- The Pistons are being rewarded for their patience with Reggie Bullock, according to Rod Beard of the Detroit News. Bullock saw limited playing time during his first two seasons in Detroit, but has moved into the starting lineup this year and is averaging nearly 13 points per game in that role. “A player with my story probably would have been out of the league or trying to find his way back in the league,” Bullock said. “But I landed in the right position. It was God’s plan for me to be able to watch and learn, and now I’ve got an opportunity to play and to just keep moving forward.”
The return of Reggie Jackson has Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy feeling optimistic about the team’s future, as Ansar Khan of MLive.com details. Detroit is 3-1 since Jackson returned from a severe ankle sprain that cost him nearly three months of action. The addition of a starting point guard to go along with the big man duo of Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond makes the Pistons a dangerous team going forward, in Van Gundy’s mind.
- Griffin sees similarities between joining the Pistons and getting drafted by the Clippers, as he explained to Rod Beard of the Detroit News. “For me, it was a cool challenge,” Griffin said of his Clippers experience. “I want to go there and be a part of something. Luckily, I was able to do that. I look at [Detroit] the same way. This is a franchise that has a history of winning a championship and they have an identity as a franchise. This is a place where I want to help get this franchise back to where it was and where it deserves to be.”
Two days after collapsing on the court during a G League game, Zeke Upshaw of the Grand Rapids Drive has passed away, the team announced today (Twitter link). He was 26 years old.
“After continued efforts from the medical team at Spectrum Health, Zeke made his transition at 11:16 am,” Jewel Upshaw, Zeke’s mother, said in a statement. “To family, friends, teammates, coaches, fans & confidants, thank you for your prayers and support during this most difficult time.”
With about 50 seconds remaining in the Drive’s game against the Long Island Nets on Saturday night, Upshaw collapsed onto the court. He lay motionless on his stomach for several minutes before being taken off the floor on a stretcher. Upshaw was immediately transported to nearby Spectrum Hospital and was placed under doctors’ care, but passed away on Monday morning.
Although he never played in an NBA game, Upshaw was a key player for the Pistons’ G League affiliate in Grand Rapids, having appeared in 75 contests for the club over the last two seasons. The 6’6″ swingman had scored 11 points in Saturday’s win to help the Drive secure a playoff spot. Upshaw, who began his professional career in 2014, previously played college ball at Illinois State and Hofstra.
We at Hoops Rumors send our condolences to Upshaw’s family and friends, as well as to the Pistons organization.
- It may have taken awhile, but Pistons‘ rookie shooting guard Luke Kennard is now firmly entrenched in the Pistons’ rotation and is an important part of Detroit’s future, writes Keith Langlois of Pistons.com. Teammate Blake Griffin likes what he’s seen out of Kennard lately, saying, “He’s been great this stretch. Not only scoring the ball but running offense with poise when he has it, playing good defense, being in passing lanes, passing the ball well. He’s done everything. He’s very capable of doing that and it’s been huge for us.”
In a young man’s league, Pacers point guard Darren Collison, 30, is the definition of a veteran, but doesn’t want his ability to reflect it. In his ninth NBA season, Collison wanted to make some adjustments and improvements, which led him to a phone conversation with one of the all-time greats.
Mark Monteith of NBA.com writes that Collision set up a call with future Hall-of-Famer Steve Nash. Collison wanted to pick Nash’s brain on how to adapt to playing against younger guards, implementing new moves, and improving his diet. Collison said he has long admired Nash and wanted to learn as much as he can.
“He was one of my favorite players to watch, because he’s not athletic, he’s not big, he’s not strong,” Collison said. “But when you guard him, it’s the hardest thing to do because he just knows how to keep the defense honest in the pick-and-roll. He doesn’t go fast, he doesn’t go slow. He makes every read precisely. I’ve watched a lot of film on him, so I figured why not just call him and pick his brain?”
Collison is averaging his usually solid numbers this season with 12.7 PPG and 5.3 APG in 59 games. If he ever needs it, he now has one of the greatest point guards in league history just a phone call away.
Check out more Central Division notes below:
- With Reggie Jackson back on the court, the Pistons finally have their three best players healthy simultaneously. Midseason acquisition Blake Griffin, prolific rebounder Andre Drummond, and Jackson are a strong trio that can do a lot of damage if healthy, NBA.com’s Keith Langlois writes. “If we can get Reggie healthy and keep him healthy,” head coach Stan Van Gundy said, “with those three guys, that’s going to be a formidable group to play against for anybody.”
