NYLion

Good news to get the TPE and even better news to not get Monk, nice tidy piece of business by Langdon to gain some flexibility this season.

I've never rooted so hard for a player exception. Langdon can't possibly be this shortsighted to take back Monk and his ugly contract, right? RIGHT?

Good fit, best shooter on the market to replace Beasley. Not a great contract but that's free agency for ya. So I look at it this way, Levert replaced Schroder, Robinson replaced Beasley and Ivey replaced THJ. Sideways move, sizeable downgrade, significant upgrade.

Levert isn't a PG but he will probably take on some ballhandling responsibilities, Sasser might get back in the rotation, and/or they might stagger Cade and Ivey's minutes which is what they did some of last season before Ivey went down. I think they need to replace Beasley's shooting, it was a big reason why they won a number of games last season and I don't see Lanier being ready to bring what Beasley brought.

The Pistons are absolutely worse, Beasley and Schroder saved their bacon many times last season when Cade was a turnover machine in the 4th and nobody else could hit a shot. Depending on young player development, this is a worse roster than last season. As expected, Ivey is the key to all of this. If he comes back at 100% continuing his trajectory of last season then the Pistons can be a playoff team but if he's not the answer I could see a step back next season.

The Pistons were lucky that the news came down before free agency. Now they can move forward without Beasley in the fold. It would have been brutal had this came out a week or two later after he was signed and all the quality free agents were locked up. I hope they don't think Lanier can fill the role, that's a pretty big void that needs to be filled.

I see that Dumars and Weaver are still absolute clowns, that trade is so bad that it's beyond words. I don't see much of a difference between Newell and Queen and that pick they send to Atlanta is almost certainly going to be a top 10 pick. Incomprehensible

I put very little stock into what GMs say in a presser but it's pretty much in line with what I expected the Pistons to do. There was some real chemistry with the group and with a talent like Ivey returning to an ascending team, I fully expect Langdon to run it back to see how this group grows together. Personally, I have some reservations. I'm unsure of the Ivey fit and I think the Pistons record was a little inflated by them beating up on a lot of mediocre to bad teams. I could see a little regression tbh as they now have expectations which is tough for some young teams to live up to after a breakout season. Also, Beasley was their 2nd best player often times last season, that's unsustainable. Ivey needs to be the real deal and/or Ausar or Holland need to take a big step forward.

I don't know how they're going to pay everybody. Hell, we're talking about the Pistons with 1 big contract and how they're going to pay everybody or anybody for that matter. It's almost impossible in the new NBA with the aprons to keep a core intact coming off of rookie contracts. Presti will find a way though, he always does.

Obviously Frank retiring is an enormous loss but it's not only his loss, it's losing Zeitler, both coordinators, Hutch getting back up to speed, likely not seeing a healthy Alim until the season after and a killer schedule to beat. I have a lot of belief in Dan Campbell but the Lions could miss the playoffs this season. The offensive line is their engine and with so many question marks on it and a new offensive coordinator, it could be a struggle this season relative to the last few.

Cade is being paid to be a superstar player, he's the guy you are hoping to lead a championship core so I think it's fair to question if he is indeed a #1 option on a championship contender going forward when he continually got outplayed in the clutch while also acknowledging that this was his first playoff so we should give him time. It's an honest concern to have based on what we saw in this series. Putting antics aside, look at what Brunson did. That's what you need from a star to take the game over, Cade really hasn't proven to have a killer instinct yet in his career. He's a very good player but the Pistons need him to be a star going forward or their ceiling is limited. I do think it's hard to really judge him because the supporting cast with Ivey in particular out was undermanned but I'd like to see more take over mentality from him going forward, he's just too lackadaisical at times.

This game illustrates the difference between a star and a very good player. The team with the star won the game and series. JB is going to have to answer for why he took out Ausar, that cost the Pistons 5 points.

Exactly, 5 points for Brunson immediately after Ausar gets subbed out. Inexplicable decision

JB taking Ausar out with 3 minutes left for....reasons?

I'm baffled by the way JB has handled Ausar's minutes in this series. Brunson loves it though