{"id":933347,"date":"2026-10-19T04:18:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T04:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/933347\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T04:18:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T04:18:08","slug":"central-notes-pistons-giddey-allen-johnson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/933347\/","title":{"rendered":"Central Notes: Pistons, Giddey, Allen, Johnson"},"content":{"rendered":"

After winning 60 games and running away with the top seed in the Eastern Conference, the Pistons have made several changes to their roster. While moving on from Tobias Harris<\/a> might hurt more than some expect, the team has improved its overall depth, thanks in part to the promising preseason play of rookie Ebuka Okorie<\/a> and second-year center Tolu Smith<\/a>, Omari Sankofa II writes for the Detroit Free Press<\/a>. That\u2019s a good thing, but it will leave head coach J.B. Bickerstaff with tough rotation decisions to make.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think our guys have a respect level for each other\u2019s talent in the locker room and they understand that anyone could get called on,\u201d said assistant coach Jarrett Jack. \u201cIt\u2019s not because you\u2019re not playing well. It can just be a different look, a different skill set. For us, we just use it to our advantage, understanding that maybe some of the stints that the other team\u2019s played won\u2019t be as long, but we play ours long, fast, fierce and physical.\u201d<\/p>\n

Okorie and Smith know that it will be difficult for them to get consistent minutes, especially at first, and that it\u2019s up to them to be ready when called upon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d say the biggest thing is just being immersed in the game,\u201d Okorie said. \u201cWhen I\u2019m not in the game, being locked in and making sure I\u2019m focused on the team. I watch film with some of the coaches every day and they\u2019re really helping me. For example, if I\u2019m not in the game, just watching film and seeing what I\u2019m doing with the minutes I\u2019m getting has really helped me to be ready and be able to impact the game when I go out.\u201d<\/p>\n

We have more from around the Central Division:<\/p>\n

The Bulls\u2019 Las Vegas over\/under sits at 29.5 wins this season, but point guard Josh Giddey<\/a> believes that the oddsmakers are underselling their competitiveness and overwhelming size. Still, he knows he has to back up that belief on the court, according to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times<\/a>. \u201cEvery team probably says the same thing, that they\u2019re ready for a big year, but you never really know until the season starts,\u201d Giddey said. \u201cI\u2019m very confident with the guys we have, but until you go through adversity, until you go through a losing streak, that\u2019s when you find out where you are as a team. I don\u2019t want to say we\u2019re going to be a playoff team or whatever, but I think we\u2019re good enough to be competitive every night.\u201d Rookie Caleb Wilson<\/a> added that no one on the team cares what the betting odds are, but acknowledged that he has a chip on his shoulder as a result of the low figure.
\nJarrett Allen<\/a> is entering his 10th season and knows it\u2019s an important one for the Cavaliers as they look to cement themselves as a top team \u2013 not just in the regular season, but also in the playoffs \u2013 in the much-improved Eastern Conference. He believes that one of the keys to the Cavs reaching the Finals this year is simply ensuring that the starting five gets more comfortable together, according to Cyro Asseo, who sat down with Allen for a Q&A with HoopsHype<\/a>. \u201cI saw a stat that Evan, Donovan, James and I only played a hundred or so minutes together last year,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s insane to think about how little time that is across 82 games, or the 30 or so games James had been here. If we get that experience together, make sure everything runs smoothly and fill in all the cracks, I think that\u2019s it.\u201d
\nPacers head coach Rick Carlisle had nothing but praise for the recently waived<\/a> James Johnson<\/a>, according to Forbes\u2019 Tony East<\/a>. \u201cHe\u2019s a tone setter. He\u2019s a great leader in the locker room. He\u2019s a great practice player,\u201d Carlisle said of Johnson. \u201cHe\u2019s working with players on situations and all kinds of different things. And our guys love him. They have great respect for him.\u201d The decision to waive Johnson on Saturday didn\u2019t come as a surprise, as both parties knew that the team didn\u2019t have room to keep him under its first-apron hard cap heading into the season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After winning 60 games and running away with the top seed in the Eastern Conference, the Pistons have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":933348,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,169173,339250,14055,73844,8642,85,500122],"class_list":["post-933347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-caleb-wilson","tag-ebuka-okorie","tag-james-johnson","tag-jarrett-allen","tag-josh-giddey","tag-sports","tag-tolu-smith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=933347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/933348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=933347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=933347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=933347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}