The Pistons weren't supposed to be here, not this soon. Their players were just happy to no longer be there, in the sludge of incessant losing. Their president, Trajan Langdon, didn't give a single thought to the playoffs entering his first year on the job. Even their head coach has to be a little surprised.
"We took a jump, I’ll say that," J.B. Bickerstaff said with a laugh.
In a year, one of the worst teams in NBA history has morphed into the first team to triple its win total from the prior 82-game season. The Pistons are returning to the playoffs for the first time since 2019, and with a real chance to win not only a game but a series for the first time since 2008. Back then, Bickerstaff was closer to his playing days than his first head coaching job. Cade Cunningham was six years old. The NBA was an entirely different league.
These Pistons would have thrived in that era, like the Goin' to Work teams that they're beginning to mirror. That they're thriving in this era is all the more impressive. They rank outside the top 10 teams in the NBA in offensive rating and outside the top 15 in true shooting percentage; only two other teams below them in either department have a winning record. They rank outside the top 20 teams in three-point attempts, yet they have also have the most prolific three-point shooter in the East in Malik Beasley.
But these Pistons are a pain to play against, often literally. They dominate the paint. They are a top-10 team in contesting shots and recovering loose balls. They are a top-10 team in rebounding. Since the turn of the new year, they have the second best defensive rating in the NBA. Only the Knicks, Detroit's potential first-round opponent, have been better. When the story of these Pistons is told, however it may end, it starts with "the honest commitment to one another," Bickerstaff said Monday on 97.1 The Ticket.
"Our guys’ willingness to be different, I think that’s one of the things that stands out," he said. "We’re not your typical NBA team that just runs around jacking threes. We’re a team that really decides to get it in the mud, and we’re committed to that. We’re a physical team. We’re a defensive-minded team, and that’s not easy to do, especially for young guys, a lot of guys who haven’t made their second contracts or whatever it may be. Those things a lot of times don’t show up in stat sheets, which affects contracts in young people’s minds.
"Our guys bought into being able to do the dirty things to make us different: physical basketball, sometimes confrontational basketball. But our guys do it every single night, and that’s what makes us hard to deal with."
They do it every single possession, really, by attacking your rim -- they lead the NBA in dunks -- or meeting you at theirs, or setting a screen that might knock you to your feet. These confrontations can spark conflagrations. The Pistons have sparred this year with the Pacers, as an old rivalry simmers. They fought two weeks ago with the Timberwolves, who objected to the relentless defense of rookie Ron Holland II. Isaiah Stewart was right in the middle of it, until he was ejected and suspended for two games.
Stewart is the personification of the Pistons' pugnacious style. But that comes at a cost: he's been assessed the most technicals (15) and the most flagrant fouls (4) in the East this season. His three ejections, including one in a loss to the Pacers, are the most in the NBA. The challenge for Stewart will be harnessing his emotions in the playoffs, when the games only run hotter. He's only an asset to the Pistons if he's on the floor, where he's one of the best rim defenders in the NBA. Striking the right balance, said Bickerstaff, is "a process for us all."
"It’s a process for him to play with that passion, to be the guy who protects his teammates and looks out for his guys, but he means so much to us. He’s an elite defender. Offensively, he’s a great playmaker as well. And he just plays with that spirit that uplifts everybody else, so we need him on the floor and I think he understands that," Bickerstaff said.
Bickerstaff -- who was one of four Pistons ejected following the fracas with the Timberwolves -- went on to say that certain "circumstances" warrant a response, "and again, I stand by his decisions in Minnesota to look out for his teammates."
"But we understand that teams are going to try to bait us and try to get into those types of things so that our best players can’t be on the floor," he said. "And sometimes without backing down you have to turn the other cheek, but understand that it’s the ultimate sign of respect, right? If they have to go there, they know they’re in trouble."
The Pistons have four games to go, with the fifth seed in the East still in their sights. They're a game behind the Bucks, and gearing up for a home-and-home with Milwaukee to close out the season. They also host the Knicks in a potential first-round preview on Thursday. Whoever awaits the Pistons in the first round, "we're accepting any challenge," said Bickerstaff. "That’s what our guys have done all year."
"We’re going to play these last games out here, try to get as high a seed as we possibly can and let the chips fall where they may," he said. "We want to play well, we want to go into the playoffs confident, understanding what we’re trying to do collectively, individually, because once you get to the playoffs, it’s hard to just say, 'OK, now we’re going to turn it on,' after you mess around for the last week or so."
To that end, the Pistons will gradually ramp up Cunningham's workload as he recovers from the calf injury that sidelined him for six games. He played fewer minutes than usual in his return last Saturday, but still dumped in 25 points for anyone worried that the time off might have disrupted his rhythm. That was a win in Detroit's loss to Toronto. The Pistons have two weeks until the playoffs begin "to make sure that we get him where he needs to be," said Bickerstaff.
This is where the Pistons need to be, back in the ring, in the thick of the fight for NBA supremacy. They aren't yet equipped to win it, but they'll land a few punches this spring. They might even take down a heavyweight. Reflecting on the Pistons' growth, Bickerstaff recalls two of the first three games of the season when they squandered fourth quarter leads against the Pacers and Celtics. Those losses, he said, "opened our eyes as a coaching staff that we could put ourselves in position" to win.
"Now we needed to figure out, how do we close? And I think that’s the one thing that we learned how to do, and a little bit more quickly than probably normally happens. We learned how important our defense was in the fourth quarter, how we could get stops on demand, and then offensively where we needed to go with the basketball in our sets to put ourselves in that position," he said.
They have a closer in Cunningham, and an array of veteran weapons around him. They have young defenders who harry and hurry the opposition. They have a hard-edged personality that will make them a hard out later this month, and maybe into May. They have a willingness to be different in a league that looks increasingly the same, and an unwillingness to stand down. This is their identity. These are the Pistons -- as we knew them, and as we're coming to know them again.