With almost nothing to separate Ray McCallum Jr. from Lorenzo Brown based on preseason performances, it turns out Reggie Jackson’s injury might have tipped the scales ever so slightly in McCallum’s favor.
“It was really close. It was fairly well split at the end of the day,” Stan Van Gundy said by way of describing the process that led his front office to decide on McCallum over Brown for the final Pistons roster spot. “Ray had played about three times as many NBA games as Lorenzo had and we need a guy to play right now. So that was a huge part of the decision, to be honest.”
McCallum started 40 games over his two seasons in Sacramento when injuries struck there and has played in 154 NBA games over three seasons. Brown has played in 63 NBA games over three seasons.
“I liked both of them,” Van Gundy said. “I love Ray’s defense, I like his quickness, I like his competitiveness, I like his ability to penetrate the ball. There’s a lot I like – pushes the ball in transition. I like a lot of what he’s doing. … The big thing was he’s had more experience playing in the NBA. That was the biggest factor separating them. You could go back and forth and nitpick on strengths and weaknesses, but that to me was the biggest gap between the two of them.”
McCallum admits he got his best night’s sleep in a while on Saturday after surviving the final cut. Now the focus shifts from survival to functioning in an important role: serving as backup point guard and leader of Van Gundy’s second unit while Jackson recuperates from an Oct. 10 platelet-rich plasma injection that is expected to sideline him until at least late November.
“I know I’m prepared for it,” said McCallum, who played at Detroit Country Day and then three seasons under his father at Detroit Mercy before declaring for the 2013 NBA draft where he was the 36th pick. “I’ve been in this position before where, being the third guy, you turn into playing meaningful minutes as a backup and then in Sacramento the starters went down and I had to start the second half of the season.
“We’ve got a great group of guys. Coming in, leading that second unit, my role has got to be to come and bring the energy. Coach, he’s a defensive-minded coach. Just try to bring that energy on the defensive end and then the offense will carry over.”
The elevation of McCallum to the second unit could have a ripple effort on how Van Gundy sets up his rotation. The fact that no one from among his reserve wing corps – Stanley Johnson, Reggie Bullock, Darrun Hilliard and Michael Gbinije – seized the top backup spot in preseason might have influenced Van Gundy to go with a 10-man rotation and choose two among them to back up at small forward and shooting guard.
But doing so would also put McCallum out with an all-bench unit, something that at times backfired on the Pistons a year ago. Van Gundy didn’t reveal who would be the first wing player off of his bench when the regular season opens Wednesday at Toronto, but admitted the decision had been made.
“We know which way we’re going right now on Wednesday night,” he said. “But whether we bring a 10th guy into the game, that I’m not clear on. That’ll be game-situation wise.”