NYLion

And when they're not living off of Purdy's rookie contract. In terms of the Lions, I'm a bit surprised that Holmes hasn't brought in a defensive end after cutting Za'Darius. I assumed he had something bigger cooking when he made that move and it hasn't materialized. Still way early in free agency though so makes me wonder if it's a trade he's looking at.

There's no such thing as a rough week when you have back to back what should be layups against the Wizards. Assuming that they sweep the Wizards, the game against OKC might be the biggest in the history of LCA, sad yes but still shows how far this team has come.

Really like the Reed signing, Lions still need a pass rusher and an interior D-lineman. Hutch and that band aid on the other side isn't gonna cut it and you don't want to shoehorn yourself into drafting for need so Brad needs to do something here.

He plays a different position than those two, he was playing more in a SAM role before he got injured, so I think they see a still young player that has some pass rushing chops. Not a lot of sacks but you could see the improvements in his game before the injury. Also, as has been mentioned, the cap is going up significantly so you can't compare this to previous deals.

Never take what a GM or coach says at face value. There's rumors that the Lions were reaching out to the Browns for Garrett even back during the season so Holmes definitely has at least some interest in taking a big swing. With that said, it's unlikely that they trade for Hendrickson but it's a worthwhile conversation.

Payroll isn't a big concern. They can easily fit in his contract this offseason and any extension shouldn't be too enormous because of his age and if he does go elsewhere for the big contract, you get the 3rd round comp pick. The cost for him should be in the 2nd rounder+ range I'd think so I don't think the cost will be too prohibitive. This is much more realistic than the Crosby/Garrett stuff has been.

Pretty manageable schedule coming up. Not that the games will be easy by any means but they have 1 real playoff contender on the schedule in the next 12 games... @Utah, Clippers, Warriors perhaps without Butler, Blazers Wizards (twice), Thunder at home, @Pelicans, Heat and Mavs probably without AD then Pelicans and Spurs at home This will be an opportunity to make a real run at the 4 seed or at the very least strengthen their hold on a playoff spot.

Quite frankly I don't care about what he did with the Bucks last year or the previous few years or whatever. Sometimes guys just don't fit at other places then find their fit in another place and it clicks. Maybe it's a one-off, maybe it's not sustainable. I really don't know, but what I do know in the here and now is that Beasley has been great for the Pistons this season which is what I'm basing my praise of him on. I even said that I'd be careful to not overpay him on his next contract and that I think the Pistons need to find a better 2nd option going forward but, again, in the here and now Beasley is certainly better than an end of the bench player on a good team. There's absolutely no debating this so I'm not sure why you're arguing with me about his future here when I'm not saying that they should back the brinks truck up for him.

Well, this is poorly worded too. He's in the running, if not the leading candidate, for 6th man of the year on a good team unless you think the Pistons aren't a good team which I'd take issue with. As I said before, the Pistons will need a better 2nd scoring option when they're ready to really contend and they need to be careful to not overpay but you're really downplaying the impact Beasley has had on the team this year.

It did seem like you took a shot at him when you say it's no surprise that the Pistons got badly outplayed with Beasley, and the other two, on the court. The Pistons are a good team and he's been their 2nd best player (offensively at least). Ideally you don't want him to be that going forward but he's been a god send for this team this year on and off the court tbh. Beware of overpaying him though, that I'd agree with.

Wait, what? Beasley has been amazing this year, in his role. THJ sure, Tobias earlier in the season sure but Beasley doesn't belong in that group.

Sure but he's been really good the last 10 games or so albeit against weaker competition. I think of Beasley as their #2 scorer anyway. Regardless, the Pistons are playing with house money this year so it doesn't matter much who their #2 option is now anyway. Starting next year though, Langdon needs to build a roster capable of taking the next step. I think the current group even with a healthy Ivey has a limited ceiling without a legit #2 to team with Cade.

Good win against a vet team. The Boston game might be the biggest Pistons regular season game in 15 years, nice for the current version but also sad at the same time considering how awful the last 15 years have been.

Good win but one gripe of mine is putting Ausar on Trae early and getting him in foul trouble. They struggled defensively without him, I would have played Ausar on somebody else to start the game then switch him on to Trae in the 4th.

This includes the play-in. With less than 30 games left, the Pistons are 9 games ahead of the Nets, 8.5 games ahead of the Bulls, 4 games ahead of the Hawks, 3 ahead of both Orlando and Miami. It would take a collapse of epic proportions to finish behind all of those teams and miss altogether.

I just don't think Ivey has enough value to warrant trading him now. I do think he was on a nice trajectory before the injury and would have been a nice piece to add into a trade for a more proven star especially now that they have full control of their picks most likely after the season but with the injury, I think it puts a damper on his value until he comes back 100% and proves that the injury is behind him completely. The Pistons are in an interesting position. They have young guys surrounding Cade that have all shown signs of progress (not coincidentally the moment Monty was shown the door) but how much of a ceiling do they have and are there any legit #2 options blossoming among any of them? I think Ausar has the highest ceiling of the bunch but he'll likely never be a knock down shooter so that caps his ceiling. The other issue is that Ivey and Duren are closing in on the end of their rookie deals so are they worth signing that 2nd contract because once you do, you're sort of locking into them as the core and running mates for your budding superstar. Ivey is a big part of that discussion and I'm honestly not sure what the right move is whether to keep developing him or trade him and find a better running mate for Cade. Also, the aprons are confusing where teams like the Celtics with double the payroll of the Pistons are able to navigate it while we're talking about the impending Pistons cap crunch with one large contract on the books and among the lowest tier of cap committed salary this offseason.

Same with his brother who has also blossomed this year as well, can't hit an outside shot but is an impact player. They don't need Ausar to hit 3's if he keeps playing like this.

Have said it before and will say again. Ausar's ascension raises the ceiling for this team considerably, not to mention Duren unlocking some playmaking potential. Really soft schedule the last 4 games but the signs of a good team emerging are there. This season displays even more what an incompetent buffoon Monty Williams was last year.

Ha, I thought about you immediately when seeing the score.

I keep saying to keep the level of competition in mind but it's hard not get at least a little excited by Ausar's ascension, he has star potential.

yes but in the same token, it kept their price down on their second contract so in that sense we should thank for Monty for his utter incompetence.

I continue to be intrigued by Ausar handling the ball more effectively. If he can do that more consistently against better teams that could really unlock this team's potential. It's too bad he can't shoot from deep because he does everything else at a high level and would be a legit #2 but without that shot becoming more consistent there's a cap to his ceiling as a player.

Seriously. Why does it have to be that Philly played like trash, maybe the Pistons played well. Give them some credit.

Missed the game but I heard that Ausar was impressive running the team. I've always felt that he had the 2nd highest ceiling on this team, has elite of the elite athleticism and feel for the game so if he got his 3 point shot up to respectable levels he could be an All Star and even if he doesn't (like what his brother is now) that's still a very good player. Tiny sample size but with Ausar running the team so well it makes me wonder if they should try an experiment of him sharing the ballhandling duties with Cade and seeing if they have something with Cade playing some offball which I always thought he would excel at, not that he isn't excelling as is as the primary ballhandler but in terms of scoring efficiency which has kind of cratered a bit lately.

Well, the Wizards and Hornets were able to stockpile some 1sts for salary dumps so there were opportunities available. With that said, Langdon did fine. Got somebody competent to help Cade with ballhandling duties and got some 2nds whatever that means.