It’s been a summer full of introductions for the Detroit Pistons, who have held separate press conferences for their new president of basketball operations, Trajan Langdon, and their fifth overall pick Ron Holland over the past three weeks.
On Wednesday, they introduced their new head coach, J.B. Bickerstaff. Langdon sat at the podium next to Bickerstaff, who the team officially hired last week, at their practice facility in New Center. Here are the key takeaways.
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Bickerstaff’s experience elevated him in the search for a coach
After being fired as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers in May, Bickerstaff initially discussed the possibility of taking a year off with his family. That was until, about a week before the draft, Langdon called him around 11 p.m. and asked if he could interview for the Pistons’ open job.
Bickerstaff had a trip scheduled in two days, so he flew to Detroit the next day to meet with Pistons management. He checked several boxes the Pistons wanted, as he had previously coached a Cavaliers team that was initially led by a trio of young players, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, before being traded for Donovan Mitchell in 2022.
Langdon saw a leader with excellent communication skills, energy and the drive to build a program. The Pistons interviewed two candidates who could have become first-time head coaches: Dallas Mavericks assistant Sean Sweeney and Minnesota Timberwolves assistant Micah Nori. Ultimately, Bickerstaff’s experience pushed him over the top. Langdon didn’t officially take over as president until early June, and it was important to have a coach who understood the process.
“You want someone who can come in here and be a hit, and who has done it before,” Langdon said. “Especially with a young team coming off a tough season, positivity was important. When we started looking at the different coaches we were looking at, we felt experience was important. The players needed to feel like whoever was coming in knew what they were talking about.”
“I’m not saying other people haven’t done it, but it’s important to have that experience of leading a group, understanding the ability to communicate and connect with players. A lot of times it’s hard to do that as a leader if you’ve never done it before. We were really, really confident with JB coming in that he would be able to do that with our group.”
After meeting with Pistons executives, including vice chairman Arn Tellem and owner Tom Gores, Bickerstaff said he came away convinced he had a chance to be part of something special.
“I think this group as a whole had a great vision,” he said. “Tom gave all the resources to go forward and execute that vision. I was extremely excited about that. And obviously, you have to study the team. I dove in as deep as I could. Obviously, I had the experience of planning against them four times over so many years. But I knew the players well and I believed in their abilities, I believed in their talent. There’s a step-by-step process that we have to go through and we’re really aware of that, and Trajan and I are united and aligned on that.”
He sees great potential in Cade Cunningham – on both sides
The Pistons clearly have high expectations for their former No. 1 overall pick, who recently agreed to a contract extension worth up to $224 million. The 22-year-old point guard, who averaged 22.7 points, 7.5 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game in his third season last year, remains the focal point of the rebuild and has the tools to be an elite player on both ends of the floor, Bickerstaff said.
“I think he’s a stud,” Bickerstaff said. “I don’t think he can’t do a lot on the basketball court with his size, his ability to see the court, his ability to create shots. Defensively, with his size and his length, there’s so much we can do with him. Our goal is to make him one of the best players in the league. Talking to him, he’s hungry. Obviously, last year was tough on everybody, including himself. He’s got fire, he’s a competitor and he wants to be a part of what takes the Pistons to the next level.”
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“The enthusiasm he brought helped me increase my energy level and you’ll see as the season goes on we’ll continue to support each other. There won’t be any tough times for anyone because someone will always be there to support them. He’s shown that leadership and that drive, and when you add to that his talent, you’ve got a guy who’s capable of being really special.”
Time with Cavs will help him manage Cunningham-Ivey duo
Bickerstaff had an All-Star duo in Mitchell and Garland, two point guards who were the best with the ball in their hands. They led the Cavaliers to back-to-back playoff appearances, and Bickerstaff had to find ways to make sure both players were used to their best ability.
Cunningham and Jaden Ivey haven’t reached that level of success yet, but they’re considered the Pistons’ future backcourts. Bickerstaff will take what he learned in Cleveland with him to figure out how to help Cunningham and Ivey thrive together.
“Anytime you get a chance to work with elite basketball players, you have to take something and learn from them,” he said. “Find different ways to use them together, find different ways to rotate them so they have an opportunity to play to their strengths. We’ve always tried to keep one of those guys on the floor. We let them finish games together, start games together, but you build your rotation so you always have one of those dynamic players on the floor.”
“I want to take notes and get a couple of these guys together before I make a decision or make a statement about how we’re going to use them and what we’re going to do with them. But believing in their talent and their skill set, we’re going to have a lot of ways to use them to make them tough for our opponents to match.”
Bickerstaff added that he wants to explore ways to get the ball to Ivey while he’s already on the move, and that he plans to sit down with him to figure out what he wants to accomplish next season.
“There’s a natural speed and athleticism that’s tough to deal with in this league,” Bickerstaff said. “The way the rules are set up, the way teams space the floor, the pace that people want to play, he’s going to be extremely tough to defend. One of the things he has the ability to do is put a ton of pressure on players. We know in this league, players don’t want to get fouled. That’s going to allow him to get in the paint more often, be able to create layups for himself, kick-out threes. To play modern NBA basketball, his pace and speed give you an advantage to do that.”
Adding veterans to the roster was a priority
Before officially signing his contract with the Pistons, Bickerstaff was already recruiting for the team. On July 1, he and Langdon flew to San Diego to meet with free agent Tobias Harris, whom the team signed to a two-year, $52 million contract later that day. Bickerstaff was not officially announced as the head coach until July 3.
It shows not only how eager he was to get started, but also the importance of having players like Harris on the roster. The Pistons prioritized adding spacing this offseason, and their two new free agency acquisitions — Harris and Malik Beasley — along with their trade for Tim Hardaway Jr. added players with established track records as 3-point shooters.
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“You want to surround the players you develop with people who make them better,” Bickerstaff said. “With the young players we have, we do our best to put them in positions to succeed, and success, especially on offense, often starts with that space.”
The Pistons also needed more experience, as they will have six players under rookie contracts next season.
“All the research that we’ve done and that Trajan and his team have done on the professionalism of these guys on a day-to-day basis — how they eat, how they get in the weight room, their recovery — all those little things that veteran players who have had a lot of success and played a lot of games, like Tobias, have played a lot of games, right? How do we take that and help translate it to our younger players? Because it’s true, they respect their peers and their veteran players. They have a tremendous amount of respect for these guys, and they do the work behind the scenes that we don’t always get to do.”
Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him @omarisankofa.