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- [00:01]
eBay Commercial Announcer
With 132 million users and an unrivaled selection of sports trading cards and memorabilia, Ebay is the home of collectibles. Premium trading card singles, Unreal live card breaks. Truly unique game used memorabilia. All the epic finds you need are right here on ebay. Collect with confidence by downloading the ebay app on the App Store or by going straight to eBay.com TheAthletic that's eBay.com TheAthletiC start building your collection today.
- [00:32]
Jeff Bridges
Morning, Zoe. Got donuts.
- [00:34]
Dana
Jeff Bridges why are you still living above our garage?
- [00:37]
Jeff Bridges
Well, I dig the mattress and I want to be in a T Mobile commercial like you. Teach me.
- [00:43]
Dana
So Dana oh no, I'm not really prepared. I couldn't possibly at T Mobile get the new iPhone 17 Pro on them. It's designed to be the most powerful iPhone yet and has the ultimate pro camera system.
- [00:55]
Jeff Bridges
Wow, impressive. Let me try. T Mobile is the best place to get iPhone 17 Pro because they've got the best work.
- [01:03]
Hunter Patterson
Nice.
- [01:03]
Dana
Jeffrey, you heard them.
- [01:05]
Jeff Bridges
T Mobile is the best place to.
- [01:06]
Dave DeFore
Get the new iPhone 17 Pro on us with eligible traded in any condition.
- [01:12]
Jeff Bridges
So what are we having for lunch?
- [01:13]
Dana
Dude, my work here is done.
- [01:15]
T-Mobile Legal Disclaimer Voice
The 24 month bill credit on experience beyond for well qualified customers. Plus tax and 35 device connection charge credit send and balance due if you pay off earlier. Cancel Finance Agreement. IPhone 17 Pro 256 gigs 1099.99 A new line minimum 100 plus a month plan with auto PayPal taxes and fees required. Best mobile network in the US based on analysis by Oklahoma Speed Test Intelligence Data 1H 2025 Visit t mobile.com banking.
- [01:32]
Capital One Bank Guy
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- [02:09]
Dave DeFore
Good morning and welcome to the NBA Daily presented by Ebay. I'm Dave Defore here with Zena Keda. And coming up, The Bulls move to 4. 0. We're going to talk about it a little bit. Austin Reeves had a game winner. We're going to talk about some early season trends including Austin Reeves scoring, which has been insane. And then Hunter Patterson comes by to talk about Kate Cunningham and the Pistons. Best game of the Good morning everybody. Good Morning, Xena. Another morning. Crazy Wednesday night. You know, this was not, look, it was not the greatest Wednesday night on the schedule, okay? There were a bunch of duds, I'm not gonna lie. It's why we, you know, we were like, oh, hey, well, it's good chance we can catch up. It's been a week since the season started. Let's talk about some of this stuff that's kind of goofy and early. And then Austin Reeves goes and hits a game winner to lift the Lakers without Luca, without LeBron over the Minnesota Timberwolves without Anthony Edwards. Because everybody's injured right now, but man, early season trends, we. Austin Reeves just busted him open the door like a bull in a china shop. Here he is, he goes 28, 16 assists in this game. We know he's been scoring like crazy. Like I said, 34.2 points per game now through five games for him the last few games. No Luca out there, I mean, he, you know, he had 92 points in two games. He follows it up with a game like this. You knew he was going to get the ball in that spot. Xena. I felt like he was going to make it. This is a bit of a leap, at least internally for me, in the way that I've perceived Austin Reeves. The start of the season could not have gone better for him.
- [03:51]
Zena Keda
Yeah, no. You take that last play, him coming off that screen, being able to see Rudy Gobert over, hedging. Rudy Gobert was ready for him to keep going lateral, I guess maybe to swing it to the other side. I'm not sure what Rudy was going for. But Austin Reeves splits right through the defense, gets up, recognizes that there's someone in front of him ready to take a charge, pulls up, swishes it. And all of that is maturity, right? All of that is the game slowing down. All of that is just him taking a leap in his career. But there's a level of confidence that comes with knowing I've got to turn it up. And, you know, we knew this was going to be expected because LeBron was out and Luka was going to need someone to be his Robin as Batman. But with Luka out, that pressure has been dialed up even further. And he has responded. He being Austin Reeves, has responded so well to the pressure. And I love it because it's the ultimate underdog story. And you want to root for Austin Reaves when he's doing things like this. Doubled his. He has doubled his free throw attempts. He has moved up 5 percentage points in his 3 point percentage. He's obviously, you know, he's up 16 points from what he was averaging last year. Yeah, 16 points.
