5 best quotes from Detroit Pistons Media Day

The Detroit Pistons hosted their annual media day at Little Caesars Arena on Monday, just ahead of the team’s training camp. As always, there was no shortage of excitement surrounding the team leading up to and during media day, as players, staff, and fans are anxious to get the season underway.

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Here are the five best quotes, in my opinion, from Pistons players and staff coming out of 2022 media day min no particular order.

Jaden Ivey on being with The Detroit Pistons

"“I want to be a Piston for life. It runs deep.”"

How often do you hear a rookie come out of the gate and immediately say that they’d like to be a part of the team that drafted them for their whole career? Hearing this has to add to the excitement that Jaden Ivey has already brought to Detroit, as well as adds some further context and authenticity to Ivey’s Detroit ties that were discussed throughout the draft and rest of the summer.

Knowing that your top-5 draft pick genuinely wants to play for your team and city, has to give Troy Weaver and Dwane Casey some satisfaction about the rookie guard before he has even played a NBA game.

Dwane Casey on Cade Cunningham’s new physique

"“Cade (Cunningham) is up to 228, 227, looks like a different dude than last year. That physicality will help him.”"

A big aspect of media day in the NBA is giving players, coaches, and executives an opportunity to highlight how the organization, as well as themselves, have seen improvement over the offseason. I mean, would a player or coach ever come into media day mentioning that there was absolutely no improvement over the summer?

Cunningham’s growth during the off-season is certainly one of the biggest development points to watch with the Pistons this coming season, and one that was known would need to improve for Cunningham to take his next step in the league. After a great rookie year, it was clear that Cunningham was going to focus on getting stronger, limiting turnovers, and shooting efficiency to further improve in year two.

Cunningham measured at 220 lbs during his rookie season, and adding close to 10 lbs of muscle will help him finish stronger at the net, and hopefully gain a few more foul calls that he struggled to receive during his rookie campaign.

Troy Weaver on The Detroit Pistons’ roster

Another great aspect of media day is getting to hear where the organization is at in the eyes of the executive(s) who put the roster together. As moves and roster tweaks are consistently made, often times there is not an opportunity for the public to hear from the folks tasked with establishing the long-term vision of the roster and organization, so hearing Weaver’s point of view on where the team is always helps with expectations of what’s to come.

We’ve heard Weaver often times refer to “restore”, as opposed to the more commonly used “rebuild” term, as he was working to flip the entire roster to be set up for future success, so it’s nice to hear where Weaver sees the Pistons currently in his ‘restoring’ process.

Weaver mentions that he feels this year’s roster is built to better complement each other, which may have not been the case in recent years as the team was limited in terms of financial flexibility, while this offseason Weaver was finally able to gain a bit of that flexibility back through Blake Griffin’s salary coming off of the books and creative deals made by Weaver to maintain nimbleness moving forward.

Nerlens Noel on Ben Wallace

"I want to be back in the Defensive Player of the Year contention, I want to bring that grit to Detroit that I know that I have. You know, there’s a reason I can’t wear no. 3. That’s a player that I grew up really watching his game and watching their championship runs here in Detroit, so I want to bring that grit here and be that defensive player first."

After being acquired from the New York Knicks, many have wondered and still do wonder what role Noel will fill in Detroit. Noel’s media day quote helps explain where he sees himself fitting into the roster, being that primary defensive first guy, as well as serving as a veteran presence to his younger frontcourt teammates in Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart.

Also, I loved Noel alluding to Ben Wallace as why he can’t wear his normal no. 3 in Detroit. This showed me that Noel understands what it’s taken to be successful as a player and a team in Detroit in the past, and how he can personally relate to this by bringing his ‘grit’ to the organization.

Studying Ben Wallace’s game as a primary rim protector and defender isn’t a bad idea for the new Piston, and I’m hoping that Noel finds a spot in the rotation to help address some of the team’s rim protection issues that caused a struggle last season.

Marvin Bagley III on his Detroit Pistons’ teammates

"This is the best group of teammates I’ve had."

Since being acquired by the Pistons at last season’s trade deadline, Bagley has consistently been vocal about his love and appreciation for the organization’s culture. Bagley was around for the best stretch of the Pistons 2021-22 season, and had the offensive numbers to prove his impact, averaging close to 15 points and 7 rebounds per game in his time with Detroit.

On top of Bagley’s personal growth and improvement since joining the team, it’s important to understand the vibe of the locker room heading into the season, and that it seems to be positive for the Pistons right now based on what we’ve been told.

As one of the youngest teams in the league, having a group that can get along and knows how to work together is crucial to future success, plus having veterans who know how to add value within their role and help the young guys grow is also key.

BONUS: Jaden Ivey’s favorite Faygo

What’s the first day of the season without a little icebreaker?

Not sure how I feel about Ivey’s Faygo flavor of choice either, much more of a Rock & Rye guy, but I’m happy that Ivey can now get as much Orange Faygo as he wants finding his NBA home in Detroit.