J.B. Bickerstaff Is One Loss Away From Being Exposed as a Phony

The No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference is on the ropes against a team that was in the Play-In Tournament just a few weeks ago.

The Orlando Magic took a commanding 3-1 lead against the Detroit Pistons in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. The Pistons were supposed to be the Belle of the ball this postseason after winning 60 games in the regular season.

But as Detroit basketball fans were reminded in the first round of last year’s postseason that playoff basketball is different. Last year, the sixth-seeded Pistons were defeated in six games against the New York Knicks in Round 1. It was a moral victory for the Pistons to be there, and valuable experience for blossoming guard Cade Cunningham.

Expectations are a dangerous thing in sports, and the Pistons surpassed all of them by claiming the No. 1 seed in the East. But that came with lofty expectations as well, like getting through the Magic in Round 1, which is proving to be a difficult task for the Pistons.

Offensively, Detroit is a nightmare.

Here are their team point totals for their first four games against Orlando: 101, 98, 105 and 88.

That’s a decent offensive output if Chuck Daly was on the sidelines.

But Pistons fans are learning the shortcomings of J.B. Bickerstaff, who is the frontrunner to win NBA Coach of the Year. In two seasons, Bickerstaff has turned a floundering organization into the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. Over the last two years, the Pistons realized they have more than one superstar in Cunningham, as Jalen Duren and other contributors emerged for the top-seeded team in the East.

It’s similar to Bickerstaff’s time with the Cavaliers. He took over a floundering organization that couldn’t move on from head coach John Beilein fast enough. In sequential order, the Cavs were one of the worst teams in basketball, lost in the NBA Play-In Tournament, traded for Donovan Mitchell, got bounced in the first round against the Knicks before barely beating the Magic in Game 7 just to get eliminated in Round 2 for back-to-back seasons.

All of that in four seasons was enough for Bickerstaff to lose his voice within Cleveland’s locker room. If the Pistons are an easy out in Round 1 of the NBA Playoffs, could his seat already be heating up in Detroit?

Winning NBA Coach of the Year is a curse. In 2018, the Toronto Raptors fired head coach Dwane Casey before he was formally named NBA Coach of the Year after an early-postseason exit.

The Pistons likely wouldn’t want that to happen, and Bickerstaff should get another crack at this with a very young roster. But losing in Round 1 against the Magic? In a season when the Pistons were the No. 1 seed and one of the best stories in the NBA? At some point, it reflects poorly on the coach who constantly invents ways to underwhelm in the postseason.