DETROIT — A wonderful, low-key storyline that developed this NBA season is this: We were reminded that just because you get fired as a coach or manager, that doesn’t necessarily mean you aren’t a good coach or manager. Sometimes, in fact, it means just the opposite.

Not always, no. Nobody is yet lamenting Mickey Callaway not getting another job after his Mets debacle was taken out behind the garage and shot. Same with Ray Handley’s time with the Giants, and Adam Gase’s with the Jets, and Stump Merrill’s with the Yankees.

Not every career is salvageable.

But the way this NBA season has progressed, I’m reminded of something Ken Atkinson told me a few days before his first season as head coach of the Nets in 2016. Atkinson had been coached by excellent coaches in high school (Gus Alfieri at St. Anthony’s on Long Island) and college (Dick Tarrant at Richmond), so he was well aware how many terrific coaches hide in plain sight in the basketball community.