- [05:05]
Dave DeFore
Yeah.
- [05:05]
Zena Keda
He's unreal what he's been doing. And it's been fun to watch.
- [05:08]
Dave DeFore
Yeah, I mean, listen, there was a narrative last year before the Luca trade that Austin Reeves was the best number three option on any team in the league. And I think that kind of got lost once they got Luca. Right. The ball wasn't in his hand as much. You know, LeBron moves in is sort of that secondary playmaker role that Austin Reeves was in. And then what we've seen so far, no LeBron. And when he was out there with Luca, he was a great secondary attacker. I mean, he really complimented Luca. Well, but then without LeBron, I mean, this is going to open some eyes. I. I wonder. I wonder if somebody's going to start saying, wonder if we could trade for. For Austin Reeves. Like, could we throw like a haul at the Lakers that they would have to at least think about. I don't know, because.
- [05:49]
Robinhood Commercial Voice
But wait, that's not what I thought.
- [05:50]
Zena Keda
You were going to say.
- [05:51]
Dave DeFore
I don't think they're going to get. I don't think the Lakers can get rid of him. But Austin Reeves just looks like a real, like maybe a number one on a. On a not as good team or a team without expectations. He clearly can score. We're seeing the playmaking. He gets to the free throw line and, And I actually, I think, you know, he's really good at driving to the basket and creating context is how he gets to the free throw line. So I don't know. He's had a great start to the season. Do you think this is going to continue? You think he can keep playing like this all year?
- [06:20]
Zena Keda
Absolutely. Absolutely. And you know what's so funny is I didn't think that you were going to say trade for Austin Reaves. I thought you were going to say trade away to give him that spot. AKA are you trading LeBron? Absolutely not. But no, I do think that as much as LeBron is going to be sitting, you are absolutely going to see Austin Reaves be the guy that he's being, because as you said, he can be complimentary or he can be the main event. And he's been chilling in that role so far, and I think it's going to keep trending.
- [06:52]
Dave DeFore
Yeah, he's been great also. Well, okay. I don't know if they've been great. They've won games, though. The Chicago Bulls, first place in the Eastern Conference a week into the season Hang the banner right now. 27 points last night for modest Bouzilles. Look, this Bulls team, they are scrappy. They are very good at doing a thing that bad NBA teams, it's a differentiator for bad NBA teams.
- [07:22]
Jeff Bridges
Right.
- [07:23]
Dave DeFore
You can be decent just by playing hard every single second of the game. And these guys just never stop. And then once John Josh Giddey hits a bank three on you, you know, the game is a wrap. Like you just basically have have no option at that point.
- [07:38]
Zena Keda
Yeah, it's fun watching the Chicago Bulls. I'm sure people in Chicago are feeling good about this era, but I don't know if they can trust it.
- [07:46]
Robinhood Commercial Voice
Okay.
- [07:47]
Zena Keda
I don't know if they can trust it. One thing you can trust, though, is the fact that the Chicago Bulls are playing much better defense. Let's just be real. Last year they were letting people score about 120 points on them. This year they're like top five in defensive rating, keeping the teams under, under 110. That is the difference. And it's also the fact that it's.
- [08:05]
Dave DeFore
A little bit of fool's gold. Zena. I'm not going to lie. You look at that, that defensive three point. All right, so there's a little bit of Jedi mind trickery when it comes to defending the three point line. Some of it is the biggest thing A3 is preventing threes from getting shot. Sure.
- [08:21]
Robinhood Commercial Voice
Yeah.
