Stan Van Gundy expects long-term excellence from Reggie Jackson
Here’s Pistons.com raving about how nice it is for Detroit to add Reggie Jackson. Which makes sense, because Jackson is a very good young player who appears to have big upside if handed control of a squad. But what happens when Brandon Jennings comes back next season? Well, let’s not worry about that right now.
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What are the Pistons getting in Reggie Jackson?
A supremely confident, athletically gifted, competitively hypercharged point guard on the cusp of his prime years.
“Two things, more than anything, other than just his overall play,” Stan Van Gundy cited about what drew the Pistons to Jackson as a core piece to slot alongside Andre Drummond, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and – if it works out for both sides in free agency – Greg Monroe. “No. 1 is how he’s played when he’s had the chance to be a starter. He’s been outstanding. And how he’s played in big games, particularly in playoff games. This is a guy who’s been very good. I don’t think there was much question around the league as to this guy’s ability.”
If there were any questions in the aftermath of Thursday’s deal that sent Kyle Singler and D.J. Augustin to Oklahoma City and also cost the Pistons second-round draft choices in 2017 and ’19 about the Pistons’ interest in Jackson beyond this season, Van Gundy buried them emphatically.
“We wouldn’t have made the move we did if we didn’t feel ready to make it a long-term commitment,” Van Gundy said Friday.
