Tag: Pistons

Pistons, coach JB Bickerstaff agree on 4-year contract

On: By: admin


FILE – Cleveland Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff shouts at his team during the first half of Game 6 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series against the Orlando Magic, May 3, 2024, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)

DETROIT — The Detroit Pistons have agreed to a four-year NBA contract with coach J.B. Bickerstaff with a team option for a fifth season, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on Sunday.

The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the agreement had not been announced.

The Cleveland Cavaliers fired Bickerstaff in May after they lost to Boston in the Eastern Conference semifinals despite them winning 99 games over two years.

The Pistons fired coach Monty Williams one season into a six-year, $78.5 million contract after they had the NBA’s worst record for a second straight year. They also fired general manager Troy Weaver after they won 23% of their games in his four seasons.

READ: NBA: Pistons decline 19M option for Evan Fournier

Pistons president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon has been busy trying to turn around a three-time NBA championship-winning franchise that has fallen on hard times.

The 45-year-old Bickerstaff, who twice finished among the top five in NBA Coach of the Year voting, was 170-159 in four-plus seasons in Cleveland. He had six victories in the playoffs. He took over when John Beilein, a former Michigan coach, walked away from the Cavs during the 2019-20 season.

Bickerstaff also was promoted to replace fired coaches in Houston and Memphis, going 37-34 with the Rockets in the 2015-16 season and winning 48 games with the Grizzlies during most of the 2017-18 and all of the following season.

READ: NBA: Mavericks trade Tim Hardaway Jr. to Pistons for Quentin Grimes

Bickerstaff’s father, Bernie, won 419 NBA games with Seattle, Denver, Washington, Charlotte and the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Pistons went into free agency with $50 million in salary cap space, desperately looking for an influx in talent to play with 2021 No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham.

Langdon has begun to reshape the roster by declining a $19 million option for Evan Fournier, extending a qualifying offer to Simone Fontecchio and acquiring Tim Hardaway Jr. from Dallas in a trade. He drafted Ron Holland of the G League Ignite with the fifth pick overall.

The Pistons haven’t won a playoff game since 2008, when they appeared in the Eastern Conference finals for the sixth straight year.



Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.


Your subscription has been successful.

Pistons decline $19M option for Evan Fournier

On: By: admin


Evan Fournier #31 of the Detroit Pistons reacts after he is called for a foul during the second half against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on February 26, 2024 in New York City. Elsa/Getty Images/AFP

DETROIT — The Detroit Pistons have declined a $19 million option for Evan Fournier, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on Saturday.

The person, speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity because the decision had not been announced, said the move gives the Pistons $50 million in salary cap space.

Detroit acquired Fournier from New York just before the NBA trade deadline last season as part of a deal that sent Bojan Bogdanovic to the Knicks.

Fournier, a 31-year-old shooting guard from France, averaged 7.2 points in 29 games for the Pistons last season. He has averaged 13.6 points over his career with Detroit, New York, Boston, Orlando and Denver, which drafted him No. 20 overall in 2012.

READ: NBA: Mavericks trade Tim Hardaway Jr. to Pistons for Quentin Grimes

Detroit also decided to extend a qualifying offer to Simone Fontecchio, making him a restricted free agent. If Fontecchio receives an offer sheet next week or later this offseason, the Pistons can match it and retain the 28-year-old from Italy.

Detroit added Fontecchio from Utah in February in a three-team trade and the Jazz acquired the Pistons’ second-round selection as part of the deal and used it to take Duke’s Kyle Filipowski in the draft No. 32 overall.

Fontecchio averaged 15.4 points and 4.4 rebounds, making 42.6% of 3-pointers, in 16 games with the Pistons last season. The 6-foot-8 small forward has averaged 8.6 points over two NBA seasons.

READ: NBA: Pistons president doesn’t give timeline on coaching search, rebuild

Pistons president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon, hired recently to replace the fired Troy Weaver, acquired former Michigan star Tim Hardaway Jr. from the Dallas Mavericks along with three second-round draft picks for Quentin Grimes earlier this week.