- [08:21]
Dave DeFore
Well, the Bulls, they're giving up threes. They're just not going in. And so eventually you think this may regress back, but who knows? I mean, listen, stranger things have happened. Teams have had good defensive shooting luck for entire seasons before. I mean, look, who's to say the Chicago Bulls don't get this for 82 games and never lose? They're definitely going to lose.
- [08:44]
Hunter Patterson
Yeah.
- [08:44]
Zena Keda
I was just going to say they're absolutely six bells. And they're also going to have some people been lucky. Yeah. They're going to have some people that are going to challenge their interior defense. They're absolutely going to go up against some teams that are going to hit and knock down some shots. And that's why I don't think this is going to be trending. But I do want to highlight the good things, right? Like you're looking at them developing younger talent. Mattis, Bouzelis, like hometown product. Like, this is what you want out of teams, right. You're looking at Isaac Okoro coming in, Patrick Williams coming in. Just so has been like really good for them. Like, it's been fun watching them and they don't have Kobe White, who I.
- [09:20]
Dave DeFore
Would have said is their best offensive player. But. And by the way, these are good wins. They beat Detroit opening night, beat Orlando, who everybody thinks is going to be good, who might not be. They beat the Hawks. Same thing. Then they beat the Kings, and now they've got Knicks. I know it's so bad, I'm making it look awful. But they get the Knicks Friday night, right? Like that's going to be a real test. They get the Sixers next week. Their next five games is going to be pretty tough. If they can split the next five, I think that that's a great week for them. But shout out to the Bulls. We, again, we don't get to do this often. First place in the Eastern Conference. As a, as a former Bulls fan, this is. Man, what a throwback. Okay, I want to, I want to hit for real some trends, not just some trends that happen to be topical because we just saw some things last night. Xena, I don't know if you've been paying attention to this, but fouls are way up. We talked about this a little bit on the morning shoot around, but I just want to put this in perspective. Last season, the Toronto Raptors were the worst at fouling. They fouled more than anyone at the Lee in the league. They averaged 21.2 fouls a game this season. That would tie them for the seventh lowest in the NBA. This is how much of a difference in officiating we're seeing. We are currently on pace to shoot the most free throws since the 1990. 1991 season, which was also extremely slow. As far as the pace goes. If you, you know, Xena, I don't know if you can remember back that far. I do. Totally different sport back then. And I'll say right now, when you have teams doing things like the Miami Heat's doing with, with the, the pace that they're playing at, the speed that they're playing at. I just don't. I think that the, the officiating is too much. They're kind of putting handcuffs on players to a certain degree as far as the defense goes. And I liked what we had last year, Zena.
- [11:14]
Jeff Bridges
It was great.
- [11:15]
Dave DeFore
It was perfect. They really found that nice regular season balance where it felt like a sport.
- [11:20]
Babbel Commercial Voice
Yeah.
- [11:20]
Zena Keda
Now you talk about the free throws like it. So most of free throws attempted, but it's also the most amount of fouls per game that's been called since 1988. I was not born then, but our friend of the show Modakle laid it out very beautifully in terms of the difference of the game between today and back then you would not have Kareem Abdul Jabbar coming off and, you know, protecting or hedging a driver and then having to go out to the corner to contest a kick out three. Right. So it's a very different game from that perspective. But the biggest thing that we're noticing as far as like the uptick in the fouls, the high five contests. Right. Like contest. I say contest. The high five contests are going to naturally be a difficult thing for the players to adjust to in the top of the season. Right. It's making closeouts look a little bit awkward because usually you could go up with your full momentum and be able to, you know, high five the player and be okay with the fact that it was just a hard contest. Now you've got to like turn your body to ensure that you're literally not touching, just not only the body, but the hand. I don't think that that is going to be trending. I think players are going to have to adjust. Drills are going to be run to ensure.
- [12:31]
Dave DeFore
Yeah.
- [12:31]
Zena Keda
That they're not doing that. But yeah, I would say that this, this uptick is mainly because of that and players will adjust eventually. But it's, it's looking crazy out right now.
