Brandon Jennings is making progress toward a return from the Achilles tear he suffered last season.
His return just isn’t imminent.
Detroit Pistons head coach and president Stan Van Gundy offered up the following cryptic timeline for Jennings’ ongoing recovery, per USA Today‘s Jeff Zillgitt:
Return for Pistons G Brandon Jennings not imminent, Stan Van Gundy said. But 3-4 weeks is reasonable timeline with allowance either way.
— Jeff Zillgitt (@JeffZillgitt) December 2, 2015
This isn’t the most definitive of updates, that’s for sure, but it’s not discouraging, either. That Van Gundy said there was “allowance” either way suggests Jennings could be back sooner, perhaps well before the calendar turns to 2016.
Whenever he returns, it’ll be a welcome sight for the Pistons, who are in a really weird place right now.
Yes, they’re hovering right above .500. And sure, their defense has been mostly good, allowing just 99.9 points per 100 possessions, the 11th-best mark in the league, according to NBA.com. But their offense remains an eyesore.
The Pistons are pumping in just 99 points per 100 possessions, giving them a bottom-10 attack. Their spacing remains cockeyed, and they’re putting in less than 32 percent of their long balls.
Jennings has the reputation of a chucker, but he’s a better spot-up shooter than Reggie Jackson, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Marcus Morris. So long as he doesn’t revert back to his old ball-dominant, clock-killing ways, he’ll be a breath of fresh air.
Really, if the Pistons use him properly, as that exclusive catch-and-shoot shot-maker, he could be the bucket-blitzing force that pushes them over the edge and into the playoffs for the first time since 2009.
