Jordan Bickerstaff, Nephew of JB Bickerstaff, Joins To Discuss Detroit Pistons Success This Year!

Jordan Bickerstaff, Nephew of JB Bickerstaff, Joins To Discuss Detroit Pistons Success This Year!

In today’s episode of Locked on Pistons podcast, we are joined by Jordan Bickerstaff, nephew of JB Biggerstaff to talk about his impact on the Detroit Pistons this past year, their playoff series, and what they need to do in the offseason to improve. We’ll do all of that or talk about all of that in today’s episode. Locked on Pistons podcast. Let’s go. You are Locked on Pistons, your daily Detroit Pistons podcast, part of the Locked On Network. your team every day. What’s the deal? Welcome back to another episode of the Locked On Pistons podcast. Per usual, I am your host, Cook Hill. You can find me over on Twitter, Cook Hill. I want to thank you guys making locked on Pistons your first listen every single day. We are free and available on all your podcast platforms. If you haven’t already, head to the YouTube channel, locked on Pistons. Hit that subscribe button or leave us a fivestar review on whatever podcast platform you’re listening to this on. That’s another great way to support the podcast. Make sure you guys are going to the description down below. You guys can click the Substack link where I just put out another uh breakdown for K Cunningham, his player playoff review, which will go along with the last episode we just recorded for the podcast when we talked about Cage playoffs. So, go check that out if you haven’t already. Or if you want to join the playback room, who will have live watch parties for the rest of the playoffs and also have some stuff going on over there throughout the offseason, check out the description, subscribe to all that down below. But today, we are joined by a special guest, Jordan Bickerstaff. He is the nephew of uh JB Bickerstaff. He has worked in the NBA with the Denver Nuggets. He also has played college basketball. He walked on over at San Diego. Jordan, thank you so much for joining the podcast. I appreciate it. Um, this should be a lot of fun today. How you doing? I’m good, man. How’s it going? I’m I’m doing good, man. Just trying to get this, you know, trying to knock a work out, you feel me? Just just chilling. Um, all right. Let’s go ahead and get into it. All right. So obviously JB he was hired this past or I guess yeah this past offseason you’d still say to take over a team that had won just 14 games the season prior. It was the worst season in franchise history. It it had the worst losing streak in season of in NBA history. It was it was at the absolute bottom of whatever you think the bottom should be. That’s where the Pistons were at heading into that off seasonason. And JB comes in, takes over a team. Him and Trajan take over a team that didn’t really make too many crazy differences. Didn’t make go after and trade for a star or anything. They got some more vets, but they didn’t go out and make some huge moves. And by just adding some bets and adding JB, this team triples their win total, makes it into the top six seed in the East and gets two games on the New York Knicks, ending their 17-year playoff drought. I just wanted to ask you what what is it about JB that you believe brought this level of comfortability, belief, confidence? What is it that you believe he really brought to this team to help him have the season that they had? Uh I think it’s just his level of experience. You know, everywhere he’s been, he’s competed at a high level. I mean, even in Houston when he took over as the interimm head coach, um got into the playoffs. So just I feel like everywhere he’s been before this um there’s been like a test of adversity and he’s had to battle through it. So I feel like just like sort of his career now he’s seen so much um and it kind of prepared him for the job that he has now and it’s been kind of like a just a a great pairing for sure. I mean just as much he’s done for you guys I think he’s done you guys have done just as much for him. you know, he had a quote like where he said he was at a point where they kind of like made him feel like this team really made him believe in kind of sort of like basketball again or um I don’t want to mix up his words too much, but they really got him to really enjoy the game. Um and so I think in that kind of brought a different side of him out and obviously it translated well for the group. Um but yeah, no, it’s just been I think that level of experience, his grit, his passion for the game, it’s just been a perfect combination for the city of Detroit and his team. Yeah. And before the year, we’ve talked about this in the podcast a lot. Before the year, the sports books had the Pistons overunder set at 24 and a half. They they blew by that in like the beginning of February, late January. They had already blew past that. Did you believe or do you think there was any like way that taking over this team in one off season that not only would they have the success the team had in one year, but that JB would then finish second in coach of the year honors in his first year with the team? Like, was that ever something