After soul-searching, Pistons point guard Jackson lets go

DETROIT _ It was media day at the Palace, and Reggie Jackson was next.

He breezed through what once was the media dining room and took his place at the podium.

After he took a seat, he fidgeted with an object hanging at the end of the necklace he was wearing.

"It looks cold, right?"

A Detroit Pistons spokesman gave him instructions. Jackson leaned in.

"Can you hear me back there? Gotcha."

A reporter asked what was he wearing.

"Giving a tribute to Flavor Flav, so I got my own clock."

Then a Pistons employee solved the mystery.

"It's a camera," the employee said. "Shooting a first-person view."

"It's a camera," Jackson told the media. "So you may be snitching on me, while I'm snitching on y'all, too."

Laughter spread throughout the room.

"Just so y'all know."

The short scene shows that Jackson _ at least mentally _ is back to 2015-16 form when the point guard was the most important offensive player on a playoff team.

It's a far cry from last season, when the young Pistons cratered. Jackson's mood sullied his performance while he struggled with left knee tendinitis.

But he surveyed the landscape this off-season and noticed that at 27, he is one of the oldest players on the team. With critics saying his success was a one-year fluke to add to the physical issue, he began to wonder about his basketball mortality.

And with that, Jackson decided to stop worrying about the past, and it could be a major factor for the Pistons' season, which begins Oct. 18 against the Charlotte Hornets at Little Caesars Arena.

"I know it was a down year," Jackson said. "I still have thoughts about it every now and then, but more so when I wake up each and every day, I feel like I'm forgetting about it slowly. I'm using it as motivation, but it is what it is and it's in the past.

"When times got tough last year, I found myself going into my shell a little bit and talking to myself a lot. This year I kind of realized in conversations with my brother and having an epiphany is I am somewhat of an elder statesman on this team now.

"(With) the role of point guard you kind of (need to) be vocal and guys have to understand your vision is as well."