Pistons: Bruce Brown Makes Everyone Forget About Reggie Jackson

The often injured Detroit Pistons point guard, Reggie Jackson, was able to remain healthy all of last season but has fallen victim once again to the injury bug in 2019.

One misfortune has led to another one’s fortune. Bruce Brown has been unbelievable to this point of the season for the Detroit Pistons – what a find.  Brown had been playing as more of a two-guard during his professional career but with Detroit desperately needing depth at the point guard position experimented with Brown during the NBA’s Summer League and the rest is history.

With Reggie Jackson only appearing in two games this season, Detroit needed someone to step up immediately as the teams’ primary ball carrier.

Detroit tried 29-year old Tim Frazier first.  He became the starter, which allowed Derrick Rose to continue to come off of the bench.  Rose coming off the bench is very beneficial for the Pistons because of his offensive abilities and nose for the cylinder, which gives Detroit a jolt and a much-needed scoring threat off of the bench.  Rose may actually win the NBA’s sixth man of the year if his production continues.  With Jackson out, Rose is Detroit’s closer at the guard position.

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Fraizer, who has only played in three of the teams’ previous six games, struggled to produce any consistent offense.  He struggled to protect the basketball, generally turning the ball over multiple times a game while being elevated into a starting role.  Detroit even experimented with SG Luke Kennard dribbling the ball up the court, but that limited his role as a catch and shoot player.

Head coach Dwane Casey immediately began to search for an alternative ball carrier and found something special with Bruce Brown.

Detroit Pistons selected Brown with the 42nd overall pick, in the second round of the 2018 NBA Draft.  The 23-year old is averaging 7.7 PPG, 4.4 boards, 3.7 assists this season.  He needs to improve on his free-throw shooting as he’s only converting at 59% from the charity stripe.

Brown does so much more than just score and facilitate for the Pistons offense.  He’s been shaping himself into a lock-down defender.  He’s been fantastic guarding his opponents this season.  It’s something that won’t regularly show up on the stat sheet, but it’s so important.

His talent spewed to the surface Saturday night with the Pistons short Andre Drummond and Blake Griffin.  Drummond sidelined with an eye infection, while Griffin left the game in the first half after just scoring 2 points after re-aggravating his knee.

Bruce Brown, Luke Kennard, Christian Wood along with Derrick Rose paced the Pistons to an impressive 115-107 victory over the Rockets.

Brown scored 16, pulled down 10 rebounds, added 6 assists, and showing off that defensive ability swiping 4 steals.  He was also a plus-10 on the night.

These types of performances make us forget about Reggie Jackson.  No offense, but I don’t believe Jackson should immediately retain the starting job after he is healthy enough to return to the Pistons’ lineup.

There is no doubt this is the last season Jackson will be a member of the Detroit Pistons.  The pending free agent evidently won’t be retained.  At this point, Detroit hopes he returns with some sort of impact that creates any type of trade value.

I expect Bruce Brown and Derrick Rose to continue as the 1-2 punch at the point guard position in Motown for this season and perhaps beyond.