When a team sports a 3-19 record, as the Pistons do six weeks into the season, baby steps are more realistic than dramatic leaps forward. The return of the Jodie Meeks that Stan Van Gundy expected to have when he signed him as a free agent last July – and especially anticipated after seeing him for the first eye-opening week of training camp – would give the Pistons a chance at a dramatic step.
But Van Gundy doesn't expect that Jodie Meeks any time soon, perhaps not until the All-Star break.
Meeks will come back in some form today, when he practices for the first time since being diagnosed Oct. 13 with a stress reaction in his lower back. If all goes well, he'll do it again Thursday before the Pistons fly to Phoenix. And that's where Meeks hopes to make his debut, Friday night.
"We'll see what happens," he said. "Possibly, I may play Friday."
Baby steps is what Meeks was taking, quite literally, not that long ago. For the bones to fuse from the type of injury Meeks suffered, near immobility is initially required. Meeks over the past eight weeks has gone from shuffling to walking normally to jogging to sprinting to cutting to jumping. He began live one-on-one drills recently and went through Tuesday morning's offensive walk-through before the Portland game.
"I've been going pretty hard for the past week, week and a half," he said, about the time he became pain free. "It's not the same as practice because no contact, but we'll see tomorrow."
Van Gundy especially rues the timing of Meeks' injury.
"The tough part is he had six days of training camp. It's not like he was out here, worked, learned the system, got to get back physically. He's basically got to go through training camp and figure out what's going on. Those training camp injuries are really, really difficult ones, unless they've been with the same team for a long time. That's where you establish chemistry, learn the system, all of that. He missed all of that. It's not going to be an easy comeback."
Of the five free agents Van Gundy signed in July, Meeks was the most important. He got the most money, he was the guy Van Gundy targeted and contacted first and he was the first to come to an agreement. Van Gundy said after the first few days of camp that for as excited as he was to land Meeks, he'd looked even better than he'd expected. He was anticipating using training camp to find ways to use both shooting guards, Meeks and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, in the same lineup.
Meeks doesn't know what to expect or how long it might take him to hit his stride. He's as eager to take the first step with his return to practice as Van Gundy is to have him to see where it goes from there.
"The rhythm and stuff will come (with) playing games," he said. "Most important thing is just getting out there, pain free, and trying to help the team by playing hard. I'm not really worried about making shots and stuff like that. That'll come. Might be a little rusty but as long as I get out there and play hard, we should be fine."
If Van Gundy deems Meeks fit for spot duty at Phoenix or at some point on their three-game trip west, the likeliest scenario is that he assumes Cartier Martin's role as Caldwell-Pope's backup. Caldwell-Pope is no stranger to playing long minutes, so if Meeks can only give the Pistons four- or five-minute stints initially it shouldn't have any ripple effects on the rotation beyond a Meeks-for-Martin swap. With Martin struggling to shoot – his primary contribution – Van Gundy benched him for the second half of Tuesday's 98-86 loss to Portland in favor of rookie point guard Spencer Dinwiddie.
It might, indeed, take a matter of weeks, not days, before Meeks provides the consistent game-changing impact Van Gundy expected him to provide.
"I hope not. I hope I can come back, but he may be right, he may be wrong," Meeks said. "I'm just trying to get through these next two practices alive. It should be fun. I'm looking forward to practicing."