Detroit, which has been without a coach since firing Monty Williams, drafted Ron Holland of the G League Ignite with the fifth pick overall.

The Pistons have had the NBA’s worst record in each of the last two years and haven’t won a playoff game since 2008, when the three-time league champions appeared in the Eastern Conference finals for the sixth straight year.



Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.


Your subscription has been successful.

Mavericks trade Tim Hardaway to Pistons for Quentin Grimes

On: By: admin


FILE– Tim Hardaway Jr. #10 of the Dallas Mavericks is headed to the Detroit Pistons in the NBA. Christian Petersen/Getty Images/AFP 

The Dallas Mavericks are trading Tim Hardaway Jr. and three second-round NBA draft picks to the Detroit Pistons for Quentin Grimes, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press.

The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity Friday because the exchange of shooting guards can’t take effect until after the new league year begins July 6.

Trading Hardaway provides some financial flexibility in free agency for general manager Nico Harrison. The 32-year-old Hardaway is owed $16.2 million next season, while the 24-year-old Grimes is due $4.3 million for the final season of his rookie contract.

READ: Luka Doncic: NBA Finals loss can be springboard for Mavericks

Hardaway averaged 14.4 points and 1.8 assists per game in 79 regular-season games for the Western Conference champion Mavericks this season. Hardaway had primarily been the first player off the bench for a team led by Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, but his role began to change after the midseason acquisitions of P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford.

By the end of the playoffs, Hardaway had fallen out of the Dallas rotation and his future with the team was in doubt with one season remaining on his contract.

Dallas got Hardaway from the New York Knicks in a January 2019 trade that sent Kristaps Porzingis to Dallas. The Mavericks signed Hardaway to a $75 million, four-year contract before the 2021-22 season.

Over 11 NBA seasons with the Knicks, Atlanta and the Mavericks, Hardaway has averaged 14.0 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game.

In the NBA Finals earlier this month against Boston, Hardaway scored 15 points on five 3-pointers in the fourth quarter of Game 4 that Dallas won in a blowout. He was 0-for-8 shooting in only 36 total minutes while playing in three of the other four games.

Grimes was drafted 25th overall in 2021 by the Los Angeles Clippers, who then immediately traded him to the Knicks. New York dealt him to Detroit on Feb. 8, but he played only six games after that because of right knee soreness. Grimes has averaged 8.5 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 168 career games, starting 90 of those.



Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.


Your subscription has been successful.

Pistons president doesn’t give timeline on coaching search, rebuild

On: By: admin


Detroit Pistons Owner Tom Gores, right, and President of Basketball Operations Trajan Langdon pose after addressing the NBA basketball media, Friday, June 21, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

DETROIT — There is still plenty of uncertainty and mystery surrounding the Detroit Pistons.

The organization is coming off the worst NBA season in franchise history and is once again searching for a new coach. There’s no clearcut path to success and their roster — beyond Cade Cunningham — is a series of question marks.

One thing owner Tom Gores seems sure about is that he has finally found the right front office executive to lead the franchise. He considers Trajan Langdon not only his president of basketball operations, but his CEO.

“After assessing everything, I really felt the best choice for the organization was a fresh start,” Gores said Friday when the organization officially introduced Langdon. “Our mistakes in the past has nothing to do with just one person. We needed a fresh start and we needed Trajan to lead with a fresh start.”

Langdon, who was previously general manager of the New Orleans Pelicans, replaced former GM Troy Weaver as the franchise’s lead executive. Head coach Monty Williams was dismissed this week with five years and $65 million remaining on his contract.

READ: NBA: Detroit Pistons fire coach Monty Williams after one season

Former Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff, Mavericks assistant Sean Sweeney, Timberwolves assistant Micah Nori and Pelicans assistant James Borrego are just some of the candidates who are expected to interview for the head coaching job. With the draft coming up next week and free agency starting on June 30, Langdon isn’t sure when a new coach will be in place.

“I can’t give you a timeline,” Langdon said of his coaching search.

Langdon inherits an extremely young roster — the Pistons finished the season with 11 players 25 or younger. Development will be a high priority for the next coach after a disastrous 14-68 campaign.

