Reggie Jackson looked eager to return to Stan Van Gundy’s practices Tuesday – if only to get away from Mark Cranston.
Under the direction of Cranston, Pistons trainer, Jackson was running line drills – back and forth, cross court, sideline to sideline – until he appeared ready to topple in exhaustion.
From Van Gundy’s perspective, that made for a good day.
“They came in today and said that he could be able to do anything non-contact,” Van Gundy said. “To me, that’s a good progression because it’s a good step in that when he’s physically ready to go, he’ll know everything that we’re doing and be back in it. He missed a big part of training camp, so that’s a big step.”
Jackson participated in two of the three segments of Tuesday’s practice before the Pistons jetted to New York to begin a two-game trip that ends Friday in Cleveland. Monday marked the five-week mark since he underwent a platelet-rich plasma injection into his left knee to address tendinosis, or persistent tendinitis. He also underwent a similar procedure that day for his right thumb, which suffered ligament damage last season and continued to affect him.
Jackson was cleared to resume limited basketball activity on Nov. 7. On Tuesday, he took part in full-speed shooting drills and in dummy offense – against no defenders. He sat out the segment of Tuesday’s practice on defense.
The original timetable on Jackson’s return from the Oct. 10 treatment was six to eight weeks, a window that opens on Monday.
“Next week would be the absolute earliest and I’d say that would be really, really optimistic at this point to think he could be back on Monday of next week,” Van Gundy said. “I don’t see that.”
Van Gundy said he saw hesitation from Jackson in making cuts.
“When he opens up, he was fine. Shooting, he was fine. But he’s a little tentative on changing direction.”
Andre Drummond, meanwhile, sat out Tuesday’s practice after missing Monday’s game with a sprained right ankle suffered in Saturday’s win at Denver. It was only the second game Drummond has missed since his rookie season due to injury and only the third overall since he missed 20 games in 2012-13 with a stress reaction in his lower back.
Drummond’s status for Wednesday’s game at New York is up in the air.
“I don’t have any idea where we’ll be on that,” Van Gundy said. “We’ll know more in the morning, I guess, when he wakes up.”
The Pistons beat Oklahoma City without their top two players. Aron Baynes, filling in for Drummond, put up 20 points and eight rebounds. He took a shot to his nose, broken during training camp, on what was to be his last night wearing the protective mask.