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Smith’s starting experience gives Pistons confidence he’ll hold the fort in Jackson’s stead

As the Pistons put together their priority lists in advance of free agency, Ish Smith had something that separated him from the other point guards they considered pursuing to back up Reggie Jackson: recent and extensive starting experience.

“It did matter,” Stan Van Gundy said. “You can’t look at anybody and say, ‘He’s OK as a 16-, 18-minute-a-game guy because it can quickly become more than that.”

He said that in early August. He just didn’t know it would be that “quickly” before he’d be proven prophetic.

The Pistons practiced Sunday with Jackson en route to New York to undergo a platelet-rich plasma injection in his ailing left knee on Monday. He’ll be on crutches for three to seven days after that and out of action for much if not all of November. They’ll have to get used to being without him.

“In my mind, I’ve been saying 15 to 20 (games), maybe,” Van Gundy said Sunday. “Maybe a little less; maybe a little more. But somewhere in there. About a quarter of the season, I think, probably. Not great. But, y’know, you do what you can do and you need to do what’s best for him.”

Smith slides into Jackson’s starting spot and will assume a similar number of minutes, somewhere north of 30. But the Pistons aren’t going to put the same weight of carrying the offense on Smith’s shoulders that Jackson lugged last season. Van Gundy was even planning to try to take some of the stress off of Jackson this season, making greater use of weapons around him. That plan gets accelerated now.

More isolations for Marcus Morris. More putting the ball in Tobias Harris’ hands. More postups for Andre Drummond and more running shooters like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Reggie Bullock off of screens.

No one was a bigger fan of the Smith signing than Morris. He’s not minimizing the loss of Jackson, but Morris feels like the Pistons have the depth and firepower to survive his absence quite nicely.

“He started all last year, so I don’t consider it a new role. I think it’s just a bigger role,” Morris said of Smith. “Games still got to be played. Reggie is a big part of our offense and our team in general, so other guys like myself got to step up, take some more of that scoring load, which I don’t think will be a problem at all.”

Smith has been friends with Jackson, as rivals and teammates, since their days going head to head in the Atlantic Coast Conference. He wants Jackson back tomorrow, but hopes the silver lining in his absence is the acceleration of his integration to the roster while playing with not just the second unit he expected to lead but the starters, as well.

“You’ve just got to play your game,” Smith said. “Coach was talking to me, getting on me, about ‘just being you. Playing your game and making it easier for everybody else, but at the same time we need your aggressiveness. We need you pushing the ball. We need you to get into the paint, knock down shots.’

“We need Reggie back, a speedy recovery. But we have to do our job. Everybody’s getting paid, so we have to do our job and do what it takes to win those games while he’s out. Somebody has to step up. It is a different kind of feel, but I don’t want to overthink it. I just want to play and let the chips fall where they may.”

The Pistons hope Smith be a starter for the low end of Van Gundy’s 15- to 20-game estimate for Jackson’s absence. But at least they’re filling his void with a guy they know can hold up with starter’s minutes.