Jennings' spirits high; Pistons still deciding on 3rd PG

Detroit Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy reports that point guard Brandon Jennings is in relatively good spirits following Monday's surgery for a ruptured left Achilles tendon.

Jennings felt good enough early this morning to text Van Gundy game-plan tips for tonight's game against the Cleveland Cavaliers (7:30, FSD).

"'I've been watching them a lot,' that's what he said," Van Gundy said this morning. "He's so into it. It kills him not to be playing. I mean, that guy loves to play the game of basketball -- more than most people I've been around in this league. He just loves to play, and this is just killing him.

"He's trying to stay upbeat. It was 6:30 this morning, he was texting me, saying he can't sleep because of the medicine. But he feels OK."

Jennings faces a six-to-nine-month rehab after suffering the injury near the end of the third quarter of Saturday night's loss at Milwaukee.

D.J. Augustin moves into the starting lineup, and he excelled in his first opportunity: a career-high 35 points and eight assists in Sunday's loss at Toronto. Rookie Spencer Dinwiddie is the backup.

The Pistons have an open roster spot, and Van Gundy said a third point guard likely will be with the Pistons by the end of the week.

Despite trade speculation, Van Gundy dismissed the idea of dealing anything of value just to add a third point guard.

"We want to give ourselves every chance, so we want to get some help, but we won't mortgage anything in terms of the future," Van Gundy said. "We're not going to go out and give away assets, picks or anything like that. No, we're not gonna do that."

That means a temporary solution probably could be found in the D-League, with a 10-day contract. There was speculation that the Pistons would turn to their D-League affiliate in Grand Rapids for camp invitee Lorenzo Brown, but espn.com's Marc Stein is reporting that Brown likely will sign a 10-day deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

"Again, we've got several options," Van Gundy said. "We haven't decided which direction to go right now."

Contact Vince Ellis at vellis@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @vincent_ellis56.