Do the Detroit Pistons need Brandon Jennings?

Once a favorite of Detroit Pistons fans, Brandon Jennings has been released by the New York Knicks. Should the Pistons consider reuniting the band?

One of Joe Dumars‘ final moves as president of basketball operations for the Detroit Pistons was to acquire Brandon Jennings from the Milwaukee Bucks for Brandon Knight, Viacheslav Kravstov and Khris Middleton in the summer of 2013. Kravstov was a spare piece in the deal, but Brandon Knight was good for Milwaukee and Khris Middleton is still good for Milwaukee.

As for Brandon Jennings, reports were mixed on his time in Detroit. Over the course of his time with the Pistons (before rupturing his Achilles, an injury which altered the team’s trajectory) he had a true shooting percentage of just 49.7 with a usage far too high for that kind of offensive inefficiency.

Jennings is widely beloved by Pistons fans in spite of the fact that he was renowned for poor shot selection and being off the mark when his shot would go up. Whether the fan base admits it or not, that’s almost entirely due to a torrid stretch immediately after the Pistons stretched Josh Smith at the end of 2014 after starting Stan Van Gundy’s tenure with a dismal 5-23 record.

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After the Pistons let Smith go, the Pistons sprang to life. They went on a seven-game winning streak and bounced back into the playoff race after a horrific start. Jennings averaged 19.8 points and seven assists per game with Smith’s stagnating effect on the offense out of the picture. He shot 43.9 percent from the floor and an uncharacteristic 39.4 percent from three-point range.

Whether he had finally figured things out or it was simply an extended stretch of positive variance, we’ll never really know. 16 games after Smith was sent packing, Jennings was felled by a ruptured Achilles and was out for 11 months. He wasn’t his old self when he returned and after 23 games was traded along with Ersan Ilyasova for Tobias Harris. The Magic didn’t retain his services when his contract expired at the end of the season and the New York Knicks signed him to a one-year $5 million tryout contract this past summer.

After 58 games, the Knicks have decided to part ways with Jennings. In spite of having his most efficient shooting season (50.8 percent true shooting) since his injury-shortened 2014-15 season, he was waived Monday morning as the organization decided to go a different direction.

Given recency bias and fond memories of Jennings, Pistons fans might naturally ponder bringing him back into the fold. After all, Reggie Jackson has been largely ineffective (although he’s been good in two of the last three games) for weeks, so maybe a change is in order.

If there is any change on the horizon, however, this is not the one for the Pistons. While this has been among Jennings’ most efficient scoring seasons, 50.8 percent true shooting is well below league average. It would also be the second-worst of all point guards currently on the roster (Ish Smith is at 47.3). The Pistons also may have one of the most over-qualified third point guards in the NBA in Beno Udrih who could have made a case for starting over Ish Smith at times in the first 21 games of the season when Jackson was out with knee tendinitis.

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While the Pistons have a conundrum at point guard, adding Jennings to the mix wouldn’t solve a thing. The Detroit Pistons should and will pass on this one.