that you thought could possibly happen in one year? Um, I I like to think so. I mean, you definitely have those conversations like you see obviously you guys had 14 wins last year and it’s obviously a tough situation to come into, but just knowing who he is and just having full confidence in who JB is as a coach and just what he can bring. You know, I’ve seen him do it countless times. There was always just, you know, a thought of like, okay, they can really do something, especially out east. Um, they’ve got a great young core, good group. I thought the moves that Tan made were absolutely perfect. They worked out well for this group. Um, and like I said, it just was really a great combination of who the coach is and who this team is and just kind of what both groups I think needed in a sense. They both needed each other. Yeah, I think that’s a good way to put it. I JB did mention like you mentioned and I think it was after the final uh playoff game he was asked about, you know, how what this group has meant to him and like you mentioned, I do think he mentioned quite a bit about how this is a perfect pairing and how these guys really had him love basketball. I don’t know if he maybe in a different way or brought back some of that love, whatever it was. Um, this pairing really does seem to be like a perfect match made in heaven and it was it was exceptional season by the Pistons and JB. Outside of just JB though, what did you come away impressed with? We’ll talk about the playoffs specifically in next segment, but just the regular season from this team. What was it about this team that you were really impressed by that you thought really led to this team having the successful season that they ended up having? Um, I would say the resiliency that this group showed. Um, I think obviously playing out in the city of Detroit, you’re always going to get like a gritty tough group, but just to kind of see them battle through just the long season that it is, like those dog days of February and March can get really tough and it’s not easy to keep climbing, you know, keep fighting in the standings. So I think just for such a young group that’s led by Kid Cunningham who is what 22 years old maybe and Jaylen Duran guys like Osar Thompson in the wings Ron Holland just that young core just to see them battle for a full 82 games and then carry that into the playoffs which I know obviously we didn’t come away with the victory in the series but that series really showed me and I think the rest of the NBA just world in general that this Piston team seems legit you know like they’re here for a while they’re going to be here for a long time contending. Um, and when you play them, it’s going to be 48 minutes of just tough basketball. You know what I’m saying? Like, you’re going to have to bring your hard hat every single night you step on the floor with these guys. And I think that’s something really stand proud on for sure. So, there’s one more thing I wanted to ask you about JB specifically before we move on to what we thought about the playoffs and what was your takeaways from the playoff series. But, so before the year, I spoke about this team and what I thought their defensive ceiling was. And I thought before the year looking at the roster, I was like, “This team has a ceiling defensively. I’m not sure if they can be this great defensive team.” Obviously, they ended up proving me completely wrong. And they were at the January like a top five defense in the entire NBA. And defense is something that seems to have followed JB throughout his coaching career. Is there anything that you can say about why is there something specifically that JB brings? What what is it about his ability to get the most out of guys that maybe prior weren’t looked at as good defenders? Gain the most defensively out of a guy like THA, Malik, all of these guys. Tobias Harris. What is it about JB that gets the most defensively out of these players? Yeah. No, he’s just a coach that you really want to like just really go play hard for. Um, and that’s a really like a main part of defense. said you wouldn’t believe it is really just that effort and that want to like guys really have to want to compete for the uh the entire time that they’re out there. And when you got a coach that you know is going to go out there and fight for you every single night, um it makes you want to go out there and compete every night. Like you just don’t want to disappoint him. You know what I’m saying? You guys are locked in through practice and he’s helped you develop. He’s given you tidbits of advice that you hear and you like. Um and it just kind of all resonates in your mind as a player and kind of makes you really want to go out and play hard for that guy. So, he’s just a really good dude like just in general like when you meet him just off off the court just he’s just got a real good like heart and good personality and he carries that with him on the court like I know he’s always yelling at the refs and all that and stuff but that’s just part of the game. That’s passion. That’s what he brings and the players see that and they notice it and they’re like okay