Stein : Pistons fearing Jackson miss extended time, explore PG market

[Kilo]

Marc Stein ‏@ESPNSteinLine 4m4 minutes ago

Today's hot rumble: Hearing Detroit, fearing Reggie Jackson may miss extended time to start the season, will explore the point guard market.
4 retweets 3 likes

Marc Stein ‏@ESPNSteinLine 8m8 minutes ago

After missing Tuesday's open practice, Detroit's Reggie Jackson told local scribes he's been battling tendinitis in his left knee for years.
6 retweets 3 likes

Dun...dun...dun!

I don't believe it though - unless it means a veteran FA over Brown/McCallum. Steve Blake return? Can't imagine trading anybody for a pg now, given Reggie is expected back and Ish Smith brought in for back-up minutes - so the player we'd trade for now would then be 3rd string when we're healthy.

Another option would be to trade Baynes and Bullock for a rotation caliber combo guard who could split the point with Ish to start the season and then be the primary back-up to KCP when Reggie is healthy. Is there an $8M combo guard that could be had for such a package?

[MotownMadness]

Wow that would suck and take a hit on our win total for sure. I don't think we really need a trade though as worst case Smith and Mccolum can hold down the position until he gets back

[epheisey]

I would hate to see us forced to deal any assets for another PG. So unless we're acquiring a competent backup to KCP that can play some spot minutes as a PG, that'd be a real unfortunate way to burn any assets.

Reggie being gone for any amount of time hurts, a lot. But what gets me the most is that it might be a known issue that's given him trouble for years. Did we tie up a chunk of cap space in a guy with sketchy knees?


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[Snakebites]

Wow, that'd really take the wind out of our sails to start the season.

I doubt we'd trade for a PG in this situation. We'd more likely bring back a stop-gap option like Blake. Not that I'm excited about that either.

[Darko Miliminutes]

I'm staying positive on this one. Not even going to give thought to him missing extended time. Not gonna happen...nope, uh uh

[Uncle Mxy]

FWIW, the "open practice" last night was a joke. Reggie was there. The closest anyone got to practice was dance moves, except for Boban who was shooting the rock.

[DBC10]

What...That's sudden news about RJ.

He's not even explosive yet he's facing tendinitis? That's pretty terrible luck, we might start pretty slow in the season if we are without starting PG. Ish at most can fill that void for a bit, but that leaves our secondary basically PG-less unless we're going to try out the SJ at point forward role. Brown and McCallum aren't really great distributors.

[Pistons888]

Would Norris Cole be a possibility? He's still not signed and I'm pretty sure we were rumored to be interested in him before trading for RJ a few trade deadlines ago. Is he even an upgrade to what we already have?

[DETermination]

This will really suck if true but atleast Ish has good experience as a starting pg.

[whitehops]

blake is looking for a team i heard...

i hope reggie doesn't miss too much time but more importantly i hope he finally gets over this tendinitis thing. surprised the pistons didn't try to address it over the offseason, assuming they knew about it. lingering injuries like this can lead to other problems in the future.

[No-Man]

What about trading for Lou Williams? he is not a PG but can score and do some stuff on the ball, he is a good shooter and when Reggie comes back healthy he can play as a combo-guard.
LA wont ask for much, I'd say.

[No-Man]

Would Norris Cole be a possibility? He's still not signed and I'm pretty sure we were rumored to be interested in him before trading for RJ a few trade deadlines ago. Is he even an upgrade to what we already have?

signed for 5m$ in China

[MotownMadness]

Are we even a playoff team without Reggie? The east has gotten better and this could cause us to lose some serious ground if he's out for a while.

[No-Man]

Are we even a playoff team without Reggie? The east has gotten better and this could cause us to lose some serious ground if he's out for a while.

has the East gotten better at all? the 8 playoff teams barring injury are pretty set and of the ones outside looking in, only NY and Orlando have a minimal chance and both are too flawed (Miami could roster wise, and they have Spo, but they are gonna rebuild and likely try to get a top10 pick).
I think ORL is a low-end PO team even if Reggie misses the whole season, not a safe bet but I think you have a chance, without Reggie this team can win 37 games I think, and that's gonna be almost enough.
The East is gonna go back to the years of 6, maybe 7 tops, teams at >50%, the last PO spot or last two, are gonna be cheap.

Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Milwaukee, Chicago and Miami are all out.

[Moose10Fan]

I'll be worried when it's set in stone that he'll miss time.

Until then I'm chill.

[flow]

blake is looking for a team i heard...

i hope reggie doesn't miss too much time but more importantly i hope he finally gets over this tendinitis thing. surprised the pistons didn't try to address it over the offseason, assuming they knew about it. lingering injuries like this can lead to other problems in the future.

It's not like it was an acl repair that the team neglected to schedule. Tendinitis can be chronic. Sometimes it's dormant, sometimes it flares up. He's been dealing with it for years. Unfortunately, it just flared up on him again in September.

[Todd3]

Doubt they're going to trade assets for a temporary backup PG. Stein probably meant signing a vet min FA like Chalmers or something.

Another PG shouldn't even be needed though. When you spend 6m on Ish because of his starting experience, he should be able to start for a few weeks, and McCallum should be able to handle 15 mpg as backup. Unless they just want a more experienced guy for those 15 backup min. In which case Chalmers makes sense. He is coming off injury though so Ray might actually be better.

[zeebneeb]

I am not worried about this at all. Now if we had Steve Blake as our primary backup then there is cause for alarm. With as well as Smith played last year with garbage surrounding him I'm not too concerned. Take your time get back healthy Reggie.

The starting group is super talented and with Smith being a pass-first point guard it's not as big a deal as it could have been. My only concern is now who backs up Smith.

[mattao313]

What the hell? Extended time for tendinitis?

Jeez.

[ChuckVanBrown]

So far it's only "may" and "could" miss time. I'm hoping RJ is fine. If he ends up missing a few games or so, it may not be so bad as it will give Ish some playing time.

Hopefully the rumors of looking at PG options are just for precautionary purposes. Call me crazy, but I wouldn't mind bringing back Steve Blake as a 3rd string PG. He knows the team and vice versa, and might be the best available PG that wouldn't require giving up an asset. There's not many decent PG options available, unfortunately.