[Highlight] - Coaches Corner: Detroit Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff breaks down tape with Tim Legler, explaining how the Pistons use spacing and false movement to counter teams that double Cade when they don’t respect the shooting of their bigs.
More of this please
Honestly we need more clips like this. Super refreshing to engage in this kind of content…
I love this stuff too, I plan on posting more.
Right? It’s cool to actually hear the strategy behind the plays instead of just watching the highlights.
99.9% of this sub won’t understand what JB just said yet r/nba was confidently calling JB Bickerstaff one of the worst coaches in the league after his Cavs tenure
He’s a fantastic coach. Absolutely first-rate.
Tbf sometimes when people post X’s and O’s it gets deleted as advertisement here
This is just one aspect of coaching
He’s been throughly outcoached each playoff stint.
Kenny Atkinson didn’t get any further yet he gets glazed
JB can’t control Jarrett Allen’s lack of DAWG and getting punked by Mitchell Robinson on rebounds
I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone “glaze” Kenny Atkinson
Yeah no one does not even Cleveland fans. A lot of Cavs fans wanted him fired earlier this year before the trades.
Gonna keep repeating the same bullshit? Night and day difference with the team. Plus the whole throwing the team under the bus with injuries.
repeat what? this is the first time I said it lol
bruh Cavs were looking miserable to start this season. there’s a reason Garland was traded
ok…? maybe some of them needed to hear the truth. can’t keep getting punked by Mitchell Robinson on the boards
To be fair, Garland was traded because he was injured all the time and Cleveland also needed to give Donovan Mitchell a reason to stick around.
The Harden - Garland trade worked out perfectly because Cleveland was a Second Apron team and thus were extremely limited in the types of moves they could do.
When it was made clear Harden wanted a contract the Clippers wouldn’t or couldn’t guarantee him, he asked out and created a literal perfect trade scenario for Cleveland that they’d be foolish to pass-up.
Where exactly is the lie? He did no better than JB.
I’ve always felt that one of the hallmarks of a great coach is that they understand the guys on their roster, have a clear-eyed understanding of what their strengths and weaknesses are, and are able to craft schemes and game plans that fit those players and maximize their ability.
I think that really shows in this clip.
Every coach does that, there isn’t a single coach today that doesn’t do that
Not to mention you have an entire staff on analytics, data, AI and everything
There are coaches like Ime Udoka who clearly only plays his favorites and he has zero offensive philosophy. It’s not me saying it, its anyone who watches their games who see it and even 30 minutes of watching game will tell you that
Assuming competence from people just because they have a powerful position is a foolish gamble.
Bro thinks Darvin Ham was out there coaching to the best of his ability
I think we sometimes see coaches that keep trying to force square pegs into round holes.
I mean, as awesome as Assaur and Jalen Duren are, their lack of outside shooting could be a huge hindrance to that team. But this staff does a great job minimizing their weaknesses and maximizing their strengths.
Their lack of outside shooting is midigated by the fact that they are both the best PnR defenders in the league in the two most important positions, Aussar takes the perimeter player, Duren the guy setting the screen and they are top tier and the best at it
That’s why they are a top 2 defense and not even a top 10 offense..
Yes. They have strengths and weaknesses. The fact that they are playing some of the best basketball in the entire league is evidence of how well the coaches have maximized the strengths and weaknesses.
I think you’re saying “Everyone does this” and I’m saying “Yes, but the Pistons do it particularly well”
Right. The biggest challenge for the coach is securing buy-in from the players and staying in sync with the front office. That’s the real job.
It’s a likely reason why Michael Malone may be out of a job for an extended time. He found a way to alienate parts of the locker room in tandem with alienating and or antagonizing the GM. That’s a wild one.
Yep the coach is basically the guy that is supposed to be the guy that puts it together and tasked with the job of making players do that thing, a lot of players have egos, personalities, personal goals that make it difficult, then you have the FO and all the staff aspect to it so many voices
The strategic part of it is so overrated amongst fans and it’s mostly on the players you have, it’s very clear what you should do in the NBA
But there’s players who are talented and still do dumb shit and get away with it no matter what the coach does, a coach hasn’t been able to change Westbrook from day one and he’s had 900 coaches, from great to bad
Yeah you both make great points.
In addition to understanding who a player is, a coach has to make the player also have a clear-eyed understanding of who he is.