well I’m going to compete my ass off for 48 minutes for this guy for sure every time. So just who he is in general and who he’s kind of just grown up to be in this game really brings that in any Has he has he always been that competitive when it comes to like yelling at the refs? Like is that has that always been like who he is? Man, he should it’s come I mean it starts from obviously my grandfather Bernie. He was the uh the goat the head honcho. But um I mean yeah we I think we’ve all kind of gotten that competitive drive. Um especially even when we’re playing like cars at the family table like you should see us there just that competitive drive and everybody is just always out. So um it’s really cool to see it transform the basketball court. Yeah. I don’t know if I want to play a game of spades with JP. It sounds like that sounds like he’s nice. No, I played him I remember one time in DC. We were playing Hearts. I was maybe like 15 or something. I thought I was nice because I had just learned how to play and I was like, “Oh yeah, I’m gonna show these guys.” I get out there and he whoop me. I didn’t ever stop playing hearts. Literally that day I was like, “Nope, you got it, bro.” So I was like, “So there’s some dudes that when you play cards, they just intimidate you. They just scare you.” Yeah. Yeah. And that’s that’s how I learned how to play cards with the family. Like they play Big West and I would just sit on the side and learn. So I would like whenever I play against them, it was always like, “Okay, I’m going up against JB Vickers staff.” Like this is I’m bringing my aame. Fair enough. I can see it. I can see it. Um, coming up though, we’ll talk about the playoff series. Obviously, the Pistons lost in six games to do the New York Knicks, which the Knicks are up two zero in the Boston Celtics. So, maybe it’s even better series loss than we already previously thought. But, uh, we’ll talk about that coming up and get Jordan’s thoughts on what happened in this series, good things and bad things to take away. Talk about all that when we come back. Today’s episode is brought to you by Door Dash. NBA fans, you know what time it is. Playoff season means big performances and even bigger rewards. Door Dash is bringing the heat with slam dunk deal for Dash Pass members during the 2025 NBA playoffs. It’s called They Swish, You Score. 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If you haven’t already, head to the YouTube channel at Lockdown Pistons. Hit that subscribe button or leave us a fivestar review on whatever podcast platform you’re listening to this on. That’s another great way to support the podcast. Head to the description down below. Subsc Playback. You guys will get that new K Cunningham player review that I did for the playoffs. Long, long article, a lot of film breakdown in there. I think it was some good stuff. I think you guys will enjoy it. So, make sure you guys go check that out. Um, but Jordan, okay, let’s talk about the playoff series. The Pistons, like we talked about earlier on, no one expected the Pistons to make it to the playoffs as a top six seed. No one thought that they would get playoff wins this year. Not only did they break their 17-year playoff drought, they got two wins in the playoffs. And I’m sure a lot of the players, I’m sure even JB, I’m sure even Trean Langdon, I’m sure a lot of these guys feel like they had a chance to really win this series and probably feel like they should have won this series um after the fact. What What was some of your main takeaways from the playoff series against the New York Knicks? Um just this team is willing no matter what. Um, and no matter what environment, um, I think just this group is going to be, like I said, around for a long time and this playoff series definitely showed that they’ve got a certain level of toughness and resiliency to them. Um, and just kind of the way they compete. Um, I think Kad’s got of like he’s got a lot of growing up to do in this league just as like the whole team does, but from what he showed this year just from being a leader in general and like wanting to see guys succeed um develop developing his game with uh JD um just with guys in general. I think he’s shown some really good signs like what’s to come for sure. and just like what you see out of like those guys who are poised to be like face of the franchise, possibly face of the league even, you know what I’m saying? I think he’s really showed signs of taking that type of step. Yeah. And the Knicks defense was extremely aggressive on Kade and I he had some good moments, he had some down moments. What was your takeaway from how the Knicks decided to guard him? And what do you think Kate should take away from how they decided to play against him defensively? Is that something he should prepared to see moving forward in the playoffs or what what’s your take away from from how they decide to play him? Oh, for sure. I mean, especially with a player like that, he’s going to gonna have to learn like every night, especially in the playoffs, he’s not going to get a mix a steady dice of anything. He’s have to learn like there’s just going to