History Says J.B. Bickerstaff Will Improve Detroit Pistons in 2025-26

J.B. Bickerstaff was relieved of his duties with the Cleveland Cavaliers because it seemed that the franchise had plateaued. Cleveland saw 17 playoff games of Bickerstaff before they decided a different voice would be suited to lead their young core. What can’t be ignored, however, was just how quickly Bickerstaff turned those Cavs around from rebuilding to good ‘ol fashioned great teams. 

But before getting to Bickerstaff’s Cleveland tenure, it is important to zoom all the way out and look at his entire career.

Bickerstaff’s NBA head coaching career started with being thrust into action abruptly for a disappointing Houston Rockets team that had fired NBA Hall of Famer Kevin McHale. Bickerstaff led the Rockets to a 37-34 record over 71 games (52% win percentage) and left after they were promptly bounced in the first round of the postseason.

The situation that occurred in Houston popped up again when David Fizdale was fired as head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies in 2017, resulting in Bickerstaff becoming acting head coach. Under his leadership, Memphis won 15 games in 2018 (23% win percentage) and 33 games in 2019 (40% win percentage).

And now moving on to Bickerstaff’s most successful stop so far, the Cleveland Cavaliers. He again became head coach following another coach’s exit, this time coming when John Beilein resigned as head coach in Cleveland. Bickerstaff took over for a brief stretch in 2020 before having his first full season as head coach of Cleveland in 2021. 

The Cavaliers won 30% of their games in Bickerstaff’s first full season and 53% in his second. That regular season win percentage figure jumped to a 62%in 2023 before plateauing at 58% and an Eastern Conference Semifinals loss in 2024, his fourth and final season with the team.

The 2024-25 Pistons were a special case in Bickerstaff’s history. It’s fair to say that they were a clearly mismanaged collection of talent that needed some hands-on guidance and rotations featuring the best players. 

One year of Bickerstaff’s aggressive, physical defense guard-enabling offense helped berth an All-NBA Third Team appearance for Pistons franchise star Cade Cunningham. In Bickerstaff’s previous second season with franchises, you have teams seeing their record improve by 18 and 22 games. 

In his second season with the Pistons, he will have a slew of new players mostly geared towards replacing the offensive production of may-or-may-not-be-coming-back Malik Beasley. But most importantly, he will have dynamic guard Jaden Ivey returning, a player who will surely be out to prove that he is even better than his promising ‘25 season suggested.

Bickerstaff had already started to silence any doubters of the Cunningham-Ivey pairing last season. 

Although we have to take account it was the Washington Wizards, games like the Pistons November 17th, 2024 win in Washington showcased exactly why having Ivey next to Cunningam can and will work.

In that game, Ivey actually led the Pistons in FGAs while taking on a nice chunk of the ball-handling duties and collecting eight assists. It wasn’t a dramatic difference from the second and third place FGA leaders, but it was enough of an offensive carry-job in terms of shot-making to allow Cunningham to focus on defense and playmaking to the tune of a 21-point, 10-rebound, 10-assist, 5-steal triple-double. 

Now, this isn’t to say anyone is expecting Detroit to win 60+ games next season. But history says that Bickerstaff’s teams see steady improvement as they grasp his system and coaching style.

There may be a time far off in the future when the Pistons wonder if Bickerstaff is truly the coach to get them over the hump and into the NBA Finals. But history suggests that the second season of a Bickerstaff tenure should result in a massive improvement on his first season. If that is the case for the Pistons, then they are in for a truly special 2025-26 season.