Jodie Meeks missed eight weeks to start last season, but those eight weeks had a spillover effect that dogged Meeks through the winter and into spring. He’s projected to miss up to twice that long this time around, but he’s betting the broken foot this season won’t mess with his return the way last season’s back injury lingered.
“It won’t take me too long to get back,” he said Monday, returned from New York where he had surgery for the injury suffered in Wednesday’s home opener. “My back, I had to kind of lay in bed for eight weeks. This is different. I’ll probably be laying down for two weeks, but it won’t be the same. Once they clear me to do stuff, I’ll be able to do it.”
Meeks said he suffered the injury – a non-displaced fracture of the fifth metatarsal on his right foot – while trying to battle through a Utah screen.
“Heard it pop and I knew it was pretty serious,” he said. “I didn’t know how serious, but Jones fracture is what it is.”
Meeks’ surgeon told him it was a clean break – the best possible bad break, in effect – and he expects to bounce back without complications.
Meeks had never suffered anything more serious than the typical twisted ankle or tweaked muscle in his first five NBA seasons, but has had both Pistons seasons disrupted for extended periods. At least having experienced the travails of recovery and dealing with feelings of being disengaged from the team won’t be new to him this time around.
“Just stay optimistic. Certain things you can’t control. Can’t control injuries, can’t control playing time,” Meeks said. “Surgery went well. Trying to get back as soon as possible.”
With the Pistons set to embark on an 11-day, six-game road trip after hosting Indiana tonight, Meeks – who has to stay off of his feet for the next two weeks – will head home to Atlanta to be with family during that time.
“I think you have to get out of basketball for a little bit, just for your own mind’s sake,” Meeks said. “I’m going home just to try to be around family and get away from basketball for a little bit. But I’ll stay tuned in to the games and then when it’s time to get back to it, I’ll get back to it.”
The Pistons sputtered badly during Meeks’ absence last year, going 3-19, missing the scoring versatility he offers and the anchor Stan Van Gundy envisioned him to be for the second unit. They’re in better shape to accommodate his absence this season, with Reggie Bullock emerging in the preseason and rookie Stanley Johnson’s ability to swing to shooting guard.
But Van Gundy knows there are going to be nights when the offense – struggling with sub-40 percent shooting despite the 3-0 start against teams that are 8-0 in their other games – could use Meeks’ off-the-bench burst.
“That’s what I do – score and shoot,” Meeks said. “Any time you can help a team out, it’s frustrating to sit on the sidelines. But I can’t really do anything about it right now. Just got to try to get healthy and come back.”
