Jonas Jerebko, a native of Sweden, has been playing very hard for the Detroit Pistons all season.  Jerebko doesn’t just bring hustle though, as he is a very capable player.  Jerebko was a little bit of a question mark coming into this season, as many doubted whether he could handle the NBA style of play.  He has more than handled it and has been one of the best rookies so far this season.  See where he ranks in my list of the Top Rookies in the NBA so far this season.

With Tayshaun Prince out of action due to injury the Pistons have been leaning on their draft choices of last June. 22-year old Jonas Jerebko has been the first in line for playing time so far this season. He has played in 6 games (5 starts) for the Pistons so far this season and he is averaging 20.0 minutes, 5.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and 0.2 assists per game. The Pistons need more out of him if he’s going to continue to start. 21-year old Austin Daye is very similar to Prince in stature as he’s a skinny, tall guy. Daye has played in 6 games (0 starts) for the Pistons so far this season and he is averaging 12.7 minutes, 4.5 points, 2.2 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game. 21-year old DaJuan Summers is a little bit further down the food chain for the Pistons so far in his career. He has played in 2 games (0 starts) in which he is averaging 5.5 minutes, 1.0 point, 1.0 rebound and 0.5 assists per game.

The Pistons don’t have much playing time available for rookie forward Walter Sharpe. Sharpe has only played in 1 game this season for the Pistons and he played 1.9 minutes and scored 2 points. Unless the Pistons have a big rash of injuries don’t expect Sharpe to have much of a role for him in 2008-09.

The Pistons did a solid job in last June’s NBA Draft as they netted Rodney Stuckey and Arron Afflalo. Both of these players have the potential to start down the road for the Pistons. Afflalo has played in 56 games (2 starts) so far this season for the Pistons and he is averaging 12.2 minutes, 3.3 points, 1.6 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game. He has only shot 41% from the floor but he has made 75.8% of his free throws. Better shot selection will likely improve his shooting % in the future. Stuckey has played in 34 games (1 start) this season for the Pistons and he is averaging 16.8 minutes, 6.1 points, 2.0 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game. He needs to improve his shooting as he’s only hitting 37% of his shots from the floor, but, he’s hitting 76% of his free throws. Stuckey also will see his shooting % rise with better shot selection in the future. Center Cheikh Samb has only played in 2 games (0 starts) this season but he has averaged 10.5 minutes, 1.5 points and 2.0 rebounds per game. He seems to have some talent but he’s buried on the Pistons Depth Chart.

The Pistons have high hopes for guards Rodney Stuckey and Arron Afflalo but they haven’t played very much this season. Stuckey was the player the Pistons really had high hopes for but he has been injured most of the season. He has only played in 3 games this season and he’s averaging 9.7 minutes, 3.0 points, 1.0 rebound and 2.0 assists per game because he’s only shooting 28.6% from the floor. Arron Afflalo has played decent in his limited time on the basketball court. Afflalo has played in 26 games this season and he is averaging 12.5 minutes, 3.8 points, 1.7 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game. He has shot pretty well as a rookie so far as he has made 46.2% of his shots from the floor and 89.3% of his free throws. Center Cheick Samb has played in 2 games for the Pistons this season and he’s averaging 10.0 minutes, 1.5 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.0 block per game.