Pistons vs. Hawks preview: SVG testing small ball as Andre Drummond sits

Stan Van Gundy announced Andre Drummond will sit out tonight (pink eye) and Jon Leuer will take his place in the starting lineup as the Detroit Pistons take on the young Atlanta Hawks.

The game will be streaming on Pistons.com and the Fox Sports Go app for individuals in the Fox Sports Detroit viewing area.

Also sitting out tonight’s will be Reggie Jackson (groin strain), Reggie Bullock (knee) and Dwight Buycks (hip flexor).

Game Vitals

When: 7 p.m. EST
Where: Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, MI
Watch: Fox Sports Go app or Pistons.com (Pistons market only)
Listen: 97.1 FM The Ticket

Van Gundy said he’ll be interested to see how his team rebounds with Leuer as the starting center. He also announced that Eric Moreland and Anthony Tolliver will get some playing time after not playing in the first preseason game.

That likely means less time for Boban Marjanovic who had an up-and-down first game off the bench. Van Gundy’s eagerness to put Leuer in the starting lineup and not Boban is either an indication he’s still worried the 7-foot-3 Marjanovic is liable to get run off the floor or that he wants to continue tinkering and testing lineup combinations while the games still don’t count.

The Hawks will see DeAndre Bembry hit the floor for the first time this season and I’ll be interested to see more of the youth movement in Atlanta with Taurean Prince and rookie John Collins.

Projected Lineup

Pistons (0-1)
Ish Smith, Avery Bradley, Stanley Johnson, Tobias Harris, Jon Leuer

Hawks (1-1)
Dennis Schroeder, Kent Bazemore, Taurean Prince, Ersan Ilyasova, Dwayne Dedmond

Community Question

What is your ideal bench unit tonight?