JB Bickerstaff's critique shows flaws in the NBA's logic
The NBA Cup has been moderately successful for the NBA as a whole, as it has drawn more attention to regular season games even if fans can’t agree on the loud courts or whether it really matters. The Detroit Pistons have taken it seriously, with a 3-0 record and a chance to advance to the knockout stage.
But it’s arguable that it’s been a good thing for the Pistons overall, as they are just 1-4 in games directly preceding or following an NBA Cup game, including their embarrassing showing against Philadelphia, when the Pistons clearly took a night off to prepare for Tuesday’s Cup showdown with Milwaukee.
The Pistons haven’t been helped by the schedule, as two of those losses were the tail ends of back-to-backs that came the night after an NBA Cup game, something that JB Bickerstaff critiqued in a recent press conference:
“I’ll scream it to the rooftops, and I hope people will pay attention and they’ll listen,” Bickerstaff said. “I think the league has done a wonderful thing by adding the Cup series. Obviously, as time goes on, there will be adjustments that are made to it, but you should not play a back-to-back after one of those games. The guys are competing their tails off to go out and win at a high level, and it’s just extremely difficult to come back the next night and have to play a back-to-back to follow it up.”
The Pistons got in late after their win over Indiana in which they left in their starters to run up the score (more on that in a minute), so were understandably dead against Philly the next night.
Cade Cunningham didn’t play and Jalen Duren may as well not have, as the Pistons were clearly getting them some extra rest for the next NBA Cup game.
I have liked the NBA Cup in general and do believe it can be big for a young team like Detroit, but the league does need to make some adjustments.
Detroit Pistons and the NBA Cup schedule
The Pistons and Clippers are tied for the most game played in the NBA so far this season, and Detroit has already had five back-to-backs, including two coming directly after NBA Cup games.
If the league wants players and coaches to take this seriously, they can’t expect them to gear up for a playoff-like game and then bring that same intensity the next night. Easy fix, just don’t schedule NBA Cups games as part of a back-to-back as coach Bickerstaff suggested.
Eventually coaches are going to just ignore the Cup if it is going to cost them other games and they should.
I wasn’t thrilled with the Pistons’ decision to dial it back against Philly, and they did put in some effort in the second quarter to be fair, but it was completely understandable given the context, though I am sure that is no consolation to fan who paid for tickets.
In the end, NBA Cup games are just regular season games, so I can't imagine coaches are going to treat them any differently if it comes at the expense of their overall record.
Find another tiebreaker system for the NBA Cup
With only four games played in group stage of the NBA Cup, there are obviously going to be ties that need to be resolved when it comes to the wild card spot.
Currently, point differential is the deciding factor, which is why you saw coach Bickerstaff leave his starters in the game even after Indiana had waved the white flag and cleared their bench.
Part of the reward for a blowout is being able to keep your starters from big minutes, but that is negated when the point differential is crucial. These are pros, so they will be fine, but it’s not a great look watching a team try to run up the score, and will be even less so when someone inevitably gets hurt in one of these situations up by 25 points with two minutes left in the game.
There has to be a better way, though it is admittedly more difficult when the teams involved haven’t played each other. Total points allowed could be one way, as it would encourage teams to focus on defense and shutting the other team down rather than just running up the score.
They could use the overall winning percentage of the opposition to reward the teams that had the most difficult route to get there. The point is that there are ways that don’t involve coaches having to do something they don’t like to do, which is to risk players in blowouts just to run up the score.