Detroit Pistons 2017-18 Season Review: Reggie Jackson

It was another season of ‘What ifs?’ for fans of the Detroit Pistons when it came to Reggie Jackson, as his bad luck with injury continued.

In another season plagued by injury, Reggie Jackson was an effective player on the court, he just wasn’t there enough. After suffering a grade 3 ankle sprain on Boxing Day against the Indiana Pacers after just 21 minutes, he was out for exactly 8 weeks returning on the 20th of March.

Reggie by the Numbers

Reggie Jackson played 45 games in another injury plagued season. In those 45 games Jackson was healthy, he managed 14.6 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 5.3 assists in 26.7 minutes per game.

This season he actually managed to be a net positive at +0.2, with a defensive rating of +105.9 on the season, a massive 4.6 points better!

Before his injury the Detroit Pistons had 19 wins and 14 losses and were outscoring opponents by 0.3 points per 100 possessions. You can read more about Reggie Jackson’s effect on the Detroit Pistons here.

With Reggie Jackson playing the Detroit Pistons managed 27 wins and 18 losses on the season, had that of played out all season… that adds up to 49 (49.2) wins on the season, which would’ve placed the Pistons 5th in the East.

Reggie by the Eye Test

The Detroit Pistons are visibly a much better team with a point guard on the floor that can shoot, and they have that in Jackson, especially compared to his replacement Ish Smith.

After he turned from injury he initially looked to have lost a little step here or there and had some hesitation about getting to the rim, but as he played more and more minutes, that seemed to go away and he looked like himself again.

The good news is this injury shouldn’t affect his preparation for next season (unlike his knee injury), and if he can stay healthy (which anyone around the Detroit Pistons will be hoping) then the Detroit Pistons should be in for a good season next year.

Reggie Jackson’s 2017-18 Season Grade

B+

The only negative you could say about Jackson was that he wasn’t healthy. I view that as a stroke of bad luck and when he was on the court he was an effective player and key component to our success.