- After recent reports suggested that the Bucks nearly traded Jabari Parker at the deadline and have a list of potential replacements for interim head coach Joe Prunty, general manager Jon Horst rejected those stories during a radio appearance in Milwaukee. Matt Velazquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel relays Horst’s comments, in which the Bucks GM denied the reports and indicated they came from erroneous sources.
- As we relayed earlier today, Bulls two-way guard Antonio Blakeney suffered a fractured left wrist and he will miss the rest of the season.
Don’t expect LeBron James to be among those lobbying on behalf of a potential play-in tournament for a postseason berth. The NBA has reportedly kicked the idea around in a couple different variations, but James said today that he’s not a fan of the concept, as Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com details.
“No, no, no,” James said. “That’s wack. That’s wack. Why? You got to earn your spot to be in the postseason. No consolation for finishing last. That’s corny. That’s corny. That’s wack. To play for what? What are they playing for?”
While there’s a belief in some league circles that a play-in tournament at the end of the regular season to determine the seventh and eighth seeds in each conference would generate some drama, James is a firm believer that the eight teams with the best records in each conference deserve to make the playoffs.
“[Make the playoffs by winning the tournament], even if my record is better than yours? Nah, that’s wack,” James said.
Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Appearing on ESPN’s The Jump on Tuesday, Chauncey Billups called a report about the Pistons expressing interest in him for a front office role “100% false,” per Rod Beard of The Detroit News. “I haven’t spoken to anybody with the organization about the possibility,” Billups said. Still, this isn’t the first time Billups has been linked to a front office job — if the former NBA guard does land somewhere as an executive, former Pistons assistant GM George David would be a candidate to potentially join him, tweets Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press.
- Nine NBA teams have been officially eliminated from the postseason. While the 2017/18 season has been a fairly forgettable one for those clubs, Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer highlights some silver linings worth mentioning.
- Over at ESPN.com (Insider link), Kevin Pelton and Bobby Marks have updated their future NBA power rankings, which consider each team’s outlook through the 2020/21 season. Unsurprisingly, the Warriors, Celtics, and Rockets still top their list, with the Sixers and Raptors jumping into the top five.
Earlier today, Marc Stein of The New York Times reported that the Pistons have expressed interest in Chauncey Billups for a potential front office role, with an eye on possibly pairing him with Arn Tellem in their basketball operations department. The report quickly drew responses from multiple sides — Billups stated that he would “never push for a job with any NBA franchise that is not open,” while a Pistons ownership spokesman simply called the report “false.”
Rod Beard of The Detroit News (Twitter link) also hears from a source that there’s “nothing whatsoever” to the idea of a Billups/Tellem team-up in the Pistons’ front office, but Stein doubled down on the report in his latest newsletter for The New York Times, citing league sources who say that Detroit has “great interest” in hiring Billups. According to Stein, the Pistons believe they have a real shot to convince Billups to leave his TV job for an executive role.
Barring a miracle, the 31-39 Pistons won’t make the playoffs this season, but Blake Griffin remains optimistic about the club’s longer-term outlook. In a conversation with Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated, Griffin said that he thinks the team will be “very good” next season.
“This summer we will have a chance to really jell, figure stuff out,” Griffin said. “I think the ceiling of this team is very, very high. We have a lot of different guys who can do a lot of different things who can affect the game in a lot of different ways. Getting Reggie [Jackson] back will be huge.”
[RELATED: Pistons reportedly interested in Chauncey Billups for front office role]
While the Pistons have struggled since acquiring Griffin, getting a full offseason with the new-look roster in place could pay off. Last season, the Pelicans were unable to make a late-season run after trading for DeMarcus Cousins at the deadline, but New Orleans – with and without Cousins – has looked much better this year. The Pistons will be looking to follow that model.
As for Griffin, he discussed a few other aspects of his midseason change of address with Spears, acknowledging that he would have approached free agency a little differently last July if he knew the Clippers would consider trading him just a few months later. Here are a few more of Griffin’s noteworthy comments from the conversation:
On the Clippers’ decision to trade him:
“You always hear guys say that, ‘Basketball is a business,’ and all that. It’s so much different when you have had a relationship with a certain amount of people for so long and been at a place for so long. Someone always promises you this is what we are doing and six months later … It shows people’s true colors. Other than that, at the end of the day, you have to realize it’s a business.”
