Reggie Jackson: How The Pistons Won Their Trade

A few weeks ago I wrote an article (my first article about the Pistons, actually) detailing the eminent point guard battle between Reggie Jackson and Brandon Jennings. The article detailed multiple scenarios, one of which was Jackson being traded away so that Jennings could start.

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That just felt ridiculous to type. Reggie Jackson is clearly the point guard of the future for Detroit now. This wasn’t always clear though, especially early after the trade with Oklahoma City and Utah. It seemed like the Pistons traded away a few assets (of minimal value) for what could’ve been essentially a 30-game Jackson rental.

If Reggie couldn’t succeed in Detroit, there was always a possibility he wouldn’t be re-signed in the offseason. That made it a relatively safe bet for Stan Van Gundy, who wouldn’t be stuck with Jackson for multiple years and millions of dollars if he didn’t turn out to be good. I figured Jackson might either walk, or be traded by the Pistons.

That was before Reggie decided to ascend to a higher level where he piles up points, assists and rebounds at near-Russell Westbrook-ian rates. This Reggie Jackson is far better than the one we had seen in OKC, and it’s not that close.

It didn’t happen immediately though. Jackson and the Pistons struggled early on, at one point dropping 10 straight games from late February to mid-March. The entire first half of Jackson’s tenure with Detroit was rocky, as you can see below.

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/3/2015.

Things were … not good. The Pistons won just one of 11 games after Reggie joined the team and although he did post two double-doubles, they were fairly meek ones, and both resulted in losses for Detroit. But luckily for Pistons fans’ sanity (and Jackson’s bank account), things began to improve.

Whether it was due to an increased comfort level between Reggie and his teammates or just more familiarity with head coach Stan Van Gundy’s system (or more likely, both), Reggie Jackson started playing as though he was one of the better point guards in the NBA.

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/3/2015.

And he just might belong in that group. Ever since that win against Memphis that broke the Pistons’ losing streak, Jackson has been on fire.

In those nine games Reggie has averaged 19.9 points, 11.0 assists, 6.4 rebounds, just 2.7 turnovers and has thrown up a pair of triple-doubles. He’s shooting around 47 percent from the field and 43.3 percent from three-point territory, both noticeably higher than his season averages.

Although those numbers may seem over-inflated due to the sample size being so small and the law of averages indicating Jackson isn’t really that good, I would humbly disagree with that assessment. In fact, I think he’s even better than those numbers show.

Reggie injured his ankle (yet played through the pain) in the Pistons’ game against Charlotte. Although he still managed eight assists, Jackson shot less than 20 percent and totaled just nine points due to his injury.

That means that a game where he was essentially hobbled is bringing down his averages, and he’s still having one of the best stretches of his career. That’s impressive stuff, but I still don’t think it’s Jackson’s peak.

Considering that he’s only 24 and has only played about 20 games with Detroit, he should be even better next season when he has more time to learn Van Gundy’s system and gel further with his teammates, especially Andre Drummond and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.

Those three players make up a promising young core for Detroit. A team that looked to be drifting somewhat aimlessly earlier this season now has three of its starting five set for the foreseeable future, and that’s before free agency and the draft this offseason.

And that is the reason Detroit really won this trade. A pair of middling role players and second-round draft picks aren’t worthless, but they don’t usually translate into a key building block on a team. Any organization would gladly make that deal, if it were guaranteed that a player of Jackson’s caliber would fall into their laps as a result.

Detroit now has their point guard of the future, and the ability to re-sign him no matter what happens this offseason. Not many teams can say that they brought in a key franchise piece who could potentially become the best player on their new team, in exchange for Kyle Singler, D.J. Augustin and second-round picks in 2017 and 2019.

Good work, Van Gundy. Now let’s see what this team can really accomplish after an offseason spent acquiring forwards and a strong bench.

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