Detroit Pistons: Reggie Jackson starting to turn it around

Detroit Pistons point guard Reggie Jackson had struggled for the majority of the year, but he’s been turning things around during their recent run.

The Detroit Pistons were on a mini-run heading into the All-Star break as they had won five of their last six games. Blake Griffin was playing well like he had been all year, but an underrated part of their recent improvement was the play of point guard Reggie Jackson. Jackson was expected to be the third part of their Big 3, but until lately, he had been performing at the level of a bench point guard.

Head coach Dwane Casey’s system relies on the point guard to be a major piece of the offense, and while Griffin is still going to be the main hub of everything, Jackson’s improvement gives them another weapon in the team’s arsenal. While his 3-point shooting may not be able to hold up, his game has improved nearly across the board.

When looking at Jackson’s last 15 games, he has raised his scoring average over his full season number, and he has improved in his scoring efficiency, assists per game and turnovers. In that span of games, he’s posting 15.4 points and 4.9 assists per game on .449/.444/.906 shooting splits.

His 44.4 percent mark from 3-point range over the last 15 contests is 7.8 percent better than his season average, and it’s also 11.9 percent better than his career average. Coming into the season, one of the major goals for Jackson was to improve as a shooter, and he has done that of late.

One major development with the improvement of Jackson is it allows the team to lessen the workload on Griffin. Griffin’s usage rate of 30.4 percent is the highest of his career, and the team will be relying on him heavily during the playoffs. Meanwhile, Jackson’s 22.8 percent is the lowest mark of his Detroit tenure. Jackson won’t be climbing into the 25 percent usage range, but the team would like to see him take a slight boost with the way he has played lately.

Jackson’s ability to stay healthy has been a major weakness for him in the past, but he has changed that this season. He is actually the team’s only player to not miss a single game all season. If he’s able to stay healthy down the stretch of the season, that can provide a steadying presence at the point guard spot.

The guard rotation is kind of up in the air when preparing for the playoffs because the players have been so inconsistent in seizing their roles. Jackson is locked into his spot, and his improved play makes it even more likely that the guard rotation will feature him heavily in that area. His consistency has waned as he’s gotten older, but if he’s able to keep this level of play up, the Pistons are going to be in much better shape in their push for the playoffs.