So sayeth the incomparable Matt Dery on Twitter:
"Pistons Jonas Jerebko has a torn achilles tendon. More soon." #
I am being told that Jerebko will likely miss 2 to 3 months minimum. Terrible News." #
This is Terrible News indeed. Before the extent of the injury was known, Charlie Villanueva spoke in the locker room about seeing Jerebko leave the game with injury:
"When I saw Tay go down, I was like ‘No, not this again,' " Villanueva said. "Thank God he's OK, but then Jonas went down.
"It seems we can't catch a break."
It's absolutely incredible the bad luck this team has had staying healthy the last 12 months. (It is incredible, right? Or were we simply spoiled by the team's unprecedented streak of good health from 2003-08?)
If there's any silver lining to this situation, it's that the coaching staff may feel inclined to significantly increase rookie Greg Monroe's role. That's still not very satisfying, of course; Jerebko is one of the most intriguing players on the team, showing flashes as a rookie last year and this past summer with the Swedish national team that he can be so much more than just a hustle player. So while expediting Monroe's development is a positive, exploring Jerebko's upside is just as important to Detroit's long-term success.
(For the sake of our collective sanity, I'm just going to ignore the very real possibility of Chris Wilcox filling Jerebko's role instead of Monroe. Give the fans what they want, Q!)
Update: Ugh. As Kriz points out in the comments, Vince Ellis of the Free Press noted on Twitter it could be much worse:
Jerebko could miss up to five months. #
Update 2: Via Pistons Twitter feed:
He is scheduled to have surgery on Friday, October 8 and is expected to miss the next five-to-six months. #pistons
Commence wailing and thrashing of arms now.