Coming off a dreadful season for the Detroit Pistons in which he was among the NBA’s worst starters, Reggie Jackson made it into SI’s top 100 players list.
Optimism was the order of the day for Reggie Jackson in SI’s top 100 players list after a terrible 2016-17 season with the Detroit Pistons. SI’s Rob Mahoney and Ben Golliver took a grim look at the season that was for Jackson, with his potential for redemption in mind.
Jackson followed up a 2015-16 campaign in which he was nearly an Eastern Conference All Star with a knee tendinitis-plagued season a year ago. He was a mess defensively and a disaster in transition in ways that are obviously and clearly tied directly to his injured knee.
After an offseason focused entirely on rehabilitation and strengthening the ligaments around the joint, Jackson is on schedule and will be ready for training camp in two weeks. While it’s no sure thing that he’ll rebound and play like his old self, indicators are positive.
Golliver factored this into his assessment when he ranked him the 78th best player going into 2017-18.
"While Jackson still faces some lingering health concerns, he’s a solid starting point guard when his body is right. At his best, Jackson is a tireless, headstrong attacker off the dribble and an experienced, confident pick-and-roll practitioner whose two-man game with Andre Drummond formed the basis of a decent offense for a playoff team in 2015-16. If he returns to full health, he should outplay this ranking."
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As Golliver states earlier in his assessment, an evaluation based on last season’s performance likely wouldn’t have placed him in the top 300 players. The Detroit Pistons’ future is firmly tied to Reggie Jackson’s knee, so hope is essential for the organization and its fans going into the coming season.