- [12:41]
Dave DeFore
It is, it is nuts. The games are taking forever. Come on, guys, have some respect for our time. But in recent years when there's been these point of emphasis things for, for the officiating to start seasons, like moving screens, whatnot, there usually is a balance where both the players do adjust, but also the referees adjust. I mean, part of this is the refs are trying to work themselves into game shape too. The high five contest is new for them also. I, I just would like to see some of these backcourt hand, like some of the stuff where the touches little too handsy. I just don't mind it. I, I, I, I want hand checking anyway. I think it's one way in which you can allow the defense to have a little bit of freedom. But I, I do think that like you, it'll come back down.
- [13:25]
Zena Keda
You know, that's actually a new rule in women's ncaa. They change the hot touch rule for this upcoming season. Yeah. So that's actually something where you can, if it's not impeding the driver as they like go into the basket or you know, whatever you can do the hot touch. And so you, I mean, very different leagues obviously. But I do appreciate that people are thinking about that in terms of does this really change the game? Does this really change a driver's like movement? No. So we'll see what happens with these refs and how they call it. But the good news about the NBA is the more the players and the coaches talk about this, they'll adjust to.
- [13:59]
Babbel Commercial Voice
Yeah, yeah.
- [14:00]
Dave DeFore
And it's hitting every post game right now. One more trend I wanted to look at Xena. Look, the Thunder are the defending champions. They, they're five and oh, I think that they're going to win 70 games. I think they've got a really great shot at going back to back. But they are currently shooting 28.8% from 3 and that is abysmal. That is making, that is making their life difficult. I mean these guys are struggling just making shots until crunch time when Shea decided just to take over. Man, they just have really struggled to put the ball in the basket from, from outside. What do you think? Look, they, they weren't the best shooting team last year. It wasn't their calling card. But they clearly are better than this, right?
- [14:50]
Zena Keda
Well, you know what's really cute? They're now, they've jumped from like being in the 20s last year in offensive rebounds to like number four. So they've been able to help one staff with the other. Right. But yeah, I, this, this shooting thing, I, the fact that they were just under 38% last year and now they're the only team under 30% from three is crazy. I also don't think it's going to be sustainable. Like they will need to put the shots up. Right. Like, and I don't think it's going to keep trending.
- [15:19]
Dave DeFore
Eventually it's going to, going to hurt them.
- [15:21]
Zena Keda
Absolutely. Like they cannot, they can't continue in this way. And I really, I was looking at their stats where it's catch and shoot, pull up threes. Like they're still bottom 3% or bottom 3 in all categories. So it is something like get your butt in the gym. Like they've got to get some rhythm going. I think it's just early in the season, but the fact that they're still five and oh, their defense helps, you know, they get on the glass. It helps kind of COVID this very glaring aspect of their game right now. But I, knowing what they've been doing, seeing what Chet has been doing with his three point shot and being, you know, not hesitant at all about letting I, I know Lou Dort, Jalen Williams, you know, when the other Jalen Williams comes back, like they're, they'll be in great shape. Yeah, yeah.
- [16:12]
Dave DeFore
I definitely know they're not going to stop shooting them. Especially Lou Dort.
- [16:15]
Zena Keda
Absolutely.
- [16:16]
Robinhood Commercial Voice
Yeah.
- [16:16]
Dave DeFore
Oh yeah.
- [16:17]
Zena Keda
They're like number two in the league in attempts, so.
- [16:19]
Dave DeFore
Absolutely.
- [16:20]
Babbel Commercial Voice
Yeah.
- [16:21]
Dave DeFore
Guys, stick around after the break. We're going to talk to Hunter Patterson. We're going to get his first impressions of the Orlando Magic, but also talk about what the Pistons did because this was a turnaround game for them. They put up a lot of points against what was supposed to be a good defense and Cade Cunningham broke out.
- [16:43]
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- [17:42]
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- [19:00]
Jeff Bridges
Morning, Zoe. Got donuts.
- [19:02]
Dana
Jeff Bridges, why are you still living above our garage?
- [19:05]
Jeff Bridges
Well, I dig the mattress and I want to be in a T Mobile commercial like you teach me. So Dana.
- [19:12]
Dana
Oh no, I'm not really prepared. I couldn't possibly at T Mob we'll get the new iPhone 17 Pro on them. It's designed to be the most powerful iPhone yet and has the ultimate pro camera system.
