New Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff is implementing a dress code for the team moving forward this season, citing his “old school” mentality that he says stems from his father, former NBA head coach Bernie Bickerstaff.
According to The Athletic’s Joe Vardon, Pistons players will no longer be able to pull the hoods of their sweatshirts over their heads during warmups.
“Just the last shred of that old-school mentality,” Bickerstaff said, per Vardon. “Just growing up with my dad, you don’t wear anything on your head during the game. You don’t wear jewelry. You practice how you play.”
Additionally, the move was also made to help support and take some of the burden off of the team’s 23-year-old defacto leader Cade Cunningham while the team will also up the difficulty of conditioning drills Vardon adds.
“The conversations that I’ve had with Cade, the way that I see how his teammates follow him and the way that he engages his teammates, he wants to be amongst the elites and understands that winning matters in order to be respected by your peers in that way… If we’re going to get to where we want to go with this group, we have to develop everybody and help everybody be able to play with that confidence,” Vardon cites Bickerstaff.
I always question moves like this at the professional level. This isn’t college and grown men typically don’t want to be treated like children, not to mention it seems odd that hoods over a player’s head would be causing any kind of extra burden on Cade Cunningham’s ability to lead the team on the floor. However, if it helps improve on the 14-68 record from last season then whatever.