Expect A Faster Rebuild For Pistons Than Red Wings
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00:00What Langdon has inherited here,
00:04and some of the first moves he's made here,
00:07is to make sure that they're gonna build around the guy.
00:12They identify Kate Cunningham as the guy.
00:15Whether you agree with it or not, that's what they've done.
00:19And give them the extension of five years, $226 million.
00:23So now you've got this five year window
00:25to show that you can turn things around
00:27and be a winning basketball team.
00:30We know that to lure free agents is awfully hard to do.
00:35First of all, you have to have cap space to do it.
00:37And then secondly, and maybe more importantly,
00:40you need to be a desirable destination.
00:42And if you're not winning, you're not desirable.
00:43So that's why the Pistons aren't gonna land top free agents
00:47until they start to win.
00:49So they have to build around this core.
00:53Eisenman's gotten, he's entering his sixth year here.
00:56In the NBA, I think it has to happen quicker than that.
00:59You can't, because of the number of guys around the roster,
01:02it's just, it's a different sport.
01:05And I think it lends itself to being one
01:07that you can turn things around within a couple of years.
01:09I'm not saying you go from being the worst team
01:11in basketball one year, to three years later,
01:14now you're competing for an NBA championship.
01:16What I'm saying is, within three years,
01:19you probably should be knocking on the door
01:21and being that playoff team.
01:22At least being a team that's in the play-in games.
01:26But within five years, you should be a playoff team.
01:29If not, then you've got the wrong guys
01:31running the organization.
01:33That's the way I look at it.
01:35Kang, I'm not sure if you're looking at it the same way
01:37with the NBA, with what Trajan Langdon has to look at.
01:40What do you think he's got to work with?
01:41Is it a more dire situation
01:44than what Steve Eisenman inherited?
01:46Or is he kind of in a good place
01:48because he's already got the guy to build?
01:49I mean, I think, I hate to compare the two different sports,
01:51but just the situation, I think Trajan Langdon
01:54has more opportunity to succeed faster.
01:57But I don't want to let Steve Eisenman off the hook.
01:59I think six years, going into six years,
02:01is long enough to at least see the playoffs.
02:04But to stay with the basketball point of view,
02:05I think Trajan Langdon, he's been handed
02:08a pretty decent spot as far as he has cap space.
02:11He already has the guy he thinks he can build around.
02:14They're reportedly gonna give him the max extension,
02:17which I think is a no-brainer.
02:18They have to.
02:20If worst case scenario,
02:20things don't work out in a couple years,
02:22as long as he hasn't fallen off a cliff,
02:25you could probably move him.
02:25Because NBA contracts, if you haven't noticed people,
02:28they are berserk every year, every off-season.
02:31Look what Jason Tatum just signed for.
02:33The cap keeps going up.
02:34They keep getting billion, billion-dollar TV deals,
02:38which there's a super max that players can get.
02:40So I think that Trajan Langdon has his young piece
02:44to build around.
02:45He's got the cap space.
02:46I wish that, and it's not over yet,
02:48and it doesn't have to happen this year.
02:50It could happen next year.
02:50But he would take on a bigger contract to get that star,
02:53because you're right.
02:54It's gonna be almost impossible to land
02:56a big-time free agent like a Paul George
02:59or someone of that stature.
03:01You're gonna have to trade for him,
03:02or you're gonna have to draft him, right?
03:04And to trade for him, you're gonna have to be willing
03:05to pay him an existing contract that he already has
03:09or extend him to a super max deal.
03:11And so I think Trajan Langdon has more pieces to work with,
03:14and you should expect playoffs sooner rather than later.
03:19It's still a process, don't get me wrong,
03:20but I think he can do it
03:22if he just hires the right people to get the right players.
03:25Well, free agency is interesting for the Pistons.
03:27Trading is interesting for the Pistons and the Red Wings.
03:30We'll see where that goes.
03:31Today's free agency coverage is.