- [19:24]
Jeff Bridges
Wow, impressive. Let me try. T Mobile is the best place to get iPhone 17 Pro because they've got the best network.
- [19:31]
Hunter Patterson
Nice.
- [19:31]
Dana
Jeffrey, you heard them.
- [19:33]
Jeff Bridges
T Mobile is the best place to.
- [19:35]
Dave DeFore
Get the new iPhone 17 Pro on us with eligible traded in any condition.
- [19:40]
Jeff Bridges
So what are we having for lunch?
- [19:41]
Dana
Dude, my work here is done.
- [19:44]
T-Mobile Legal Disclaimer Voice
The 24 month build credit is on experience beyond four qualified customers plus tax and $35 device connection charge credit send and balance due if you pay off earlier. Cancel Finance Agreement. IPhone 17 Pro 256 gigs 1099.99 and new line minimum 100 plus a month plan with auto pay plus taxes and fees required. Best mobile network in the US based on analysis by Oakland Speed Test Intelligence Data 1H 2025 Visit t mobile.com.
- [20:02]
Robinhood Commercial Voice
Foreign.
- [20:13]
Dave DeFore
The Detroit Pistons get a big win over the Orlando Magic to move to three and two on the season. Probably their best game of the season. Definitely Cade Cunningham's best season. Here to talk about it, Hunter Patterson, he covers the Pistons for us over at the Athletic first appearance of the season. Welcome to the show. How's the start of the season working out for you, Hunter?
- [20:32]
Hunter Patterson
I'm glad to be back. The start of the season has been filled with coffee, to be honest. Filled with just a lot of excitement. Glad to be going into my second year and see what the Pistons have in store.
- [20:44]
Dave DeFore
Yeah, well, look, man, this Pistons team, they were a great story last year. You know, S and Xena, they were all over the Pistons early before me. I kind of saw the light as the season went on, but now the rest of the league has seen the light like this. They're not surprising anybody anymore. And I think early on this year we've seen that, especially in the way that teams have guarded Cade Cunningham. But you know, 135, 116, that's a big win over a team in the Orlando Magic that's supposed to be really good, especially defensively. Let's start with Cade. You know, he probably had his best game of the season 30 points, 10 assists, three steals, three blocks, six rebounds. I mean this looks more like the Cade Cunningham that we expected to see out of the gate.
- [21:28]
Hunter Patterson
Absolutely. And I think one of the biggest things that he was able to do tonight was not turn the ball over. Actually became, let's see here. He is the first person in NBA history with 30 plus 10 plus 3 plus steals, 3 plus blocks and no turnovers in the game. So I think that's a huge accomplishment for him. He'd been turning it over five and a half times to start the season and you can tell he's just kind of still adjusting to the way teams are guarding him. Now that you mentioned, no one's surprised by the Pistons. They're coming in, packing the paint, sagging off defenders, hedging over from the weak side. They're trying to show him a paint full of bodies. And this was the best that he's handled it tonight.
- [22:15]
Dave DeFore
Yeah, especially look, they're missing Malik Beasley, Zena. Right. Last year they had a guy who looked like Klay Thompson out there this year. Not the same.
- [22:24]
Zena Keda
Exactly. You don't have that person on the wing that you have to sag off or stay close to. They can put that person in that help position much more easily this year. And that was one of the things that Kate Cunningham like talked about was he has to work on getting off the ball sooner. Right. Especially when those double teams come. I thought he looked a lot better about that. For me, it's like, you know, K. Cunningham is going to get his and it's just going to be a matter of, you know, more games, more reps. But one thing that that is has been apparent in these four games that I've watched, the Detroit Pistons, they take a while to get going. Like their first quarter is always, it takes too long. I mean even their game against Boston, you would have thought that they, they were done in that game in the first quarter. They went down so, so hard, so easily and then they pick up. What, where is that coming from?
