Training Camp '22

[Manocad]

Bojan fits like a glove.
Cade with the stuff on Killian

https://youtube.com/shorts/yEOc2oLXmUA?feature=share

Is it just me or is that a good crowd for a scrimmage? Hell, that's one of the largest crowds I've seen at LCA for any game at least based on that view of the lower bowl. The excitement seems to be real around the city.

Edit: I guess it wasn't a good crowd based on the above posts? Guess I'm wrong then.

It definitely wasn't a good crowd relative to a game crowd. LCA's capacity for Pistons games is 20,332 and they averaged 16,184 last year. For the mathematically challenged that's 80% of capacity.

[440BB]

Holding the open practice an hour before the Tigers last home game and two hours before the Lions home game likely made the turnout lower. Although having all those sports fans downtown could be seen as a handy time to go check out the Pistons, the traffic congestion and people planning their day around these other venues may have limited the attendees that ordered tickets actually showing up.

[tradez401]

Watch on YouTube

not the best quality and the cameraman missed some footage but its still somethin for ppl to watch.

[Manocad]

Holding the open practice an hour before the Tigers last home game and two hours before the Lions home game likely made the turnout lower. Although having all those sports fans downtown could be seen as a handy time to go check out the Pistons, the traffic congestion and people planning their day around these other venues may have limited the attendees that ordered tickets actually showing up.

And free or not, it's still just a practice. Like I was saying, even people on this board who talk about it don't go.

[keepitrealhomes]

I was down there, and it was definitely a good crowd for an open practice. A few takeaways I had:

-Duren is super green, I’d be shocked to see him in the rotation if Noel is healthy
-Killian looks confident and ready to build on the end of last season. His midrange jumper was money all day, and his 3 point shot definitely looks smooth as well.
-Jaden looked too fast/athletic for his own good. He’s almost out of control at times, but he has an electricity that nobody else on the court has. He’ll definitely have lots of ups and downs this year.
-Cade is cade. He’s gonna have a monster year.

[tmorgan]

Yeah, Duren is a project. Doesn’t mean he won’t play, but besides his monster athleticism, he isn’t bringing much right now. Boxing out, reading coverages, knowing when and how to help… he doesn’t know or do much of that stuff. I feel like his instincts are actually fairly good on offense, and that will mature first. His defense, tho… unless he can jump or quick himself into a play, he’s really lost.

[MotownMadness]

Yeah, Duren is a project. Doesn’t mean he won’t play, but besides his monster athleticism, he isn’t bringing much right now. Boxing out, reading coverages, knowing when and how to help… he doesn’t know or do much of that stuff. I feel like his instincts are actually fairly good on offense, and that will mature first. His defense, tho… unless he can jump or quick himself into a play, he’s really lost.

Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll have a Drummond type of impact out the gate. Both we're youngest in the league and super raw with loads of athleticism to make up for it.

[NYPiston]

Yeah, Duren is a project. Doesn’t mean he won’t play, but besides his monster athleticism, he isn’t bringing much right now. Boxing out, reading coverages, knowing when and how to help… he doesn’t know or do much of that stuff. I feel like his instincts are actually fairly good on offense, and that will mature first. His defense, tho… unless he can jump or quick himself into a play, he’s really lost.

It's one scrimmage haha, how can anyone make a definitive statement about any player based on a practice game. Practice? We talkin' about Practice?

Anyway, I do agree that Duren is really raw and will likely (or should) start in the G League but we really won't know how far along he is until we see him play in real games against real opponents.

[Manocad]

Yeah, Duren is a project. Doesn’t mean he won’t play, but besides his monster athleticism, he isn’t bringing much right now. Boxing out, reading coverages, knowing when and how to help… he doesn’t know or do much of that stuff. I feel like his instincts are actually fairly good on offense, and that will mature first. His defense, tho… unless he can jump or quick himself into a play, he’s really lost.

It's one scrimmage haha, how can anyone make a definitive statement about any player based on a practice game. Practice? We talkin' about Practice?

Anyway, I do agree that Duren is really raw and will likely (or should) start in the G League but we really won't know how far along he is until we see him play in real games against real opponents.

Given that Weaver said he expects Duren to be able to contribute this season I doubt there's G-league time in his future. IMO it's best to keep him with the guys he'd be expected to be playing with long term.

Personally I don't think the G-league does much for player development; to me it seems like a place to stick the "unknowns"/not eligible for the draft players. Saben Lee tore up the G-league and that didn't mean diddly in the NBA. Jalen Green was essentially the same player in both the G-league and as a rookie; he just shot slightly lower percentages in the NBA. Granted, I don't keep track of players going back and forth but I can't think of a single example where a player struggled in the NBA, went down the G-league and worked stuff out, came back and was better.

[NYPiston]

Given that Weaver said he expects Duren to be able to contribute this season I doubt there's G-league time in his future. IMO it's best to keep him with the guys he'd be expected to be playing with long term.

Personally I don't think the G-league does much for player development; to me it seems like a place to stick the "unknowns"/not eligible for the draft players. Saben Lee tore up the G-league and that didn't mean diddly in the NBA. Jalen Green was essentially the same player in both the G-league and as a rookie; he just shot slightly lower percentages in the NBA. Granted, I don't keep track of players going back and forth but I can't think of a single example where a player struggled in the NBA, went down the G-league and worked stuff out, came back and was better.

