Answering Questions on J.B. Bickerstaff | The Weekly Drive

Many of our listeners had questions about Bickerstaff and how he would manage a young, flawed roster. Luckily, there is a Cleveland Cavaliers fan on the writing staff.

J.B. Bickerstaff took the reigns of the Cleveland Cavaliers before the COVID-19 pandemic nearly five years ago. (Image by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Good morning Pistons fans, and welcome to this special edition of the Palace of Pistons Weekly Drive. While the offseason crawls on, and basketball fans are coming down from the high of Team USA winning the gold medal, it felt like a good time to take some questions on a topic of interest: head coach. Let’s get into it.

The Detroit Pistons pulled the rug out from the fan base, stunningly hiring former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff to the same position. The new role should have some level of familiarity, on several fronts.

In 2019, Bickerstaff was tasked with being the NBA-level voice to then Cavs head coach John Beilein (spoiler: it went poorly for the former Michigan coach). When things went South, Bickerstaff was tasked with taking over a terrible team midseason and fixing the locker room and organizational culture. Sound familiar?

Last season, Monty Williams was a flaming train slowly falling off the tracks one game at a time. The on-court product and culture were both tragically bad, with one source telling me that Williams looked checked out in November - just a few months after accepting the job. This has been covered ad nausum.

Those of you who listen to the Palace of Pistons Podcast (and if you don’t, you should) know that I am a Cleveland fan first. I write for SB Nation’s Fear the Sword covering the Cavs throughout the season. After watching Bickerstaff build up the Cavs from basement dweller to one of the best teams in the league, I was delighted to see Trajan Langdon and the Pistons do the right thing and bring in a guy who has a track record for turning bad situations around.

So, I took some questions on social media and riffed on Bickerstaff, his tendencies, how I envision him fleshing things out with Detroit, and my expectations for him this upcoming season. Check it out in this special supplemental edition of the podcast. And, when you’re done, let me know what you think.

Thanks for reading, if you made it this far, and see you next week.

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