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00:00someone to take it to Pistons, are they just good? Like, is this not about a team that's hot
00:05anymore? They've made the transition to being a good Eastern Conference NBA team that's gonna be
00:11around. You're not gonna sweat whether or not they're gonna make the playoffs. You believe
00:15they're gonna make the playoffs. Are they good? 2, 4, 8, 5, 3, 9, 97, 97. Gator, you think they're
00:24good or do you think it's just a heater? I mean, if I can, I'm gonna say I gotta wait. I don't
00:31believe in it just yet and I think they will be good because I believe in the core and I believe
00:36in the coach and the GM. I think they've got the right people in place and I think it still takes
00:40some time here, but I can't say that they've arrived at that point just yet. I want to see
00:46some more ball being played. We're just about the halfway point. I love what I've seen. You know,
00:53the fact that they've well surpassed their win total from all of last year and they're not even
00:57halfway through the season here is pretty great, but I need to see more because I feel like maybe
01:03this is just a heater. I want to be convinced otherwise and I'm willing to watch. I mean,
01:09you know me and how I feel about basketball. I'm not the biggest basketball guy, but if the
01:13Pistons start playing well, I get interested. I texted you guys last night. I let out an audible
01:18woo. Oh, one of those. When, when, when Beasley, when Beasley hit three of the second,
01:25when Beasley at the first trail went, Oh, and he hits a second one. And it was like,
01:30you know, times five on that because that was, that was a dagger. And it's been a while since
01:37we've seen that. How many times we've seen the Pistons play where they claw and scratch,
01:41get the way back into a game. And here they are. They're within two. And the other team
01:45drains a three with like eight seconds to go. And you're like, Oh, come on. It's completely
01:49deflating. The Pistons did that to the Knicks last night and the Knicks, they're not the
01:55Washington generals. The Knicks are a good basketball team. Third in the conference.
02:01I love to see it. No, the Knicks actually have championship aspirations. They went out and got
02:05big cat and then, you know, they obviously have Brunson and they got bridges. So yeah,
02:10they're a legit threat in the East. And the question is,
02:13are, I don't know if the question is, are the Pistons a legit threat, but are they good Doug?
02:17And I think maybe it's the scared bitch in me, but I just can't believe it yet. I just can't
02:23because I don't want to be burned again. I don't want to be hurt. I don't want to be like, guys,
02:26they're good. Cade's an all-star. The young guys are developing. JB Bickerstaff is a great coach.
02:31And then all of a sudden they lose eight out of 10. I'm like, what a fool I was. Right. And so
02:36I admittedly, I'm scared. So as of right now, I feel like they're just on a heater. It doesn't
02:42mean they're a bad team, but I can't get to the, I can't get over the hump to say they're good yet.
02:47You know, it's, it's, it's, it's fair. I mean, it's okay to say, I'm just waiting to see some
02:51more. Um, because we've, you know, it isn't the, the, the streak started, I believe,
02:59well, I go back and look, it was, I mean, this is only really over like three,
03:03three and a half, four weeks. I don't, I mean, it's not like this is a massive sample size
03:09of, of great basketball. It started Saturday, December 21st. So we're not even a month here.
03:16And yeah, I mean, there's some of these games in here against some bad teams,
03:21but some of them are some good teams. Last night was a credible NBA win.
03:26And I feel like this is the kind of stuff where eventually they're going to start getting some
03:30talk outside of Detroit where people be like, you know, this piston team,
03:35they actually are a little bit, um, Bobby marks from ESPN. He tweeted out that Detroit
03:40pistons are the best story in NBA, in the NBA right now. There you go. Yeah.
03:45You can't ignore Cade Cunningham of what he's doing. The numbers he's putting up. I think
03:49Birchie put up a stat earlier today about players in the NBA, averaging 20 points,
03:55eight assists and five rebounds. And the list is three deep. It's LeBron. It's Joe Kitch
04:01and it's Cade Cunningham. I mean, you think about that, that's, that's impressive company to keep.
04:06And this is, it's amazing how consistent Cade has been night in and night out with putting up those
04:12numbers. There's the data that I had cited that could support that Cade is turning into a superstar
04:17and look, scoring 29 points in the second half with four fouls is pretty damn impressive. Yeah.
04:23Two, four, eight, five, three, nine, 97, 97. Steve in Detroit, you're on 97 on the ticket. Hi Steve.
04:28Hey fellas. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. About the Pistons, the word, I don't want to
04:35use the word good. I just want to use the word respect. I think they're starting to get their
04:39respect now. I think Cade is starting to get his respect. Ever since he's gotten the lead,
04:44he's been double teamed for his whole career since he's been here at the Pistons. And now he's,
04:49I think he's really starting to get the respect of not just putting up the numbers, but also
04:55assisting his players as well. He's been able to cut down on some of the turnovers
05:05and just getting everybody else involved and whatnot. And I want to, I'm with you guys. I
05:11don't want to say good. I want to say respect. And I think it's long overdue for Cade because
05:16like I said, the kid, all you had to do is just double team Cade in order to get the win,
05:22to beat the Pistons. And that was pretty much it. But yeah, I want to say the word is respect.
05:27Yeah. So, you know, it's funny, Steve, because if you look at last night's game, for instance,
05:33okay, here are the Pistons, critical possession late in the game. And JB Bickerstaff talked about
05:38this in his post game press conference. He loved that not only was it not Cade that had to make
05:44the kill shot, but Cade got, they ran a double team at him. He gives it up to Tim Hardaway,
05:51who then Tim Hardaway gives it the one more. Tim Hardaway had an open shot.
