Aside from the unfortunate injury to Jaden Ivey, the Detroit Pistons have been able to avoid the injury bug thus far, a welcome change from the past few seasons when injuries often ended their season before it began.
Simone Fontecchio had to leave last night’s game with what is being called a right hand injury, though his inconsistent play had already pushed him to the fringes of the rotation.
Tek is listed as day-to-day, so we’ll have to see if this is an injury that lingers, and if so, the Pistons may be forced to do some shuffling of the roster.
Detroit Pistons injuries
In the short term, we’ll likely see more of Ron Holland II if Simone Fontecchio has to miss a couple of games, but any extended absence would present issues for Detroit.
The Pistons don’t really have a backup four, and they’ve been playing Fontecchio there even though he’s a bit undersized defensively.
Detroit could turn to the G-League for more depth and have a couple of options.
Bobi Klintman
I wrote about rookie Bobi Klintman recently, mostly to talk about how he wasn’t ready for this role after missing the early season with injury.
He’s not shot the ball well in the G-League, hitting just 28 percent of his 3-point attempts, but Klintman would theoretically give the Pistons more size and shooting on the perimeter if called upon.
Tolu Smith
The Pistons signed Smith to a two-way contract this past weekend, and it seems more likely that he’ll get the call if they do need to add some depth to the bench.
The 24-year-old Smith has averaged 17 points and 12 rebounds in the G-League, and does have good size at 6-foot-11, though he is not a guy who is going to spread the floor.
Smith is more of a classic big man while Klintman represents the way the league has changed as a 6-foot-9 forward who mostly plays on the perimeter.
The Pistons could just stick with what they have and mix and match guys, playing Ron Holland and Ausar Thompson at the four for stretches, trying to use their versatility to patch the hole in the roster.
The Pistons haven’t been relying on Fontecchio for much of anything this season, but losing him for any amount of time would test their depth, as power forward is their thinnest position.
As disappointing as Fontecchio has been, the Pistons don’t have an immediate replacement, so let’s hope his injury is minor and he’ll be back in the rotation soon.