The Detroit Pistons have won two of their last three games to get their record to 19-16 which is good enough for the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference as of right now. On Monday night in the Pistons win over the Orlando Magic they got a huge spark from point guard Brandon Jennings who is back after missing the first couple of months of the season while recovering from a torn Achilles he suffered last season. Jennings has been involved in a lot of trade rumors recently but if it was up to him he would stay in Detroit for the rest of the year, according to Vincent Ellis of the Detroit Free Press.
Jennings has now been back for four games and although he is just working his way back into form he has played well and is coming off his best performance as he scored 17 points on Monday night. Jennings is expected to come off the bench for as long as he is in Detroit because Reggie Jackson is the starter and because of that many people have speculated that Stan Van Gundy might look to trade him.
Van Gundy only enhanced those rumors when he said that Steve Blake would still be ahead of Jennings on the depth chart when he returns but that hasn't been the case as Blake has only played four minutes since Jennings has returned. Van Gundy denies that the Pistons are looking to trade Jennings because he sees him as an important player to helping them make a playoff push.
"I've said all along that our plan right now is Brandon can help us make a playoff push and that's our plan right now. If something changes in the next five weeks, we'll look at it. Right now, he's a very good player who can help us," said Van Gundy.
The Pistons look like a real playoff contender this season but one of their main issues has been the backup point guard spot as Blake and Spencer Dinwiddie have both had a shot at the backup minutes but both have played poorly. Jennings is someone who can give the Pistons quality minutes off the bench either with Jackson or with Jackson on the bench so the Pistons will have to weigh whether they think trading Jennings will get them enough in return to have to deal with Blake as the full-time backup point guard.
Jennings says he can't get away from the trade rumors because they are all over the place but he is just focused on playing basketball and staying healthy. When asked if he will be staying with the Pistons Jennings simply responded by saying "We'll see, I don't know, I hope so."