- [23:12]
Hunter Patterson
I think the bench. JB mentioned it. The Celtics game on Sunday, they had a back to back against Clerk. The beginning of it was the Celtics second night was Cleveland. JB mentioned after the win over Cleveland, or excuse me, after the win over the Celtics that the bench changed the spirit of the game. They really take pride in that. Ron Holland off the bench, Isaiah Stewart, Karis Lavert. This was his second game of the season and he came in and had a big impact as well. And once they kind of get the, that once they find Their stride. I think Asar mentioned it after the Celtics game as well. It's like they remind the starters of the identity of the team and to be on the ground for loose balls on the offensive glass and kind of regaining that grit. I guess so. The bench unit has been really big in just kind of reinvigorating the starters.
- [24:10]
Dave DeFore
One of the big ways that I think that for the Pistons to break out this year is if Jalen Duran takes a leap. Man, he was awesome last night. And look, the magic, their big rotation window, Carter, Goga, Pataze, they actually couldn't handle this guy last night. He put up 21 and 12. It just felt like they were a little bit nervous. Every single time he had an opportunity to make a play, he had them on their heels. I mean, what is it going to look like if he is taking the leap this year for this team? I mean, does that put them in a whole different category as far as being a contender?
- [24:44]
Hunter Patterson
I think so. He's. He's been a monster on the offensive glass. It seems teams are having consistent issues with him in terms of keeping him off the offensive glass. He and Cade have great chemistry in pick and roll situations and Cade knows he can find him for lobs just about anytime he rolls, it feels like. And another point of emphasis too is JB Bickerstaff allowing him to initiate offense. He's getting a little bit more comfortable with the grab and goes. I was kind of, I was talking to him in the locker room. I was mentioning one of his and ones he had as he blew by. Wendell Carter got the A1 and he was like, that's not something that just happened overnight. I've had this for a while and now he's being able to show it a little bit more.
- [25:28]
Zena Keda
I will say the sound on this game was very high. We heard way more at home than I think that we were intended to hear.
- [25:37]
Dave DeFore
We heard a lot. They were, they were chirping.
- [25:40]
Zena Keda
They were chirping. Yeah, it was fun to watch. But it was interesting too. You look at this score, 135, 116, that's some high scoring, high octane offense. But when you actually look at how these two teams particularly rank within the NBA in terms of their field goal percentage, in terms of their effective field goal rate, in terms of their three point percentage, they're in the bottom five, bottom ten in all those categories across the board. We know that JB Bickerstaff or JB Bigger staff. Biggerstaff said that he wanted to work on this team Particularly the Detroit Pistons getting to know each other. Right. There's still a little bit of acclimation that needs to happen with these two teams, with this, his team. But I think that that's the case also with the Orlando Magic. They have some acclimation to get used to too. When you watch this game, what was it about the way that the defenses were showing up that allowed the offense to get going as much as it was tonight?
- [26:34]
Hunter Patterson
I would say for Orlando, they were doing a good job of, as we mentioned, kind of just packing the paint. Anytime Cade was trying to get downhill off ball screens and the whistle at first was frequent. They. I mean, they. They had over 50 fouls combined in this game.
- [26:54]
Zena Keda
I wanted you to hit on that.
- [26:56]
Jeff Bridges
Yeah.
- [26:56]
Hunter Patterson
Oh, my God. The flow of the game was not what you would expect, but I think in terms of just packing the paint and allowing. Not allowing K to get comfortable the way he wanted. And then on the opposite end, I think it was a little bit easier for the Pistons because it felt like there was less movement with the Magic. Offensively, it's a lot of ISO ball. I think they still are trying to find the cohesion. You mentioned Xena where trying to figure out where Desmond Bain fits in terms of the pecking order. Offensively, it seems like it's Paolo Franz. Then Bane is kind of trying to fit in there, but as of now, it's just a lot of isos. Paolo is doing a great job of getting to the line off his kind of patented, if you will. He'll take a hard dribble spin into the defender and kind of go up through their hands. So I think both teams were just relying on the free throw line early on. And yeah, that. That kind of muddied up the flow a little bit, but it was allowing them to get more comfortable in seeing the ball go through the rim.
- [28:06]
Dave DeFore
This. This was your first chance to see the Magic up close. Right. Like, this is a team that I think everyone has slotted coming into the season above Detroit, or at least in the same tier, but slightly above in that same tier than Detroit. Obviously, Detroit gets a big win here. I mean, what is your takeaway from your. Your first impression of the Orlando Magic? People have high expectations for this team. I see a lot of people saying this is a conference finalist. You know, they're really high on this Bane pick. But. Or addition, but I don't know, man. I haven't seen it. Yeah, I didn't see it this summer.
