There’s one notable difference between J.B. Bickerstaff and Monty Williams: Bickerstaff actually looks like he wants to be in Detroit. At the very least, Bickerstaff wants to coach an NBA team this season.
That wasn’t the case with Williams after he was fired by the Phoenix Suns following the 2022–23 season. Williams reached a buyout agreement in excess of $20 million and preferred to take at least a year off from coaching.
Pistons owner Tom Gores was undeterred. Gores put on his own full court press, pleading with Williams to coach his downtrodden team. Williams finally caved when Gores finally threw enough money—$78.5 million—in his direction.
It turned out Williams produced one win for every $5.6 million on his six-year contract. The Pistons endured a 14-68 season, the worst in franchise history, and set an NBA record with 28 consecutive losses.
Enter Bickerstaff, who was dumped by Cleveland despite coaching them to the Eastern Conference semifinals. Bickerstaff would probably rather still be coaching the Cavaliers, but he had no qualms about joining the latest Pistons rebuilding project.
New president of basketball operations, Trajan Langdon, has given Bickerstaff some better personnel around his young core, adding veterans Tobias Harris, Malik Beasley and Tim Hardaway Jr. to the mix.
The Pistons challenged Indiana, which made the Eastern Conference Finals last season, in their season opener before falling apart in the fourth quarter.
That’s OK. No one outside the locker room expects the Pistons to win more than 25-30 games. What was promising is that the team looked a lot more competitive and organized.
Detroit’s young players, for the most part, seemed to regress during Williams’ lone year at the helm. Williams inexplicably started Killian Hayes over Jaden Ivey during the first half of last season. Hayes had already proven to be a major offensive liability, while Ivey showed plenty of promise in his rookie year.
By the time Williams came to his senses, Ivey’s confidence was shaken, and he never got it back. Hayes, a 2020 lottery pick, was cut loose at the trade deadline, and no team picked him up until he signed a training camp contract with Brooklyn.
The lighting-quick Ivey looked sharper and more well-rounded during this month’s training camp and scored 17 points in the regular season opener.
Williams also had a bad habit of replacing his starters all at once with the second unit, even though the Pistons lacked quality depth. There are better options off the bench this time, but Bickerstaff staggered his starters’ minutes in the opener and essentially used a nine-man rotation.
This year’s lottery pick, Ron Holland, received 15 minutes of playing time off the bench. Holland is very much a work in progress offensively, but he displayed tenacity and defensive energy in his debut.
Cade Cunningham, the franchise player, seemed a lot more comfortable with some proven players around him. Cunningham piled up 28 points and eight assists against the Pacers, but the biggest stat was a small one. He only turned the ball over twice in 37 minutes.
Detroit hasn’t had any lottery luck since selecting Cunningham with the No. 1 pick in 2021. The Pistons have dropped to the fifth pick in the last three lotteries. They still need a superstar talent to pair with Cunningham and can only hope the right lottery combination comes up in June.
Meanwhile, the goal this season is for players such as Cunningham, Ivey, Holland and Jalen Duren to show more progress under a coach who came to Detroit with more enthusiasm than the last one. Williams is now coaching his son’s prep team. His replacement is coaching a team that looks like it can at least give its opponent a challenge.
