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Healthy Reggie Jackson could push Detroit Pistons to playoffs. For real.

Vince Ellis
Detroit Free Press

To the viewing audience, it was time for joy.

But the Detroit Pistons’ best player wasn’t in the mood.

Blake Griffin was criticizing the Detroit Pistons’ sloppy closing minutes of a victory at New Orleans last month.

“I’m happy with the win, but I’m not necessarily happy with how we closed this game out,” Griffin told the Fox Sports Detroit reporter.

Point guard Reggie Jackson, ecstatic over contributing to a win for the first time in weeks, entered the screen.

Reggie Jackson has had a turbulent season.

He pranced between Griffin and the reporter.

Jackson stopped, smiled at the camera, struck a pose.

Griffin wiped his face with a towel, almost appearing to hide the look of disbelief.

“Blake, I didn’t know you were having an interview, know what I’m saying?” Jackson joked as he shook Griffin’s hand.

“I was just posing.”

Griffin offered a bemused smile.

The derision was instantaneous.

To the critics, Jackson’s untimely antics symbolized everything wrong with the Pistons.

The team was struggling and Jackson — along with center Andre Drummond — took the brunt of the blame.

Jackson couldn’t be traded fast enough — and the front office explored trading for multiple point guards before the Feb. 7 NBA trade deadline.

And yet, if his play entering the NBA All-Star break was any indication, an upgrade at point guard might already be on the roster — in the form of an improved Jackson.

Jackson, 28, finally healthy and understanding his role under first-year coach Dwane Casey, is playing his best basketball since he led the Pistons to the playoffs in 2015-16.

Solid play, which began late in that victory at New Orleans continued into the All-Star break, which started after the Pistons’ 118-110 loss to the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night.

His burst is more consistent, and instead of confusion, there’s decisiveness when he has the ball.

Griffin was clear he had no issue with Jackson’s untimely video bomb — and his teammates are happy Jackson’s work and patience are starting to bear fruit.

“Reggie’s done a really good job of accepting his role and playing with it,” Drummond said. “He’s having a lot of fun with it. He’s still scoring as much as in prior years, but he’s doing it different ways now and it’s working out for him.”

Health is paramount

Reggie Jackson dribbles against the 76ers at Wells Fargo Center, Dec. 10.

It was early in last month’s blowout loss at Sacramento.

Jackson initiated a pick-and-roll, and Kings power forward Nemanja Bjelica switched to guard him.

A point guard matched against a power forward is a dream scenario, but Jackson could not get around the 6-foot-10 Serbian.

Jackson tried several fakes, but Bjelica stayed with him easily.

Jackson was forced to miss a contested 3-pointer.

The sequence was emblematic of Jackson’s first 46 games, when he shot less than 40 percent from the field in scoring 14.1 points per game. He also posted a 33.6 3-point percentage.

Of the rotation regulars, he had the worst net rating on the team, sitting at minus-4.3 points per 100 possessions.

He couldn’t turn the corner against defenders, and centers easily blocked his shots on the rare times he would get to the rim. It was a nightly display of his physical struggles.

The Pistons' new medical staff — led by medical director Bernard Condevaux and adviser Arnie Kander — wasn’t surprised that two offseasons of inactivity would take time to overcome.

In the 2017 offseason, Jackson rested a troublesome left knee that had undergone a platelet-rich plasma injection the previous fall.

In the summer of 2018, it was rehab for a severe right ankle sprain that forced him to miss a good portion of the 2017-18 season.

“With his injury, he didn’t get on a basketball court until he came back to Auburn Hills, so he was off the court at the end of last season, through the summer, no basketball, no basketball shoes,” Condevaux said.

The start of Jackson’s resurgence was modest.

Before the video bomb, Jackson scored seven points in the final 6:37 to help the Pistons hold off the Pelicans.

The next game, a loss at Dallas, Jackson zoomed up the floor for a nice alley-oop pass to Bruce Brown for a layup as part of a nine-assist night.

In a home loss to the Clippers, Jackson was able to get around top defenders Patrick Beverly and Avery Bradley on the way to a season-high 29 points.

Two days later, in a home victory over the Mavericks, Jackson got to rim for a clutch layup late in the game to help the Pistons avoid an embarrassing loss.

Over the course of a season, the sequences aren’t that remarkable; they should be the expectation of a starting point guard.

But when you consider his struggles over the last two seasons, the uptick is noticeable.

