OKC Thunder: Matt’s Monday Musings, Edition One
The Trade – Two Years On – The Major Players
Two years on, the major players in this trade are still major players on their team, despite being in different roles.
Reggie Jackson has led his team to the playoffs, except that Ish Smith is doing a better job this year. Jackson helped get Detroit into eighth in the Eastern Conference last year, but with a center like Andre Drummond and the rest of the Pistons squad, Detroit should be in a position to make a deep run this season.
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Unfortunately, Jackson is not living up to his self-believed talent. When Jackson was out the Pistons went 11-10 under the guidance of Smith. In the 33 games since his return, the Pistons are 14-19.
His first 16 games back, the Pistons went 5-11. Not good enough. That combined with the fact that he is 26 with major knee issues, Detroit may have got the raw end of this deal.
Enes Kanter has been, up until his last couple of games, a superb player for the Thunder. I was a little concerned about his knees, but up until a disagreement with a chair, Kanter has been reliable.
Kanter has been an offensive machine, scoring 14.3 points and collecting 8.2 rebounds per game, primarily as a sixth man. The job that he is doing with the second unit is impressive.
Jackson was going to be the scoring punch off the bench for the OKC Thunder to propel them to a championship. Unfortunately due to Jackson tasting starting with Westbrook injured, he was not happy to go back into his role. The pouting could be seen all the way across the Pacific.
Sam Presti did an amazing job getting a bench presence who is good enough to carry the second unit, despite the fact that Kanter is not so good on the defensive end.