The Detroit Pistons have been one of the nice surprises in the NBA so far this season as they started out 5-1 before losing their last two games. A lot of their success could be attributed to the great play of Reggie Jackson as he seems to have settled in as the number one scoring option for Detroit, but the team still has some things to figure out, namely the backup point guard spot. Brandon Jennings will eventually take over the backup point guard spot when he gets back, but that likely won't be until December at the earliest, according to Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press.
Jennings tore his Achilles in January and has been out about 10 months. The Pistons have decided to take it slow with Jennings as he still feels sore when he wakes up and he says it takes him a little bit longer to warm up. While Jennings has already surpassed the typical timetable for a return from the Achilles, he is now planning to ramp up his activity in the next couple of days.
"At least I want to go live a little bit just to see where it's at. I'm not saying I have to go everything live, but a couple of things I want to see how I can do live because I'm making moves and everything. Hopefully, I'll be able to practice tomorrow. That's where I'm at," said Jennings.
By going live Jennings will be able to gauge where he is at with his recovery and that will make it clearer when he might return, and the Pistons certainly can use him. Jackson has been great in the starting lineup, but behind him has been a mess as Steve Blake has played very poorly. Blake is shooting just 27 percent from the field, and his PER is just 6.0 in 15 minutes per game.
Coming into the season, head coach Stan Van Gundy had to decide whether he would use Blake or Spencer Dinwiddie as the backup point guard until Jennings returned, and he went with Blake because of his experience, and that has not worked well so far. Dinwiddie has only played seven minutes so far this season, but it seems like his opportunity may be coming as Jennings isn't all that close and Blake hasn't played well.
Jennings likely won't be able to solve all of the Pistons' problems, and it is still impossible to know if he will be the same player when he returns from a major injury, but he will most definitely be an upgrade over what the Pistons have available now. The next few days will be big in determining how far away Jennings is from a return, but December seems like the best-case scenario.