be a bunch of coverages that are coming his way. He might get blitzed a bunch and then who knows? Guys might start to go under. Guys might try and trap him. Like whatever. He’s just going to have to see a bunch of diff different defenses and learn all the reads. But I mean, he’s got that capability and that mindset to do so. Um I like what I saw so far and just his decision- making in terms of when do I need to go get a bucket and when do I really need to slow the game down and kind of get everybody involved. Um I like what I’m seeing from him in that aspect. Um and I think he’s a lot of times you see in young guys like they don’t really trust their teammates. Um especially like when they kind of get double team like they’re frustrated like they kind of hesitate to pass to certain guys or get guys certain looks but I think from Kade just in general like he wasn’t scared to pass to anybody like even on that game-winning play like I know Malik didn’t catch it but he was wide open. It was perfect play and he had full-fledged confidence that Malik was going to knock it down. So just keeping that kind of camaraderie and chemistry going is going to be huge. I saw some Pistons fans like K Drew shot the ball you supposed to want the last shot. I’m like, dude, if Kade would have shot that and didn’t pass it to a wide open Mik standing next to him, I would have been furious. Like, if you if if if you let your ego take over to the point where you can’t, you’re not making that simple of a read to where your ego’s taken over like that, I think that’s more of an issue than anything else. So, I think I I 100% agree with you with that. His unselfishness and his trust in his teammates. I think that’s huge. Um, obviously, there’s other young players that played in this series. Let’s start with Jaylen Dur. Jaylen Dur I thought gave he has some limitations. He’s not perfect, but I think he gave literally everything he possibly could have. Whatever the ceiling was to what Jaylen Dur could provide for you at age 21 in his first playoff series, I thought he hit whatever that ceiling was. Does that mean he was perfect? No, I don’t think any of them was perfect, but he he did the most he possibly could. What What was your thoughts on how JD played in this first playoff series? Yeah. So, I mean, the first time I met that guy was at uh summer league. I got a chance to work with the Pistons team and we were doing like kind of just a little like practice or whatever. Um we were doing these drills and he came up and set a screen. I remember just running into him and it was I swear I felt like I ran into a brick wall and he wasn’t even trying to set a screen, bro. And so like to see like that type of physicality from that dude like at the age of like you said 21 and I thought he really brought that in this series. um defending cat. Um just really going in there battling for rebounds. Um just being like the real defensive presence that he can be and has the capability of being as well as on offense setting good screens, getting guys open, competing on the offensive glass. You know, I like you said, I think his ceiling is really high and he definitely showed it for sure. Let’s move on to Assar Thompson now. Obviously the next young guy of their crew. He didn’t have the greatest start to the playoff series, but I thought that he started to play obviously extremely well towards the end of the series. him and his brother started making waves, especially towards the end of both of their playoff series. Just what were your biggest takeaways from Assar Thompson in his first playoff series uh to date? Uh just that that dude’s super smart. Um he’s got a bright future ahead. You know, I really love what I saw just in his game just in general. He seems like he’s got that ability to guard, you know, one through five. Um super athletic, by far the most athletic dude I’ve ever seen. Um, he’s just got a really good feel for the game. He seems like he wants to get better and stay in the gym. Um, I really like what I saw from him like handling the ball and be able being able to like make decisions, get downhill, push the pace on the fast break and be able to either just go up and finish above guys because, you know, that’s what he’s going to do or get fouled or make the right read and kick it to whoever’s on a corner running with him. So, he’s definitely a guy that, you know, you really want to develop and, you know, see him shine and be a big part of this team just from what he brings offensively, defensively, just his versatility is, it’s amazing. So, obviously, the Pistons ended up falling in this series. What do you believe was the biggest downfall? What what what do you believe was the the biggest reason why the Pistons just weren’t able to pull this one out and pull off the upset on a much more talented and higher ranked and favored basketball team in the Knicks? Um I think it was just that combination of sort of lack of experience um just being in certain moments, certain situations. Um and I I think just the presence of like, you know, you miss guys like Isaiah Stewart. I think he was a big big factor in you know what this team