- [28:40]
Zena Keda
I literally said it's giving Atlanta Orlando conference finals and I am very much.
- [28:46]
Dave DeFore
Wondering if I need to watch. I didn't see it this summer. I haven't seen it so far. I mean, just, just give me your initial impressions of Orlando.
- [28:56]
Hunter Patterson
I mean, I will say I was pretty high on Orlando initially, too. And in going to Jamal Mosley's pregame press conference, one of the reporters for the Magic asked about his process in finding a rotation. And it seems like he's very much still in the process of finding a rotation that he likes. And they do have talent. Tristan De Silva is pretty good off the bench. Obviously he's a rookie, but Jace Richardson was playing well during preseason and Jet Howard even seemed like he showed promise last year, but wasn't really on the floor until garbage time tonight. So I think they are in the process of just figuring out what their rotation is, and right now it doesn't really seem like it's too solidified. So I think they're looking to figure out how much depth they do have on the bench and how it all meshes together similar to the starters, because it seems like they haven't really found that cohesion yet either.
- [29:51]
Dave DeFore
Yeah, I mean, look, they got to figure it out. It's a. It's amazing how early it can get late when you have expectations of like home court advantage. Right? I mean, hey, the Chicago Bulls, that was a bar. The Chicago Bulls are 4 and up, right? Yeah, they're 4 0. And it pretty much means in my, like, they're locked into the play in at 4. 0. It sounds silly to say, but they've picked up enough of these early wins and they've won some, some decent ones that I think they're going to just be in the play in now. Like the stress of them making the play in is gone from all of us. Right. That are approaching national nightmare that maybe the Bulls wouldn't make the play in. Right. It's over because they win the first four games. So, like, this stuff is important. It's important to get off to a good start. And for a team like Orlando, I mean, it's just to, to. To give up 135 points to, to the Detroit Pistons when defense is supposed to be your calling card for Orlando. Oh, I'm worried. I'm getting real worried real early.
- [30:55]
Hunter Patterson
Yeah, Dave, to that point too. Like, the Pistons came into tonight admitting that they're still in the process of trying to figure out what their flow is offensively. So I think to give up 135 points to a team still looking to figure out their offensive identity is not boding well for you.
- [31:13]
Dave DeFore
Yeah, not when that defense was supposed to be your thing. All right, well, that's going to do it for the show, folks. Guys, go and read Hunter Patterson over at the Athletic. He's going to be on the Pistons all year again. This, this team, they might be a trade deadline move away from from really making some noise in the playoffs. I think they're short a guy, but man, if they can make a move, I think this team is pretty good. For Zena Keta and Hunter Patterson, I'm Dave DeFore and this has been the NBA Daily. Thanks for waking up with us.
- [32:08]
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- [32:35]
Jeff Bridges
Morning Zoe. Got donuts.
- [32:37]
Dana
Jeff Bridges why are you still living above our garage?
- [32:40]
Jeff Bridges
Well, I dig the mattress and I want to be in a T mobile commercial like you teach me so Dana.
- [32:47]
Dana
Oh no, I'm not really prepared. I couldn't possibly at T Mobile get the new iPhone 17 Pro on them. It's designed to be the most powerful iPhone yet and has the ultimate pro camera system.
- [32:59]
Jeff Bridges
Wow, impressive. Let me try. T Mobile is the best place to get iPhone 17 Pro because they've got the best network.
- [33:06]
Hunter Patterson
Nice.
- [33:07]
Dana
Jeffrey, you heard them.
- [33:08]
Jeff Bridges
T Mobile is the best place to.
- [33:10]
Dave DeFore
Get the new iPhone 17 Pro on us with eligible traded in any condition.
- [33:15]
Jeff Bridges
So what are we having for lunch?
- [33:17]
Dana
Dude, my work here is done.
- [33:19]
T-Mobile Legal Disclaimer Voice
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- [33:40]
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