On why it didn’t take him long to get over being traded:
“If I wasn’t happy with where I was at or excited to be here, it would take a little bit longer. But as soon as I got here to Detroit, the franchise, the way they go about taking care of the players, the way they do everything, is first-class. So, that makes the transition much easier. Stan [Van Gundy] and the whole staff has been awesome. I’m not looking back.
“I haven’t put much thought into it, to be honest. I’ve been so focused on making this transition and [adjusting] to this change that I haven’t put that much thought into it. I never want to be in a place where I’m not wanted. Coming here made me realize what a franchise looks like.”
On what advice he would give to stars entering free agency:
“You have to make the best decision for you, personally. If fans are upset, if one or two people are not super-supportive or aren’t on board with that, you have to live with it. You have to be somewhere where you enjoy it.”
12:55pm: In the wake of Stein’s report, Billups said he’d “never push for a job with any NBA franchise that is not open,” while Pistons ownership and Platinum Equity spokesman Mark Barnhill simply called the report “false” (Twitter links via Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated and Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press).
That’s no surprise, since – as Billups notes – those front office jobs aren’t currently open, so the team isn’t about to confirm its interest in other candidates.
12:05pm: The Pistons have expressed interest in hiring former All-Star guard Chauncey Billups for a basketball operations role, reports Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter link). According to Stein, Detroit is mulling the idea of having Billups work in tandem with Arn Tellem in a “totally revamped” front office.
Currently, Stan Van Gundy serves as both the head coach and the president of basketball operations in Detroit, with Jeff Bower handling day-to-day operations as the Pistons’ general manager. Tellem, a longtime agent, is the team’s vice chairman.
However, with the Pistons almost certain to miss the playoffs despite making a big midseason splash for Blake Griffin, a front office shakeup could be coming this offseason. There have been rumblings about the possibility of Tellem moving from the business side to the basketball side, and Billups would be a logical target to work with him, given his history with the Pistons as a player.
While Billups’ résumé for a top front office job may be somewhat lacking, he’s viewed as a future executive, and a pairing with an industry veteran like Tellem might be a nice fit. Billups nearly landed in Cleveland last summer when the Cavaliers targeted him as David Griffin‘s replacement. He ultimately withdrew from consideration for that GM job, with a below-market offer reportedly playing a part in his decision.
If the Pistons are to shake up their front office, it’s not clear whether Van Gundy would remain with the organization. Last year, Doc Rivers and Mike Budenholzer continued to coach the Clippers and Hawks, respectively, despite having their president of basketball operations titles removed. Theoretically, the Pistons could do the same thing with Van Gundy in the hopes that he could get better results from the club when he’s focused exclusively on coaching. It’s not clear if both sides would be on board with that arrangement though.
While the injury that has sidelined Reggie Jackson since December was referred to as an ankle sprain, the veteran point guard actually had complete tears of the ligaments in his right ankle, writes Keith Langlois of Pistons.com. When Jackson first went down with the injury, the Pistons announced he’d be re-evaluated in six to eight weeks, and he admits he thought he’d be back on the court around that time.
“I never expected to miss whatever amount of games as I did,” Jackson said. “I really thought it was a four-week thing, even though people said six to eight. I took the news like everybody else. Once we got to that point, realized it said ‘re-evaluation.'”
Even though the Pistons’ chances of making the playoffs are all but dead, Jackson is hoping to return from the stretch run, if only to build up a little momentum for the offseason and for the 2018/19 campaign. As Langlois details, Jackson said this weekend that he hopes he’ll be back “soon,” while head coach Stan Van Gundy suggested his point guard’s return will depend on how his ankle responds to yesterday’s full-court scrimmage.
“We’re hoping maybe this week he’ll play at some point,” Van Gundy said.
Here’s more on the Pistons:
- Van Gundy received a $15K fine from the NBA for publicly criticizing the officiating in Saturday’s loss to Portland, the league announced in a press release. Van Gundy said after Saturday’s game that the Trail Blazers “got away with fouls all over the place,” adding that the Pistons “got absolutely screwed” and calling it “embarrassing for the league.”
- Pistons guard Dwight Buycks, who scored a career-high 22 points against Denver last Thursday, is making a case for a roster spot on next year’s team, writes Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press. Buycks’ contract includes a non-guaranteed $1.6MM salary for 2018/19, which will become guaranteed if he remains under contract through September 1.
- The Pistons, whose roster underwent major midseason changes, continue to search for the right balance between their starters and reserves, as Rod Beard of The Detroit News details.