The Detroit Pistons have lost four straight and are playing their worst basketball of the season, so coach JB Bickerstaff is once again hearing the same criticisms that he’s a great coach to make a bad team good, but not the one to take it from there.
For most of the season, Bickerstaff has been treated as a hero by Pistons fans who were singing his resume for Coach of the Year, but as soon as a little turmoil hits, things always turn on coaches like JB.
Coach Bickerstaff won’t stop hearing the same criticisms about rotations and offensive strategy until he wins a title, which will be the only way for him to drop the “bridge” coach label.
JB Bickerstaff isn’t the problem at the moment
Fans predictably blame the coach every time something goes wrong because it’s easy, and it costs nothing. Most players, unless it is the scapegoat of the year, get treated with kid gloves in comparison to their coaches who are always 100 percent to blame.
You can’t blame the players who suddenly forgot how to shoot, after all it was JB Bickerstaff shooting 28 percent from long range over the last eight games.
You can’t blame Trajan Langdon, who decided to do nothing at the trade deadline even though his team had clear weaknesses he could have addressed without blowing up the roster.
No one reasonable was asking to trade away core players or go all-in, but would it have killed him to get a shooter his coach feels comfortable bringing off the bench? Two of the Pistons’ most important bench players are Daniss Jenkins and Javonte Green, two guys who weren’t even supposed to be in the rotation. What would have happened if they didn’t work out?
But that’s JB Bickerstaff’s fault.
We’ve ripped Bickerstaff all season for continuing to use Caris LeVert, but when you watched what he had to work with last night, it’s hard to blame him, as the Pistons’ bench has gone from strength to a strange collection of players who don’t look like they should be in an NBA rotation.
We’re in year five of Cade Cunningham and the second-best scorer on the team is Tobias Harris. Clearly the fault of JB Bickerstaff’s offensive scheme, as he isn’t a championship coach.
The JB haters are taking their victory laps today, handing out their “I told you he wasn’t a championship coach!” even though not one person predicted the Pistons would be anywhere near a championship this season.
We’re not even in the playoffs yet, and the same boring narratives are being dusted off.
I am not pulling a, “LEAVE JB ALONE!” routine here, as he has things to answer for right now, but acting as if one blip in the season undoes everything the team has accomplished under his watch is a joke, as a lot of coaches wouldn’t have had this team where it is to begin with. I also just get tired of the lazy cliche-riddled narratives. I don’t care if you criticize Bickerstaff, but you can do it without trotting out tropes.
The Pistons will right the ship, but if they come up short this season, we know exactly who will take the blame.