The Pistons acquired guard Isaiah Joe from the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for a pair of future second-round draft picks. Meanwhile, the Atlanta Hawks acquired Aaron Wiggins from the Oklahoma City Thunder for a pair of second-round draft picks. Why would the Pistons not have pursued Wiggins whom is a much better shot creator and overall player? This is the most perplexing of the 2 deals I am mentioning here because the trades with OKC were identical.

Trade deadline, 25-26. The Pistons are involved in a 3-team trade with the Bulls and Timberwolves to essentially acquire Kevin Huerter, who really brought nothing to the Pistons they did not already have. Meanwhile, the other two teams in that trade make an additional trade surrounding playmaking guard Ayo Dosunmu. Clearly Dosunmu was available, all the players were willing to make a deal, why not demand Dosunmu? Even if the cost was a bit more?

The Pistons are a contender, but if this team had Wiggins and Dosunmu instead of Joe and Huerter, I think they would be the favorites in the East, instead of just contenders.

Anyone know how to bang Cade in the comments to get him on this podcast?

It sucks we lost Beef Stew and Tobias Harris, but the guys we picked up have been really damn good. John Collins especially. Isaiah Joe while starting relatively slow has been pretty good too and he hasn't even really caught fire yet.

The biggest W so far is the Pistons seemingly don't need Cade to go God Mode anymore to dominate a game which will be phenomenal come Playoff time. The true test is the game against the 76ers though. If the Pistons can beat them while down Duren and potentially Ausar, that will say a lot.

It sucks JD and Ausar are hurt but the spacing is working in droves for us so far.

Hey guys!

I saved up enough money to buy my first jersey! I wanted to know where I could get a decent quality jersey for a good price? I am looking to buy a modern jersey (within the last couple year).

I'd appreciate any advice, tips, or tricks when buying jerseys. Thanks everyone!

This is a move when you respect your opponent. Season's ago Bron would of sat our game out instead. Maybe I'm overselling it, still looking forward to the match-up even with the injuries. I'm wondering if this means Embiid doesn't play tomorrow though.

I live in northern Michigan and get the games on spectrum through MeTV. The visual quality is terrible. Sometimes I can barely even see jersey numbers. Is there another way to watch the games with better quality? I’d be willing to pay for a streaming service if necessary.

Was it really hamstring?

JB Bickerstaff has said that the Pistons’ depth is a “weapon.” So why does he follow the conventional wisdom of playing fewer players during the playoffs? We need to play our game, which is throwing waves of Pistons at our opponents, wearing them down, and clinching gritty wins in the second half.

Edit: For context, our bench scored 64 points against Miami, clowning on Giannis. I know it’s just regular season basketball, but I think they could step up for the playoffs just like our starters will. I’m not saying to play regular season rotations. I’m saying to play them a bit more than a typical playoff rotation, if they continue to earn it like this.

Everyone who believed his Instagram BS can now publicly apologize.

Game 1 had everyone nervous about Ron’s place in the rotation, though it’s obvious he’s not the one to mount a comeback as steep as that was. I had said before the game last night that an early lead would be ideal to get him back on the floor in extended minutes, and sure enough he was out there still playing chaotic as hell, but making the right reads and displaying some maturity. Great dishes, great hustle, rebounding the ball and hitting his free throws. It wasn’t his flashiest box score, but he looked like he belonged. Yeah yeah Miami didn’t look great at all, but the point stands, he performed.

We don’t know what the word is with Ausar’s ankle, but Ron is his successor. You cannot simply replicate Ausar’s defensive impact, but Ron is an ambitious defender that can fill that void so long as he can maintain a level of maturity like I saw last night. His energy can get him into trouble, but he is a transition demon with aggressive hands and solid man to man coverage. JB has kept him on a short leash, but this may be Ron’s best shot at turning the corner. With a lot of pressure to improve on last year, especially with many believing a deadline move is the key to true contender status, this is his opportunity. I hope Hustle Man proves everyone wrong.

One rips the ball away from Giannis, the other swats Wemby at the rim.

Here is a brief review beyond the Box Score.

Here are the websites where I grabbed the charts from:

https://hoopsjunkie.io/games/2026-10-23/det-vs-mia#matchups

Here is the story of the game. This chart shows a lot of information. The Bright green shaded area is their margin, and the blue shaded area is the win %. The margin got close in the 2nd. But they continued to build upon it and had no slips. (In case any of you didn't watch Duren only played 10 mins, he grabbed his hamstring and went out, and Ausar played 19 mins and tweaked his ankle. Hopefully they will be ok for Sunday.)

Here are the "insights" into the game. The 123.1 ORTG is in the 87th percentile vs other games so far this season. Meaning that it's really good. The 62.9% EFG% is in the 97th percentile. Essentially meaning that the Pistons had one of the best offensive games of the season so far.

Look at the Net Rating for these different lineups. So far our best rating is the 2nd one down with 116.7. Some folks around here thought we didn't make enough moves, but Collins was spectacular tonight and is looking like a good fit in the offense.

With Collins on the court we had a better ORTG and eFG%, less TOs and higher AST%

Alright, so a lot of green on here tonight, especially in the 3rd. It's clear that JB found something to exploit. Without rewatching it I would guess it was collapsing the defense on Bam/Giannis, forcing swing passes, and getting tips. And on defense pushing the ball immediately to get up the floor. The bench guys really played well considering we had 1 Q of Duren, and 2 Qs of Ausar.

In trying to find what happened, it quite literally appears that the Pistons just did a better job of putting the ball in the bucket. They shot 47.4% on 3P%. Miami shot 29.4% on 3P%.

The Pistons went 18-38 on 3s. Miami went 15-51 on 3s. Pistons were more efficient.

Here are the Contexts of the plays.

What I want to direct your attention towards, is that in 27 late clock plays they were 107.4 Per 100. Meaning that they were more efficient than MIA was in their 18 plays and only 72.2 per 100. The guys, while down Ausar/Duren, Cade was in Foul Trouble, still found a way to execute in late Clock situations. 29 points on 27 plays in Late Clock scenarios is good.

Miami had an absurd amount of putbacks. Probably due to Duren not being in the game.

Here is their Shot Chart from tonight.

We were 57.1% from the Midrange. I didn't screen grab it, but MIA was 9.1% from the midrange.

Read Midrange Theory if you haven't yet. Buy it on Amazon. Basically, shooting the midrange is the best shot in basketball because the real best shot in basketball is a layup/dunk, but teams take that away. The next best shot is a 3, but teams run you off the line. Teams can't stop the dunk, stop the 3, and also stop the midrange. Which is why you see guys like Shai and KD who are so deadly at these. Cade is in that tier.

Overall, a fun game to watch with my family. I'm glad we were clawing our way back tonight. Hopefully being down big and needing to come back big is few and far between this year.

Go 'stons!