Official Detroit Pistons thread

[Futureshock]

Chris Smith, who signed a two-way contract with the Pistons last week...

[BJK]

Chris Smith, who signed a two-way contract with the Pistons last week...

Not the most athletic guy even before the ACL injury, but big and skilled, which seems to be the way under Weaver these days. Not much in the way of “verticality” on this roster.

[Cody_Russell]

Saben Lee locked up.

Pistons:
1 - Killian Hayes, Cory Joseph, Saben Lee, Frank Jackson.
2 - Cade Cunningham, Josh Jackson, Rodney McGruder Hamidou Diallo
3 - Saddiq Bey, Sekou Doumbouya, Isaiah Livers
4 - Jerami Grant, Kelly Olynk, Trey Lyles, Luka Garza.
5 - Isaiah Stewart, Jahlil Okafor, Balsa Koprivica.

Cut McGruder and I'm good.

[Futureshock]

https://pistonpowered.com/2021/08/06...r-league-team/


NBA: 5 observations on Detroit Pistons summer league roster

by Stuart London3 hours ago Follow @Realstuartl

The Detroit Pistons released who they were sending to Las Vegas for the NBA Summer League. There were many interesting names and choices made. But, yes, Cade Cunningham will be there.


An NBA championship is within reach for the Detroit Pistons this year. Well, the NBA Summer League championship at least. The Las Vegas oddsmakers have the Pistons as second favorite to Portland to win the summer league title.

On August 5, the Pistons issued their roster for the Summer League. It listed 17 names that included an interesting mix of Olympians, starters, semi-veterans, injured players and still one name missing who should play in Las Vegas.

The league runs from August 8 to 17 at two arenas on the campus of University of Nevada-Las Vegas.

First, here is the (current) roster for Pistons Summer League:


Here are 5 observations on the Detroit Pistons NBA Summer League roster:


5. Injured players welcome

Pistons coach Dwane Casey ruled out center Isaiah Stewart, and rookies Chris Smith and Isaiah Livers for any action in summer league due to injuries. None are any great surprise.

Stewart rolled his ankle playing for the USA Select team against Team USA in training camp, ironically, held in Las Vegas. Since then, ‘Beef Stew’ has been seen around town at events wearing a walking boot.

Casey said that if this was the start of the regular season, Stewart might be able to play, but, there was no reason to push it for summer league. After all, with the trade of Mason Plumlee, Stewart should not be hurting for playing time. No reason to risk aggravating the injury, and it will give others a chance to show what they have.

As all Michigan basketball fans know, Livers has been dealing with a foot injury since March. He says he will be ready by November, so making summer league was never in the plan.

Smith, as fans of UCLA know, tore his ACL back in January. Since he is expected to be a two-way player (most of his time spent in the G-League), there is no reason to rush him either.

All three, despite not being able to play, are listed on the roster. Why? Most likely because they plan on being there to be part of team. Also, being on the roster means they can at least partially get involved in practices, as much as they can....

[Futureshock]

Detroit Pistons: 3 reasons Luka Garza will be a Summer League legend

[Futureshock]

https://pistonpowered.com/2021/08/06/nba-lots-surprises-detroit-pistons-summer-league-team/3/

Oh, and circle August 10 at 9 p.m., the only regular summer league game ESPN is showing. Detroit vs. Houston, so Cunningham goes head-to-head with Jalen Green, who was vocal in saying he should have been the No. 1 pick.

Well, we all choose how to motivate ourselves.

[Futureshock]

Here is the Detroit Pistons NBA Summer League schedule:

August 8, 8:30 p.m. vs. Oklahoma City (ESPN2)

August 10, 9 p.m. vs. Houston (ESPN)

August 13, 8 p.m. vs. NY Knicks (NBA-TV)

August 14, 10 p.m. vs. L.A. Lakers (ESPN2)

August 16 or 17 vs. TBD (TV to be determined)

[Futureshock]

PISTONS NEWS
Sekou Doumbouya asks "What's next for me?"

[froot loops]

Congrats to Jerami Grant for bringing home the gold.

That French team was pesky.

[BJK]

Cade’s debut later today at Summer League vs. OKC.

[jaadam4]

I hope he does well. I’m pretty excited about this years squad

[Cody_Russell]

Glad to see US basketball put things together after the shaky start. That gold medal put US at the top.

...

No injuries this week and hope to see something from Hayes. See what the offseason work has been like for the last couple of months.
This is also a significant season for Sekou. He needs to show something.
and CADE!!!

[Futureshock]

Okay. A few observations from the game:

• Still happy about the selection. Green (as should be expected since he's been a pro for over a year) looked a lot more comfortable. Scored more but his defensive contribution isn't much and it will show long-term.
• I would like CC to be more aggressive and exert himself. He kept throwing dimes and oops to whoever that stiff was the starting Center. That dude is terrible,,,
• CC's showed he will impact the game in all aspects. Not just the selfish stats that Green will ultimately throw up.
• Garza is extremely sssssssssllllllllllllllllllooooooooooooooowwwwwwww w. Man, dude was running his hardest and it just looked like he had cement shoes. If he can consistently hit 3s and get to the line he may be able to be a part of an extended bench, but his lack of footspeed is startling. I think Weaver (I give him mad props for everything else) over thought it and it isn't close. If Weaver takes Simms there CC would have had a double double easy. He just had no one to throw it to down low when the opposing center cuts off his drive. (BTW, Green had guys that could catch and finish, which helped open it up for him.)

BTW, about Simms:

Jericho Sims has electric performance in Knicks' summer league opener


LAS VEGAS — Ironically, with all the bigger Knicks names on hand at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center on Sunday for their summer league opener, the neon outing came from their unheralded 58th pick of the second round.

Texas big man Jericho Sims, the rookie who signed a two-way contract earlier in the day, was perfect — literally — and outperformed their other three draft picks.

Sims, the 6-foot-10 high-flyer who started at center versus Toronto, electrified as he made all six of his shots for 12 points and collected eight rebounds. The 22-year-old lit up the crowd with a late alley-oop dunk on a lob from Immanuel Quickley.

• This also highlights an issue the team will have this year in interior defense. At some point OKC didn't respect the bigs and were not afraid to take it in the paint.
• Hayes looked okay and played better then last year. Sekou had his good moments and brain farts. He needs a lot of work on pick and roll defense/awareness. There were at least 4 times that I counted where he didn't switch and the guy he was supposed to pick up got easy baskets.
• Bey was Bey I guess.
• The telecast was trash. WTF were those people? The crap they were talking about? Nobody gives a fuck. News flash, people watching the game would appreciate play-byplay and some real commentary on the game they're watching for fucks sake. A lot of the time I didn't know who was on the court because they were blabbing about bs. I still don't know who some of the players were.

[Futureshock]

https://www.freep.com/story/sports/nba/pistons/2021/08/08/detroit-pistons-summer-league-cade-cunningham-oklahoma-city-thunder/5534365001/

Cade Cunningham scores 12 in Summer League debut; Detroit Pistons fall to Thunder, 76-72

[Cody_Russell]

Could have used Simms yesterday!
Whoever the Pistons played at the 5, whether it was Tyler Cook or Garza, was ABUSED defensively. The rim protection was awful. When OKC would switch, it left Cook/Garza on an island too. We knew that about Garza. Tyler Cook just shit the bed completely.

Slightly disappointed in Killian. His passing ability is still great. Didn’t do much when it comes to scoring.

Outside of that, didn’t learn much. Where is Balsa? Pistons need him at the 5!