does. I think he would have made a big difference. Um so I think that played an issue but main thing was just I mean just experience and give give credit to New York. You know Jaylen Brunson is a beast. I mean you see what he’s doing in Boston right now and just New York team in general. Like I don’t think anyone had them being up 200 right now. So I mean you got to give credit to New York, the Knicks, Tom Tibido, um just that staff and team over there. They got a really good group. Uh, and to finish it off, just what do you think after if you’re Kate Cunningham and you see how the this team how the Knicks played against you, how they defended you, what would be one place or one area of his game that if you were Kade, you would be like, “Okay, I see how they want to guard me. This is why I want to or need to work on in the offseason to get ready for my next playoff season.” Um, you know, I would always say just ability to shoot. You know, he’s not a bad shooter. He’s a really good shooter right now. Um, but I think just that ability to say you see a guy going under a screen and you see like just a split second of opening and just being able to just step up, knock down that shot and force defenses to say like, “Okay, we can’t ever go under. Like, we’re going to have to go over and either double this guy or do something else because we just cannot let him shoot.” So, I would always say just his ability to shoot the basketball. Um, and defensively, you know, just continue to be a menace out there. As the point guard, you’re not only the leader on offense, but you’re at the top of the defense as well. So, um, you know, guys see you playing hard, they’re obviously going to want to continue to play hard. Like, they see the best player being a defensive terror. It just sets the standard in the locker room, which is kind of already there. Um, so I would just say keep growing in that mindset. Um, you know, I’d like to see him I think he’ll definitely be all NBA this year, but I think he should strive to be like a all defensive team type of guy just because he’s got that capability. He’s got that size, speed, strength, um, just the combo that you need. I think just doing that would be like a huge step for him. All right, so when we come back, we’ll talk about this off seasonason now with we just heard from Tan Langden. Obviously, there’s a lot of division, I feel like, in the Pistons fan base now after a successful season. It’s do you make a all-in move? Do you bring everybody back? What’s next? How do we take the next step? There’s a lot of talk right now, so we’ll get Jordan’s thoughts on what this offseason could look like for the Detroit Pistons. We’ll talk about that coming up. Today’s episode is brought to you by Amazon Fire TV Stick. Did you know your Fire TV is also an Xbox? Turn any TV into your gaming and entertainment hub with Fire TV Stick 4K devices. 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Available on select devices including Fire TV Stick 4K second gen, Fire TV Stick 4K Max first and second gen, and FireTV Cube third gen. Again, head to amazon.com/firetvlockon to get started today at amazon.com. So, I want to thank you guys again. Make locked on pistons your first listen every single day. We are free and available on all your podcast platforms. If you haven’t already, head to the YouTube channel @ lockdown pistons. Hit that subscribe button or leave us a fivestar review on whatever podcast platform you’re listening to this on. That’s another great way to support the podcast. Check out the description down below for the substack and the playback. You guys know the deal. But let’s go ahead and get into the final segment here. Jordan, obviously, this offseason is going to be big for the Detroit Pistons. This is the most optimism, the most hope um this community has had around a team since probably 2015, 2016. I mean, even so much exceeds that of that team as well. We just heard from Traan a few days ago. Um, he seems to be preaching patience. There’s some fans that are like, “This is the year to make a move.” What What do you think heading into the off season? What do you think the Pistons need to do to take this next step? Is it do they have to go make a big move or do you think they have the answers in house and it’s more just about internal development? Yeah. Um, I would kind of preach the same message, which is patience. Um, just especially like coming from my experience in Denver, you know, when I first got there, game 82, um, against the Timberwolves was the deciding factor of whether we went in the playoffs or not. Um, we lost and then the next four years we ended up being playoff contenders and competing for championships. So, um it wasn’t about like trying to make big splashy moves like there were moves along the way like kind of along the margins and whatnot, but um it was really just about keeping this core to get together developing what we had in house. Um and I think the same thing applies here in Detroit. Um, you really have to preach like Trajan was saying, patience and just a willing to I don’t want to say like the Philly like trust the process, but like just a