No, the Pistons aren’t better off without Reggie Jackson

If the Detroit Pistons are going to make the playoffs this season, members of the starting five are going to have to get used to playing with their score-first point guard again.

After playing a quarter of the season with Ish Smith and Beno Udrih, it seems some Detroit Pistons think their offense is better off if Reggie Jackson adopts the role of a more traditional pass-first point guard.

Guess what? They’re wrong.

We got a taste of what a less aggressive, more deferential Jackson might do for the Detroit offense in the first quarter of Monday night’s blowout loss to the Bulls. Jackson elected not to take a single shot in the first quarter, letting the rest of the team brick themselves into a 35-19 halftime deficit.

Granted, Jackson was making a statement. Even if you don’t agree with how he made his statement, the sentiment is clear. The Pistons might have enjoyed a few good games of balanced scoring with Ish Smith at the helm, but without an aggressive Jackson, Detroit’s offense is stagnant, streaky and predictable. Without an aggressive Jackson, Detroit is a fringe playoff team at best. Which is why Marcus Morris, Tobias Harris and company are the ones who need to adapt, not the other way around.

Related Story: Breaking down the Pistons' likely starting lineups

Jackson gets a lot of flak from Detroit fans. It’s tough to endear yourself to a fan base as a score-first point guard. That’s especially true in this city, which reveres grit, chemistry and team basketball over individual stardom. Many of the criticisms are fair. Jackson is a ball-dominant player who’s not exactly a defensive stopper. He, like much of the Pistons, is largely inexperienced. And when he’s at his worst, his tendency to dribble the life out of the ball will drive even the most hardcore fans insane. This is the curse of “selfish” point guard. When he’s on, we love him. When he’s off, we want to stone him and drive him out of town.

But Jackson is also what makes the Pistons such a potentially dynamic, dangerous team. Simply put, they’re at their best with their two most explosive players in the pick and roll.

Andre Drummond

became a deadly threat for lobs last season thanks to Jackson. And when Jackson attacked the rim, drawing Drummond’s defender to help, Drummond cleaned up on the glass. The lion’s share of the big man’s league-best 395 offensive rebounds came from such plays. Without a point guard that can penetrate, keep defenses honest with 3-point shooting and run the pick and roll, Andre Drummond is not an automatic All-Star.

Just because some of the Pistons still look more comfortable with Ish Smith on the floor right now doesn’t mean they’re better off with him. Remember, the Pistons offense has been in the bottom half of the league all season. With Smith, Detroit struggled to get penetration without running Kentavious Caldwell-Pope through a gauntlet of screens. The forwards chucked too many treys, and Drummond got too many touches in the post. It became painful watching Smith sprint down the floor, cut across the paint and dump the ball to Marcus Morris in the post. Smith is a loveable and plucky underdog, and one hell of a backup. But he is not a starting NBA point guard.

But has Jackson really siphoned up all the touches since his return? Per Ian Levy of Nylon Calculus, not really. Marcus Morris has seen the biggest decrease in touches, but that’s something he’s going to have to live with. Don’t get me wrong, I love Morris. He’s tough. He’s a mid-range maestro and a Known Bucket Getter. The Pistons need him. But he’s nowhere near the versatile offensive player that Jackson is. There’s a reason he looks good in small doses. The more this team relies on Morris (and, to a lesser degree, Tobias Harris) going one on one, the worse the offense is likely to be.

We should all take Zach Lowe’s advice and just chill. Detroit needs to get back to playing hard on both ends of the floor. Reggie Jackson needs to get back into shape. Fans need to give Jackson, a fringe All-Star caliber player a year ago, a couple more weeks to find his groove. The chances of a team that gushed about team chemistry all last season completely falling apart is unlikely.

Next: Too many fingers pointing at Reggie Jackson

In the meantime, we should be rooting for Jackson and the rest of the team to find their rhythm again, and soon. This version of the Pistons doesn’t work without him.