Opponent Scouting: San Antonio Spurs. (14-41)
Tonight at 7:00pm EST the Detroit Pistons will be hosting the Spurs of San Antonio at the LCA in downtown Detroit. Both teams are on one day of rest with the Pistons having lost to the Cavaliers and the Spurs losing to the Raptors.
The Them:
The Spurs suck. One of the three or so teams in the league that suck at least as much as the Pistons do. They have lost 10 straight games, have the league’s 28th ranked offense and worst defense by a wide margin. They suck. Jakob Poeltl just got traded as well as Josh Richardson, two of the only functional veterans on the team so they will suck even more now.
Jeremy Sochan, one of the few young guys who’s looked worthwhile is questionable, if he plays he’s an athletic power forward who scores effectively inside with a dash of passing. They are, in name at least, led by 23-year-old Keldon Johnson, a 6’5 wing player who’s averaging nearly 22 points per game. Nothing stands out a ton of his game and while he’s clearly a decent player it seems likely that he’s scoring a lot because the Spurs suck. Doug McDermott is still here I think and he shoots well, Zach Collins is having a decent season trying to revive his career off the bench. Pistons legend Stanley Johnson has been getting some run. I don’t know the combination of the trade and a bunch of guys listed as “questionable” in the injury report mean I’m not sure what to say. This team is like the Pistons if both Cade and Ivey were not here. Its grim at the moment.
Matchups to watch:
Pistons vs. Responding to the shakeup: Saddiq Bey is gone and if you read any of the things said about him in the wake of the move it is clear that his style of play is a huge reason he’s gone. Hopefully it will be a wakeup call to the rest of the roster as to what is expected in terms of playing hard and playing smart.
Backup wing minutes? I guess the easy answer is that Livers and Hamidou Diallo will just take the minutes left behind, but Saddiq was playing 28.8 minutes per night and Knox would’ve originally been the guy you would’ve pegged to step up with Bey gone. Will simply be interesting to see how they work it out.
Pistons vs. Just winning: Mentioned it repeatedly when playing one of the other bottom dwellers. Just beat them for the vibes please. This Spurs team is awful especially post-deadline.
The Ivey/Duren pairing: At this point, this is pretty much the thing that matters for the rest of the season. Ivey and Duren have built genuine chemistry together and it has been great to see. Having your two rookies clicking immediately is a great sign and that continuing to happen is the main thing we should be caring about the rest of the way.
Isaiah Livers vs. Seizing the moment: A much bigger role is likely on the table for Livers with Bey and Knox gone. Livers has mostly played pretty well when he’s gotten on the floor, and the idea of Isaiah Livers as a 3 and D forward sounds great. Now its really time to prove it.