willing to kind of like go through the ups and downs. Like I’ve heard a phrase like you kind of got to take your medicine. Um, you can’t run from it. Like there’s going to be playoff heartbreaks like we experienced this year. Um, but that’s just a part of the process. Like every great team is going to have to go through that and that’s what makes you better. Um, you look at teams like Indiana now, like they’re up 200 on the Cavs, the Knicks, up 200 on the Celtics. Like it’s just a part of finding a group. Um, making those moves that here and there that kind of tweak like the rotation a little bit, but you have your core now. Um, especially like we haven’t even really talked about Jaden Ivy coming back and he’s got a bright future, a big part of this group as well. Um, so yeah, I would say that same message of just staying calm, preaching patience, and just kind of like just staying along the vision, like you’ve got a great group. There’s going to be moves that you might make and kind of tweak and it’s just going to take time. But I mean, what do you think? What are your thoughts? Uh, I think it’s a it’s a very interesting question. It’s it’s obviously going to be extremely um it’s going to be tough to make decisions on what I don’t know if there’s any right answer. It’s obviously very in intriguing to be like oh we you know we made this step now let’s go make the ne let’s go make the next move and try to take this bet like it’s intriguing to do that. I think there’s risk going both ways is you can take a risk at being too patient now you miss your window. You could take a risk and try to swing too early. Now you don’t even have a window. There it’s there’s risk on both ends. Uh I think for me I think for the Pistons to take the the next step from this year. They would just need to improve upon the margins. Um, I would look at that four position, try to get a backup four um for Tobias or maybe even look for a starting four as Tobias ages and let him slowly fall into the backup four role and as he gets older. Um, whichever way whichever route they want to take with that. But I mean, you mentioned Jane Ivy. There’s a there’s a level of belief I feel like within the front office that Jane Ivy just having his return will feel like a um an acquisition of some sort because he wasn’t even on the team basically since January. So just adding him I’m sure they feel like is oh that’s our big move. Um but in order for them to take the next step to being going from a six seed to like maybe like a horse seed and winning a playoff series, I think it really is just improve along the margins. Um, like you mentioned, make some rotation tweaks that improve your rotation and then have some improvements from your young guys. I mean, uh, Traia mentioned it, Assar didn’t even get an offseason this past year because of the blood clots that he’s going to get one this year. Jay Ivy’s recovering. He’s going to be back. Another offseason for Duran and and Cade to get better. I think all that stuff combined with this improving along the margin should make this team slightly better next year. Um, I also believe that eventually, maybe it’s years from now, but eventually I feel like each contending team always ends up having to make one move, whether it’s for a star or whether it’s for just a player that maybe fits better with your main core, whatever that is. But I’m not sure if that’s I don’t I’m not sure if that that timeline has already started like this off. I don’t know if that’s something you have to do this off seasonason in order to take another step. Yeah. that I I think just in general like I think Trejan has kind of proven that whatever vision he has is the right one. Um and so just to kind of again like just like trusting kind of what he’s got going on and what him and John Blair have kind of what they want to see for this team as well as the group themselves. Um but yeah, there’s just always just kind of those steps that you got to take to becoming great. And it’s not just about being good one year. It’s about being obviously great for years to come and continuing to compete year after year after year. Building that sustainability. So yeah, that that isn’t just built overnight. That takes time and chemistry and just kind of just doing the right thing over and over again. So before we wrap up, I want to ask you this. based on your time working with the with the Nuggets. Um, what obviously the first year that you have success with their core or your young guys, whatever, it’s fun. It’s like, okay, this was extremely fun. You know, there’s no real expectations. You kind of just take everything as it’s going. You’re just like, we’re having fun. This is great. After that, expectations start to get placed, and that’s when it starts to maybe sometimes not be as fun. you you’re you’re wanting you have to meet levels of expectation with the Nuggets and and you can just to you know compare it to the Pistons future. Was it always like because a lot of people talk about like progression isn’t always linear. Sometimes it goes up and then you have a dip and then you have to come back up. Some it’s not always linear. How was