The Detroit Pistons have not had a good start to the season. They have taken on the Chicago Bulls twice so far and lost both times. Now they face the Atlanta Hawks who are primed for a bounce-back win after they lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers for the fifth straight time in their building.
In these games, Jerami Grant has not been up to his standard from last season. only averaging 16.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.5 blocks, 1.5 assists, and 1.5 steals in 32.0 minutes per game. While he is still filling up the stats sheet, his efficiency has plummeted as he is only hitting 36.4 percent from the field.
On the other side of the ledger, Saddiq Bey has shown growth from his rookie season in the first two games of his sophomore season. He is averaging 16.5 points, 12.5 rebounds, and 2.5 assists in 33.5 minutes per game. He is hitting 44.5 percent of his field goals in an impressive display of growth.
The Atlanta Hawks have two defensive stoppers.
John Collins will take Grant meaning that it is going to be left to De’Andre Hunter and Cam Reddish to stop Bey. If Hunter can pull out the type of defensive performance he produced against Luka Doncic in the Hawks’ first game of the season against the Dallas Mavericks.
While Doncic still almost collected a triple-double, he was harassed on every single possession that Hunter was on the court with him. The third-year stud fought over screens, closing out every shot that Doncic took. It was a true defensive master class.
Reddish is also a tremendous defender whose 7’1″ wingspan allows him to get into passing lanes and also to pressure the ball. It will be up to both of these guys to make life difficult for Bey, if they can do this then there is a tremendous chance that the Hawks will get their second win of the season.