Are the Pistons better with Reggie Jackson? Stan Van Gundy: 'Hell no, we've gotten worse'
As the Detroit Pistons embarked on what was supposed to be an easy stretch, Stan Van Gundy warned of the dangers that come with believing you’ll breeze through any portion of the NBA schedule. “We’re capable of beating anybody,” the coach told reporters last week. “We’re capable of losing to anybody.”
As it turned out, Van Gundy was certainly right about the second part of that statement. In a week’s time, the Pistons sandwiched double-digit losses to the Philadelphia 76ers (7-20), Washington Wizards (12-14) and Indiana Pacers (14-14) around a come-from-behind win over the Dallas Mavericks (7-20).
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Pistons forward Marcus Morris called the 97-79 loss to the Sixers “embarrassing” — so much so that teammate Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who was home resting a bruised knee, could hardly watch. “It was tough to watch,” he told reporters upon returning for the 95-85 victory against Dallas. “We played horrible. We played down to our competition. We didn’t play hard enough for the whole game.”
That lone win wasn’t pretty, either. “Offensively, we were pathetic,” said Van Gundy, adding of starting point guard Reggie Jackson, “I didn’t think he was making good decisions for most of the game.”
Then came a 122-108 loss to the Wizards on Friday, when Washington’s John Wall and Bradley Beal combined for 54 points, prompting Van Gundy to conclude, “We couldn’t handle their guards at all.”
Finally, the Pistons fell below .500 with a 105-90 loss to the Pacers on Saturday, resulting in the rare combination of a closed-door team meeting with their coach and a players-only meeting to follow. According to the Detroit Free Press, Van Gundy didn’t emerge for his postgame press conference until 40 minutes after the final whistle, and then pulled no punches when asked about his team’s struggles:
Among his more blunt concessions was this: “The ball’s not moving. It’s sticking. Guys are letting the offensive frustration get to them at the defensive end. We’re not in a good place right now.”
“Our offensive frustrations, ranging from guys not thinking they’re getting enough touches to guys just struggling, have taken a toll on our defense,” he added. “It shouldn’t, and it’s not a legitimate excuse, but I’m just giving you the facts. That’s exactly what’s happened. Our offensive frustration is affecting us at the defensive end, and we’re losing heart a little bit. And that’s concerning. The offense has not been moving the way it should. The ball is not moving. I’ve got to look at play calls and the whole thing.
“We went through stretches where Reggie made some plays. In the third quarter, we were scoring, but again — what happens is, we’re scoring, but we’re trading baskets. Part of it is we’ve got guys upset they’re not touching the ball and everything else, so they’re not as engaged in the game on the defensive end of the floor. There are all kinds of things that go into the game, and the ball has to move. There has to be an unselfish offense and a committed defense, and the last two nights there have been neither.”
While Van Gundy was at the podium, Pistons center Aron Baynes called a players-only meeting that again kept the media waiting as Marcus Morris called out the team’s selfishness behind closed doors.
“I did a lot of the talking. I said at the end of the meeting that we have to make a decision,” said Morris, via the Free Press. “Everybody go home tonight and decide on what you want to do. Do you want to be a winning team or do you want to continue to get embarrassed? Are you going to play for the next man beside you or are you going to play for yourself?”
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“If you have a guy wide open, he has to get the ball,” he added. “It builds guys’ confidence. It makes the game funner. That’s just how it is. Of course some dudes are going to get more shots than other dudes. That’s how the game goes. Guys are not going to respond well when they don’t get the ball when they’re open. That’s just basketball. That’s just the right way. The Spurs, Golden State, Cleveland, the top tier teams play the right way. You never win if you don’t play the right way. That’s just the bottom line.”
The good news is Van Gundy and his players appear to be on the same page when it comes to the root of their problems. Well, except for maybe Jackson, whose explanation was, “I don’t call the plays.” But the bad news is the team’s struggles have coincided with Jackson’s return from left knee tendinitis.
“There’s no question we haven’t been as good,” Van Gundy said of a stretch that started with Jackson’s season debut in a loss to the Orlando Magic on Dec. 4. “We’ve played eight games, seven of them against teams below .500, and we’re 3-5, so there’s no question we’re not as good as we were. That’s just a fact. … If you’re asking in the eight games, ‘Have we gotten better?’ Hell no, we’ve gotten worse.”
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Granted, Van Gundy made sure to mention the team’s struggles weren’t all on Jackson, but it’s hard not to point a finger at a 26-year-old point guard whose ball-dominant play and individualistic approach didn’t exactly earn him any friends in Oklahoma City before the Thunder traded him in 2015.
In more tangible terms, the Pistons have gone from outscoring opponents by 2.4 points per 100 possessions before Jackson’s return to being outscored by 2.4 points per 100 possessions since, with Detroit’s offense and defense both sliding down the rankings. And while Van Gundy noted the starting lineup of Caldwell-Pope, Morris, Tobias Harris and Andre Drummond with Ish Smith running point had been outscored by opponents in 338 minutes — at a fraction of a point per 100 possessions — those four with Jackson have been operating at a loss of 10.7 points per 100 possessions in 103 minutes.
As Van Gundy said, “I’m not happy with that unit at all,” and he indicated rotational changes were coming. But a look at the Detroit starting five’s frontcourt touches per game before Jackson’s return …
Smith: 65.4
Harris: 35.7
Morris: 33.9
Caldwell-Pope: 33.7
Drummond: 24.3
… and after his debut …
Jackson: 55.6
Caldwell-Pope: 38.0
Harris: 34.3
Morris: 29.3
Drummond: 23.8
… suggests the problem is more about how the Pistons use their touches, rather than how many they get. Since returning, Jackson’s usage rate of 30.1 percent puts him on par with the league’s elite, and he spends the bulk of those possessions as the ball-handler in the pick-and-roll — on an NBA-high 65.9 percent of his plays — and yet he ranks 120th in points per possession (0.81) on those plays, behind Michael Beasley. Smith was even less efficient in the pick-and-roll as a starter, but he was being used half as often, allowing Caldwell-Pope, Morris, Harris and Drummond to do more damage.
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So, maybe the necessary offensive changes aren’t rotational at all, but rather a combination of asking Jackson to dial his usage back a bit and hoping he becomes more efficient once he gets back to full strength, as was the case in both regards last season, when he led the league in points scored as a pick-and-roll ball-handler. As for Detroit’s defensive woes with Jackson at the helm — issues that had the Pistons working with a defensive rating (109.9) worse than the league’s most inept team defense with him in the lineup last season — those will remain an issue so long as he’s on the floor.
Meanwhile, the schedule doesn’t get any easier. The Pistons visit the Chicago Bulls on Monday before hosting the Memphis Grizzlies, Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers over the eight days.
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Ben Rohrbach is a contributor for Ball Don’t Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach
