Detroit Pistons: Reggie Jackson should be used as a 6th man
By Zamir Bueno
Detroit Pistons coach Dwane Casey’s commitment to making Blake Griffin the best passing power forward in the league should have a negative impact on Reggie Jackson
"“My goal for him is to be the best passing power forward in the league, which he can do. People look at Draymond Green, they look at all these other guys—point fives and point fours.”"
According to Michael Pina of Vice Sports, this was said by the new head coach of the Detroit Pistons Dwane Casey in reference to his goals for Blake Griffin during this upcoming season.
Casey’s commitment to making Blake the best passing power forward in the league indicates that Griffin should average over 78 touches per game next season. This is because Draymond Green (who Casey mentioned as a passing power forward) touched the ball 78.2 times a game en route to averaging 7.3 assists per game.
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The amount of touches Blake Griffin is scheduled to have will negatively affect some of his teammates. A prime example of this is Reggie Jackson who should be forced to spend more time off the ball in a spot up shooter/bystander role.
Unfortunately, he is likely to struggle in this role because Reggie shoots 32 percent from behind the arc. This is significantly below the league average in 3-point percentage for this past season (36.2%). This puts the opposing team in a good position defensively when Jackson doesn’t have the ball because they can afford to leave him open to provide help defense elsewhere.
Therefore, Dwane Casey should move Reggie Jackson to the bench and start Jose Calderon at point guard. Calderon would be better suited for an off the ball roll alongside Blake Griffin because he has a career three-point shooting percentage of 41.1 percent. As a consequence, the opposing team can’t afford to leave him open because he’ll make those shots more often than not.
Conversely, Reggie Jackson gets to be a ball handler with the second unit. For instance, Reggie loves to run the pick and roll as he was 11th in pick and roll possessions averaging 8.4 per game.
Consequently, Jackson can bring the ball up to the 3-point line and call for a screen without having to worry about passing the ball to Blake Griffin. Once the pick is set, Reggie can pay attention to his defender to determine the course of action. If the defender stays under the screen, he can either shoot the ball immediately or go over the screen to shoot a mid-range jumper.
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If the defender fights over the screen, he can go over it as well and drive towards the basket to score or pass the basketball depending on whether a double team comes.