As 21-year-old Jarret Jack was going through his pre-draft workout circuit in the summer of 2005, he noticed one coach in particular had a level of passion none of his peers replicated.
That coach was J.B. Bickerstaff, a second-year assistant for the Charlotte Bobcats working under his father, Bernie, the Bobcats’ head coach. Jack recalls the younger Bickerstaff — then 26 with a full head of hair — possessing the same fervor with which he now paces the sideline of Little Caesars Arena.
“Why I remembered J.B. was because his approach; (the Bickerstaffs’) energy and their style of how they were doing things was totally different,” Jack, now one of Bickerstaff’s assistants in Detroit, laughed as he told The Athletic. “It was fun, it was enthusiastic, it was competitive. It was a lot of things, it just wasn’t common. But I enjoyed it.”
That zeal Bickerstaff had then, and still has more than 20 years later, is fundamental in making him a 2026 Coach of the Year finalist. It’s also a huge reason he earned a contract extension just a day after leading the Pistons back from a 3-1 comeback to win the franchise’s first playoff series since 2008.
At the core of Bickerstaff’s coaching philosophy is his understanding of people. Bickerstaff’s emotional intelligence allows him to approach each new relationship differently, rather than coming into his position with a one-size-fits-all method. Since being at the helm in Detroit, Bickerstaff has cultivated relationships with his players and assistant coaches that help illuminate them.
“He truly cares about people,” Luke Walton, a former NBA player and head coach who is now an assistant in Detroit, told The Athletic during a January shootaround. “Players are extremely intelligent on when they’re being bullsh–ted or when people actually care. He truly does (care), and the players recognize that. … He tells us every year going into the season, ‘Our job is to make these players feel invincible, and we’ve got to put them in the best position for them to succeed.’
“Between taking the time to get to know them, talking to them, caring about them and then giving them the belief on the court to do what they’re capable of doing, it’s just a great combination. Especially for a young team that was trying to build something after a pretty rough year before we got here.”
There are standard non-negotiables Bickerstaff requires: maximum effort, defending with tenacity and playing for the betterment of the team versus one’s self. But Bickerstaff has an innate sense of when to shift between being a coach, a mentor, a sounding board or even just an ear to listen when someone needs it.
That quality — the defining factor in Bickerstaff’s ability to gain the trust and buy-in from Detroit’s locker room — has helped Bickerstaff spearhead the Pistons’ turnaround from 14 to 60 regular-season wins in two seasons.
“He’s super supportive of all of us outside of just basketball,” Cade Cunningham told The Athletic. “Everybody feels like they can call him to talk about if they have problems with their girlfriend or if they need something for their kids. He’s just a very selfless and supportive person. Having somebody like that who cares about you on the court and wants you to be great on the court, but then also actually cares about your life and your well-being off the court is huge.”
Cunningham is family oriented. His two siblings and parents can be found sitting near the Pistons’ bench during big games. While the superstar has a support system he knows he can rely on, Bickerstaff offers another layer of support for Cunningham.
Growing up with a father who was an NBA coach, one who accepted an advisory role with the Pistons this season, Bickerstaff has a unique outlook.
“I’ve had plenty of talks with him just about trying to find answers in my life, trying to figure things out and just asking for his advice,” Cunningham said of J.B. “Having somebody like that to call on means a lot, you know what I’m saying? Being in the NBA and being a player, it’s the best life in the world.
“But we really only have each other to relate to. We’re kind of anomalies in where we come from and everything. It could be a lonely world in that way, as far as not having anybody that understands where we’re coming from. But he just does a great job of it, he does a great job of helping us out in that way.”
J.B. Bickerstaff has led a complete turnaround to one of the worst teams in the league to a 60-game winner and the second round of the playoffs. (Brian Sevald/NBAE via Getty Images)
Bickerstaff’s relatability was forged through his 12 years as an assistant coach before being tasked with the interim head coach title for the first time in 2015 with the Houston Rockets. He began with his father, who was an assistant and head coach for more than 40 years and helped pave the way for myriad Black coaches. The two were together in Charlotte, then J.B. spent time with the Minnesota Timberwolves before landing as an assistant with the Rockets.
“I was with teams that were typically rebuilding,” Bickerstaff told The Athletic. “So the guys on the floor were going through different struggles in their development. It was at that point that you realize you can’t just basketball coach your way out of that. Because these are young people with huge aspirations going through human things, not just basketball things.
“(They) were dealing with success or failure or all the people who are newly in their life trying to get into their life. There were so many different things beyond basketball that I realized at a young age, that it was our responsibility to help guys with. And you have to do that by building relationships.”
Bickerstaff also served as an interim with the Memphis Grizzlies and Cavaliers before Cleveland hired him as its head coach. He began his first full season at the helm with the Cavaliers after the COVID-19 pandemic during the 2020-21 season. Bickerstaff won 95 games in two seasons after taking over a 22-win team.
