The Detroit Pistons have played pretty well so far this season, as they have won their last two games to bring their record to 10-9, but they are still a flawed team. One of the areas where they have had some issues has been at the backup point guard spot where Brandon Jennings was supposed to be. Jennings still has not played this season as he recovers from a torn Achilles he suffered last season, but it seems like he is getting pretty close to a return, according to Vincent Ellis of the Detroit Free Press.
The timetable for Jennings' return has been all over the place since this summer, as there was hope he might only miss a few games but more recently it seemed like he would be out until the New Year. Jennings' goal recently has been to return around Christmas, and it seems like that is a reasonable expectation because he has a three-week timeline for a return.
The Pistons don't play on Christmas, but they do play the day after against the Boston Celtics, so as of right now it seems like that would be a tentative return date for the 26-year-old point guard. While Jennings is confident he might be back in three weeks, head coach Stan Van Gundy said his return was "not imminent" but did go on to say that three-four weeks seems likely, according to Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today.
With Jennings out so far this season, the Pistons have gotten great play from starter Reggie Jackson, but the issue has been when Jackson is resting. The two other point guards on the roster are Steve Blake and Spencer Dinwiddie, and so far this season neither has brought much to the table, as they have combined for a PER of 14. To put that in perspective, Jennings' career PER is 16.3, so his return will clearly be a huge help.
Jennings will likely be eased back into action and not be given a full workload right away, but anything he provides will be an improvement this season. Blake won the backup job out of training camp but lost it temporarily to Dinwiddie until he got it back about a week ago. At this point, Van Gundy and the Pistons are just biding their time behind Jackson until Jennings returns, and fortunately for them it seems like they won't have to wait too much longer.
