3 Pistons coaches made the same promise J.B. Bickerstaff just made

Monty Williams 2023-2024 

Williams had built successful defenses in the past, so as the Pistons started to turn the corner on the rebuild, surely he’d get them back to respectability in that area....right?!? 

Wrong. 

The Pistons were just 26th in defensive efficiency last season, the first in four years they were actually trying to win games. 

Someone forgot to tell Monty, who barely showed up last season and whose team allowed the most points per game in franchise history on their way to the worst record in history, two things that are definitely related. 

The terrible defense led to a 28-game losing streak and plenty of lopsided scores as Williams dreamed of how many teams in the NBA he could get to pay him to not work (2 so far). 

None of the Pistons’ young players made leaps on that end, and in the case of Jalen Duren, he might have gotten worse. Williams couldn’t figure out how to use the only elite defender he had (Ausar Thompson) and never made good on his promise to restore “Detroit basketball” (yawn). 

Now it’s on J.B. Bickerstaff to do what Williams and Casey before him couldn’t, which is get this defense into the top half of the league at least. 

He has a recent history of having top defenses in Cleveland, so there is hope he can fulfill the same promise we’ve heard time and time before.