Point guard will become the deepest position on Stan Van Gundy’s roster when all hands are on deck, but they’ll be two shy for tonight’s preseason opener against Chicago. It could have been worse, but Brandon Jennings – who pulled out of Monday’s practice with knee soreness – proclaimed himself good to go and he’ll start against the Bulls.
Joining him in Van Gundy’s first starting lineup – which he says was chosen almost at random and will change for Thursday’s game with Milwaukee – will be Jodie Meeks, Andre Drummond, Josh Smith and Caron Butler. Van Gundy will use a 10-man rotation tonight, he said after this morning’s shootaround, and the second unit will consist of Greg Monroe, Jonas Jerebko, Kyle Singler, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and D.J. Augustin.
Will Bynum strained a hamstring minutes into the first training camp practice and hasn’t participated since, which leaves Augustin and Jennings among the four point guards who figure to occupy roster spots once Van Gundy trims to the league-mandated 15 by Oct. 27.
But Spencer Dinwiddie might be close to entering the competition.
“You’ve got to ask Stan and (physical therapist) Arnie (Kander) that,” grinned Dinwiddie, under strict orders to avoid timelines as he recovers from January ACL surgery that ended his junior season at Colorado and pushed him into the second round of June’s draft.
“I don’t really have a say in it. If it was my choice, I���d be starting against the Bulls. But it’s not my call.”’
Dinwiddie has yet to be cleared for full participation in practices, but he took a major step forward when he was given the OK to take part in live three-on-three drills. Before that, he could do individual work and be part of walk-through sessions. Monday was the first time he was thrown into a situation where he was allowed to respond to another player’s movements.
“That was a positive,” Van Gundy said. “to see him actually in drills where it was competitive and he didn’t know exactly what was going to happen next. I thought he did well, but it’s limited time.”
“It was good. I had a turnover, got a couple of steals, played basketball,” Dinwiddie said. “I was happy.”
The Pistons and Dinwiddie both feel that whenever he’s cleared, he won’t be far behind. He’s a quick study and has been diligent about his conditioning while rehabilitating the injury.
“I’ve been doing live action half court and obviously that’s not a real game, but it’s not very far off at all, either,” he said. “We run plays and run the action and run our calls defensively. I’m getting used to that and adjusting to the NBA, how it’s played, how it’s called, the speed and everything. Just got to get to full court.”
It stands to reason he’ll have a prolonged adjustment period, first because he hasn’t played basketball in 10 months and also because – like any rookie – the size and speed of NBA players reduces the window for decision making and action. But Van Gundy is bullish on Dinwiddie’s future for a lot of reasons, including his makeup and his size. At 6-foot-6, Dinwiddie will have passing angles to him that the three veteran Pistons point guards – all of them somewhat undersized – simply would not.
He says he has zero discomfort with his knee and his testing results are basically back to pre-injury levels with the possible exception of a slightly lower vertical leap at present. He says his running maximum vertical leap off the injured left leg is a little below what it was, but the same measurement off his right leg is better than before.
“Everything feels good and I’m moving at a very good pace,” he said. “I have to adjust to this level, but I can’t tell any discernible difference except that I jump a little bit lower than I did. That’s about it.”