Today’s announcement of Ish Smith starting for the Pistons in the second-straight game comes as no surprise to many, but it does call into question the future of Reggie Jackson.
Fans across the Twittersphere rejoiced when the news broke that Reggie Jackson would be benched in favor of Ish Smith. Many of those same fans saw the benching as a sign that the Detroit Pistons are ready to move in a different direction and potentially look elsewhere for point guard help.
It’s true. Reggie Jackson has been flat-out awful this year. He’s dropped more than 4 points per game from last season and is having a career-worst year defensively, posting a defensive rating of 110.2 (bottom 10 in the NBA).
Offensively, the deadly combination of a high usage rate and his lack of production are causing lineups that feature him to be ineffective and frankly, useless. His defensive liability is also causing opponents to shoot nearly 6% (eFG%) better with him on the court versus when he’s off.
However, the real question that needs to be answered is: Are these struggles due to a natural regression, indicating that he’s peaked as a player or is it due to his injury?
In a previous article, I detailed the effects of knee tendinitis on Reggie Jackson’s play style and performance, both offensively and defensively, which indicates to me that this performance dip is primarily due to injury.
Let’s also not forget that Reggie Jackson, prior to the injury, was one-half of one of the deadliest pick-and-roll tandems in the NBA and was seen as an all-star snub only a year ago. I find it hard to believe that such a significant fall from grace is due to regression, and more so due to some physical limitations with his injury.
The Pistons either missing the playoffs or getting bounced in four or five games by a top-tier opponent would allow for Reggie Jackson to get nearly 6 months of rest before the first game in the 2017-18 season. Rest and rehabilitation for that amount of time can only improve his condition. Pair the improved health with a consistent, improving core and the Pistons’ future looks very bright.