Detroit Pistons Stock Exchange: recapping the season’s second week

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The Pistons’ health

After the announcement that both Rose and Frazier were out for Saturday’s game against the Nets, I nearly flew into Detroit to see if I could lend my services at point guard. With Griffin already sidelined, the news emerged that Jackson would miss at least four weeks with a back injury that is much more serious than the Pistons had hoped. Rose sat with hamstring tightness, though this seemed more precautionary than anything, a way to manage his minutes after heavy usage to start the season.

The Pistons knew they’d be walking a razor’s edge when it came to health, as Griffin, Jackson and Rose have all been plagued by injuries throughout their careers. It was risky to build a team so reliant on three guys with injury histories, but to lose all three this early in the season is the absolute worst-case scenario.

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The Pistons did win a fun game against the Nets, who were also on the second game of a back-to-back, but some of the lineups Casey had to use are not sustainable over the long term. The Pistons scored just 13 points in the second quarter and it looked like they were going to get blown out before getting hot in the third.

With Drummond on the bench the Pistons looked helpless and the starters were forced into big minutes when the backups were mostly ineffective and overmatched.

It was nice to see guys like Brown and Kennard step up against the Nets, and Drummond has been playing like an All-NBA center, but the Pistons need to get healthy to have a chance. While they might be able to overcome an injury to one of their three primary playmakers, they can’t overcome losing all three.

Detroit’s health has to be a concern, even this early in the season, which shows one of the big flaws with how this team was built. The Pistons cannot continue to put themselves in a position where losing Jackson is a death blow to the season.

If your team success relies this heavily on Jackson’s health, then you haven’t built a very deep or reliable team. This has to change moving forward.