Stan Van Gundy regrets not shutting Reggie Jackson down sooner
By Duncan Smith
Reggie Jackson’s season with the Detroit Pistons met an early and ignominious end, but Stan Van Gundy concedes he should have been shut down even sooner.
Reggie Jackson hasn’t been himself since he returned to the Detroit Pistons after dealing with knee tendinitis early this season. He’s struggled through almost the entirety of the campaign after missing the first 21 games of 2016-17 to the point where he’s become one of the least effective rotational players in the NBA.
It’s easy to look at the raw numbers and his diminished ability on the floor and overlook the fact that he’s been a shell of himself from a physical standpoint since training camp began. Stan Van Gundy decided to act upon that fact two weeks ago when he deactivated Jackson for the first time on March 22nd against the Chicago Bulls. It hasn’t been the boost many fans thought it would be as the Pistons have gone 1-5 in that stretch with the sole win being a one-point home victory over the woeful Brooklyn Nets.
Jackson hasn’t officially been shut down for the season, but it seems unlikely he’ll return to the floor. He’s been given each night off since the game against the Bulls and as a lost season winds down the only thing left for Jackson to accomplish is to rest his knee and get it healthy. Every day Jackson rests matters, and Van Gundy admitted Tuesday he wished he had sent been sent to the bench earlier.
"“I think (sitting him) probably should have happened earlier, and I don’t think we were real fair with him in that,” Van Gundy said. “I’m happy with where we are now. If I had any regret, and I really don’t, it would have been that we didn’t do this earlier.”"
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Hindsight is 20/20, but Jackson had been ineffective for some time before Van Gundy benched him. The alternative hasn’t been any better in the interim as Ish Smith was moved into the starting lineup in his place, and while Smith has been a trooper for the Pistons this year his shortcomings are well-documented. He pushes the pace and is a capable distributor but he’s a limited scorer, so it’s somewhat understandable that Van Gundy held out hope as long as he did.