I suppose the Olynyk trade could open up minutes for Duren but the roster is still pretty packed

Cade
Ivey
Bey
Bog
Stewart

Hayes
Burks
Livers
Bagley
Noel

Diallo
Duren

CoJo
McGruder
Kemba lol

I want Duren getting playing time wherever he is not getting scrap minutes off the bench and, right now, I'm not seeing significant minutes for him on the big club. I truly believe that the plan has always been to develop him in the G League to start the season (the moment they brought Noel in) and call him up when Noel is traded during the season.

[zeebneeb]

Given that Weaver said he expects Duren to be able to contribute this season I doubt there's G-league time in his future. IMO it's best to keep him with the guys he'd be expected to be playing with long term.

Personally I don't think the G-league does much for player development; to me it seems like a place to stick the "unknowns"/not eligible for the draft players. Saben Lee tore up the G-league and that didn't mean diddly in the NBA. Jalen Green was essentially the same player in both the G-league and as a rookie; he just shot slightly lower percentages in the NBA. Granted, I don't keep track of players going back and forth but I can't think of a single example where a player struggled in the NBA, went down the G-league and worked stuff out, came back and was better.

I suppose the Olynyk trade could open up minutes for Duren but the roster is still pretty packed

Cade
Ivey
Bey
Bog
Stewart

Hayes
Burks
Livers
Bagley
Noel

Diallo
Duren

CoJo
McGruder
Kemba lol

I want Duren getting playing time wherever he is not getting scrap minutes off the bench and, right now, I'm not seeing significant minutes for him on the big club. I truly believe that the plan has always been to develop him in the G League to start the season (the moment they brought Noel in) and call him up when Noel is traded during the season.

With no Noel though for at least the preseason, we are gonna get a pretty good look at him.

[Invictus88]

Given that Weaver said he expects Duren to be able to contribute this season I doubt there's G-league time in his future. IMO it's best to keep him with the guys he'd be expected to be playing with long term.

Personally I don't think the G-league does much for player development; to me it seems like a place to stick the "unknowns"/not eligible for the draft players. Saben Lee tore up the G-league and that didn't mean diddly in the NBA. Jalen Green was essentially the same player in both the G-league and as a rookie; he just shot slightly lower percentages in the NBA. Granted, I don't keep track of players going back and forth but I can't think of a single example where a player struggled in the NBA, went down the G-league and worked stuff out, came back and was better.

I suppose the Olynyk trade could open up minutes for Duren but the roster is still pretty packed

Cade
Ivey
Bey
Bog
Stewart

Hayes
Burks
Livers
Bagley
Noel

Diallo
Duren

CoJo
McGruder
Kemba lol

I want Duren getting playing time wherever he is not getting scrap minutes off the bench and, right now, I'm not seeing significant minutes for him on the big club. I truly believe that the plan has always been to develop him in the G League to start the season (the moment they brought Noel in) and call him up when Noel is traded during the season.

With no Noel though for at least the preseason, we are gonna get a pretty good look at him.

Agreed on the minutes part.

I'll freely admit to also not being able to name a single instance where G-League time was proven to be integral to a player's development. However, I just can't see how sitting on the bench and doing absolutely nothing (as is the case in plenty of instances where an NBA schedule doesn't permit more) is preferable.

Maybe I don't have full insight into what options a player like Duren would have at his disposal with the Pistons? Maybe something like:
1. Duren practices with the Pistons
2. Duren is pulled aside during some of the practices and/or even games by a skills coach to work on fundamentals etc if he won't be playing in the game.
3. Duren is then temporarily shipped to the G-League to try out the learned skills till he gets to a point where he isn't in jeopardy of learning bad habits / damaging confidence in the NBA?

I don't feel like the Pistons have had anything close to a good track record of handling project players (and I think parts of Duren still scream project to me based on his SL performances) so I don't have a good example of how they should properly handle him here...

[440BB]

With their injury history, I expect Noel and/or Bagley to be unavailable for stretches throughout the season. Duren will get minutes.

[Manocad]

I truly believe that the plan has always been to develop him in the G League to start the season (the moment they brought Noel in) and call him up when Noel is traded during the season.

Contrarily, I DON'T believe that's the plan. Granted, that's based solely on Weaver's comment that he expects Duren to contribute this season. Now, certainly I understand that Weaver's not going to stand in front of a microphone and say "Duren? Oh yeah, that kid's bound for the G-league. No way is he close to being ready to compete with the big boys." But it doesn't make sense to me that he'd trade up to 13 to take Duren then send him down.

[zeebneeb]

I truly believe that the plan has always been to develop him in the G League to start the season (the moment they brought Noel in) and call him up when Noel is traded during the season.

Contrarily, I DON'T believe that's the plan. Granted, that's based solely on Weaver's comment that he expects Duren to contribute this season. Now, certainly I understand that Weaver's not going to stand in front of a microphone and say "Duren? Oh yeah, that kid's bound for the G-league. No way is he close to being ready to compete with the big boys." But it doesn't make sense to me that he'd trade up to 13 to take Duren then send him down.

It would also go against what Casey said as well, that he's ready now in so many words.

I guess we'll find out in a few hours!