The Detroit Pistons will hit the road tonight to play the Wizards in each team’s second preseason game.
Both teams are off a win and trying to incorporate new players into the rotation, so even though these are meaningless games, there are things at stake for the players and things that matter for the Pistons.
Is Jalen Duren playing against the Wizards?
JB Bickerstaff made it clear that Duren will play in the preseason and could make his debut tonight against the Wizards. The official lineups have not been announced, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see Duren back in the starting five tonight.
The Pistons can use him, as the Wizards started both DeAndre Ayton and Anthony Davis in their first preseason win over the Knicks, and the Pistons will be drastically undersized if Duren doesn’t play.
It will also be a chance for him to ease himself back in on the road without the microscope of the home fans on him, so it would be better for him to get a couple of games under his belt before the Pistons get back to Detroit.
If we do see him, I hope to see Duren used more effectively as a hub on offense, especially in the short roll, where he has shown he can be effective.
Ron Holland II has to be more efficient
Holland potentially has more at stake early in the season than anyone, as his name is going to be included in every trade rumor once the deadline starts to get closer.
It’s not necessarily fair to Holland, but he needs to start showing signs of more efficient offense. We know he can create chaos and change games, but that needs to come up with a few more made shots and definitely fewer turnovers than we saw in game one.
It was a sloppy preseason game, so these concerns don’t get real until the regular season, but Holland should have a real chance to prove himself, and it’s up to him to seize it.
Will there be a position battle at backup point guard?
This one might be a tad overblown after rookie Ebuka Okorie had a solid 10 minutes at the end of a preseason game.
The Pistons trust Jenkins and the backup point guard spot is his to lose. Jenkins is also a competitor who is not about to hand over his spot to a rookie, so I expect these two will be getting after it in preseason, and it should be fun to watch.
There is a world in which Okorie and Jenkins get minutes in the rotation, though my guess is that the rookie will be left out unless he is just too good not to play.
Much of the Pistons’ rotation is more or less decided, but there are battles on the fringes that make these preseason games matter.
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