2/9/25 1PM Hornets @ Pistons

[casimir]

4 hours ago, Deleterious said:

The Fan Duel app has been unwatchable lately. 

Yes, I opted for the ESPN feed the other night vs …. whoever it was….. because of the same issue.  The random pixels throughout a broadcast are annoying.  I honestly don’t remember the last time I’ve watched a Fan Duel / Ballys production without them.

[casimir]

Box score fun:  The Hornets actually outscored the Pistons in 3 of the 4 quarters.

[casimir]

I liked what Kelser mentioned about how Thompson and Holland give an on court energy similar to Rodman and Salley.  I’ve had that thought about Holland for a while.  Thompson, while it never occurred to me, I see what he’s saying there, too.  I’m just happy to see him recover from a disappointing rookie season.

[Motor City Sonics]

Don't look now, but Jalen Duren is starting to turn into a very good player - and he's only 21. 

[casimir]

1 hour ago, Motor City Sonics said:

Don't look now, but Jalen Duren is starting to turn into a very good player - and he's only 21. 

Fouls.  Too many dumb ones.   Too many times in early foul trouble.

Still not much of an offensive game aside from pick and rolls, but damnit if those pick and rolls aren’t an almost guaranteed two points.

Defense is still lacking, but nobody plays defense these days.

[Deleterious]

Jalen Duren will end being the ultimate what does he make guy.

He has zero range on offense. 68% of his FGA’s are inside of 3 feet.  99.94% of his FGA’s are within 10 feet. The tip ins on offensive rebounds are obviously all his. But any other point he scores is due to Cade or someone else setting him up.

He is one of the best lob catchers in the league. Has amazingly soft hands, great hand-eye coordination, and has a lot of range when catching a lob.  That has a lot of value, especially to #2 and keeping #2 happy is important.

On defense I think his post play and drop coverage have improved a bit. I bet his rim protection stats are also better. But in space on the perimeter, he is one of the worst big men defenders in the league. This will be even more important come playoff time. Big men that cannot defend in space get exposed and benched in the playoffs.

To start the year, he still had some effort issues. I think since around the Holidays his effort level has been fantastic. He needs to get smarter about using his fouls. Bigs need to use their fouls around the rim to prevent and 1’s. Stop picking up dumb fouls 70 feet from the basket or setting a stupid moving screen.

It would be great to make the playoffs this year so we can see how he handles playoff basketball. 

[NYLion]

I continue to be intrigued by Ausar handling the ball more effectively. If he can do that more consistently against better teams that could really unlock this team's potential. It's too bad he can't shoot from deep because he does everything else at a high level and would be a legit #2 but without that shot becoming more consistent there's a cap to his ceiling as a player.

Edited February 10 by NYLion

[gehringer_2]

8 minutes ago, NYLion said:

It's too bad he can't shoot from deep because he does everything else at a high level

yup. Shooting the key for him. That's really the story across the league for all these athletic kids coming in from one and done only half cooked. The ones that develop some shooting skills can go a long way.

[Deleterious]

Ausar's ball handling skills will determine how successful he is/isn't.  If you had to list his top 3 areas to improve, ball handling would be the first 5.  That is how important it is.  

[Deleterious]

Hard for me to get behind stuff like this when his TO% is 20%.  That makes Cade look like a guy who never turns it over.  Of the players who have played >20 games this year, Duren has the 23rd worst TO% in the entire league.

 

[Betrayer]

38 minutes ago, Deleterious said:

Hard for me to get behind stuff like this when his TO% is 20%.  That makes Cade look like a guy who never turns it over.  Of the players who have played >20 games this year, Duren has the 23rd worst TO% in the entire league.

 

Exactly. Same thing when people used to say Drummond was a good passer. Making a pretty pass every now and then doesn't make you a good passer. You have to be able to do more good than harm.

[gehringer_2]

1 hour ago, Deleterious said:

If you had to list his top 3 areas to improve, ball handling would be the first 5

🤔 ...✔️

[Deleterious]

25 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

🤔 ...✔️

Its like the folks that give 110%.  

[buddha]

56 minutes ago, Deleterious said:

Its like the folks that give 110%.  

60% of the time it works every time.

[gehringer_2]

I wouldn't paint Duren with the Drummond brush though - at least not yet. Duren seems to have a better motor than Drummond ever did - so that gives him better odds to keep improving than Andre ever had.

Edited February 10 by gehringer_2

[Deleterious]

It's all about the price you can get Duren at.

I think roughly 10% of the salary cap is about right.  The cap should be around $170 million that summer.  Opening offer of $15M per, hope to get him at $17M per, grit your teeth and do $20M per.  Anything higher and I need significant improvement on his perimeter defense to consider it.  Otherwise you let him walk.  They have 18 months to figure that out though.  Like I said, seeing him in the playoffs would be real nice.

[Hart]

I get that we will have to make a decision about paying Duren at some point.  But aside from that, I do think he is making the incremental improvements you want your young players to make.  And if we let him walk, we are going to have to find a viable replacement.  Which probably means overpaying for somebody else in free agency. 

 

 

 

[gehringer_2]

5 hours ago, Deleterious said:

They have 18 months to figure that out though. 

it's unfortunate that the year under Monty was probably a wasted development year for all of them.

[NYLion]

14 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

it's unfortunate that the year under Monty was probably a wasted development year for all of them.

yes but in the same token, it kept their price down on their second contract so in that sense we should thank for Monty for his utter incompetence.