Ex-Cavaliers head coach Bickerstaff hired by Pistons

Bickerstaff has landed on his feet.

Ex-Cleveland Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff has a new job. And he’s not going far.

As first reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Bickerstaff has been hired as the Detroit Pistons’ new head coach. This will be Bickerstaff’s fourth head coaching job after Cleveland, the Memphis Grizzlies, and Houston Rockets.

With the Cavs, Bickerstaff had a record of 329-170 in five seasons after taking over John Beilein. He was let go after Cleveland lost to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals this spring.

Bickerstaff is an interesting hire for the Pistons. Woj reported that the Pistons “are prioritizing the use of their salary cap space to take on veteran contracts that will be paired with future draft picks.” They have a lot of young talent that needs to be developed, including Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, Ausar Thompson, and rookie Ron Holland.

Player development wasn’t Bickersaff’s strength in Cleveland, but it also wasn’t the organizations overall strength. Bickerstaff feels more like Monty Williams (who the Pistons just fired, eating a large amount of money in the process) than Detroit going for their own version of Utah’s Will Hardy or Oklahoma City’s Mark Daigneault.

That said: Bickerstaff was key in helping the Cavs develop from a bad team when he started to a team with playoff aspirations by the time his tenure ran out. If he can do something similar with the Pistons, it’s a hire that makes sense. And he’ll be in Cleveland twice this year with Detroit, so it won’t be long before he’s back at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on the opposite sideline.