Opponent Scouting: New York Knickerbockers

Just as one last quick reminder. In order to stay in compliance with the “3 posts per week” rule on the subreddit I will not be doing this up as a text post on reddit.

Tonight at 7:30pm EST the Detroit Pistons will hit the road for the first time and head to New York to face the Knicks. Both teams will be on one day of rest, with the Pistons beating the Magic and the Knicks losing to the Grizzlies on Wednesday.

The Them:

The Knicks come into this season with reasonable expectations of getting back into the playoffs. Much of the core that took them to a surprising season two years ago is still here along with their big new addition of Jalen Brunson from Dallas.

Julius Randle is a bowling ball who can drive inside, snag rebounds, and has developed better shooting in the past couple of seasons. RJ Barrett struggled in the opener but is progressing toward being an effective 3-level scorer with his combination of athleticism and skill. Jalen Bruson is an isolation wizard who can score in the paint. Isaiah Hartenstein is another new addition who’s huge, smart, and relatively skilled. Evan Fournier can still shoot and do some basic shot creation.

Off the bench, Cam Reddish is trying to find traction on his young career (and put up 22 points on opening night), and Immanuel Quickley can shoot threes. Mitchell Robinson appears to still be coming off the bench this season, he can still block shots but struggles to be a positive impact. Obi Toppin is athletic, Derrick Rose can still get to the hoop.

This team has a number of talented players, it isn’t clear how well they all fit together and Thibbidou isn’t exactly a master of finding offensive cohesion. How effective they are this season will likely come down to whether or not this is the year they tune out his defensive instruction. If they embody the stereotypical Thibs team with gritty and effective defense they have enough offensive talent to make them a good team, but they do not have the sort of talent that can overcome poor defense.

Matchups to watch:

• Pistons vs. The Knick forwards: Both Randle and Barrett are big, strong, athletic, and aggressive. Saddiq Bey and Bojan Bogdanovic will be tasked with trying to compete with them for most of the night. The Piston forwards core is strong and willing to compete on the defensive end so it’s possible they push Barrett and Randle toward their less efficient tendencies, but there is a chance that one of the Knick forwards blows this game open.

• Pistons vs. Passing the ball: The Pistons collected a whooping 31 assists on their 40 field goals in game one. That is almost certainly a mirage that won’t keep up but given that the Pistons have consistently been mediocre to bad in assists under Casey it would be a nice change if they can do more passing and less iso ball. Speaking of which

• Pistons vs. Pushing the pace: The Pistons will not be as lost in the half-court as they were last year but it will still almost certainly be a drag, especially against a Thibs-coached team. Especially when Ivey is on the floor, the Pistons should be looking to run every chance they get.

• Jalen Duren vs. Doing it again: A great start, now a matter of trying to build on it so that it isn’t just a flash in the pan. If he plays like that it will be hard to deny him major minutes as the season goes on.

• Ivey(?) vs. Brunson: Brunson isn’t like, a huge scoring machine but he is a “motor of the offense” type of point-guard. My guess is that they put Ivey on him as the primary defender which will be a challenge for the rookie. Also possible that, if he gives the starters trouble we will see some extended Killian minutes tonight.

• Bench vs. Finding some points: They were not a disaster in game 1, but at least until the Pistons get healthy (the addition of Burks and Bagley/Livers will help immensely to provide scoring options) this bench crew is going to have to grind out points where they can. The bench unit shot just 13 of 36 which was bolstered by Duren getting some easy buckets alongside the starters and Corey Joseph briefly being possessed by the spirit of Steph Curry. They need to find buckets.

• Duren vs. Mitchell: Given that these are both the backup centers its strange to be a matchup worth watching but still, two huge athletes is worth keeping an eye on.

So in conclusion…

Run for the hills if:

• Randle is bullying whoever the Pistons throw at him.

• Brunson is getting wherever he wants on the floor.

• The Pistons are taking shots from bad places on the floor.

Wink knowingly at your friends if:

• Bey and Bogey are forcing Randle and Barrett into bad shots.

• Cade and Ivey clean up some of the missed bunnies they had in the first game.

• Someone on the bench starts to score.

Opportunities for me to look stupid:

• Ivey has another impressive outing.

• The Pistons are kept in the half-court for most of the game.

• Brunson causes issues all night.

• The Pistons lean heavily on Cade Cunningham to carry the offense through half-court sets on their way to a gritty victory.

• Pistons 103 - Knicks 98.

What do you think? Which forward tandem comes out on top? Can the youngins repeat?