Detroit Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff has landed on the Coach of the Year podium for the second consecutive season
For the second consecutive year, Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff ends the campaign as the bride’s maid for the NBA’s Coach of the Year award, this time coming in second place behind Joe Mazzulla of the Boston Celtics.
Last season, Bickerstaff finished just behind his successor with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Kenny Atkinson. During the 2025-26 regular season, Atkinson helped push the Cavs to a 64-18 record before reaching the postseason, which was a 13-win improvement on Bickerstaff’s best year in Cleveland.
This year, however, Bickerstaff steered the Pistons to a 16-win improvement from the year before while securing the top seed in the Eastern Conference to lock up home court advantage for the first three rounds of the playoffs. The Pistons had a pair of All-Stars in Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren, with the former finishing in 5th place for the MVP award while the latter took home second place in the Most Improved Player race.
Suffice to say, Bickerstaff was a galvanizing force for Detroit throughout the season, and his players often shifted recognition and credit to their head coach when asked to point toward the reason for the Pistons’ success. All season long, Bickerstaff set up his squad to showcase a top three defense in Net Rating with a focus on controlling the paint, swarming the glass and forcing turnovers to generate extra possessions and transition buckets for the Pistons. Those qualities helped Detroit seize the No. 1 spot in the Eastern Conference starting in early November, and that’s exactly where the Pistons remained for the rest of the regular season.
During the playoffs, the Pistons ran into some trouble against the Orlando Magic when Franz Wagner clamped down on Cunningham and forced the All-Star floor general into a slew of turnovers, but the versatile defender suffered a right calf strain that held him out of the multiple games as Detroit completed a 3-1 comeback.
During that series, Duren only had one game that mirrored his regular season effectiveness with a 15-point, 15-rebound effort in game seven, but the big man struggled when the Magic packed the paint for the first six games of the series. Duren continued to fall short in the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Cavs, and the Pistons were outdone by Bickerstaff’s former squad in a playoff run that many feel could have extended into late May or early June.
But in general, the Pistons have experienced a monumental turnaround from a franchise perspective. Before Bickerstaff arrived, the Pistons were floundering as a lottery-level team for multiple seasons, and his ability to connect with both Cunningham and JD as franchise cornerstones has been instrumental in reestablishing the team as a contender in the East.
Moving forward, Bickerstaff will have the opportunity to continue his tenure with Detroit after signing an extension right after defeating the Magic in the first round of the playoffs, but the All-Star coach will have a slightly different roster to manage next fall. During the offseason, the Pistons are expected to bring Duren back and have expressed an intent to do the same with Tobias Harris, but it is unclear what direction Detroit will take with unrestricted free agent Kevin Huerter.
The Pistons also have the No. 21 pick in the upcoming 2026 NBA Draft, and they reportedly have interest in shopping the selection for the chance to move up in the first round, potentially for an accolade-laden playmaker like Yaxel Lendeborg. If the Pistons opt to stay where they’re at, Santa Clara forward Allen Graves could be an option in the mid-to-late first round range as a potential long-term option at power forward.
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