JB Bickerstaff tried something with the Detroit Pistons that hadn’t been attempted for years: He put all of his young players in strict, well-defined roles, and it paid off, as most of them thrived with more focus and attention to detail, something that was lacking under Monty Williams. But for his team to take the next step, coach Bickerstaff may have to loosen his own strict roles.
Just about every young Pistons player benefitted from this concept, as coach Bickerstaff never asked them to do things they couldn’t or shouldn’t be doing, held his players to strict minutes and rotations and put them in the best position to succeed as individuals within the team concept.
We saw players like Isaiah Stewart and Jaden Ivey start to take off under this regime, as they were no longer being asked to play against their strengths and knew exactly when and how much they’d be playing each night, something that they never had under Monty Williams.
It was a genius concept from Bickerstaff, as it’s how you get young players to buy into the team concept, as well as the best way to get them to develop as individual players.
But next season some of these guys need to be cut loose for the Pistons to avoid spinning their wheels in the Eastern Conference.
Detroit Pistons: Expanding the roles of the young players
The first player who comes to mind is Isaiah Stewart, who was limited to 20 minutes per game last season and completely stopped shooting 3-pointers after averaging four attempts per game on average in the two previous seasons.
Coach Bickerstaff is clearly aware of Stewart’s style of play and history of injuries, so I don’t expect him to play huge minutes next season, but it would be nice to see his offensive role expanded to include 3-4 attempts per game from long range, a shot he’s shown he can hit.
Last season, Jaden Ivey and Ausar Thompson were both asked to play mostly off the ball with Cade Cunningham, which is something they have to be able to do to be long-term parts of the roster. Both players succeeded in that role to various degrees, with Ivey shooting over 45 percent on catch-and-shoot 3-point shots in a limited 30-game sample.
Now it’s time to show they can handle more by being primary creators when Cade Cunningham is on the bench, not just guys who can take advantage of Cade’s gravity.
As for Jalen Duren, we need to see more of what we saw in the playoffs, which is him creating out of the short roll, as it’s one way to create space given that he can’t shoot. He was finding a cutting Ausar Thompson consistently with nice passes, which is how you can keep these two non-shooters on the floor at the same time.
Unlike Stewart, Duren came into the league as an offensive prospect, so he needs to continue to expand his offensive game, even put it on the floor more and take it to the rim, as he is quicker than a lot of centers.
Ron Holland was never shy about shooting or taking it to the rim in his limited minutes last season, but he does need to expand his role as well by taking and making more 3-point shots and then attacking the close outs when teams start to realize he can shoot.
Coach Bickerstaff did a brilliant job last season of setting roles for his players and letting them thrive within them, but for the Pistons to break into the top of the East, they need the perimeter expanded around these roles and for each guy to do a little bit more.