Detroit Pistons officially shut down Reggie Jackson
The Detroit Pistons have officially shut down Reggie Jackson as they shift their gears towards evaluating the young talent on the roster and what to do in the offseason.
The Detroit Pistons have shut down Reggie Jackson. That’s not surprising–he clearly isn’t where he needs to be physically. What is sort of surprising are the comments Stan Van Gundy made in the announcement.
"“He won’t play these last four games,” Van Gundy said. “The plan was to sort of let him step away and clear his mind and go into the offseason without a bad taste in his mouth.”“Reggie was struggling, and for good reason,” Van Gundy said. “(There was) a lot of stuff out of his control, and it was weighing on him. We thought at that time sort of being fresh-minded would not only be good for him, but being fresh-minded would help us.”"
There were things certainly out of Jackson’s control this season–trade rumors, slow recovery, beef with teammates (to an extent).
That said, it seems like Van Gundy has already started to begin his assessment of what life without Jackson will look like for the Pistons.
That is not surprising given the events that have transpired this season. What is a little surprising is the reasoning he’s being shut down.
Based on Van Gundy’s comments, it is clear that Jackson has some bad blood with everything that has went on. The team is evidently separating from Jackson, mostly because of the position they are in, but partly because there could be some bad blood on their end to.
Reading these comments and reflecting upon this season leaves me with two thoughts. Is this decision a product of the season? Or, is this the beginning of the end for Jackson’s time in Detroit ?