Detroit Pistons: Reggie Jackson’s health continues to be a problem

Detroit Pistons point guard Reggie Jackson is still not healthy from the ankle injury he suffered last season. He’s yet to be a full participant in activities.

Throughout the summer, the Detroit Pistons had your typical NBA off-season. They drafted players and signed free agents. They participated in the NBA summer league in Las Vegas.

The Pistons probably held a lot of voluntary workouts with their players as well. There was one thing missing, however. Reggie Jackson.

Apparently his injury hasn’t healed properly. Here’s what he had to say in Keith Langlois’ article on the NBA’s website:

"“Probably didn’t heal the way everybody thought it might once we had time off,” Jackson said. “Just haven’t been able to get on the court, but been doing everything I can to get healthy.”"

Essentially, the rest of the piece explains that he’s been building a relationship with Dwane Casey since he’s not been on the court at all.

The news is really concerning. It’s been over four months since the Detroit Pistons have played a basketball game. Jackson’s ankle still isn’t right?

Something just doesn’t make sense. This news is terrible. There’s no other way to put it.

We all obviously understand how important Jackson is to this team and he can’t manage to stay healthy. You know the famous statistic from last season that I’m about to pull out.

The Pistons were 27-18 with Jackson as the starting point guard last season. Without him, they were just 12-25.

There isn’t really much of a timetable on his progression as well. That is the worst part about the situation. According to the article, he’s taking things slowly with limited participation in the team’s activities as of now.

What does that mean for the near future? The problem is that chemistry is something you hope your players build in the down time of the off-season. The fact that he’s not been fully participating in anything means he’s not up to speed like the rest of the players are.

I could be exaggerating about all of this. It’s just not encouraging that Jackson is still like this.

There does seem to be some light at the end of the tunnel with this situation. Jackson seems optimistic about the progress he’s made with his health during the off-season:

"“It actually feels good. I feel like I can cut again,” he said. “Once I get going fully, just see how it feels. But it feels night and day compared to last year. … I think anybody who watched, I never looked right. I never ran right. But that’s what you do.”"

The question now will be whether or not he will be ready to go by the start of the season. All Piston fans are hoping the answer to that question is yes.

Honestly, where do you even begin to go from here if he’s not healthy by that time? Ish Smith has started before but that doesn’t mean he’s the right guy for the job.

They don’t have cap space to go and get a serviceable point guard for the job. Jose Calderon is not the answer, either.

The Detroit Pistons and coach Casey have all their chips in on Reggie Jackson being there for them this season. There’s no way around it.