At his introduction as Pistons head coach, J.B. Bickerstaff was asked about Cade Cunningham. And then Jaden Ivey. And ultimately, how the two of them fit together.
And as part of his response, Bickerstaff said that "there’s going to be plenty of ways we can use them so that they’ll be difficult for opponents to match up with."
The duo still has the potential to be the backcourt of a winning team, and the Pistons' engine moving forward. It just hasn't had many honest chances to show it. Cunningham missed almost all of Ivey's rookie season recovering from shin surgery, and Ivey spent a chunk of last season coming off the bench. The players around them have done little to accentuate the tandem's strengths. The former coach was fired, in part, for not doing enough to solve this.
Ivey's playing time and production dipped in one season under Monty Williams. Visions of a breakout fizzled into a regression. It was incongruous with a player who, as Bickerstaff said, boasts "a natural speed and athleticism ... that is extremely difficult to guard."
"So I’m looking forward to working with him," said Bickerstaff. "Want to get time to sit with him more one on one and figure out what his goals are, too. For me, that helps to put things in place and put a plan together where I understand exactly who he is and what he’s aiming to do, and then we help him get there."
But any question about Ivey's growth comes back to a larger one about his compatibility with Cunningham. Considering the Pistons just signed the latter to a $212 million extension that runs through 2029-30, it's Ivey who must show he can mesh with Cunningham -- not the other way around. The Pistons are only tied to one of them.
"There’s no reason why, in my mind, they can’t play together," Bickerstaff said on 97.1 The Ticket's Restore The Floor podcast. "It’s a matter of how you use them together."
Bickerstaff unleashed one of the more dynamic backcourts in the NBA over the last two seasons in Cleveland's Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland. To maximize the Cunningham-Ivey partnership, he wants to get Ivey playing downhill. That's when the 22-year-old is at his best.
"With Cade’s size and his ability to rebound the basketball and throw the ball ahead, if you got a guy like J-I running the floor and catching the ball going toward the basket and Cade has advanced it to him and now he’s playing with his hips toward the rim, I think he can be a nightmare for people," Bickerstaff said. "It's just about (the right) situations."
Neither Cunningham nor Ivey is an especially sharp shooter. But both have the ability to get to their spots, and facilitate for teammates. And finding the necessary space to attack the paint should be a little easier this season after Pistons new president of basketball ops Trajan Landon added a trio of proven shooters to the roster in Tobias Harris, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Malik Beasley.
That was part of his plan to help Cunningham and Ivey grow. And Bickerstaff has further plans of his own.
"I do think involving more off-ball actions for both of them and diversifying the looks that they get, not just being pick-and-roll heavy or stationary, gives them both an ability to work," he said. "Those are things that we’re going to continue to study, watch the film, get the guys here together, break down the analytics, all those things, and then we’ll make decisions from there."
Ivey still has the sizzle of a fifth overall pick, one of the fastest players in the NBA. He has the ability, as Bickerstaff said, to "put a ton of foul pressure" on the defense "and we know in this league, guys don’t want to pick up fouls."
"That’s going to allow him to get to the paint more to create either layups for himself or kick-out threes. To play modern NBA basketball, I think his tempo and his speed gives you an advantage to do that," Bickerstaff said.
The challenge should be a fun one, bringing the most out of two talented players. If that happens in tandem, the Pistons might have a clearer path forward than we think.
Other highlights from Bickerstaff's interview:
On impressions of Cunningham from afar: "He’s a tough matchup. He’s big enough to attack smaller players, he’s quick and shifty and patient enough to beat bigger players. He has the ability to get to his spot and not be rushed, no matter who the defender is. He knows how to manipulate the pick and roll. He has the ability to find his teammates and make his teammates better. I do think he has the ability to be one of those elite players. And for all those guys, it takes time, and it takes situational advancement and consistency for him. That’s our responsibility, is to help him as much as we possibly can.
"But I do believe the skillset is there. And in conversations with him, the desire is there. So now it’s upon us partnering together and helping him as much as we can, him inviting that help and then going out and executing the things that are going to make him a better basketball player."
On what he sees in rookie Ron Holland: "Ron, first and foremost, is a fierce competitor. You just watch him, you’ll see him in Summer League, he’s going to be flying all over the place. He’s going to be challenging shots, blocking jump shots, rebounding the ball, running the floor, he’s going to end up on the floor a ton because he’s just going after it. I think that’s the thing that stood out first. And when you have that, now you have the fire that burns deep to become a better basketball player. He just turned 19 the other day, so obviously there’s room for growth. He asks the right questions because he has that fire in his belly to become a better player.
"But he’s a guy that when he’s on the floor, you just notice him. His energy level, his effort level is always above the rest of the guys that are on the floor and then he throws in speed, athleticism, length, the ability to get to the rim and get to the free throw line, and then he takes challenges defensively, and that’s one of those things that you can’t teach, you can’t force. That’s one of those things that guys have, and Ron has it."
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