Van Gundy tells the Freep that Reggie Jackson is ramping up on-court work
By Duncan Smith
According to Stan Van Gundy, Reggie Jackson is ramping up his on-court basketball activities in advance of training camp for the Detroit Pistons.
We’ve finally got some news on the Reggie Jackson front, and it sounds like it’s good news. Detroit Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy confirmed to Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press that Jackson is back on the court and ramping up his basketball activity.
He’ll be back in town and joining his Piston teammates at the practice facility in Auburn Hills later this week.
"“All good with the doctors and ramping up his basketball work,” Van Gundy wrote in a text.“He’ll be ready.”"
This brief statement from Van Gundy is the closest thing to concrete good news Pistons fans have had on the topic of Reggie Jackson’s knee tendinitis since he was stricken with it nearly a year ago right before training camp began.
The timing of Jackson’s news is itself heartening. He was on a 16 week rehabilitation program following the end of the Pistons’ season, focused nearly exclusively on strengthening the ligaments of the knee and avoiding on-court basketball work entirely. This program’s goal was to lighten the load on the joint itself, protecting the knee from the ravages of that tendinitis as well as can be hoped.
This program recently ended.
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While Jackson is back to work on the floor, he’ll have a reduced load during training camp. He won’t be doing two-a-days with the team, sitting out one of those practices each day. That shouldn’t be a source of additional concern, mind you. Van Gundy indicated as far back as late July that he would be skipping two-a-days as a part of keeping him rested and not taxing the knee.