J.B. Bickerstaff deserved better from Cavs fan in return
Bickerstaff wasn’t a perfect coach, but he was perfect for the team he inherited in 2020.
Detroit Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff wasn’t in a reflective mode ahead of Friday’s return to Cleveland. He said it was “not really” strange to play against the Cleveland Cavaliers so soon and that “nothing” went through his mind when he returned. But he wasn’t surprised by the reaction he was about to get.
“Who knows,” Bickerstaff said pregame when asked what reaction he expected. “In my time here I got mixed receptions so I might get booed. I might get cheered. Who knows?”
There were audible, but not overwhelming boos when he was introduced as head coach of the Pistons. The Cavs ran a tribute for him early in the first quarter that got a better reaction but was still lukewarm at best.
The #Cavs presented a quick thank you video for former head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, which led to a loud round of applause from fans. pic.twitter.com/quyo3brITu
— Evan Dammarell (@AmNotEvan) October 26, 2024
Fans are allowed to feel how they want. There was a reason the Cavs decided to move on. But he deserved more appreciation for the role he played in turning around this organization.
“I don’t think it should have been lukewarm,” Jarret Allen said postgame. “I think it should have been all praise for him.”
It’s easy to forget the mess that Bickerstaff was placed into when he was first named interim head coach in February 2020. This is an abbreviated list of what had happened the 19 months before he inherited the job.
- LeBron James left for the Lakers.
- The Cavs extended Kevin Love with the idea of remaining competitive but failed miserably.
- Ty Lue was fired after starting 0-6.
- Cavs holdover veterans say Collin Sexton doesn’t “know how to play.”
- Interim head coach Larry Drew doesn’t return after 19-63 season.
- John Beilein is hired as head coach.
- Love gets an intentional three-second call and has a verbal outburst with Koby Altman.
- Beilein apologizes to players, meant to say “slugs” not “thugs.”
- Beilein resigns after a 12-40 record and leaves the job to Bickerstaff.
“He came in when this team was not high in the standings, and he turned everything around,” Allen said. “Dean [Wade] went through all of that and he’s seen the improvement that the team has made every single year and then day in and day out.”
Bickerstaff didn’t make the Cavaliers competitive overnight. They finished that first season 5-6 and were 19-46 the following year. Their turnaround came after they drafted Evan Mobley and traded for both Allen and Lauri Markkanen. But talent alone wasn’t going to turn around the mess that was there.
The phrase “culture setter” is thrown around often without any substantive meaning. It’s also difficult to assess the culture of a team you aren’t on. We do, however, know that the embarrassing headlines stopped. The team started looking and behaving like a professional team that was willing to put in the work to be a winner. That showed up on the court soon after he got the job. The results in the standings followed a little later. That might not have happened if Bickerstaff wasn’t at the helm.
Making the leap from a good to a great team is the hardest to execute in the NBA. It’s the jump the Cavaliers are still hoping to make. But taking a team from bad to respectable and then to good is also challenging despite how simple Bickerstaff made it look. That can’t and shouldn’t be overlooked.
“I think we did a hell of a job here,” Bickerstaff said. “From where we started when our staff took over to where we finished. In any rebuild situation, if you could ask for that to happen, every GM in the league, every owner in this league, every player in this league, would sign up for it. We got better every year. Every year we went further. So we did the job we were asked to do and I’m proud of that.”
Bickerstaff might not have been the guy to take this team to their ceiling, but they aren’t in a position for that to ever be a concern if it wasn’t for the culture he set. He deserves to feel proud of what he accomplished. Hopefully, he gets the opportunity to follow through with that path in Detroit in a way he wasn’t in Cleveland.
“It was a rocky ending, as some people say,” Allen said. “But he gave everything to his team, and I think the fans should applaud him for that.”