lost in Cleveland. Next thing you know, we blink our eyes and they won 13 games in a row in that 13 game winning streak. See what I'm saying? Get the 60 wins. No, I hear you both, but it's more so how you end. I don't care. I think about how the Pistons beat the Knicks throughout the season. Now you are correct. The way it ends, the way it ends has more impact. You are definitely correct. I don't care that you went on a 10, 12, 13 game win streak. Do this in May. Let me ask you. Let me ask you this question. The Pistons went from a feel good story to a legit contender pretty quick. Yes. Is the toughest part of the retool just beginning? OK, maybe, maybe, maybe it's just beginning. Yeah, maybe it is. But I just I think they he needs Kate can't do it on his own. He needs someone else. And I do think, though, I do think we need to figure out what's going to happen with Dern. Can Dern be a solid number two? Yes. But we need to figure out what happened was that because then we can go on a Thompson and just other things like you got to figure that out. I don't know if I need to be a solid number two, Cody. I could even have him as a three. I just need another score in there that's consistent with Kate. You know what I'm saying? Oh, yeah, definitely. And I agree. I would say more so, of course, the perimeter score. But at the same time, this is a new NBA. And what we're seeing this year, and it's not just Trajan, but it's a lot of general managers. They are literally trying to figure out how do you build not just a championship contender team, but a team where you can build sustainable success in this new NBA with this first and second aprons? Because and I think that's part of the reason why we are seeing the Pistons kind of in this standstill. I mean, you guys have seen the reports. I've been told, you know, some of the things as well in terms of who they could have been out on the market for in terms of, you know, how we don't know how far they went in trade talks. But, you know, they've been linked to this player. They've been linked to that player. They've been linked to this player in this new NBA. And this kind of even goes to, you know, the Jalen Durant aspect in terms of his contract. If you overpay the wrong guy by, let's say, five, 10 million, or if you take on a contract and it messes up your financial flexibility by five to 10 million, now you're in a situation where you're going to have to offload a lot of the guys that you draft, develop and who are a core piece to your team. Just take a look at Oklahoma City Thunder. Look how many guys that they have lost this off season. And it's all due to this first and second April. Cody, I agree with you on the money part, but let me throw this at you. Is Detroit now a destination again? Do the Pistons still have to convince players to come here? Yes, they will still have to convince players to come here. And I mean, look, unless it's Miami, the Lakers, you know, New York to a certain extent, I guess New York now, because that, you know, no disrespect to the Knicks, but since I've been in the game of basketball, you know, that wasn't a quote unquote, you know, prime destination. But unless it's one of those teams, you know, you definitely going to have to sell why X players should come to Detroit. And I would say because they have coach JB Bickerstaff, who is well respected around the league. Trajan Langdon, same thing. You have Kate Cunningham, you know, who has blossomed in terms of being a top 10, top 12 player in the league. Even other guys like Osara Thompson, even Jalen Dern to a certain extent, they have the pieces that where players can be convinced, but it's still not one of those, you know, teams in terms of without a shadow, without, if I put together a list of five teams I want to go to, the Pistons are going to be on that list. So what's the new measuring stick for the Pistons? I mean, is it 50 wins? Is it playoff series wins? Is it something bigger? It's to me that that's a hard question, but looking at how they have progressed from 2025 to 2026 in order for this rebuild to continue going, they have to now make the Eastern Conference finals. And there's no doubt about it. You know, I'm not going to go as far as say that they, that they need to win 60 wins because I literally think that I'm not going to say it's impossible, but you rarely see teams win 60 games back to back. I mean, you, you guys have, have been around, you know, the, the real great Pistons teams. And look, this team that we saw this year, it was only the third time in franchise history that they won 50 and won 60 games. So I'm not going to say winning 60 games, but now this team has graduated in terms of, as long as you finish top three, top four in the Eastern Conference, your main measuring sticks is now going to be, what do you do in the playoffs? And they have to get to that final four next year. No doubt about it. Yeah. I agree with you on that. And you know what the fans are starting to chime in. Cause I got another one here. It says the start of the season means nothing. The regular season is pointless. You can make a strong case that if Wagner is healthy, we're out in round one, 60 wins means nothing. And that echoes exactly what you were saying. I was saying, first of all, he just called us old. Cause he was like, you guys remember, you remember the old Pistons. First of all, I made Jordan Bulls 90s girly. I remember those. So, uh, no, that's not old, but he did. I saw that little slide line. He's like, Ooh, y'all old. No, no, no. It's, it's more respect, you know, cause y'all, you know, y'all y'all been