JB Bickerstaff gives insight on identity, Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren

JB Bickerstaff has plenty to work through as he takes over this young Detroit Pistons roster. How to balance the new injection of veteran presence with the young players, how to properly allocate minutes to each group, what this team’s identity will be, and who is a part of our future.

Bickerstaff went on Road Trippin, a podcast hosted by Allie Clifton, Channing Frye, and Richard Jefferson yesterday and gave some insight into his thoughts and plans.

“Those Bad Boy teams, that Rip team and Chauncey team …. they were connected in a way that we want our guys to be connected.” 

JB finally is giving somewhat of an identity to this team. And I know, pretty much every coach to come to the Pistons is required to bring these teams up.

To try and replicate the success that the Bad Boys or the Goin’ to Work Pistons had would be an extreme task. But that’s not to say they can’t try and replicate the identity of those teams. How they played not with each other but for each other. It’s a great goal to strive towards. 

JB Bickerstaff on Cade Cunningham

“You can play him at 3 different positions if you wanted to, so he allows you to be extremely versatile in your attack”

Because of Cade’s size coming out of Oklahoma State, he was always heralded as a multi-positioned point guard. At 6-foot-6, he truly has the size to play the wing, but his ball skills and confidence better suit him at point. The discussion of playing Cade off the ball has been brought up many times over the years. It may never come to fruition, but even being able to have the discussion gives JB plenty of options. 

JB Bickerstaff on Jalen Duren

“And then Jalen Duren, I think we’re just scratching the surface with what I think he’s going to be able to do… He’s really, really ball skilled”

Both Jalen Duren and Jaden Ivey will be playing for extensions this upcoming season. There were many fans who believed that one, possibly both, would be on the move this offseason due to some obvious holes in their game.

It seems at this point that not only does JB plan on keeping Duren around, but that he has lofty goals for the young big man. Jalen is talented on the boards and has shown the ability to pass and bring the ball up, but could work on his block work and most importantly, defense. I, too, see a big year from the Memphis product. 

Bickerstaff on the situation in Detroit

“I just thought the situation was awesome, to be honest with you, I hadn’t planned on getting back in as quickly as I did because there were no jobs open. But as soon as Trajan reached out, the conversations that I had with him just put me in a place where I was confident that he was going to be able to lead up and help build something special.”

On the addition of Tobias Harris

“Tobias was the perfect piece for us and where we are. To be able to get him right out of the gate in free agency was huge for us.”

Of course, we heard similar remarks from Monty Williams when he took over the Pistons, though Bickerstaff seems genuninely excited for the opportunity and hopefully has a better plan to get hte most out of his young roster.