Opponent Scouting: Charlotte Hornets (7-20)
Tonight at 7:00pm EST the Detroit Pistons will be on the road in Charlotte to face the Hornets. The Pistons are on two days of rest after losing to the Lakers on Sunday, the Hornets are also on two days of rest after losing to the Sixers.
The Them:
The Hornets are bad. One of the few teams that has a real claim to perhaps being worse than the Pistons. The Hornets were expected to follow up last season by being at least decent and fairly entertaining (they were both of those things last season) and it has not transpired. Miles Bridges did some very bad things, Gordan Hayward is hurt (again), Lamelo Ball is hurt, the team has generally gone down the tubes. Even a feel-good story like Dennis Smith reviving his career was cut off with an injury a few weeks ago.
The Hornets have the league’s worst offense by a mile and the 25th-ranked defense.
In their current state Terry Rozier is the defacto leader of the team, averaging 22 points and 5.7 assists per game. Rozier takes a high volume of threes and is athletic enough to do some stuff at the hoop. Rozier is also clearly overtaxed as the leading guy and his efficiency is down. Kelly Oubre is on the wing and scoring just over 20 points per game but remains a player who’s better in theory than in practice. In theory he’s athletic, skilled, not a terrible shooter, and high motor defender. In practice he doesn’t shoot quite well enough from deep, doesn’t pass, isn’t efficient enough to justify the number of shots he takes, and is too sporadic with his focus defensively. P.J. Washington shoots a lot from deep but is not shooting all that well. Pistons legend Mason Plumlee is pretty much the same guy, not great on either end but can finish lobs, sets good screens, and generally does the right stuff on both ends of the floor. Jalen McDaniels is another guy who’s theoretically a decent shooter on the wing who hasn’t shot very well so far. The bench is a mess of young guys who haven’t really found good footing.
The team is a mess overall. There are some good players but almost everyone is being asked to do more than they can realistically manage, and the general vibes are bad as well. Charlotte is full speed into the year from hell.
Matchups to watch:
Pistons bench vs. Going to work: The Hornets’ bench is awful. The Pistons’ bench should have a clear advantage and go to work in this game.
Jalen Duren vs. Mason Plumlee: On one hand, Duren is big and athletic enough to possibly crush Plumlee who is generally paired with an undersized 4, on the other hand, Plumlee is the sort of smart vet who would possibly get the better of Duren.
Killian Hayes vs. Terry Rozier: Rozier is overburdened but he is a good player. Hayes should be able to keep him contained while also using his size to good effect on the other end, but if Rozier gets hot it could swing the game in favor of the Hornets.
Jaden Ivey vs. Not being awful: Found some spark last time out but we are still firmly waiting for Ivey to put together a full game to put to rest some concerns about what is going on.
Ditto for Saddiq Bey: Pretty much the same deal. Bey has had a couple of decent moments recently but its mostly been a struggle. With Cade now out the rest of the season, Bey will need to step up to keep the season from spiraling to a dark place.
Pistons vs. Getting a win for the vibes: Its been a theme of the season but to be honest I feel like this is a game the Pistons should actually win. Get some good vibes in the wake of the Cade news.
So in conclusion…
Run for the hills if:
The Pistons lack energy
Ivey is still completely off his game
Rozier gets hot
Wink knowingly at your friends if:
Killian is locking down Rozier
Duren is doing work inside
The Pistons simply look better. Cause that doesn’t happen much.
Opportunities for me to look stupid:
The Pistons dominate from open to close
Killian and Ivey break out for big games
Pistons 131 - Hornets 108