Charlotte, N.C. — Through their first 21 games, the Pistons clearly missed starting point guard Reggie Jackson, as they hovered around .500 and managed 11 wins.
Scoring was down and they mixed in some motion offense to complement the traditional pick-and-roll philosophy. At times, they didn’t have the same flow or ball movement with Ish Smith in the starting role and infused a faster tempo to compensate.
No one missed Jackson more than his pick-and-roll partner, center Andre Drummond.
Paired with Smith, Drummond ran fewer pick-and-roll plays but his numbers didn’t dip significantly. He’s at 14.