The NBA is expected to release its 2021-22 season schedule in the next week.
It’s safe to say Detroit Pistons players, coaches and staff might be circling a game against the Houston Rockets. The Detroit fans certainly will.
Hey, Jalen Green, when you come to Little Caesars Arena: Prepared to be booed. A lot.
The No. 2 pick in the NBA draft three weeks ago by the Rockets ripped the city of Detroit in a story published Monday.
Green, 19, who worked out with both the Pistons and Rockets in each city prior to the July 29 draft, where the Pistons took Cade Cunningham with the No. 1 pick, said he didn’t want to be in Detroit and compared the city to ‘the G League bubble.’
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“I wanted to be the No. 1 pick, but as for the location, I didn’t want to be in Detroit,” Green told Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. “I felt a lot more comfortable in Houston. It felt like a real homie environment. With Detroit, it felt like I was just going back to the G League bubble, and I just got out of the bubble. That’s pretty much what it was.
“In the (G League) bubble, I didn’t really have anything to do but just stay in the gym. I didn’t have any time to get away for myself. The only time I had to get away for myself was in my apartment. That’s what it felt like in Detroit. I wouldn’t be stepping outside in Detroit. There are not many things you can do in Detroit like that. You’re going to stay in the gym and then go back to your apartment.”
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Sidebar: Guess he doesn’t know he can hop over to Canada and have even more fun, too. His loss.
The comments are quite the turn from less than one month prior, when he told GQ, “I want to live in Detroit.”
At least the young man is being honest now. Or maybe he’s just bitter? Whatever it is, Detroit is happy he’s not living here either, and is all in on Cunningham.
In three games in the Vegas Summer League, including a 111-91 win over the Pistons — though Cunningham may have won the night — Green averaged 20.3 points and 4.3 rebounds in 24.1 minutes, shooting 51.4% and 52.6% on 3-pointers.
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