The Pistons have lost 30-year old power forward Jason Maxiell for the remainder of the 2012-13 season due to a detached retina.  He played in 72 games (71 starts) for the Pistons in 2012-13 and he averaged 24.8 minutes, 6.9 points, 5.7 rebounds, 0.8 assists and 1.3 blocked shots per game.  Maxiell has now played in 523 games (175 starts) in his first 8 years with the Pistons and he is averaging 19.1 minutes, 6.1 points, 4.4 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game.  The Pistons will need Andre Drummond and Jones Jerebko to pick up the slack the rest of the season.

The Pistons have lost 30-year old PG/SG Will Bynum indefinitely due to a hand injury.  He played in 60 games (0 starts) for the Pistons so far this year and he is averaging 18.4 minutes, 9.3 points, 1.5 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game.  The Pistons are going to need 26-year old Rodney Stuckey to pick up more minutes due to Bynum’s injury.  Stuckey has played in 66 games (18 starts) for the Pistons so far this year and he is averaging 28.3 minutes, 11.2 points, 2.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game.

The Detroit Pistons will be without 19-year old PF/C Andre Drummond for the next 4-6 weeks due to a fractured tailbone.  Drummond has played in 50 games (0 starts) so far this year for the Pistons and he is averaging 19.7 minutes, 7.3 points, 7.5 rebounds, 0.5 assists and 1.7 blocked shots per game.  This is a bad thing for the Pistons as Drummond really has picked up his game lately.  In 13 games in January, Drummond averaged 22.2 minutes, 8.8 points, 9.2 rebounds, 0.5 assists, 1.2 steals and 2.1 blocked shots per game.  The Pistons better hope that Charlie Villanueva and Jonas Jerebko can step up and help them off the bench until Drummond is ready to return to action.

In last night’s pre-season opener in Miami the Pistons had two players get hurt seriously. 2nd year power forward Jonas Jerebko suffered a torn right ACL which will likely cost him the whole season and rookie shooting guard Terrico White broke one of his feet. Both of them are set for sugery this Friday. Jerebko was a find for the Pistons last season. He played in 80 games (73 starts) for the Pistons as a rookie last year and he averaged 27.9 minutes, 9.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, 0.7 assists and 1.0 steals per game. The Pistons hope that either Charlie Villanueva, Jason Maxiell or rookie Greg Monroe will step up to replace Jerebko in the starting lineup.

The Pistons will be without starting small forward Tayshaun Prince for a while as he is out indefinately with a small rupture of a disc in his lower back. Prince has played in 3 games (3 starts) for the Pistons so far this season and he is averaging 38.7 minutes, 12.3 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. Rookies Jonas Jerebko and Austin Daye will likely get most of the playing time at small forward while Prince is out of action. Jerebko has played in 4 games (3 starts) this season and he is averaging 20.0 minutes, 4.3 points, 4.0 rebounds, 0.3 assists and 1.3 blocked shots per game. Daye has played in 4 games (0 starts) this season for the Pistons and he is averaging 10.3 minutes, 4.5 points, 2.0 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game. This injury will hurt the Pistons as Prince is one of the best all around players on the team.

First round pick Rodney Stuckey will miss the next six weeks after undergoing surgery to repair a broken left hand. The Pistons were prepared to go into the season with Stuckey as the #3 guard to open the year. Stuckey played in 8 pre-season games (2 starts) and he averaged 12.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.3 steals in 25.8 minutes per game. The Pistons don’t usually play their young players much so they must really like Stuckey. It will be interesting to see if he will be the first guard off of the bench when he’s ready to return.