The Pistons changed their president this offseason, and then the new president went on a reshuffle of management, first recruiting two outstanding old divisions from the Pelicans and then firing general manager Trevor Weaver.
Then he unexpectedly fired Monty Williams, who signed a big contract with the Pistons last year and only fulfilled it for one year, and not long ago poached Dennis Lindsay, one of the behind-the-scenes heroes who helped the Mavericks reach the Finals, as a senior consultant, to his side as vice president, and today the Pistons' vacant position has finally been settled, they did not give a coach a big contract with as much fanfare as in the past, but low-key chose JB Bickerstaff, who had just parted ways with the Cavaliers, to be the coach, And the contract given is not as long as it used to be.
This operation may not be difficult for many people to understand, because Bickerstaff did not seem to play the performance expected in the past playoffs, and in the end he was reluctantly fired because he could not make the team go further, and he was also considered by many to be a relatively low-level coach, and now the Pistons missed the Timberwolves' chief assistant coach Norrie, the Mavericks' chief assistant coach Sweeney, and Borego, who chose to return to the Pelicans to continue as the chief assistant coach, chose Bickerstaff, The choice was a bit of a surprise, even thinking that the Pistons had made another rather bad decision, and even joked that he would end up being fired by Pistons executives after a year of teaching, just like Monty - but is that really the case?
First of all, we need to see the experience and advantages of the young marshal Bickerstaff. As a coach and assistant coach for many years, although he is a "second generation" (his father Bernie Bixduff has coached in the NBA for many years, serving as the head coach of teams such as the Lakers, Wizards and Nuggets), but he has stepped up to his current position, first as an assistant coach to his father, from 2004 to 2007 as the Charlotte Bobcats (now Charlotte Hornets), and then after his father ended his coaching career, he has the ability to rely on himself. Served in the Timberwolves and Rockets, and served as the team's acting coach in the 15-16 season, although he helped the team enter the playoffs, but the Rockets did not have a good record that year, he still quit the class, and then worked as an assistant coach and head coach in the Grizzlies, but what really brought him into the limelight was his years as the head coach of the Cavaliers, he successfully built a high-quality defensive division, and entered the playoffs twice in the past, and also entered the second round of the playoffs this season.
Bickerstaff is best at what he is best at is to get a new start for a team with more young talents, and he himself is also a good player at building a defensive system, in the past when he played for the Cavaliers, he built a very good defensive system around Allen and Mobley, so that the Cavaliers played the top three defensive efficiency, and he also has a lot of experience in the development of Garland, under his hands, Garland has become an Eastern Conference All-Star guard from a pure team pick, and even he is still in Mitchell, Mobley and Garland have 48 wins without playing more than 60 games in the regular season this season. And unlike many coaches who like to use small guards, Bickerstaff is very good at using big lineups to win, which is a boon for Cade Cunningham, who is a big point guard/point forward, as well as Jalen Duren, as well as Osar Thompson and rookie Ron Holland, who have the ability to play the fourth position, and it seems to be a blessing to him that there will be a big growth under him.
But Bickerstaff still has his own problems — he's not a great playoff coach, he's made the playoffs three times in the past, and last season, when he was fired, had his best record, and the others were first-round outs. In addition, his system on the defensive end and the development of players' defensive ability are among the best in the league, but he is not good at adjusting the offense, which greatly limits his development. Interestingly, before he was confirmed to be the head coach of the Pistons, President Langdon said that he needed to build and expand a better team of assistant coaches for the new coach, and I wonder if he would focus on this at that time and find him a good helper with similar experience on the offensive end - such as Stotts?
For the Pistons, getting into the playoffs may not be something to be done immediately, as the team's president Langdon said at his inaugural press conference, the task this summer is to keep Cunningham and absorb other teams' contracts in exchange for more assets, and I want to understand what he wants to say if I understand the Chinese characters. Regardless of the current situation of the Pistons, they lack a good helmsman to lead everyone to improve from a basketball perspective, which is almost a well-known thing, and now that Bickerstaff has confirmed that he is coming to the Pistons, it depends on whether he can make the team go further, at least let the Pistons experience less ridicule, which is already an improvement.