Last season, there were minutes Hornets fans all dreaded. Those minutes you ask? The “Point Sion” minutes where the offense cratered. I come from Spectrum with good news, you don’t have to be afraid anymore. Because dare I say it, Sion has leveled up.
11 points, five rebounds and four assists and tied for a game high (with Royce O’Neale) +19 in 20 minutes with most of those minutes largely coming as the backup PG. There are some who will read this and say “it’s preseason”, to which, you have a case. But I dare you to look at what Sion is doing.
The handle is clearly crisper, teams are pressing him and he hasn’t coughed up the ball or really let it affect the rhythm of the offense. Which is a stark difference from what this looked like four months ago.
“As our point guard now, we trust him,” said Brandon Miller. “He does more than that, he’s a great full court defender. But not only that, he’s a young leader. That goes a long way in the NBA.”
The tangible growth is there. It’s time to acknowledge that and the fact that he’s clearly in the rotation for this team when it’s time for the regular season.
(Let me just issue a caveat to everything tonight: The Milwaukee Bucks are a bad basketball team that give off all the vibes of a team headed for the relegation zone. Tyler Herro looked like he didn’t want to be there. Myles Turner fouled out of the game in the 3rd quarter and Kyle Kuzma had a five-second inbounds violation. I get that it’s preseason, but man the vibes are HORRIFIC. Bang the under on that Bucks win total, NOW.)
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Brandon Miller looks ready for the regular season: I get that 18 points on 15 shots isn’t ideal, but much like Sion’s game, you have to look beyond the efficiency numbers and appreciate what the team looks like when there’s a guy who’s clearly at the top of the scouting report playing.
With all respect to Grayson Allen (who didn’t play) it’s a little different when there’s a 6’9 swingman who can get downhill and finish. And more importantly, it appears that he can take a bump or two.
Initially, I was resistant to any MIP or All-star conversation with Brandon, but if he and Naz can get a decent two-man game going, there’s a really good chance that he gets there.
Also, mothball Brandon until Brooklyn. His services aren’t needed until the games start mattering.Naz is Like: 16 points, two rebounds but +11 on the night. Naz looked far better when he was slotted closer to where he should be as the 2nd or 3rd option rather than being the primary option vs. Brooklyn.
What I find more fascinating about Naz (and I’m not sure this is a preseason thing or something they’re planning on taking into the season), is the Hornets offense when he’s on the floor being “Naz Reid punishes the mismatch on the switch.”
And if Naz doesn’t have the right matchup on the switch, the ball will find the right cross-matchup and that player will likely go to work. Naz being this diet Sheed-like player that’s going to expose the flaws in your defense IF they switch is going to be one of the more fascinating aspects of the Hornets offense going forward and players like Coby White, Grayson Allen and Kon Knueppel should be some of the biggest benefactors of those mismatches.Are we sure Tidjane Salaun isn’t the defacto backup 4 until Grant Williams is healthy? : I only ask this because while the offensive process isn’t the best at this point AND he’s not hitting shots, he’s been good on defense so far to start the preseason. Oh, and just judging from the substitution patterns thus far, I’m not certain Lee and co. view Royce O’Neale as a small ball 4.
Also, I’m not sure they’ve given up on him yet. It’s funny, Matt Alquiza of SI and Buzz Beat made this point to me during the game. We’ve seen what it looks like when teams have given up on players in this class (Rob Dillingham, Zaccharie Risacher and Cody Williams). The fact that the organization is still trotting Tidjane out there and giving him every opportunity to succeed or fail is a testament to them believing that he can unlock his gifts here.
I also wouldn’t be shocked if they picked up the option on his deal, it makes more sense to pick it up and if he’s bad again, they just deal him in July as a $10 million dollar expiring.
Onto Boston