Bad days are still expected. The burst wasn’t there for the last two games before the break, but he continued to shoot well.

Did Jackson ever lose patience?

“I wanted to play better, but nope,” Jackson said. “You knew that it was going to take a while. I haven’t really played consistent basketball for two years. I knew it would take some time.”

Blake Griffin remade game to become NBA All-Star again. What's next? ]

Understanding his role

The numbers are very good.

In the 10 games before the break, Jackson scored 18.7 points per game on nearly 50 percent shooting from the field and from 3-point range.

He averaged six assists.

The Pistons scored nearly 120 points per 100 possessions when Jackson was on the court. His net rating of plus-16.7 per 100 possessions was the best on the team.

Casey deserves kudos for finally utilizing Jackson’s talents, right?

Not exactly.

Earlier in the season, Casey pushed back against the narrative he was holding Jackson back. (As the point guard in Casey’s system, Jackson is offered freedom to initiate quick offense.)

Unlike former coach Stan Van Gundy, Casey doesn’t call many plays, preferring a free-flowing style that isn’t predictable.

The numbers appear to back Casey.

Reggie Jackson looks to pass against the Mavericks on Jan. 31.

Jackson’s usage percentage, which measures the number of possessions a player uses in a game, is 23 percent, his lowest since 2014-15.  

During his 10-game uptick, the number is the same, showing Jackson is just taking advantage of his opportunities.

“He’s being more efficient, smarter with the ball,” Casey said. “We’re running the same plays, same sets, same situations, same philosophy and he’s doing a much better job these last two or three weeks of making decisions offensively and defensively.”

Under Van Gundy, it was a steady diet of pick-and-rolls.

For Casey, the sweet spot is the area of the paint outside the block-charge circle.

If a clear path to the basket isn’t available, Casey wants ballhandlers to stop and look for shooters at the 3-point line with the idea the penetration into the paint will draw in help defenders.

Overpenetration can lead to blocked shots, which is Jackson's skill as a standstill shooter is a weapon the Pistons can use more often as Griffin draws more double-teams.

And Jackson still runs pick-and-rolls on the weakside of defenses loaded up to stop Griffin.

“I feel good,” Jackson said. “I feel like I’m in a good groove. I feel a little more explosive, so I’m just blessed, thanking God for my health and I’m just trying to get better each and every day.”

Pistons seek upgrade?

A 10-game uptick is nice, but the front office is operating under the possibility Jackson will never return to 2015-16 form.

Under Van Gundy, who also served at team president, Jackson’s name was a constant in trade rumors.

And that has continued under the new front office headed by senior adviser Ed Stefanski.

The Pistons' pursuit of Memphis Grizzlies point guard Mike Conley Jr. before the trade deadline was well publicized with the Pistons balking over including a 2019 first-round pick and second-year shooting guard Luke Kennard, according to a league source.

But the Pistons also tried  to gauge the price of second-year Mavericks point guard Dennis Smith Jr., the source said.

Talks started with the Mavericks asking for an unprotected 2019 first-round pick. The Pistons front office, aware of the Dallas' struggles, asked for a top-three protection of the pick, meaning the Pistons would recoup it if it managed to soar that high in the draft lottery. But talks died, and the Mavericks traded Smith Jr. to the Knicks in a package that landed big man Kristaps Porzingis.

In addition, the Pistons engaged in talks to acquire Philadelphia 76ers second-year point guard Markelle Fultz on deadline day, according to the source, but Fultz was traded to the Orlando Magic.

It’s a safe assumption the front office will continue to be opportunistic.

In the meantime, there’s optimism an offseason to work on his game and not rehab an injury could help Jackson.

It did wonders for Griffin, who after several injury-marred seasons, started the foundation of his All-Star season in offseason workouts.

“If you’re not spending your offseason rehabbing and recovering, you can work on your skill, on specific angles for your game and Blake’s a great example,” Condevaux said. “Now you’re just building from a solid foundation instead of getting back up to that foundation. That’s going to be a huge difference.”

Next season will be a contract year for Jackson, who will be on the books for $18 million.

His expiring contract and improved play could lead to his Pistons exit. And while that's not necessarily a motivation for Jackson, it could help the franchise as it seeks to build a roster.

Right now, Jackson is still going to keep working to get back to 2015-16 form,

“I’m just going to continue to work as hard as I can,” Jackson said. “If I have another gear to come, I’ll definitely surprise myself and be excited.”

Blake Griffin may do something Magic Johnson never accomplished ]

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