05:58He gave up the one more and it speaks a little bit to A, playing as a team to win a game,
06:05B, faith in your teammates. And Beasley's a fascinating case scenario, right? This is a
06:10nine-year pro. I hate to keep bringing up the word respect. He respects his team players and
06:17he trusts in them. And he's been through this long enough. Like I said, Cade's been double
06:22teamed his whole career in the NBA. So he had to more or less had to either respect his team
06:28players in order to make that basket or trust them that they have to make that basket in order for
06:33him to make that pass because he's getting double teamed. Because there have been times in his past
06:40years or whatnot where Cade would hesitantly pass the ball out of a double team because he was
06:46trying to be more aggressive. But now he's becoming the trust and respect his team players
06:52and Bickerstaff. I got to respect Bickerstaff, too, as well. His offensive sets and his defensive
07:00sets as well. You got to give him his props, too. And that's pretty much what I had. Thanks.
07:05Thank you. Appreciate the phone call. 248-539-9797.
07:09And you, Doug, personally have to love Cade Cunningham because
07:13he's what people have been calling for a while now, an ethical score. And what I mean by that
07:18is he doesn't foul hunt. He's not Trey Young. Like you can't stand. Jalen Brunson does a lot
07:23of that as well. Those guys that look for content, actually don't even look for the basket. They're
07:28just looking to get a free throw. Does Brunson look for content? Watching last night, Jalen
07:34Durance just like standing there playing great defense. And then Brunson's like bouncing off
07:39of him trying to draw the foul. And Cade's different. And Cade, he tries to just score
07:43like a normal person. You know what I mean? And if he gets fouled, he tries to fight through the
07:47contact. I love the term ethical score. I want a shirt. Cade Cunningham, ethical score. Because
07:54there are some unethical guys out there that are bastardizing the game. Nobody wants to watch Trey
08:00Young shoot 19 free throws in a game. Now, he still needs to get better with his turnovers.
08:06There's no question. Yeah. He's got the ball in his hands a lot, but he actually has this season
08:10as the season has gone on the first month. And I think it was in five games. He was averaging 5.6
08:16turnovers the next month. It dropped down to 4.4. Then in January, it's 3.9, I should say,
08:27or that's December was 3.9. And now in January, it's 4.0. So he's, he's dropped it by a full
08:33turnover per game. He's got more room to improve there, but at least it is an improvement.
08:40Once he gets that down, I look out. So what's funny is that the topic of Malik Beasley has
08:46come up and Malik Beasley has been a real fine for them. And, and really is a guy who earlier
08:51in his career on a bad Minnesota team that was one of the worst in the NBA. I always say this
08:57on in the NBA, even on bad teams, there are some guys that have to take the shots. There are some
09:03guys that are going to school out there and score 20 in a game. And it doesn't mean they're in a
09:06good, it just means they're taking the shots for the bad teams. And that's what I felt like Beasley
09:12was when he was on Minnesota and he averaged over 20 a game. This is one of his better seasons since
09:18then. It's like been four or five years, four or five years ago. And he looks, I mean, he fits
09:24him perfectly with this team, absolutely perfectly with this team. And they've signed the right
09:29veterans, Hardaway and, and, and Beasley to go with their young core. Yep. Yes. And, and these
09:38guys are really just, they're making plays, keep the confidence up, keep the rookies. They're not
09:45rookies anymore, but that, but I'm, I'm laughing though. Cause remember last year, Pistons are
09:49jobbed in lottery, dropped the four and all that, but they got Ron Holland out of it.
09:54And it's way early with Ron Holland, but what he's doing at his age at 18 years old is
09:59unbelievable really. And he's fitting in and he looks like he's going to play a role on this team,
10:04let alone what he might be moving forward. If he turns into a star, I'd like to think that
10:10Tom Goris didn't waste the $60 million on Monte Williams because he paid for Monte Williams.
10:15It was terrible. And because of that, they got another high draft pick and got Ron Holland out
10:20of it. That's what I hope happens for Tom Goris sake that we are celebrating that we have Ron
10:24Holland because of that one extra awful year that maybe didn't need to be, but because they
10:30were that bad, they got Ron Holland out of it. I think we all love a redemption story. And even
10:34when it comes to an ownership, you'd like to see that because Tom Goris has not instilled a ton of
10:39confidence in the Pistons fan base over the years since he took over the team. He made a splash,
10:44brought in Blake Griffin, right? And it was, it was entertaining. It was fun, but that was not
10:48something that was going to be sustainable. And then a move since then have just been down the
10:54toilet and what he did look, he went out and he made an incredible offer. One that, that
10:59Monte couldn't refuse. Unfortunately, you know, Monte's heart wasn't really in it and it didn't
11:05work out. Okay. Pivot again, suck up, eat the money, which is a tremendous amount of money to
11:11eat and go out and try it again with, with new guys. And, and now it's starting to work. And
11:17I feel like Goris is starting to get that, that redemption story going, but it's a long way before
11:22Piston fans, I think, will really look at that guy and say, you the man, you know, because
11:27they instead look at, you know, some guy who's throwing t-shirts through a t-shirt cannon and
11:31showing up to five games a season and they don't really see much. But I think I'm hopeful that
11:37he's going to get some credit when the season's all said and done, but the team has to continue
11:41playing at this pace.