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Progress at the point: Jackson set to debut, Blake starting to feel better after concussion

Spencer Dinwiddie won’t be lonely too much longer.

The last point guard standing for the Pistons, Dinwiddie will get a little help manning his position tonight when Reggie Jackson will make his preseason debut. He missed the opener on Tuesday after first experiencing pain in his right Achilles tendon last Friday when the last of two-a-day practices ended.

“Woke up Saturday stiff and tight. Did everything to warm it up, got out there (at the public scrimmage) and played Saturday and kept kind of aching and being there,” Jackson said after this morning’s shootaround. “Feeling great today and hoping to have a good debut and get things going well for the team.”

Jackson had an MRI on Monday that showed no structural damage.

The player expected to back him up until Brandon Jennings – still rehabbing from his Achilles tendon tear suffered in late January – gets back is also is on the mend. Steve Blake, who suffered a concussion in practice on Sept. 30, is expected to come to The Palace before tonight’s game to be examined by doctors after telling Jon Ishop, Pistons director of sports medicine, that he began to feel better on Wednesday.

“He finally started to turn the corner a little,” Van Gundy said. “From there now you have to take the baseline test again and go through the protocol, so I think what we’re looking at with him is getting back to practice after the (Oct. 18) San Antonio game.”

If that timetable holds, it would give Blake more than a week – and, perhaps, the final two preseason games – to prepare for the Oct. 27 season opener at Atlanta.

Van Gundy said four players – Adonis Thomas (Achilles strain), Cartier Martin (sprained wrist), Aron Baynes (sore ankle) and Blake – would be unavailable for tonight’s game. Jackson – assuming he gets through warmups without any further Achilles issues – will start along with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Andre Drummond, Marcus Morris and Ersan Ilyasova.

“I just want to see defensive improvement,” Van Gundy said. “I know our offense has a long way to go. And because of the injuries, we’ve slowed down in terms of putting offense in. So we really don’t have as much as we would like. I know that’ll come, but I want to see us play better defense.”