JB Bickerstaff inherited an irrelevant Detroit Pistons team and made them into a winner in his first season, undoing years of frustration in the process.
If that sounds familiar, it’s because it’s exactly what Tom Thibodeau did for the New York Knicks.
Bickerstaff took a 14-win team to 44 wins and Thibodeau instantly turned a 21-win Knicks team around for 41 wins in his first season.
Both coaches took over teams with long runs of futility and immediately made them respectable, adding organization, discipline and defense that had been lacking in both cases.
Bickerstaff and Thibodeau are also no strangers to being fired for coming up just short, as Cleveland let Bickerstaff go after failing to make it out of the second round of the playoffs and the Knicks just fired Thibodeau after he failed to get them to the NBA Finals.
Bickerstaff immediately got a chance for a fresh start in Detroit, and I am sure Thibodeau will find a new team at some point as well, but JB would love to avoid the same fate by getting the Pistons over the hump.
Can JB Bickerstaff be more than a bridge coach for the Detroit Pistons?
Both Bickerstaff and Thibodeau are known as hard-nosed coaches that demand accountability and effort on the defensive end, something that was on full display as they went head-to-head in the first round of the playoffs.
Their series was arguably the best of the entire playoffs, as neither team backed down and both played with relentless effort that was a reflection of their coach.
But the two coaches also have the reputation of being guys who can get you there, but will ultimately come up short, often referred to as a “bridge” coach, the guy you bring in to make a bad team good.
Coaches are usually the scapegoats when their teams ultimately come up short, so you do have to wonder if that fate will befall Bickerstaff in a few years if the Pistons fail to make real progress in the playoffs.
Coach Bickerstaff can avoid that fate with improvement next season and more success in the playoffs, but after that, he’ll be judged more harshly if the Pistons don’t start making deep runs. It’s the nature of the business, where even a guy like Thibodeau, who is highly respected around the league, can find himself unemployed for coming up two wins short of the Finals.
JB Bickerstaff is not in a championship or bust situation and won’t be for a while, but you know he is ready to show he is a guy who can guide a team to a title, and he’ll get a chance to do it in Detroit.