Detroit Pistons: Revisiting the Reggie Jackson Trade

It was just a few weeks ago the Detroit Pistons were two games back of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and were looking like a team that was hungry to make the playoffs. But how quickly things change.

Now, in the midst of a nine game losing streak, the team appears to have reverted back to their type of play that made them 5-23 to start the year. With 16 games remaining, Detroit is 12^th in the Eastern Conference and six games back of the current eight seed, Charlotte Hornets.

Since the All-Star break, the Pistons have been on the decline, going 2-9 and are allowing 101 points per game. Mathematically, Detroit has not been eliminated from playoff contention but if they continue at their current pace, it won’t be long before they are.

Since acquiring Reggie Jackson, Detroit is 1-9 and have looked like a disaster. Loses to some of the league’s worst like the Lakers and Knicks does not help the team’s confidence.

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At the time acquiring Reggie Jackson seemed like a good idea, he was a solid point guard for the Thunder which was enough to convince Stan Van Gundy to pull the trigger. In his 10 games with Detroit, Jackson is averaging 14.7 points, 7.3 assist, 4.3 rebounds and shooting 37 percent from the floor. Those numbers are not but they are not mind blowing either and not worth a big money contract, especially if you watched him play.

Ten games is certainly a small sample to determine if a trade was bad or not but the drop in how the team has looked after being within striking distance of the playoffs makes you wonder, is Jackson worth big money and should the Pistons resign him?

Right now, the answer is no.

The team does not appear to be hungrier since his arrival, he has not elevated the level of play for his teammates or elevated his own game.

Jackson has essentially done what D.J. Augustin was doing before him, except Augustin shot a better percent from the floor and had the team in a bit of a rhythm. Acquiring new players in the middle of the season will obviously throw off chemistry but chemistry does not seem to be the problem, Jackson and the team just do not look well.

It would be wrong to blame only Jackson for the team’s woes, their recent shortcomings are indeed a team effort. Jackson is the point guard and normally the play of the point guard reflects how the team plays.

The last stretch of this season should be a tryout for Jackson and an intense scouting report for Van Gundy. The playoffs at this point are disco dead, but seeing how Jackson performs and whether or not Detroit should invest in him for the next four or five years is very much alive.

It was reported that Jackson turned down a $48 million deal with Oklahoma City over the course of four years. Jackson could have turned that deal down because he did not want to play in the shadows of Russell Westbrook anymore or that he felt he was worth more than $12 million per year, given his performance at the time.