The Detroit Pistons’ eight-game winning streak may have been stopped in its tracks by the Denver Nuggets back on Friday, but make no mistake about it: the Pistons are here to stay among the league’s most exciting young teams. They went 9-3 in the month of February, and that earned head coach JB Bickerstaff the well-deserved honor of being the Eastern Conference Coach of the Month.
Bickerstaff has drilled these Pistons to be an unshakeable unit that plays for each other on both ends of the court, and he deserves plenty of credit for helming a team that didn’t make too many major additions in the offseason (they added Tobias Harris, Malik Beasley, and Tim Hardaway Jr., to name a few) to an impressive 34-27 record heading into their Monday night clash against the Utah Jazz.
In case anyone needed reminding: the Pistons finished with a paltry 14 wins last season, so turning things around to this degree is no mean feat, especially for Bickerstaff, a coach that was let go by the Cleveland Cavaliers this past offseason. Regardless, Bickerstaff asserted that he cannot take sole credit for the award he just won.
“I don’t see it as an individual award. I see it as a collection of all the things that everybody that’s worked with these guys and then the work that the guys have done into representation. This isn’t just about one person. Everything we do is about the collective,” Bickerstaff said in his award acceptance presser, via Hunter Patterson of The Athletic. “This award, or whatever you want to call it, is about the group. It’s about the guys. It’s about the assistant coaches, the work they put in with the guys.”
J.B. Bickerstaff on winning Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for February:
“I don’t see it as an individual award. … This award, or whatever you want to call it, is about the group. It’s about the guys. It’s about the assistant coaches, the work they put in with the guys.” pic.twitter.com/VMaif4Dtak
— Hunter Patterson (@HuntPatterson_) March 4, 2025
JB Bickerstaff is the right man for the Pistons job
JB Bickerstaff is quickly establishing himself as the rebuilding doctor; he did an excellent job in turning the Cavs from a lottery team that had no idea how to win into a unit with established winning habits, which have been translating quite well to their post-Bickerstaff era. And now, the Pistons are benefitting from the standards Bickerstaff has been setting for the team, unlocking their ability to play winning basketball in the process.
With Bickerstaff, everyone has a defined role, and everyone is playing their roles with so much confidence and without confusion. The clarity he has been setting in the locker room has helped the Pistons take the next level, and they are looking like a legitimate playoff team in the process.
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