AUBURN HILLS – Sunday marks the two-year anniversary of Reggie Jackson’s acquisition by the Pistons. To grasp the transitory nature of the NBA – and the scope of the rebuilding job enacted by Stan Van Gundy – consider that Jackson is No. 3 in tenure among his teammates.
Of the 15 players on today’s roster, only Andre Drummond and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope were here when Jackson came on board, beating the 2015 trade deadline by minutes.
More than pretty much anything within the realm of what is realistically possible to achieve at this year’s trade deadline – a week away, at 3 p.m. Feb. 23 – here’s what would propel the Pistons more surely and swiftly than anything toward claiming a second straight playoff berth: Jackson morphing into the player the Pistons saw for 1½ seasons.
Count Wednesday’s win over Dallas as a very positive step toward that end – perhaps a step that will allow Van Gundy, Jackson and everyone else with a vested interest in Pistons basketball to rest a little easier over the long weekend.
Van Gundy’s time during the five-day break before the Pistons regroup for practice on Tuesday will be concentrated on tinkering with schemes for the roster he has. General manager Jeff Bower will do his job talking to NBA peers and take whatever proposals might come his way to Van Gundy to weigh. But the expectation is that the Pistons are going forward with what they have.
“I think we know who we have and we have confidence in all of these guys,” Van Gundy said. “That’s why I said more of my break will be spent on the coaching side of it and what we can do to help these guys and just get a little bit more out of them. Because I like our personnel.”
That’s especially true if Jackson plays with the swagger he carried Wednesday, the bounce in his step returned. He finished with 22 points and hit 8 of 12 shots, aggressive and efficient both.
“It feels good,” he said after the Pistons rolled to a 27-point halftime lead and then held off a Dallas charge. “I’ve been putting in the work, so I trust that the tides will turn. I just wanted to help try to get a win in every possible way. That’s all I’ve been focused on and we’ve been doing a good job of winning in February. When we come back from the break, hopefully we can continue that.”
The roster was built out around the concept of Andre Drummond and Jackson – that version of Jackson – wreaking havoc on their pick-and-roll combination. It’s a big reason why Jackson was targeted in the first place – for the way his ability to attack the rim would play off of Drummond’s athleticism and knack for running to the front of the rim and sucking defenders with him to prevent lob dunks and offensive rebounds.
That element of the offense has suffered of late, though, and even if Van Gundy has attempted to diversify the offense – it was a goal as last season ended and one that became accelerated and necessary when Jackson went down in training camp and missed the season’s first 21 games with a knee injury – the Pistons desperately need more scoring and playmaking from Jackson to reach their potential.
Jackson maintains his knee feels fine, no issues. There’s no reason to doubt him. He averaged 19.6 points in 13 January games and shot .464 overall, .449 from the 3-point line. February’s been a different story, though, those numbers cratering to 10.0 points in nine games on .376 shooting overall and .300 from the 3-point line even with Wednesday’s bounce.
Van Gundy maintains “my confidence level is high” that Jackson will recapture the form that had him in the thick of All-Star conversation a year ago at this time in an Eastern Conference dripping with quality point guards.
“I don’t have any doubts he’ll be back to playing the way he was before,” Van Gundy said. “I would say my confidence in that – I guess you’re never at 100 percent, so 99 percent. He’s too young. He’s not 35 years old where he’s on a downward spiral and he might be losing it. He’ll get it back.”
The Pistons have stabilized enough after a 4-15 stretch from mid-December to mid-January, going 9-6 in their last 15 games and 6-3 over the last nine to survive Jackson’s struggles.
“Just a little bit of transition with the offense, but it is what it is,” Jackson said. “We’re winning more in February, so what’s there really to complain about?”
Van Gundy expected a significant step forward from Jackson this season based on what he saw in the initial days of camp.
“He was great,” he said. “He was ready.”
But he also wanted to exploit the one-on-one scoring ability of Tobias Harris and Marcus Morris more. And get Kentavious Caldwell-Pope more involved as his offensive game matured and his 3-point shot became a more consistent threat. With Jackson out, those players – plus Drummond and Jon Leuer, too – spread their wings and formed an identity on offense with a point guard in Ish Smith who didn’t occupy nearly as many possessions as Jackson’s presence consumed.
“He’s been back a while, but things happen,” Van Gundy said. “The system’s not quite the same. You’re not playing the same way and the dynamics with the rest of the team change. It’s a lot of adjustments. It’s been rough for him and for us to really find any great footing.”
For all of that, Van Gundy points out the Pistons are in essentially the same position as they were a year ago at 27-30 compared to last season’s 28-29 after 57 games. The biggest change is in perception for a team that gathered for training camp expecting to challenge the contenders in the Eastern Conference.
“It hasn’t been an easy year, but we’ve still got a lot of time to go,” Van Gundy said. “We’re still in position to do what we want.”