Go hard on them dudes
Salute
There are executives at companies that make WAY more money than a random NBA team doing stupid ass shit that any normal person would think is obvious, I can personally assure you of that
Great breakdown, wish things like this were posted a lot more.
nope take the agenda pushing narrative post & like it. but yah fr man wish we had more of this, over the bullshit we usually get in here bout useless stats & shit
This sure as hell beats the nonsense people normally post
Thought I was about to see Don Cherry
Keep your stick on the ice.
I love the idea of this content and the explanations are good too but man the first example is literally just Brunson being an abysmal defensive player. He’s supposed to be preventing that exact thing from happening and he just doesn’t fully commit to doing it.
You make a good point but I will add this caveat- the reason Brunson thinks Thompson will stay in the corner is because that’s what Brunson is used to, that’s what most teams do, that’s the standard thinking.
Of course, you are right, Brunson should be aware of who is actually in that corner and know that the real threat from Thompson is a drive to the basket, not a three.
These days what offenses are trying to do, at the end of the day, is to lure defenders into mistakes. Notice that Thompson at first does dart to the corner even though he has absolutely no intention of shooting the three, because that is the sort of detail that increases the chances of “fooling” the defender.
Tl;dr Brunson has a brain fart but creating a brain fart is sort of what they are trying to do.
I’m sorry, but what was he actually supposed to do here? He’s stuck on a strong shooter, so if he fully commits to stopping that roll too early, the other team just gets a wide open three. He has to wait for basically the exact right moment to release to Ausar, but that’s not an easy thing to time especially when you can’t see the guy who’s cutting because he’s behind you.
He’s stuck on a strong shooter,
Brunson isn’t stuck on a strong shooter, he is the low man after the trap.
When they trap Cade he is supposed to be rotating down to be the low man and stop Thomspon from getting a layup. He half-commits to doing that and Thompson gets the easy bucket anyways.
He’s definitely NOT stuck on Hardaway, he’s probably 15+ feet away from THJ
Josh Hart is the guy on Thompson, and he is supposed to be the low-man given his position on the court. Once Hart commits, the pass to Thompson is open… but so is THJ, the man that Brunson is leaving to try and help here. If Brunson overcommits to Thompson too early, Duren just sprays the ball out and you’re done.
JD literally says this in the clip. Listen to him talk, that’s the entire point of the play design.
Josh Hart is the guy on Thompson,
Not during the rotation after the trap, that’s very clearly what I’m talking about.
It should be:
Trap Cade with 2 on the ball
Hart rotates up to cover Duren in the roll Brunson becomes the weak side low man to prevent the cut KAT rotates to contest what would likely be an open 3 (he didn’t look like he was doing this anyways so that part is kind of moot)
What actually happened was:
Hart rotates up to cover Duren in the roll Brunson is late to his spot as the low man and Thompson converts a 90%+ shot on the rim with a nice pass by Duren. If Brunson overcommits to Thompson too early, Duren just sprays the ball out and you’re done.
Hart rotates up to cover Duren in the roll Brunson is late to his spot as the low man and Thompson converts a 90%+ shot on the rim with a nice pass by Duren.
If Brunson overcommits to Thompson too early, Duren just sprays the ball out and you’re done.
Yeah, respectfully this is how passing out of a trap works, it’s not novel or unique. I’m just pointing out that Brunson’s blown coverage resulted in probably a shot that Thompson probably converts over 90% of the time. THJ is a ~50% 3 point shooter when he’s wide open. 1.5 points from a wide open 3 is a lot worse than 1.8 expected points from a shot within 1 foot of the rim.
Okay, took another look at this play. This isn’t Brunson being hesitant, he’s just caught by a really well-timed cut and is a little slow to analyze the situation. As he starts to sink down, you can see his eyes flash to Hart to see if he needs to fully help onto Duren, then glances back to check the cut. Problem is, the processing takes too long for what needs to be a very clutch defensive play, and he’s like an inch away from disrupting the pass. If the pass is even slightly misplaced here, he’s got the deflection and the play gets saved.
You’re talking about players like they can see everything on the court and have instant processing speed. Unironically, most defenders probably don’t catch Ausar here, it’s too much of a shit-show to begin with and it’s against most player’s instincts to cover the cut instead of the shot. Brunson isn’t doing anything amazing here, but it’s also not something that really needs to be criticized.
Why didn’t he like Ivey?
He liked him when he was good :(
Injury killed it then we took off without him. Hope he finds it again
He’s never said anything but nice things about Ivey.
Ivey wasn’t the same after the injury and didn’t have the luxury of a long leash to work himself back in and this clearly effected his confidence
Interesting. I guess it also explains why Cade found it hard against Castle in that earlier meeting.