Up until last season, the Detroit Pistons were the signature pushovers in the NBA. For five straight years, they hadn’t won more than 23 games, and they hadn’t finished above .500 since 2016. Under new head coach J.B. Bickerstaff though, they underwent a historic improvement, raising their win total by 30 and grabbing the 6-seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Ironically, the Pistons moved forward by going backward, back to the best times in franchise history when the ‘Bad Boys’ used to beat teams up physically and then on the scoreboard. Cade Cunningham also ascended to become an All-NBA-caliber player, but without a complete culture shift, none of last year’s successes would have been possible.

With a new season looming, the Pistons are now thought to be one of the strongest contenders in the East. It’s the first time in a long time that they came into the season getting any respect. Bickerstaff was interviewed by SirusXM NBA Radio, and he explained how he helped turn the proud franchise’s fortunes around.

“We will always be on the defensive side first … If you can’t defend, you can’t win at the level you want to, I don’t care how great your offense is,” he said. “At some point you’re gonna have to be able to get stops on demand,” he added.

Every coach wants his team to play great defense, but not everyone has a plan for how they’re going to do it. Bickerstaff does. “You don’t know many teams that can be rough and rugged and physical in the way that we want to be, and then be explosive on the offensive end of the floor,” he explained.

“Our objective is to suffocate people on the defensive end of the floor. We want you fighting for your life, and then now, you’re out of breath and you’re trying to chase us down offensively, and now it just compounds and let’s see if you can withstand that all the way for 48 minutes,” added Bickerstaff, with a stern conviction.

Led by physical and athletic players like Jalen Duren, Ausar Thompson and Isaiah Stewart, the Pistons battled their way to a top-10 defensive rating last year. All three are young with tons of untapped potential, as are Cunningham, Jaden Ivey and Ron Holland II.

The Knicks made it to the Eastern Conference Finals last year, but the Pistons gave them all they could handle in the first round of the playoffs. That’s the floor now for expectations. With the East in a weakened state and the Pistons having another year of experience under their belt, they could make some real noise with their rough and rugged style.