This will be the first playoff experience for everyone else in JB Bickerstaff’s normal rotation – Cunningham, Jaylen Durham, Isal Thompson, Ron Holland II, Isaiah Stewart and Simone Futkeau. The Pistons talked privately about getting into the playoffs long after anyone thought it was possible, and they have adopted a one-day focus with a long-term goal of paying off in the playoff bench. But Bickerstaff knows enough about playoff basketball to know no matter how long and hard his young players think about the experience, until they wade into the water, they really appreciate the essence. “And until you're in it, it's hard to understand it. We've been through this before. At some point in time, we were all kids and didn't listen to our parents, either, and didn't figure it out until we experienced it on our own. That's what the playoffs are. We can tell guys what to expect, but until we experience it you don't understand just how different it is from an intensity standpoint, from the execution of schemes, the importance of possession-by-possession basketball.” -via nba.com / April 16, 2025
