The Detroit Pistons were three minutes into their first preseason game back in October. They were already trailing by double digits against the Milwaukee Bucks. And J.B. Bickerstaff called time out to settle his team down.
He still remembers the crowd reaction.
“They booed us,” the Pistons’ first-year coach said.
They’re not booing in Detroit anymore. The Pistons — the team that lost 28 consecutive games last season — are 40-32, on the brink of clinching a winning record. They’re assured of no worse than a play-in tournament berth and control their own destiny for a top-six seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. They’ve increased their win total by 26 games over last season, already the biggest one-year turnaround in franchise history.
They are ahead of schedule. And they are one of the best surprises in the NBA this season.
“The plan was always to win. The plan was to be better in January than we were in November and to be better in March than we were in January,” Pistons general manager Trajan Langdon said. “I always told my people, ‘I don’t know what that’s going to mean ultimately, but that’s what we’re going to set out to do.’
“But to say that with 10 games left we’re going to be at 40 wins, I would have lost that bet.”
They’ve hit all the right notes this season. Cade Cunningham, who former GM Troy Weaver insisted on making the No. 1 overall pick in 2021, made his first All-Star team, is a serious All-NBA candidate and is averaging 25.7 points and 9.2 assists per game — numbers that only nine players have finished a season with and numbers that only Denver’s Nikola Jokic has so far this season.
Cunningham played in every game during that 28-game slide a year ago. He’s savoring the fact that Detroit will see postseason basketball one season later.
“It’s something that we had all envisioned,” Cunningham said. “As young guys, we had to find a way to climb to the top of the mountain. And we had a rough go early, as everybody can see. To stay with it, to continue to dig deep, this year has been super rewarding for all of us and we’re still super hungry.”
Cunningham is the leader. He’s the star. He’s not the only reason why Detroit is winning.
A pair of veterans — Tobias Harris and Tim Hardaway Jr. — arrived after last season, are mainstays in the starting lineup and have been the 30somethings that a team of 20somethings desperately needed. Jalen Duren, a center in his third year, is averaging a double-double and shooting 70%. Malik Beasley entered Monday 17th in the league this season in fast-break points. And the Pistons have kept winning even while playing for basically the last three months without 17-point scorer Jaden Ivey, out with a broken leg.
At the helm of it all is Bickerstaff, who was fired by Cleveland after making the second round of the playoffs a year ago. He took over in Detroit after the Pistons fired Monty Williams with five years and $65 million left on his contract. But Langdon reached out with a vision, one that owner Tom Gores clearly backs, and it didn’t take long for Bickerstaff to buy in.
“Timing was important,” Bickerstaff said. “At the time, I had been off for about a month, and I was just spending a ton of time with my family and going to soccer tournaments and all that stuff. But I was a little antsy. So, when Trajan called, I was excited just to see and explore what the opportunity may be.
”Looking at the roster, looking at the guys that were on the team, the young guys, it was a group that I thought my skillset and personality kind of matched. And I was intrigued.”
They started 0-4. They were 9-15 in early December, 13-17 at Christmas.
And then Dec. 26 happened — a game at Sacramento where the Pistons trailed by 19 in the third quarter, by 10 with 2:45 left and won 114-113 on a four-point play from Ivey with 3.1 seconds remaining. That was part of a stretch where Detroit won 10 out of 12, capped by a victory in Madison Square Garden over New York.
Detroit was a game under .500 in early February, then ripped off an eight-game winning streak — punctuated by a 20-point win over Boston. Just like that, the Pistons were seven games over .500. It was obvious then that the playoffs would await; the berth still isn’t technically clinched, but it’s happening.
“They’re aware of where they are,” Bickerstaff said. “What I think they’ve done a really good job of is not looking ahead and missing the moments. This team has found its consistency because it approaches every day the same, whether it’s a practice day or game day. The focus is on that day, whatever our task is at hand, without looking too far ahead.”
This probably isn’t a one-year wonder in Detroit. Duren is 21. Ausar Thompson is 22. Ivey is 22. Cunningham is 23. The Pistons should have some cap space to play with this coming summer. It’s not hard to envision this team being even better a year from now.
It is a happy group. And the best might still be yet to come.
“I have 1,000% fallen in love with this group,” Bickerstaff said. “And all my focus goes into them and seeing them elevate and seeing them grow. That’s the thing that I find the most joy in.”
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