Kofie
Appearances
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
George Bush was in office, man. That's what we've been saying. I was like, oh, it was the George Bush era. George Bush era hoops, bro.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
TV wasn't 480p. I was about to go to high school, I think. A lot has happened since that, right? And the thing is that we had made the playoffs since, but then we just got swept. It was like the Bucs or we weren't getting a game off of the LeBron Cavs. It was those things where it's like we're happy to make the playoffs, but what are we doing here? So yesterday it was so cool. I mean, sorry.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
Game two was so awesome because... It was seeing this team, like, grow up. This is what the entire season's been about. This team has grown up. They've developed great habits, unlike the year before. And seeing it all culminate into stealing a game on the road in that environment was just an absolute scene.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
And it was a long time coming for Pistons fans because there are some Pistons fans that are new. They weren't around for the 2004 finals, you know. Some Pistons fans, you know. You get into basketball, you become a Pistons fan, you can hear about the history, but you've never really experienced it. So I think that it was just a big moment for a generation of Pistons fans, old and new, for sure.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
I think for me, I think the thing is that we played the Knicks very well in the regular season, but that's not something that I can just say it translates over and be like, okay, yeah, we looked very good against the Knicks in the regular season.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
But the thing is that for the first two games, I was like, oh, okay, we not only look like we belong here, we actually have looked like the better team for, I think, a majority of the quarters, right? Then you have the Cameron Payne team
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
21-0 run that i could not believe but that's just the game of basketball in terms of fact where like it is a game of runs and now they learned from it in game two game three i think is the first game in the series where detroit did not look like the better team for the entire uh game and they tried then they had to play catch up because the knicks made some very very good adjustments so i think with this series is that it's actually a series which is cool
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
Because the last time we made the playoffs, it wasn't a series at all. So this has been a really fun environment to just witness, watch, and be like, I remember this is Detroit playoff basketball. And LCA was super loud. And that is something that I haven't heard that amount of noise in that arena for a while. So it was good to get back to that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
I think it's been a delightful surprise compared to last year. Last year I know he had the ankle injury, so I know that protecting the rim was kind of – also the rim wasn't really worth protecting when we were down like by 10 or 20 points like every game. You know what I'm saying? So I feel like it's one of those things where this year there's more motivation to play harder. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
If that makes sense. I don't know. Maybe it's like, oh, we're in more games. I have the number one alley-oop duo in the league. I get the ball on offense. Maybe you know that if I help protect the rim and run the floor, I get more opportunities on the offensive end. So it's one of those things where I feel like –
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
He seems more motivated this season, and I feel like that is definitely probably in part to J.B. Bickerstaff and his just overriding the entire culture. And I think that also probably is just the vets that we've gotten, whether it's Tobias Harris, Malik Beasley, and then even Schroeder in the offseason.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
Sorry, shooter midseason in terms of the fact that these are players that have embraced being in Detroit and want to actually train and mentor these young guys, which is not something that I got a read off of last year. Last year, it felt like all the vets were being like, OK, I can't wait to get traded to a playoff contender.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
You know, that that's what the vibe kind of felt like where it was like, yeah, I'm putting up these stats, but I won't be here by the trade deadline. But this year it's totally flipped. And I feel like Jalen Dern and all the young guys have really benefited from that for sure.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
I feel like it just hinges on Isaiah Stewart being back. I know that a lot of the – I feel like these couple of games have shown how important Isaiah Stewart is and what he brings to the table. I think he's one of the best rim-protecting bigs in the league, especially among the backup centers. And I feel like he is our best –
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
hope in guarding Carl Anthony Towns because again Carl Anthony Towns when he's on he's on but when so Jalen Duren does have a I think he does struggle guarding stretch bigs in terms of the fact where if he's too far away from the basket he's He doesn't want to over-contest and get in foul trouble because he knows how important he is.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
But Isaiah Stewart is probably our best Carl Anthony Towns defender. And Tobias Harris has done the best that he can against Carl Anthony Towns. But the foul trouble that happened yesterday, the foul trouble that happened in game two, he kind of – it's kind of hard to, cause we don't have that many bodies we can throw at towns and the Knicks played more balanced basketball yesterday.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
I know that game two was a lot of Brunson ball, which I think for the Pistons, it kind of not threw us for a loop. I feel like we were probably prepared for the adjustment, but the Knicks do have a lot of offensive weapons. So it does get tougher and tougher when they play like this as a cohesive unit for sure.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
I think the Pistons' biggest need, they already got this midseason because we were watching the first half of the season being like, oh, we're playing very well, need a backup point guard. The backup point guard thing was kind of interesting because we would stagger Caden Ivey and then Ivey –
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
as good as Ivy is is not like a full-time backup like point guard role so getting Schroeder there was super important I really am excited to see what happens next year when Ivy does come back and we have Ivy Schroeder Cade and having three people that can handle the ball at that level um I think that there's been rumors. We photoshopped Devin Booker in Pistons jerseys and stuff.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
We hang on to that one photo of him taking media availability, like the Devin Booker draft kind of thing. It's one of those things where you look over there and you're just like, that would be a wild thing to see, honestly, in terms of where we were last year. But I think for us, it's the fact that We won 44 games this year.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
We're playing in this playoffs just like really ahead of schedule, I feel like. And I'm curious to see about the development of Asar, Ron Holland. I feel like there's so much upside on this team that there aren't that many changes. that I think personally need to be made at this juncture.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