The Cavaliers fired Bickerstaff after a 48-win season and a loss in the Eastern Conference semifinals in 2023-24.
“He’s been in some tough situations that have probably intrinsically hardened him,” Bernie Bickerstaff told The Athletic. “(Those situations) allowed him to eliminate outside distractions. I just see a guy whose work ethic has also been consistent. … That’s really important because you come in and you have to observe situations. I don’t think you just come in and jump into it, I don’t think he did that.
“He comes in and he gets a feel for what’s needed, and it usually doesn’t take long. I know he understands that our ultimate success (as coaches) is about those players. It doesn’t matter.”
Bernie admits it’s as difficult to watch his son coach as it was to watch him play growing up, simply because he wants the best for him. Bernie occasionally watches games from Little Caesars Arena, a few rows up from the Pistons’ bench. But he prefers watching his son coach from the comfort of his couch with their family dog, a cross between a Bernese mountain dog and a poodle, Bella.
“We got four of ’em,” Bernie said. “John-Blair’s got two, my daughter’s got one, and then we’ve got one. All from the same litter. I yell; she barks.”
To Bernie’s point about the players determining success, Bickerstaff’s resume shows developmental achievements.
In Detroit alone, Cunningham has ascended into an All-NBA talent. Jalen Duren is an All-Star, could qualify for an All-NBA team and was a finalist for the Most Improved Player award. Ausar Thompson was a Defensive Player of the Year finalist. Had Isaiah Stewart hit the 65-game threshold, he likely would’ve been in discussion for an All-Defensive team.
His players believe his dismissal in Cleveland and subsequent arrival in Detroit aligned seamlessly with them coming off a franchise-worst 14-win season.
“That’s a huge part,” Duren told The Athletic after a late January win. “As a coach, he had a chip on his shoulder. He’d done a lot of great things in Cleveland and obviously it didn’t work out for them. I feel like he wanted to prove himself and show why he’s the best coach in this league. And same with the team. I always felt we were better than what we were displaying to the world early on in my career.
“It was a match made in heaven, honestly, to be able to have a coach who believes in every player, who demands the best out of every player. Not only demands the best, but demands your best effort. He encourages the emotional engagement of the game. Obviously, emotional engagement while being smart, but he just encourages how passionate we are with the game.”
Duren credited Bickerstaff and his approach to his leap to a career-high 19.5 points per game and his evolution as a key contributor offensively this season — evidenced by his career-best 23.1 usage percentage.
“Me personally, I love being coached by him,” Duren continued. “He’s a huge part of the success I’ve been able to have, in my development and getting better in my career just being able to talk to him, being able to relate to him. He’s a real one.”
Bickerstaff acknowledged that the events that contributed to his departure from the Cavaliers prepared him for this moment.
“This was the perfect spot for me, and you don’t say that often,” Bickerstaff said. “But whatever led up to the opportunity for me to be with the Pistons was worth it, because it made me better for this job. The people I get to work with at this job are the perfect people for me to work with to be my best. And to help this team and organization be its best. I couldn’t be happier, and it’s not just me.
“My kids are thriving, my wife is happy. Detroit turned out to be the spot that our family needed to be. Through all the ups and downs we’ve been through, it was all worth it to end up here.”
Bickerstaff also encourages his assistants, such as Walton and Jack, who Bickerstaff retained from Monty Williams’ coaching staff, to be as vocal as possible. That mindset fits with Bickerstaff’s understanding of what each individual on his sideline needs to feel empowered to be at their best.
“We know the hierarchy and where the food chain stops and starts,” Jack said. “But he implores everybody to run kind of like a democracy type of thing. It’s not a dictatorship by any means. What our job is (as assistants), is to communicate his vision at a high level.”
Jack remembers a dinner he and Bickerstaff had at the beginning of Bickerstaff’s tenure that set the tone for the type of relationship he sought to have with his assistants.
“He was like, ‘Jack, man, I don’t want y’all to kiss my ass. I want y’all to go at me.’ Meaning present new plays or new scenarios,” he said. “If you feel an idea might be a bit contrary, he wants the input.
“He was like, ‘It gets me better. It keeps me on my toes.’ For somebody who’s amazing in that space already, that probably helped him get to this place of where he’s at — not being close-minded or thinking he’s the smartest person in the room. He’s still yearning for advice, seeking and searching it out.”
Bickerstaff’s willingness to make himself available for not only mentorship away from basketball, but critique from those on his staff, is what contributes to his understanding of the people around him. His emotional intelligence, crafted through his successes and failures, has shone through in his first two years in Detroit.
Without it, the Pistons couldn’t have kickstarted their turnaround.
“Almost every head coach will say, ‘Yeah, can you come talk to me about whatever.’ But to actually have guys feel that security in doing that is a whole different thing,” Cunningham said. “To be able to actually have the trust of all the guys where they actually feel comfortable to come and speak to you about stuff that’s very personal, I think is challenging. He does it easy.”