AUBURN HILLS -- It is never easy for the Detroit Pistons.
A day after getting the good news that reserve shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope would only miss a week of preseason games with a knee strain, Stan Van Gundy found out the starter at that position, Jodie Meeks, will be out until at least Christmas with a stress fracture in his back.
Meeks, who averaged 15.7 points last season while replacing Kobe Bryant in the Lakers lineup, was one of Van Gundy's first and most important free-agent signings this summer.
A 40-percent shooter on 3-pointers, Meeks was expected to team up with small forward Kyle Singler to give the Pistons the outside shooting they desperately needed last season. Caldwell-Pope, who scored 38 points in Detroit's first two preseason games, would give the team another shooter off the bench.
Now, though, Detroit is down to aging Caron Butler and inexperienced Cartier Martin at shooting guard, meaning that Singler will have to slide over and play there as well. That's not a huge problem on its own -- Singler played two-guard quite often last season -- but it also means a change in Detroit's post rotation.
Van Gundy has made it very clear that, after reviewing the tapes from last year, he knows that a lineup with Andre Drummond at center, Greg Monroe at power forward and Josh Smith at small forward doesn't work.
After 10 seasons, Smith can't keep up with small forwards on the defensive end, and his horrific outside shooting -- he made just 26.4 percent of his 3-point attempts last season -- makes him a weakness on the offensive end, as well.
To fix that, Van Gundy has planned to use Smith in a post rotation with Drummond and Monroe, letting him use his shot-blocking and rebounding abilities to their fullest advantage.
If Singler has to play shooting guard, though, Van Gundy may have no choice but to put Smith back at small forward until Meeks returns -- a situation that does not bode well for the Pistons in the early part of the season.
