Ron Holland is heading into his third season with two goals: an All-Defense nod for himself and a ring for Detroit. The 21-year-old Pistons forward opened up in an exclusive interview with ClutchPoints, done during a preseason road trip and a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 promo run.
“For personal goals, I want to get on the (NBA) All-Defense team,” Holland said. On the team side, he did not mince words: “We feel like we should have won a championship last year.”
The numbers make the All-Defense talk legit. Holland posted a 108.2 defensive rating with 1.2 steals per game across 78 games, on a Pistons team that ranked second in the league in defensive rating at 109.7.
The IAHHM Take
Detroit’s glow-up has been real. Last season the Pistons won 60 games and grabbed their first No. 1 seed in the East since 2006-07, beat Orlando in seven, then lost a seven-game second-round series to Cleveland, including Game 7 at home. That kind of exit is exactly why a young core talks the way Holland does now.
The roster shifted, too. Tobias Harris and Isaiah Stewart are gone, John Collins, Isaiah Joe and Taurean Prince are in, and Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson both got long-term deals. Holland also spent part of the summer working out with Cade Cunningham in Colorado, and he says it made their bond and their games stronger.
The early returns look good: Detroit just ran Minnesota off the floor by pressuring LaMelo Ball full court in a 128-106 preseason win. A defense that suffocating is how you get from “should have” to “did.”
So is this the year Detroit gets past Cleveland? And does Holland make an All-Defense team before he turns 23?
Source: ClutchPoints
