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Brandon Jennings' Injury Won't Derail Detroit Pistons' 2015 Playoff Push

Published by Bleacher Report on Mon, 26 Jan 2015


The post-Josh Smith Detroit Pistons found a version of Brandon Jennings nobody had ever seen before.Now that Jennings is done for the year, they'll have to hope the other things they found after waiving J-Smoove on Dec. 22 will be enough to help them survive losing one of the biggest keys to their resurgence.Detroit made the news everyone feared official on Jan. 25:The Pistons improved in a big way without Smith, but it wasn't hard to see that growth coming. Smith had played poorly on an individual basis throughout his time in Detroit, and his presence mucked up spacing, clogged the frontcourt rotation and generally hindered head coach Stan Van Gundy's plans.Since jettisoning Smith, Detroit's been terrific. A blistering month marked by the fourth-best net rating in the league, per NBA.com, has allowed the Pistons to recover from a ghastly 5-23 start.Losing Smith helped the Pistons gain in the standings.Jennings is different. His departure from the rotation doesn't bring the kind of foreseeable improvement Smith's did. The point guard had been enjoying the very best stretch of his career over the past month, averaging 19.8 points and seven assists per game to go along with 39.4 percent shooting from long distance. ESPN Insider Tom Haberstroh provided a stat comparison:In that brief span of wild success, Jennings chipped away at a reputation that had calcified, changing opinions formed over yearsthat he was an unserious, me-first player composed of more style than substancein a matter of weeks. It's a change BBallBreakdown discussed:Van Gundy, among the NBA's preeminent raspy curmudgeons, doesn't dole out praise all that willingly. He did for Jennings, via Vincent Goodwill ofThe Detroit News:"He's been the guy who's been our catalyst offensively. He's been averaging 20 a game, high-assist, low-turnover, playing at the highest level of his career. Was a huge factor in the previous 15 games so, it's a major, major loss."No question.Losing Jennings is a blowas much to the Pistons as it is to happily surprising redemption stories everywhere.But!Jennings' shooting was unsustainable. In 371 games from 2010 to 2014, Jennings hit 39 percent of his shots from the field and 35 percent from the floor overall. The 16 games he played this year without Smith saw those numbers jump to 43 percent and 39 percent, respectively.Even the most optimistic Jennings supporter has to admit regression was coming. Just look how he shot the ball in December (which includes three games playedwithout Smith), courtesy of Rotoworld's Michael Gallagher:That's not to say the Pistons' recent run has been tied specifically to Jennings miraculously figuring out how to shoot. Far from it.The entire team has undergone a change. Up and down the roster, players are performing with purposecuts have been harder, ball movement crisper, help rotations more urgent.A Jan. 14 article by Goodwill featured Jennings getting to the source of the turnaround:I am aware. I'm more vocal and I'm more about putting the team first. It's a part of growing up. You see things like what happened to Josh, it's a wake-up call for a lot of players. If they waive him, they'll waive the next person. It's a wake-up call for all of us in the locker room. We got a job to do. Being 5-23 wasn't pleasant and Stan made that known.Whether Smith's removal was an emotional wake-up call or a practical move that put everyone into more fitting positions, the Pistons' collective improvement has been aboutso much more than just Jennings.Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond suddenly aren't in each other's way all the time. Snipers like Jodie Meeks (who was injured for almost all of Smith's time with the team) are getting all the looks they can handle.Jonas Jerebko actually plays now.The list goes on.It's fair to wonder if losing Jennings, one of the only real drive-and-kick threats on the roster and probably the team's most dynamic facilitator, will upset Detroit's offensive balance.It's possible.But saying Jennings' absence will pull apart everything the Pistons have built in recent weeks discounts the top-down nature of the organization's metamorphosis. It discredits the myriad positive changes brought about by Smith's departure.Van Gundy has these guyscaring, and Jennings' newfound focus was perfect proof.The Pistons now play like a team that believes in what it's doing. And if there's one lesson to take away from the controversial decision to waive Smith, it's that teamwork and system matter more than any one player."It's gonna be by committee," Caron Butler, one of Jennings' mentors, told Goodwill. "It has been by committee since Christmas. It hasn't been one individual."Jennings himself kept the focus on the collective spirit that has defined the Pistons, even amid the emotion of realizing his season was over:It's a little morbid to suggest the Pistons approach the rest of this season like Jennings would have wanted them to, but their fallen point guard has it right: Losing him won't destroy the team or its playoff chances. Detroit can lean on D.J. Augustin, who hasn't had much of a year, but who shined as a legitimate closer for the Chicago Bulls just last season.The team can look into smaller trades for help at the point. ESPN.com's Marc Stein reports there have been talks with the New York Knicks about Pablo Prigioni.And consider this: The Pistons have posted the fifth-best defensive rating in the NBA since Dec. 22, according to NBA.com. Removing Jennings from the lineup isn't going to suddenly prevent Van Gundy from scheming brilliantly, and itwon't stop Drummond from playing high-velocity pat-a-cake with opponents' feeble attempts at the rim.The Pistons have been doing this on defense, and they've been doing it together. Any team in the East, Jennings or not, is a legitimate playoff threat if it can defend at a top-five level.Detroit is within easy striking distance of the No. 8 spot now, and the teams immediately ahead of it are riddled with vulnerabilities.Losing Jennings hurts, and it's sad for him on a personal level. But the Pistons' playoff push will survive.Follow @gt_hughes
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