covering, you know, this team and the league longer than I have. Let's just say, let's just say longer than I have. My media career starts in, I think 2019, I want to say, you know, so it's around there. Wow. 20 nineties, baby. Yeah, I know. But here's the thing. He's knowledgeable. And that's why we bring him in. Thanks a lot for being here. But again, Cody, let me, let me, let me throw one more question at you and the fans and everybody else. If you gave the fans some truth serum, what are they still most worried about with this team? What do you think? Oh, truth serum. Yeah. Come on. I mean, is it, is it really the Durant thing or is it, is it Bickerstaff in his approach? No, I think JB's fine. I love JB. So do I. Yeah. I'm a huge JB Bickerstaff fan. I think for me, it's just Durant. That is what I'm focused on. And that latest I had heard is that the talks have stalled, you know, which is, it is what it is this summertime to people on vacay, honestly, people on vacay. Yeah. In the, in the 30 seconds I got left in this break, Cody, let me throw a question at you. What's the bigger gamble paying to keep the core together or assuming that internal growth is enough. So assuming that internal growth is enough because, and I, and I get what they're doing and I love it. And like I say, since I've been here, all of those guys have continued to take steps. But what I don't want to see happen is thinking, Oh, this guy, this guy can still be a core part with his development. And then, but cause at some point these players are going to That is true. And you know what? Hopefully they reach it a lot later than sooner. Hey, I got to squeeze in another break. But once again, I've got a question for you fans. As I go to break bad boys going to work, what is this team's identity becoming? I'll look for your answer on the other side. You're in touch with the sports office right here on Fox too. Welcome back to the sports office. I want to, Oh, look at that. We've got somebody in the zoom room. So let's bring them up right now. Who do we have here? Oh, that's uncle D. Hi uncle D. How are you? Let me, let me say something. I can hardly see you there. Is there, I can't even hear him. It's crazy. You got to be able to hear me. Now I hear you. Now I hear you. Go ahead. Uncle D. Okay. Listen, what happened to quiet litter? That's what we need. Kawhi Leonard, huh? I don't know if I want Kawhi Leonard. I'm gonna be honest with the uncle D as a little too much load management and a little too much of that old school where I'm just going to play when I want to play. So I don't know about Kawhi. Anybody else? Nah, I'm for Kawhi. I've seen him light it up in Toronto and that's, I think that would be a great asset for Kane. So I don't have anybody else. I'm clueless. Well, you know what? We'll see what Trajan Langdon does because there's still time to make moves as we were saying with Cody Davis from the Detroit news. So there's still time. Thanks a lot, uncle D for coming in. Look for you again on the flip side. Hey Lauren. So let's get back to my question. What is this team's identity becoming? I mean, it's not bad boys. That's not going to work where you think it is. I have to think about this one because the bad boys were just bad. Like straight up tripping people on the court. No, they did. I would watch old videos and they would just trip players. And then I was like, what? And y'all just, they just called like the refs wouldn't even anyways, anyways, anyways, Bulls got Robin. So all was well in the world. Here, let me throw this. Let me throw this question at you. What if LeBron comes to the Pistons? Would that create the bad boys? No, you're so no, don't even, we're not even putting that out there. We're going to take that right back. We're taking it right back. No, no, let LeBron go to nowhere in the East. Well, you know what? We're also, we're also finding out that you fans out there do know what they're talking about because this is true. Ivy was supposed to be the number two until he got hurt. Yeah. That's where the gap is right now. And that is spot on because when Jade and Ivy was here, he was the second gear. It was the one-two punch with him and Cade and all that. And now that he's not here and you've got to deal with, uh, you know, try to piece that together in another way. It's taken a little bit away from what the Pistons are able to do. I would agree. I thought Ivy would be that, but here we are. If you could steal a role player from another team, somebody from the bulls, somebody from the pit, from the Boston poop. I mean, gosh, someone from the 76 was like Jalen. No, um, now I don't know who I would take from another team. Nobody from the bulls. Um, there's a couple of guys out there. I mean, I might take it. You know what? I might look at like a conca nipple from, uh, from, uh, uh, Charlotte down there because, uh, yeah, he can, he could score it. So, uh, and he does it in an understated way. So I kind of like that because Kate is going to be the flashy guy. You know, I think so. I just want whoever we take, they just need to perform when it matters in the playoffs. Well, we will see if the Pistons are a proven veteran away from the Eastern conference finals or an elite scorer away from the NBA finals. That's what I would love to see. That's what it's about. Exactly. You are so right. Hey, Lauren, thanks a lot for coming in. I'm glad I gave you the platform. So you could talk about your soccer, but that might be the last time that your platform is there. Hey, listen, we got to go. Thanks a lot for tuning into the sports office. The pulse is next right here