Detroit Pistons: Should Jonas Jerebko Get A Chance To Start?
By Adam McGee
Having fallen to yet another loss Tuesday night, their 11th of the season, it’s really starting to look like time that the Detroit Pistons changed things up a bit. The current shape of their rotation clearly isn’t working, and head coach Stan Van Gundy should really be looking for alternatives by now.
One player who could fit that bill is Jonas Jerebko.
The 27-year-old is now in his fifth year in the NBA, and has spent all of those seasons with the Detroit Pistons. Jerebko remains quite underrated though. Having started 73 games in his rookie season, Jerebko has seen his role gradually reduced ever since.
The result is that he currently finds himself in the 10-15 minute range of playing time, where it’s not easy to have an impact.
The Swede is managing to stand out with his intelligent and efficient play though. Jerebko has played in 12 of Detroit’s 14 games to start the season, and is averaging just less than 16 minutes of play per night.
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In that time on the court, Jerebko is offering the Pistons exactly what they need the most, yet it’s still not really having an impact on his minutes.
Jerebko is a big man with a soft shooting touch, and knocks down his shots at an extremely efficient rate. When Jerebko is on the court, the Pistons’ spacing is much improved, with the Swede shooting 51.8 percent from the field, 40 percent from 3-point range, and 100 percent from the free throw line.
Those numbers are no fluke either, Jerebko has a track record.
Last season, with Detroit having a really difficult season that saw two coaches come and go, Jerebko shot 47.1 percent from the field, 41.9 percent from beyond the arc, and 72.9 percent from the free throw line.
In spite of offering up exactly the type of production the team needed, Jerebko only averaged 11.6 minutes per game last season, rarely getting an opportunity to contribute.
It’s now getting to the stage though where the question has to be, how much longer can the Pistons fail to utilize Jerebko? Sure he’s not an instantly recognizable name in NBA circles quite like Josh Smith or Greg Monroe, but picking the team on reputation hasn’t exactly worked for the Pistons anyway.
The Detroit front court of Smith, Monroe and Andre Drummond clearly just doesn’t work, in spite of the persistence of those in the Motor City who keep trying to go to that lineup. With those three on the court, there’s no spacing, the paint gets clogged, and the Pistons end up with a lot of bad shots.
With guys like Caron Butler and Jerebko shooting so well off the bench, it’s hard to see why Detroit won’t make a change. To get an idea of Jerebko’s potential contribution in a bigger role, let’s adjust his numbers per 36 minutes.
With an adjusted output of 14.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.1 steals, at the level of efficiency Jerebko has played, it’s an intriguing prospect to say the least.
Stan Van Gundy has a choice to make. He can stick with the tried and tested lineup, that clearly doesn’t work, or he can look to mix it up a bit. If he was to go with the latter, expect Jerebko to benefit significantly.