Omari Sankofa II: On Duren leaving in the 3rd and not playing in the 4th after returning to the bench, JB said Paul Reed was rolling. Doesn't sound like anything serious for Duren. "We’ll take a look at JD and see if he’s alright, but I haven’t seen any problems yet."

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Omari Sankofa II: FINAL: Pistons 117, Wizards 95. The Pistons (50-19 overall) have won 50 games for the first time since the 2007-08 season. 13 games to go. Duren: 24 points, 11 rebounds Reed: 17 pts, 2 blocks LeVert: 14 pts, 6 assists, 5 rebs Huerter: 14 pts, 5 rebs, 4 stls

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Isaiah Stewart was suspended seven games for leaving the bench area, aggressively entering an on-court altercation, and fighting during a recent game against the Charlotte Hornets. Jalen Duren was also suspended two games for initiating the altercation and fighting. Is there any message needed to be given to Isaiah and Jalen about the importance of keeping their emotions with is at stake for the Pistons this season? JB Bickerstaff: We need to move on from that. How do the Pistons move forward from those suspensions? JB Bickerstaff: Our guys have done it all year long. They stay moment to moment and take advantage of the opportunity that is in front of them. Whether it has been injury or adversity when guys have been called upon they have stepped up. Think of guys like Daniss [Jenkins] and Paul Reed. Whenever they have been called upon, they have lived up to the moment and the team has supported them and helped them be successful. That’s how we move forward. We hold the fort down until our guys get back. We will miss those guys while they are out but the strength of our team has been our depth and we will contribute to use that as a weapon.

Andscape

Omari Sankofa II: FINAL: Pistons 113, Raptors 95. Pistons (40-13 overall) enter All-Star weekend tied with OKC in the loss column and the only other team in the league with at least 40 wins. Cunningham: 28 pts, 9 assts, 7 rebs, 6-11 from 3 Reed: 22 pts, 5 rebs, 3 assts, 4 blks, 2 stls

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Omari Sankofa II: Reed: "You have a team full of guys that’s hungry, that’s ready to go out and compete at the highest level. The suspensions are unfortunate but they trust me and Tolu to come in and help us get dubs. That’s what it says about the team, about the front office bringing us in."

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Officials whistled the Hornets’ Grant Williams for an offensive foul against the Pistons’ Paul Reed, and Lee had seen enough, charging out onto the floor. Lee’s pronounced anger forced Brandon Miller to hold him back — he was that angry. “I take ownership of it,” Lee said. “I thought that we were competing our tails off. I thought that it was a very physical game and you know, Grant’s walking down the paint and barely touched somebody and the guy fell over and that’s what we’re going to call the foul.

Charlotte Observer

Omari Sankofa II: FINAL: Pistons 110, Hornets 104. Snapped Charlotte’s nine-game winning streak. Forced 21 turnovers and owned the paint to overcome a poor night from the arc (5-25). Paul Reed stepped up with 12 points after Stewart and Duren were ejected. Cunningham: 33 points, 9 rebs, 7 assts

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Omari Sankofa II: Stew also got ejected. Pistons are down to P Reed as the lone big available. Wow

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Omari Sankofa II: Cade Cunningham (right wrist contusion) and Ausar Thompson (right heel contusion) are both probable tomorrow. Paul Reed (personal reasons) is questionable.

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Omari Sankofa II: Update: Paul Reed (personal reasons) is out. Devin Booker is out for the Suns

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Omari Sankofa II: Asked JB about the Stewart-Reed starting frontcourt: “It allows Stew to roam the paint … while P Reed is capable of defending the perimeter and dealing with bigger guys there.” Acknowledged it has some spacing issues to figure out, but he liked their defensive intensity.

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The Detroit Pistons, on the other hand, are almost too deep (they may be in the market to make a consolidation trade for Giannis to fix that “problem”). There is a lot of orange and yellow all the way down the Pistons’ heatmap, to Paul Reed, who, as Max Moacanin recently pointed out, is sneakily one of the most efficient players in the entire league. That allows the Pistons to employ a soothingly symmetrical rotation pattern for their starters. Notice how J.B. Bickerstaff staggers his first and final rotations, subbing out Thompson first, then Harris, Robinson, Duren, and finally Cade Cunningham. The pattern repeats itself in reverse in the fourth quarter, as Cade checks back in first among the starters, followed in order by Robinson, Harris, Duren, and Thompson.

Charting Hoops

What have you learned about the way the NBA is now that you now bring will bring to your next head coaching job? Darvin Ham: I just think the time and the patience um just keeping everybody on the same same page and like the togetherness forcing that will. You know, I inherited some players that had become accustomed to doing things the way they were used to doing them individually and but really making the team being really dead set on making the team understand the importance of togetherness. Um you know it's a lot of stuff we do once you you know this coach you you get started with this NBA season. We see each other more than we see our own families. And so, um, the more you can do inside the box and also outside the box, you know, it may be a day where guys thinking you're about to have a kick-ass practice and you take them to go play golf or go to Top Golf or go go play flag football. And we used to do that a lot.

YouTube

But the thing about offer sheets — the primary mechanism for RFAs to get paid what they think they’re worth — is that they’ve become increasingly rare in recent years. The chart below shows the number of offer sheets issued to RFAs by year, according to data from prosportstransactions.com Between 2000 and 2020 there were 81 offer sheets issued to RFAs — or about four per year. But since 2020, the league has seen only four offer sheets issued total. The last RFA to get an offer sheet was Paul Reed in 2023.

Substack