The wheels are falling off for the 34-39 Pistons, who are 1.5 games out of the eighth seed following a 115-87 loss to the Magic. Reggie Jackson– who has been coming off the bench of late- said nobody’s job is safe.
“(Missing the playoffs) would suck — it sucks every year you’re not in the postseason and not one of the teams competing to be the last one standing,” Jackson told Rod Beard of Detroit News. “It’s tough. It’s a performance-based league so all our jobs are on the line. If we don’t get where we want to be, I’m sure coach knows as coach-president, he has a lot on the line. Myself, I was brought in to be the point guard and I have a lot on the line. We don’t know who’s going to be back next year or who’s going to be here tomorrow.”
Stan Van Gundy‘s Pistons have dropped six of their last seven, entering crisis mode in the middle of a playoff chase. If there’s one saving grace for Detroit, three of their next four opponents are fellow sub-.500 teams.
More from Detroit…
- Van Gundy answered six postgame questions in a combined 55 seconds after Friday’s loss, Rod Beard of Detroit News reports. Video of the uncomfortable presser can be found on FOX Sports Detroit (Twitter link).
- The Pistons are in “no-man’s land,” Brett Koremenos of RealGM writes. While Koremenos concedes basketball is too nuanced to blame problems on a singular figure, he has trouble getting past the faults of Jackson and Andre Drummond. Regarding Drummond- previously regarded as a ‘franchise player’- Koremenos writes “Drummond’s engagement defensively comes and goes almost on a nightly basis. He can be prone to lazily reach for steals in pick-and-roll defensively and could definitely get a lot from a class in the Marc Gasol school of defensive positioning and anticipation. And for all the talk of his athleticism, Drummond doesn’t deter opponents’ success near the rim.”
- It doesn’t sound like Van Gundy’s decision to bring Jackson off the bench will be a permanent one, as the veteran coach called it a “decision for now…not a long-term thing,” when speaking to Rod Beard of Detroit News (Twitter link). Jackson likely doesn’t have to worry about Ish Smith taking his job, as Smith totaled just six points with three rebounds over 16 minutes in Friday’s loss. In Beard’s article linked above, Van Gundy noted “He’s [Jackson] handled everything this year like a true pro. It’s been a very difficult year for him in a lot of ways: the injury, trying to come back and not playing the way that he’s wanted to play, and now coming off the bench. He’s handled it all great and his priority is the team.”