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It’s still the preseason, and it’s still nice to have NBA basketball back in our hearts and on our television screens. I mean, it’ll be BETTER when the games count and the team plays more crisply and all the shots go in, but hey, after waiting all summer for Pistons basketball, I am not going to complain.
The complaining starts in late November, early December.
Game Vitals:
When: October 9, 2019, 7 p.m. EST
Where: Little Caesars Arena
Watch: Fox Sports Detroit
Analysis:
The Mavericks play the second half of a preseason back-to-back tonight, which seems completely unnecessary from a scheduling standpoint. Is the schedule SO tight that you can’t evenly distribute five games over a normal period?
Anyway, as Matt Schoch (that’s S-C-H-O-C-H of the Locked on Pistons Podcast) pointed out on Twitter, this is your only opportunity to see Luka Doncic in person in Detroit this year, because the other home game the Pistons play against the Mavericks will be in Mexico City. That... also feels unnecessary from a scheduling perspective. People in Detroit want to see Luka Doncic too!
Dallas lost their preseason game last night to the Oklahoma City Thunder, but neither Doncic nor Kristaps Porzingis played, because it’s the preseason and the first half of a back-to-back. I have not seen any reports that either guy will miss tonight’s game.
Sam Vecenie of The Athletic had a really nice piece about the Pistons’ players on rookie-scale contracts:
I wrote about the Pistons prospects today. It doesn’t look like there are any future stars here, but they’ve done a really nice job of building up young depth over the last couple of years. A lot of interesting potential rotation players: https://t.co/ly2CJkA8yy pic.twitter.com/76le0Iz6aU
— Sam Vecenie (@Sam_Vecenie) October 9, 2019
Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press had a good piece on Andre Drummond, seeking a max contract.
Last but definitely not least, all of the Detroit Bad Boys’ staff has been putting in some excellent work in our Tune-Up series. Check the pieces out (and the discussion those pieces have generated) here.
Let’s have a good one tonight, y’all.