The NBA season just started, and the league has already been decimated with injuries.
We’ve seen devastating injuries to Jalen Williams and his teammate Cason Wallace, and guard Jalen Suggs could will also miss time (though the damage wasn’t as bad as it looked) and on the same night, Pistons’ guard Isaiah Joe hit the ground hard off a dunk and had to leave the game.
The Pistons are now missing Jalen Duren for at least two weeks (expect that to be longer), and both Ausar Thompson and Isaiah Joe are listed as questionable for tonight’s game against the New York Knicks.
Considering the schedule and the injuries, it’s great that the Pistons are off to a 3-0 start, exposing three of the teams in the Eastern Conference in the progress.
But they are already digging deep into their reserves, and we may see rookie Ebuka Okorie get his first real shot at NBA action tonight in Madison Square Garden.
Detroit Pistons’ rotation: Getting the rookie early reps
If Joe and Thompson are both out tonight, we can expect to see Daniss Jenkins back in the starting lineup, as he played well against the 76ers and has historically been great as a starter when called upon.
The starting five will likely be Cade Cunningham, Jenkins, Duncan Robinson (who is on fire), John Collins (ditto) and Paul Reed.
With Joe out, the Pistons are also down a bench guard, which is a spot the rookie can claim, as the Pistons don’t have another backup point guard with Jenkins as the starter.
We could see a second unit of Okorie, Huerter, Green, Holland and Collins/Smith if coach JB Bickerstaff wants to continue to run 11 deep.
If coach Bickerstaff shortens the rotation, Okorie could be the odd man out, as he could just stagger Cade and Jenkins and use players like Huerter more on the ball.
But coach Bickerstaff talked about Okorie after the last game and said he probably should have gotten him more minutes, so I won’t be surprised to see the rookie get at least some run tonight against the Knicks.
What he does with them is up to him, but so far Okorie has played with poise in the limited action we’ve seen him in, though none of it was against the Knicks in Madison Square Garden.
These are minutes that can pay dividends down the road, as the Pistons will need all of their depth at different points in the season. If Okorie can get on the floor and play well against the defending champions, he’ll get reps in a playoff environment that will build his confidence for later in the year.
I’m trying to find a silver lining in all the early injuries, and one of them is that the Pistons’ deep bench will get some early run that could pay off later on.
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