FanPost

Reggie may be the better player but is Ish the better fit?

Ish Smith, known to be a journeyman player, was thrust into the starting role after only a short pre-season of getting to know a new team and system. Signed over the past summer by the Detroit Pistons to be the back-up point guard to ordained "franchise" player Reggie Jackson, he had to take control of the team when Reggie was out for the first 21 games posting a record of 11 wins and 10 losses. Along the way, there were times that fans were critical about how he played and couldn’t wait to get Reggie back. But has Ish been really that bad? Could Reggie have done any better? After 21 games without Reggie, an argument could be made that Ish might have made the Pistons better than anyone imagined. A look at the some player stats and team’s record might help provide an answer.

At 6’3" and 200 pounds, Jackson has shown ability to dominate games as his 18.8 points per game last season shows compared to Ish at 6 feet 170 lbs at 10 plus points per game this season. Ish also shoots a worse shooting percentage in both 2 point, 3 point and free throw shooting. That the better individual offensive player is Reggie is a given but these stats don’t tell the total impact of each player on the team.

As point guards, they are responsible for running the team and setting the tone of play. This is where some stats show how much better Ish is in getting others involved. Both he and Reggie averaged the same amount of minutes as starting point guards, the first 21 games and last season for each player respectively. But Ish was a fraction better in assists, 6.4 to 6.2; he did this while taking 5 less shots! Furthermore, he takes better care of the ball at about 1.5 turnovers to Reggie’s 2.8 per game. Another way of looking at it is that if you add the extra shots Jackson takes and the extra turnovers he makes, that comes to more than six possessions in about thirty minutes where Reggie decides to be the play as opposed to run the play as a point guard is supposed to do.

When it comes to winning games, Ish had a record of 11 wins and 10 losses as opposed to Reggie’s 12 and 9 in the first 21 games of this and last season respectively. The team having a worse record under Ish is deceiving because they had, according to an article in NBA.com, played the toughest schedule stretch of any team in the league. They lost playing some of the best teams in the league including road losses to the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers, the powerhouse Los Angeles Clippers, top Eastern Conference contenders Toronto Raptors and the Boston Celtics, and the perennial championship contender San Antonio Spurs. Another 2 losses came against the Oklahoma Thunder with leading MVP candidate Russell Westbrook who does seem to average a triple-double and the Houston Rockets lead by another MVP and nightly triple double candidate James Harden. But they also beat the Clippers, the Celtics (on the road) and the Thunder. Last season, the Pistons played only 4 games against contenders (the Golden State Warriors, Cavs, Clippers and the Thunder). Also, under Ish, the team had generated home dominance by having won games 7 of nine games by no less than 11 points each!

In the end we can only speculate how the season would have been if Reggie had not been injured. However, it should be safe to say that last season Reggie showed his great potential as a player while Ish has shown the great potential of the 16-17 Pistons.



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