it with the Nuggets? Did you see was was there ever a time you felt like expectations were felt in the building and do you think that’s something that will be felt um naturally from this team as you obviously expectations are built from good reasons because you’ve given a reason to have expectations? Do you is there something that you believe that you that like just naturally this team will feel because of the season they had? Um I think in a sense just kind of the next time maybe they step foot for like training camp or whatever like just there’s just a general sense of like okay we’re here now like you always you tend to definitely feel that in a sense but um I mean I’ve always believed pressure is really a privilege like that old saying like it’s really true. So to now be in this situation where like okay now you have expectations for next year it’s not a bad thing it’s a it’s a really good thing. Um and the great ones tend to rise up to that occasion and embrace it. um for us like being in Denver kind of you know obviously when we in the bubble year um getting those two 3-1 comebacks and then coming in the next year with the real like okay this team can really compete for a championship they’ve got an MVP like they can really make some noise. Um, it was more excitement of just kind of like being able to like get back on the floor and like prove ourselves, like prove everybody right, prove everybody that’s now starting to talk about as negatively wrong, like you get that motivation as well. Um, but I definitely see like this group that we’ve seen rise agent. Um, and with those new expectations now in Detroit, they’re going to I think they’re really going to embrace it and just kind of hold on to it. All right. And to wrap it up, what do you think would be a successful season for the Pistons next year? What What do you think Pistons fans should feel after this year should be you should be okay with next year that you should be happy with next year? Does it have to be a playoff series win? Does it have to be a series win or does it like what what do you think is fair expectations for fans to have moving forward? Um let’s see how can I answer that? Um I would say I think the city of Detroit has a certain level expectation in general. Um win or lose is that you really do go out there and give like a certain type of effort out there and like a hold the city of Detroit to a certain standard. Um, and I’d say just now, like obviously you’re competing for playoff spots. Um, I would say a successful season really just looks like an improvement upon, you know, what you built now. That’s growth between everybody from top to bottom. That’s cleaner, whether that be decision- making like just on a constant basis, that’s just cleaner like just step-by-step details that you kind of tend to see through a team. And um I don’t want to I don’t like to put just a general number on it just because I don’t think that’s fair. Like you just never know with the way the ball turns just what happens and just in general on the court. Um but there’s a I would say the city of Detroit has a lot to like expect um and really like hold the team to a certain highly standard like it’s like the playoff series win. It’s like two series wins whether that’s a championship, you know, whatever it is. I think the city knows um they’re smart. You know, you guys have seen what good basketball looks like. You’ve seen what a championship looks like. Um, I would say in a short answer, the expectation is really just you guys know what you see. Um, and it’s really just about taking steps forward and not backwards. All right, fair enough. All right, Jordan, appreciate you coming on the podcast, man. Really appreciate it. It was fun talking with you. I hope everyone enjoys it. You guys can follow Jordan over on Twitter. Make him feel welcome over at JBerstaff32 on Twitter. follow him over there. But again, appreciate you, Jordan, for coming on. I hope you guys really enjoyed it. Thank you guys for making Lock On Pistons your first listen of every single day. Free and available on all your podcast platforms. If you haven’t already, head to the YouTube channel at Lockdown Pistons. Hit that subscribe button. But until next time, I’ll see you guys later. Stay safe out there. Until next time, peace out.

Can the Detroit Pistons’ Resurgence Continue? The Detroit Pistons, under the guidance of J.B. Bickerstaff, have stunned the NBA world with their impressive 2024-2025 season. With Cade Cunningham leading the charge, the Pistons have tripled their win total and made a strong playoff appearance against the New York Knicks. Jordan Bickerstaff, nephew of J.B. Bickerstaff, joins the discussion to analyze the team’s regular season success, playoff performance, and future outlook. Key players like Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson are highlighted for their contributions, while the conversation explores the importance of patience and strategic offseason moves. Will the Pistons’ young core continue to rise? Tune in for an in-depth look at their path to success and what lies ahead.

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