Detroit Pistons vs. Charlotte Hornets 2019-20 season preview and predictions

Charlotte’s offense against Detroit

Losing a 25-point-per-game scorer is never easy, especially for Charlotte, who ran the entirety of their offense through Kemba Walker. He was slightly better against Detroit, averaging 27 points per game in their four meetings.

Now that he is gone it is hard to imagine where the Hornets are going to get points. Their best hope is likely Monk, who is still very young and improved incrementally last year. Rozier had a nice playoff run with the Celtics in 2018 but was exposed when he had to play big minutes. Bruce Brown will be tasked with guarding Rozier or Monk most of the time, and if Brown can lock either of them down it’s hard to see how the Hornets will score.

Drummond has had some problems with Zeller in the past, but without Walker to draw double teams, Zeller will have difficulty finding open shots. Batum and Williams keep getting worse, so when you look at this Hornets’ roster there is not a single guy who stands out as a threat. There isn’t a player on Charlotte who commands a double team, so Detroit should be able to play them straight up.

If Brown et al. can keep Rozier from getting to the rim with impunity the Hornets are going to have to rely on a lot of long two’s and contested three’s. Detroit wasn’t exactly a defensive force last year but should take a leap in year two of Casey’s scheme and have overall better personnel to get the job done with more length on the wing.

Charlotte does not have much reason to try this year as they are clearly in rebuild mode. Their offense is going to struggle on most nights and Detroit should be able to take advantage of their lack of firepower and shut them down.