fired Bickerstaff after a 48-win season<\/a> and a loss in the Eastern Conference semifinals in 2023-24.<\/p>\n\u201cHe\u2019s been in some tough situations that have probably intrinsically hardened him,\u201d Bernie Bickerstaff told The Athletic. \u201c(Those situations) allowed him to eliminate outside distractions. I just see a guy whose work ethic has also been consistent. \u2026 That\u2019s really important because you come in and you have to observe situations. I don\u2019t think you just come in and jump into it, I don\u2019t think he did that.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe comes in and he gets a feel for what\u2019s needed, and it usually doesn\u2019t take long. I know he understands that our ultimate success (as coaches) is about those players. It doesn\u2019t matter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bernie admits it\u2019s 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\u2019 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got four of \u2019em,\u201d Bernie said. \u201cJohn-Blair\u2019s got two, my daughter\u2019s got one, and then we\u2019ve got one. All from the same litter. I yell; she barks.\u201d<\/p>\n
To Bernie\u2019s point about the players determining success, Bickerstaff\u2019s resume shows developmental achievements.<\/p>\n
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\u2019ve been in discussion for an All-Defensive team.<\/p>\n
His players believe his dismissal in Cleveland and subsequent arrival in Detroit aligned seamlessly with them coming off a franchise-worst 14-win season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a huge part,\u201d Duren told The Athletic after a late January win. \u201cAs a coach, he had a chip on his shoulder. He\u2019d done a lot of great things in Cleveland and obviously it didn\u2019t work out for them. I feel like he wanted to prove himself and show why he\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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 \u2014 evidenced by his career-best 23.1 usage percentage.<\/p>\n
\u201cMe personally, I love being coached by him,\u201d Duren continued. \u201cHe\u2019s a huge part of the success I\u2019ve 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\u2019s a real one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bickerstaff acknowledged that the events that contributed to his departure from the Cavaliers prepared him for this moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was the perfect spot for me, and you don\u2019t say that often,\u201d Bickerstaff said. \u201cBut 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\u2019t be happier, and it\u2019s not just me.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy 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\u2019ve been through, it was all worth it to end up here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bickerstaff also encourages his assistants, such as Walton and Jack, who Bickerstaff retained from Monty Williams\u2019 coaching staff, to be as vocal as possible. That mindset fits with Bickerstaff\u2019s understanding of what each individual on his sideline needs to feel empowered to be at their best.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know the hierarchy and where the food chain stops and starts,\u201d Jack said. \u201cBut he implores everybody to run kind of like a democracy type of thing. It\u2019s not a dictatorship by any means. What our job is (as assistants), is to communicate his vision at a high level.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jack remembers a dinner he and Bickerstaff had at the beginning of Bickerstaff\u2019s tenure that set the tone for the type of relationship he sought to have with his assistants.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was like, \u2018Jack, man, I don\u2019t want y\u2019all to kiss my ass. I want y\u2019all to go at me.\u2019 Meaning present new plays or new scenarios,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you feel an idea might be a bit contrary, he wants the input.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was like, \u2018It gets me better. It keeps me on my toes.\u2019 For somebody who\u2019s amazing in that space already, that probably helped him get to this place of where he\u2019s at \u2014 not being close-minded or thinking he\u2019s the smartest person in the room. He\u2019s still yearning for advice, seeking and searching it out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bickerstaff\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Without it, the Pistons couldn\u2019t have kickstarted their turnaround.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlmost every head coach will say, \u2018Yeah, can you come talk to me about whatever.\u2019 But to actually have guys feel that security in doing that is a whole different thing,\u201d Cunningham said. \u201cTo 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\u2019s very personal, I think is challenging. He does it easy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As 21-year-old Jarret Jack was going through his pre-draft workout circuit in the summer of 2005, he noticed…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":775394,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[3129,1260,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-775393","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-detroit-pistons","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116523204783649894","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=775393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/775394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=775393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=775393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=775393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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