The Pistons have stunned the NBA world by going from worst to first in the Eastern Conference in two seasons. Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff is somewhat surprised by the team\u2019s quick rise but felt good about joining the organization after owner Tom Gores hired Trajan Langdon as the president of basketball operations in 2024. Shortly after being fired by Detroit\u2019s Central Division rivals in Cleveland, Bickerstaff was hired by Langdon.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you were with the group every day, you knew there was a ton of potential there. I couldn\u2019t tell you that I would say that a year and a half later we\u2019d be coaching the All-Star Game and be in first place, but I knew we were going to grow, I knew we were going to continue to get better and we had the pieces,\u201d Bickerstaff told Marc J. Spears of Andscape<\/a>. \u201cThe biggest thing for me also I trust Trajan totally because Trajan is the type of person that understands team and how to construct a roster. I think the small, subtle moves that he made last [season] and then even this [season], that helped elevate this team and I trusted his vision and plan.\u201d<\/p>\n Bickerstaff says he doesn\u2019t talk to the team about winning a championship this season because he\u2019s more focused on winning in the short term.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re all about the process. We talk about today every single day,\u201d he said. \u201cThat helps control the emotional ups and downs. If you\u2019re looking at big picture views of 10 games and all that, there\u2019s so many different things that can vary. But if you can stay in the moment and focused on that, it helps your team continue to get better because you\u2019re just attacking the problem that\u2019s in front of you.\u201d<\/p>\n We have more on the Pistons:<\/p>\n All-Star center Jalen Duren<\/a> and key reserve Isaiah Stewart<\/a> will continue to serve their suspensions<\/a> when the team returns to action on Thursday. Duren has one more game left on his suspension for his part in a scuffle with the Hornets last week, while Stewart still has six games to go. Bickerstaff told Spears the Pistons\u2019 depth will carry them through this stretch. \u201cWhenever they have been called upon, they have lived up to the moment and the team has supported them and helped them be successful,\u201d Bickerstaff said of his reserves. \u201cThat\u2019s how we move forward. We hold the fort down until our guys get back. We will miss those guys while they are out but the strength of our team has been our depth and we will contribute to use that as a weapon.\u201d
\nPaul Reed<\/a> stepped forward in the first game after the suspensions were issued, a 113-95 road victory over the Raptors. Reed finished with 22 points on 10-of-17 shooting, five rebounds, four blocks and three assists starting in place of Duren. \u201cMy minutes might not be consistent, but my teammates and coaches expect me to come in and be ready, and that is what I am going to do,\u201d Reed said, per Coty Davis of the Detroit News<\/a>. \u201cI take pride in that. To come in and know that when things go left, I can step up and provide.\u201d Reed re-signed<\/a> with Detroit on a two-year, $11MM contract last summer but his $5.6MM salary for next season is not guaranteed.
\nCade Cunningham<\/a> and Duren were prominent members of the USA Stars team that prevailed in the three-team All-Star contest on Sunday, Davis<\/a> notes. In those three 12-minute games, Cunningham recorded 15 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, three steals and three blocks, while Duren finished with a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds.
\nDuren, a restricted free agent after the season, said that the bad times he and the team endured during his first two seasons have provided extra motivation for everyone in the organization. \u201cIt\u2019s kinda like being broke and then getting money,\u201d Duren told Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press<\/a>. \u201cYou never want to be broke again. That\u2019s really what it is, bro, is understanding what that bottom felt like and never wanting to go back because we all have basketball pride and we all want to be the best in what we do. Knowing what that bottom feels like again, it\u2019s never wanting to be back.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pistons have stunned the NBA world by going from worst to first in the Eastern Conference in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":483148,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3773],"tags":[7,909,296,188,3860,1016,1648,912,6,2617,297,6244],"class_list":{"0":"post-607244","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-pistons","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cade-cunningham","10":"tag-detroit","11":"tag-detroit-pistons","12":"tag-detroitpistons","13":"tag-isaiah-stewart","14":"tag-j-b-bickerstaff","15":"tag-jalen-duren","16":"tag-nba","17":"tag-paul-reed","18":"tag-pistons","19":"tag-trajan-langdon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116083250472075548","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/483148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}