Life in the sun came to an abrupt halt in Detroit over the weekend as it watched star guard Brandon Jennings go down with a season-ending Achilles tendon injury.
Brandon Jennings, the star point guard of the surging Detroit Pistons, was right in the middle of exorcising every last Josh Smith demon in the Palace, when disaster struck, as Jennings tore his achilles and will miss the rest of the season.
After a less than spectacular start to the season, Jennings came to life in the absence of albatross Josh Smith. He scoring average increased over seven full points, his assists average remained above six and his shooting percentage from the field and three-point range increased by over 10 percentage points each.
In addition to the surging Jennings, the Pistons as a whole have had the most successful month of their season without Smith, going 9-5 in January as of Monday.
Van Gundy does not come off as a coach likely to cry over spilt milk or ruptured tendons or Detroit in general. Moving forward, they will need to find a way to replace what Jennings brought to the court. Moving on from Jennings was something in the not-so-distant future, but will hurt the Detroit team in the here and now. The team will need to scramble together some combination of currently rostered players and another point guard via trade or signing out of the D-League.
A trade option for the Pistons could be New York Knicks Pablo Prigioni. The 37-year-old Argentinean is currently in year two of a three-year deal with the Knicks worth $6 million, the third year is only partially guaranteed. Considering the relatively cheap deal he is on, a trade could be on the books if the Pistons have any pieces to move, or if they want to part with some type of draft pick compensation. Prigioni would bring a skilled, international veteran presence to the Pistons along with his 2014-15 season average of 18.8 minutes and is averaging more rebounds, steals and assists per game than turnovers.
If the Pistons turn to the D League, they don’t need to look far. Down the road from Detroit, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, guard Lorenzo Brown has been running the point for the Piston’s D League affiliate, the Grand Rapids Drive. Brown is average 31.8 minutes per game while averaging 16.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.9 assists. While Brown has barely cracked the pro circuit, there could hardly be a better time or place for him to get a shot to develop and get some experience playing limited minutes.
The Pistons will certainly look to add another guard. But there best options to absorb the work load left vacant by Jennings will certainly be an in-house option. D.J. Augustin, the 2013-14 installment of the Tom Thibodeau point guard resurrection project, leveraged his revival for the Bulls last year into a contract with the Detroit Pistons this season. In one game at the starting point, Augustin played 37 minutes against the Raptors, scoring 35 points on 12/20 shooting. He added eight assists and four rebounds and only committed two turnovers in the contest.
While the Pistons might have struck Thibs gold in D.J. Augustin, he can’t play 37 minutes every game this season and Spencer Dinwiddie isn’t ready to carry the load by himself if Augustin were to miss any significant time. Whoever the Pistons end up adding, their continued stability likely hinges on the performances of the players already on the team, particularly D.J. Augustin.
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