Detroit Pistons Hire J.B. Bickerstaff as Next Head Coach

The Detroit Pistons have picked up the pieces after firing former head coach Monty Williams earlier this offseason by hiring long-time frontman J.B. Bickerstaff as their next head coach.

Bickerstaff will join the Pistons’ ranks as their third head coach in the last three years. This marks the Colorado native’s fourth head coaching position. He started his career as the interim head coach for the Houston Rockets (2015-16) before also coaching the Memphis Grizzlies (2017-19) and most recently the Cleveland Cavaliers (2020-24).

Pistons Bring in Seasoned Veteran

Detroit is looking to turn its fortunes around with Bickerstaff

The Pistons (14-68) are looking to climb out of moribund status after finishing with the worst record in the NBA in 2023-24 and have taken on Bickerstaff to bring his leadership to their young core. As a result, they’ve inked the 45-year-old play-caller to a five-year deal to man the sidelines in the Motor City moving forward.

Bickerstaff amplified his head coaching profile in his last gig with the Cavaliers, where he led them to three winning campaigns in his four-year tenure, including a 48-win showing in 2023-24 and a career-high 51-win season the year before that with All-Star Donovan Mitchell leading the way on the floor.

Detroit is in desperate need of direction. They have a talented collection of players that have not been able to gel, nor stay on the floor together for extended periods of time, highlighted by former No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham and his injury-prone history, having failed to play more than 62 games in any of his three years in the Association thus far. Bickerstaff has experience nurturing teams in transitional periods and figures to do the same for the Pistons starting in 2024-25.

Pistons Can Experience Jump in Productivity Under J.B. Bickerstaff

The Pistons make young mistakes that can quickly be cleaned up in 2024-25

Bickerstaff can help the Pistons most in four areas. For one, Detroit finished as a bottom-five team in three-point percentage last season, as well as in turnovers and personal fouls. Hearkening unto a no-nonsense decisionmaker like Bickerstaff would allow the Pistons to see stark improvements in said areas based solely off of their effort and attention to detail. They can also improve their bottom-10 assists differential by emphasizing more ball movement in 2024-25:

Thankfully for Bickerstaff, he’ll be inheriting a Pistons team that plays tenaciously. They already do a great job of limiting offensive rebounds to other teams with 9.6 offensive boards conceded last year, which ranked No. 4 league wide, and showcased their youthful legs with the ninth-fastest pace (100.45) in the NBA overall.

If they can take that energy and go-get it attitude and apply it to their glaring areas of weakness, the Pistons could be a threat to add a considerable amount of wins to their total in 2024-25.

Detroit has not made the NBA playoffs since the 2018-19 season when Dwane Casey was at their helm. They’ve also only had one season where they’ve finished above .500 since 2007-08.

Bickerstaff has an uphill battle to climb, but will do so off of the strength of Cunningham, point guard Jaden Ivy, center James Wiseman, newly-acquired veteran sharpshooter Tim Hardaway Jr. and a short-list of wing talent that can blossom under his stewardship.

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