{"id":83758,"date":"2024-06-30T11:29:42","date_gmt":"2024-06-30T15:29:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=83758"},"modified":"2024-06-30T11:29:42","modified_gmt":"2024-06-30T15:29:42","slug":"pistons-hire-monty-williams-head-coach-replacement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/06\/30\/pistons-hire-monty-williams-head-coach-replacement\/","title":{"rendered":"Pistons Hire Monty Williams\u2019 Head Coach Replacement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Detroit Pistons have hired J.B. Bickerstaff as their next head coach, per ESPN\u2019s Adrian Wojnarowski.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">J.B. Bickerstaff has agreed on a five-year deal to become the Pistons&#8217; coach, sources tell ESPN. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/TYz9VJMwYC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/TYz9VJMwYC<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wojespn\/status\/1807428599017873606?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 30, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The 45-year-old will sign a five-year deal with the Pistons, Wojnarowski adds.<\/p>\n<h2>Pistons Hire Monty Williams\u2019 Head Coach Replacement<\/h2>\n<p>Bickerstaff coached the Cleveland Cavaliers for the last four-plus seasons, but <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/05\/23\/cavs-make-decision-head-coach-jb-bickerstaff\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">was dismissed after<\/a> his hobbled Cavs were eliminated from the 2024 NBA Playoffs. Cleveland has since brought in former Golden State Warriors assistant Kenny Atkinson <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/06\/24\/cavaliers-hire-warriors-assistant-as-head-coach\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">as his replacement<\/a>. As the coaching carousel turns, Bickerstaff finds himself picking up the pieces left by former Pistons head coach Monty Williams.<\/p>\n<p>Williams led Detroit to a 14-68 record in 2023-24, the worst in franchise history. This included an NBA-record 28 straight losses, a major down point of the season. Even before the Pistons were looking to hire a new president of basketball operations after their troubling 2023-24 campaign, Williams\u2019s job was in jeopardy.<\/p>\n<p>Brought in to accelerate Detroit\u2019s rebuild, Williams all but completely failed in that task. First, he prioritized the playing time and development of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hayeski01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Killian Hayes<\/a> rather than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/i\/iveyja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jaden Ivey<\/a>, the 2022 No. 5 pick. He then moved <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/thompau01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ausar Thompson<\/a>, the 2023 No. 5 pick, to the bench. On top of all of that, he misused both, having them play primarily off-ball despite them being on-ball playmakers.<\/p>\n<p>With <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/durenja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jalen Duren<\/a> \u2014the 13th overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft \u2014failing to make strides in his defensive awareness, it also brings to question what Williams was teaching them.<\/p>\n<h3>J.B. Bickerstaff, The Developer<\/h3>\n<p>Now, with Bickerstaff, they have a coach who may offer a better player development program.<\/p>\n<p>To start, Bickerstaff\u2019s work with Cavs center <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/allenja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jarrett Allen<\/a> inspires confidence about what he can get out of Duren. Though Allen had a high defensive floor, Bickerstaff helped him develop at both ends. Indeed, Allen became a consistent scorer in the low-post while excelling as a shot-blocker. With Duren\u2019s physical tools and Bicketstaff\u2019s guidance, he should make better rotations and contest more shots.<\/p>\n<p>Bickerstaff\u2019s experience with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/garlada01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Darius Garland<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mitchdo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Donovan Mitchell<\/a>, and even <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sextoco01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Collin Sexton<\/a> is notable as well.<\/p>\n<p>In Garland, the Cavs have a somewhat traditional point guard. He can score from anywhere on the court but is dedicated to the art of distribution. Mitchell and Sexton were more assertive in attacking the basket. This is a solid foil for what Detroit has in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/cunnica01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cade Cunningham<\/a>, a three-level scorer and their primary facilitator, and Ivey.<\/p>\n<p>If Bickerstaff can get them to gel, then the Pistons don\u2019t have to move Ivey. This is to their benefit, as the questions surrounding Ivey are less about his talent and more about his fit alongside Cunningham.<\/p>\n<p>Considering Bickerstaff\u2019s work with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/o\/okorois01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Isaac Okoro<\/a>, there\u2019s also reason to believe he can help Thompson and 2025 No. 5 pick <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hollaro01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ron Holland<\/a> find their 3-point stroke. To that point, Okoro shot a career-high 39.1 percent from 3 in 2023-24. The process of him becoming a reliable outside shooter took a couple of seasons. However, with renowned <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/06\/15\/pistons-coaching-shak-up-nba-veteran-strtegically-fhired-fred-vinson-pistons\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">shooting coach Fred Vinson in town<\/a>, Detroit may not have to wait that long.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Detroit Pistons have hired J.B. Bickerstaff as their next head coach, per ESPN\u2019s Adrian Wojnarowski. J.B. Bickerstaff has agreed on a five-year deal to become the Pistons&#8217; coach, sources tell ESPN. https:\/\/t.co\/TYz9VJMwYC \u2014 Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 30, 2024 The 45-year-old will sign a five-year deal with the Pistons, Wojnarowski adds. Pistons Hire Monty [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":83759,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,1608,9,62,3],"tags":[4432,49128,1765,4557],"class_list":["post-83758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pistons","category-basketball","category-cavaliers","category-nba","category-news","tag-jalen-duren","tag-jb-bickerstaff","tag-monty-williams","tag-nba-offseason"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}