I think we got everything that we wanted out of this year and more in terms of the fact where it's like, yes, we upped our win total. We found an identity. We're playing with heart. We finally get to show the national landscape how good Cade Cunningham really is at basketball. We even saw Jaden Ivey have a real good improvement when he was playing in terms of just upping his three-point percentage.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
There's just so much positive about this season that I feel like I'm just ready to run it back next year and see what this team does with a nice little offseason as well, no matter if we win this playoff series or not.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
This is kind of where it feels like sometimes my team has accidentally become important in the NBA landscape, and it's kind of also ruining my life. It's like accidentally became important, and it's just like, what was it, Cade Dillingham? That was funny. It's just stuff like that where I was just like, okay, We are forcing the national media to have to talk about us.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
But I sometimes still have someone that will actually talk about like... Like Carmelo Anthony's podcast, he talked about Isaiah Stewart and all the other – but then you'll have people that just talk about Kane because that's the only thing that they're paying attention to. So I feel like for us it's really easy to tell who has been tapped in to this season.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
And I totally understand if people aren't. I totally get it. We got – every – like most of our national TV games this year we got flexed into. Um, in terms of whether it was playing the bucks on ESPN or, um, or forget who we were playing against, but we got flexed into an ESPN game and then Cade was hurt.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
So then, um, the national, the national stage of, uh, a Sar Thompson ball was, was pretty awesome to see. But, um, last year we were getting flexed off of NBA TV games. So, I mean, it's a huge difference. So last year you didn't have to pay attention to us this year. You, you do a little bit, at least, you know, um,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
And then you see this kind of not an overcorrect, but a lot of people being like, oh, the Knicks could be in trouble. I got the Pistons. I'm like, oh, I was not expecting this. I was not expecting this in people's predictions.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
But yeah, it's been kind of it's been really nice to see and nice to see us earn our respect because I feel like even though I am a Pistons fan, I do feel like the league is better when the Pistons are good. I don't know. And people disagree.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
I'm not going to argue with them, but I feel like just what we bring to the National League landscape when we are good is a special brand of basketball, I think, honestly.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
I loved when that happened. The camera immediately panned to beef stew in the suit, and I was like, okay.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
Well, that's the rep. Like, I get it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
Yeah, I appreciate it. I mean, the thing is that it's what we're used to when the team is good.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
Dude, I'm so sorry. Yeah. I just don't. I woke up to that and was just like, how? How? That's a great question. Because the Pistons fans, we have a list of just like the Troy Weaver miscues, right? Where it's like, yes, he did draft the people that are doing well now, but that's only like a percentage of the job. Right. He sent out an apology letter to Pistons fans before we won 14 games.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
And then the apology letter was like, I'm going to do better. And then that offseason. The only free agent gets I think we got were Monty Morris and Joe Harris. And Monty Morris played like six games because he was super hurt. And then Joe Harris was also hurt. And then I think retired like this after the season or something. It was something where I was like, OK, this is a guy that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
I feel like in his head he takes these big swings, but then they're just not, right? And then we have so many other deals where it's like the Wiseman trade. Just so many other aspects of that era where it was just like, yes – We drafted Cade, but that's a layup, right? It feels like often a lot of these things where the good is just like, yeah, that feels pretty simple stuff.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
But then the stuff that separates the bad GMs from the good GMs just never clicked over here. So I don't know what Pelican's –
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
i don't know what pelicans fans are in for bro but i'm gonna be i'm gonna be tuned in because it's very fascinating you know it's like the fascinating thing where it was like yes troy weaver just loves centers like it's like okay we figured that out and we're just like that's cool and then Yeah, man. I don't know. There's just a lot. It's hard to document, man.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
strategy i totally understood like i totally understood like being like oh hey you were you were a top five you were a top five potential prospect that didn't work out here we can try it out here and then i think he just like kept doing that over and over again to the point where like nobody was helping each other like it was weisman and bagley on the bench yeah right and
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
it just felt like there's felt like there were too many, what's the word? Too many passion projects on those Pistons teams, honestly. So, yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
Welcome to Slammin' Jam. Holy crap. Oh my goodness. Oh, my God. This is some dark stuff. Some dark stuff. 2018-19. I think it's Tobias. Maybe Reggie was there. Some doldrums hoops right there. It's not. It could be Blake. That's crazy. I'm going to go with Reggie Jackson. I forget if he was on the team or not.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
Kofi, you have a chance to steal here. I'm going to go... I feel like because our defense is so good when he's in the lineup, I'm going to go Caden Nassar.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
These are crazy questions. I love this.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
I was just like, dude, we've had such a revolving door of players. All right.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
God, I just did a... There's no way. No, I'm trying to imagine these. Doing all the Photoshop's in your head? Yeah, I actually am, yeah. Oh, there's no way. No. I'm going to say... I'm going to be wrong and say Pacers.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
I feel like percentage-wise, higher is the more likely, right? So I'm going to go higher off percentage.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
Yeah, like the Derek White of it all. The Derek White. Those things like shot blocking guards, you know.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
Part of me wants to say Houston. Thinking like the Thompson twins. I'm going to say Houston here.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
Dang it. That's good.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
Can I go with Jerry Stackhouse?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
I appreciate it. Thank you guys for having me.