“As much as we want to win,” Gores said, “we want to develop these young players.”

The best of the bunch is Cunningham, who averaged 22.7 points and 7.5 assists this past season. He’s eligible for a rookie scale extension this offseason.

READ: NBA: Pistons hire Trajan Langdon as basketball operations president

The 48-year-old Langdon said he’ll try to take some pressure off Cunningham by upgrading his supporting cast.

The Pistons could have more than $60 million in cap space to make improvements. With many teams looking to shed salary due to the tax aprons in the new collective bargaining agreement, Langdon is willing to make trades that will help in the short and long term.

“One thing we are looking for with the cap space we do have is bringing in contracts maybe from other teams and gathering assets as well,” Langdon said. “Hopefully, with the players that come in, they can bolster the growth (of the younger players). If we can interweave those two things, that would make our summer successful.”

That’s as much as Langdon, who has been on the job for three weeks, can offer now to a fan base weary of rebuilding. The Pistons haven’t won a playoff series since 2008.

“I don’t think there’s a timeframe for us to get to the playoffs,” he said.

Gores hired Langdon not only for his basketball knowledge but for his overall leadership qualities. Langdon has been given full authority to run the organization’s day-to-day operations. One of the previous criticisms about its structure was that too many people had Gores’ ear.



Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.


Your subscription has been successful.

“I’m extremely confident that this partnership with Trajan is going to work, that it is going to turn our franchise around,” Gores said.

Detroit Pistons fire coach Monty Williams after one season

On: By: admin


FILE – Detroit Pistons head coach Monty Williams looks on during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Washington Wizards, Friday, March 29, 2024, in Washington. The Detroit Pistons have fired coach Monty Williams after just one season. (AP Photo/Nick Wass, File)

The Detroit Pistons fired coach Monty Williams on Wednesday after just one season that ended with an NBA-worst 14-68 record.

“Decisions like these are difficult to make, and I want to thank Monty for his hard work and dedication,” Pistons owner Tom Gores said in a statement. “Coaching has many dynamic challenges that emerge during a season and Monty always handled those with grace. However, after reviewing our performance carefully and assessing our current position as an organization, we will chart a new course moving forward.”

Last season was the first in what was a six-year, $78.5 million contract for Williams — one that, at the time, was the richest ever given to an NBA coach. The team started a front office rebuild when the season ended, including the hiring of Trajan Langdon as president of basketball operations, the departure of general manager Troy Weaver and now a vacancy at head coach.

READ: NBA: Pistons’ Monty Williams not backing down after missed call

The firing continues a wildly strange run for Williams. In 2021, as coach of the Suns, he went to the NBA Finals, where Phoenix led 2-0 before falling in six games to Milwaukee. In 2022, he was the NBA’s coach of the year in runaway voting. In 2023, the Suns fired him and now, in 2024, the Pistons have done the same.

The record for total value of a coaching contract has since been eclipsed; Miami gave Erik Spoelstra an eight-year extension worth $120 million earlier this year.

This was, by any measure, a disaster of a season for the Pistons. They started 2-1 and didn’t win another game for the next two months.

A 28-game losing streak, the longest ever in a single season in NBA history and tied for the longest ever when factoring in multiple seasons, turned the season into a debacle. The Pistons’ longest winning streak was two games (done on three occasions) and the roster was constantly in flux. Detroit used 31 different players over the course of the season and 36 different starting lineups and lost 39 times by double digits.

READ: NBA: Pistons hire Trajan Langdon as basketball operations president

The vacancy in Detroit is the third active one in the NBA, with Cleveland and the Los Angeles Lakers still seeking coaches. The Pistons’ move comes a week before the start of the NBA draft, with Detroit set to make the fifth overall pick on June 26 — someone that should be able to further enhance a young core led by Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren.

Those players, all 22 or younger, were the only three Pistons to start at least 60 games this past season.



Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.


Your subscription has been successful.

“We are unwavering in our commitment to bring a championship-caliber team to Detroit,” Gores said. “We will be diligent and swift in our search for a new head coach to lead our exciting young core of players and will continue our vision towards building a best-in-class front office that will help us achieve sustainable success.”