Piston Watch: Injuries Catching Up, Reinforcements Coming

The Pistons’ woes have continued over the last week. They lost to the Lakers at the Palace 93-81, to the Bobcats on the road at Charlotte 88-76, and to the Raptors at the Palace 94-64. In each of the games, the Pistons had scored a previous season low, but the point total in the third loss tied a franchise low. Since scrapping to come to within one game of .500 at 11-12 two weeks ago, the Pistons have gone on a 6 game losing streak to drop to 11-18.

Though Coach Kuester refuses to use injuries as a crutch, it simply boils down to the Pistons missing their best players in Tayshaun Prince, Richard Hamilton, and Ben Gordon. These three make plays and account for over 50 points among themselves. The Pistons injured players have lost 67 games so far this year, more than what they’ve had in any of the last four seasons.

Will Bynum has returned from his pair of sprained ankles, but isn’t 100% yet.

Charlie Villanueva has come down with a case of plantar fasciitis that is hampering his right foot.

Rodney Stuckey has worn down, trying to carry the offensive load for the Pistons. He is also in the process of gaining respect from NBA officials on calls to the basket. In the Toronto game in particular, Stuckey was hit on drives to the basket a number of times, but received no whistles.

Rookies Jonas Jerebko and Austin Daye have hit the rookie wall.

Fortunately, there’s light at the end of this tunnel.

The Pistons’ three day Christmas break is allowing the walking wounded to heal and word is that Prince, Hamilton, and Gordon are due to return soon. The Pistons practiced with the full squad on 12-26-09 for the first time in almost 8 weeks. Prince, Hamilton, Gordon, and Villanueva are all game-time decisions for the coming rematch against Toronto. It is likely that if they are ready to play, Prince and Hamilton will start and Gordon and Villanueva will come off the bench. One option for the starting lineup would be to have Jerebko and Prince play at power forward and small forward respectively.

Coach Kuester has refused to commit himself to a starting lineup as of yet, but the lineup he will use this week will be an upgrade over the ad hoc starting rotation he put on the floor during the last four weeks. The team will go through another period of acclimation, though, as the returning players get back their game conditioning and rebuild chemistry with their active teammates.

Also available on Midwest Sports Fans.