By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
J.B. Bickerstaff will become the next head coach of the Detroit Pistons.
The NBA franchise is hiring the Denver native, as reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Sunday. He agreed to sign a five-year contract, Woj noted in a separate post on X.
Bickerstaff, 45, spent the last five seasons as the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, guiding his side to the Playoffs through the last two years. Earlier head-coaching jobs in the league were attached to the Memphis Grizzlies and Houston Rockets. Overall, he has featured in 485 games as the head coach, including 22 in the Playoffs.
The Pistons are on a five-year postseason drought. In 2023-24, Monty Williams, the 2022 NBA Coach of the Year, settled for a 14-68 record in the Regular Season. The successor of Dwane Casey exited after one year.
Despite parting ways with experienced French guard Evan Fournier, the Pistons are expected to re-sign restricted free agent Simone Fontecchio and possibly sign the 37th pick of the recent draft, Bo Klintman, keeping Italy and adding Sweden to the European portion of the 2024-25 roster. Another potential feature from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, British Tosan Evbuomwan finished the 2023-24 in Detroit on a two-way contract.
Besides changes across the playing and coaching staff, the 84th season in franchise history meets two-time champion of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague and most valuable player of the Madrid Final Four in 2008, Trajan Langdon taking over as president of basketball operations.