Brandon Jennings nursing sore knee, but will play in preseason opener

Brandon Jennings sat out Monday's practice due to a sore knee. That means his status for Tuesday night's preseason opener is uncertain and could leave the Pistons relatively thin at the guard spot. Will Bynum (hamstring) and Spencer Dinwiddie (knee) have already been ruled out. Dave Mayo called Jennings questionable.

Hopefully it's not serious, but either way, a barking knee is an unfortunate setback for the incumbent point guard who is looking to rebound from the worst season of his career. Jennings was already getting rave reviews from his new head coach late last week:

In the middle of the 12 four-minute games Stan Van Gundy orchestrated as the meat of Thursday's morning practice during training camp's two-a-days, he leaned over to trusted assistant Brendan Malone and told him, "If he's going to play like that, then he's a really good player and we've got a chance to be really good."

"He" is Brandon Jennings, and what prompted Van Gundy's enthusiasm was a series of plays that elite point guards make - get into a defense's soft underbelly and make the right decisions, time after time.

"What we saw today is Brandon really attacked," Van Gundy said. "He wasn't going laterally. He wasn't settling for shooting a lot of jump shots. He was in the paint, in the paint, in the paint, making plays."

Let's hope Jennings' knee heals up and he's back out there making plays very soon.

Update: Looks like Jennings is good to go:

SVG will start Drummond, Smith, Butler, Jennings and Meeks tonight vs. Bulls in preseason opener. #Pistons

— Vincent Ellis (@Vincent_Ellis56) October 7, 2014