But what did you see out of Holland in his first game of the new season?

Yeah, I mean, like you said, he played three minutes.

He picked up two fouls pretty quickly.

The second one, I honestly didn't think was a great call on him.

He was setting the screen on Pritchard and, you know, Pritchard fell to the ground on contact.

But it didn't seem like Ron did anything wrong.

egregious there uh but obviously they went away from raw uh you know at the start of the second quarter asar came back in and then they got woo involved in the dirt i think the reality for rock is that this is just a deep team for wings uh and you've got guys who could play both ends um you know which i think they lacked a little bit last year obviously woo played all 82 and you know he'd come in and knock down shots he's not going to give you 19 every night but he is capable of of knocking down those sprinter threes.

You just got to think about Thompson in a different way.

But what did you see out of Holland in his first game of the new season?

Yeah, I mean, like you said, he played three minutes.

He picked up two fouls pretty quickly.

The second one, I honestly didn't think was a great call on him.

He was setting the screen on Pritchard and, you know, Pritchard fell to the ground on contact.

But it didn't seem like Ron did anything wrong.

egregious there uh but obviously they went away from raw uh you know at the start of the second quarter asar came back in and then they got woo involved in the dirt i think the reality for rock is that this is just a deep team for wings uh and you've got guys who could play both ends um you know which i think they lacked a little bit last year obviously woo played all 82 and you know he'd come in and knock down shots he's not going to give you 19 every night but he is capable of of knocking down those sprinter threes.

You just got to think about Thompson in a different way.

were favored because they were perceived as being better equipped to make a playoff run.

Regular season really is about depth.

The defenses were really deep last year.

They won games even when Cade was out.

That's how you get to 60.

I think playoffs is a lot more about your top seven to top eight, but specifically your top three and And I don't think this offseason necessarily did anything to address those concerns that if you're just looking at a team's top two or top three guys, there are other teams who are probably a bit more equipped in that regard.

Obviously, Philly with Jalen Brown and B, LeBron, Vijay Ashcomb.

What is your read on the Jalen Durant situation right now? Is this primarily about the Detroit Pistons being uncomfortable paying him the max, or is this really about Detroit trying to determine what Jalen Durant is going to look like as a playoff center before making that kind of long-term

So between the Lakers and the Kings, in your opinion, who's in a better spot?

Yeah, I think the Lakers are in a better spot simply because they can just offer the money, right? And then for the Pistons, it's as simple as, you know, do we match or do we figure something else out? Do you decline to just let them walk? Or do you say we'll match unless you sign a trade? But it's just less that the Lakers have to do to get to that point since they have the money.

For the Kings, like you said, they don't have the money, so it would have to be a sign-and-trade framework.

So either you're offering the Pistons something that – Makes them interested or there's really no conversation to be had because there's really no reason for them to have signing trade negotiations with the team that's not offering them anything.

So the Lakers are in a better position for sure.

Does Jalen Durer maybe feel as if he is in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Yeah, I think there's a lot that goes into it.

He did win a bet on himself last offseason, and there's a good chance that even if it falls short of the max, it's still more than he would have gotten last year.

When we've seen from the Detroit side specifically, what do you think this series has revealed about where the Pistons actually are in their timeline? Because they've gone from a young team trying to gain that playoff experience to looking like a group that genuinely believes that it can trade punches with a potential contender.

Regardless of the outcome of this series, this is a team that's ahead of schedule compared to what you expected coming into this year or even two years ago.

You know, I think last season was the big leap to go from 14 to 44, uh, but then to go from 44 to 60 and lead the East, I don't know if anybody, you know, expected that.

And th- you know, now to be, you know, in a tight series with Cleveland in the second round, and Cleveland kinda came in with those expectations.

You know, the Pistons I think have developed quicker than most could have expected.

You know, so I know the results of this series may be disappointing, you know, for them, especially for fans.

But if you're the front office, I think you come away from this and you say, "The guys that we have currently exceeded expectations.

What do you make of this entire situation?

1%, okay.

Just to account for, like, there's always the, there's always the outlier fans, uh, or whatever, but I think the Pistons want the, the Knicks.

We've seen how they wake up for that matchup.

Uh, Pistons fans, obviously just the, the atmosphere, uh, you know, the way that they've kinda, [chuckles] uh, you know, uh, that they antagonize Jalen Brunson [chuckles] whenever he's on the court now.

And, uh, you know, there's, like, a real rivalry rebrewing- brewing there, and I think you could see, uh, with that, the Pistons wake up for it, the fans wake up for it.

Like, that's what they want.

I think fans would love a rematch in the playoffs between these two teams.

So I guess, not to, to diminish what the Knicks are, but have expectations changed for the Pistons and more specifically their fan base, that it's like anything less than playing in the finals will be a disappointment? Or is there, like, 'If all we get for this year is, like, we beat the Knicks, then, like, that's the number thing- one thing I'm focused on,' even if, like, we are technically ahead of schedule in our, uh, our rebuild, you know?