Cade Cunningham’s recent form has sparked debate about his status as a true number one player. His performance contrasts sharply with his previous MVP-calibre play. There’s the Cade Cunningham who spent six months as an MVP candidate, and there’s the Cade Cunningham we’re watching right now.
The first Cade was fifth on my MVP ballot, averaged 24 points and 10 assists, and quarterbacked Detroit to a 60-22 record and the top seed in the East. The second Cade is shooting 29% from 3, just had back-to-back games with more turnovers than made baskets and is the face of a 1-seed Pistons team trailing the 8-seed Magic 3-1 in the opening round.
Cunningham’s Inefficiencies and Detroit’s Offensive Woes
Cunningham’s shooting struggles are a key concern. He is shooting just 29% from three-point range. He recently had consecutive games with more turnovers than made baskets. In this series, Cade is making only 25% of his dribble-jumper 3s.
Detroit’s offensive setup is not helping Cunningham. The Pistons finished 29th in 3-point attempts and 17th in accuracy. They start a non-shooting wing in Ausar Thompson that Orlando constantly ignores. Detroit also has plenty of other non-threats across positions from Duren at center to Tobias Harris at forward to Javonte Green at guard.
Cunningham is making only 52% of his shots at the rim in the half-court. That’s the worst mark of the 138 players with at least 100 attempts. Despite those struggles, Detroit still had a top-10 offensive rating because of his ability to get into the paint and create easy shots for teammates.
Lack of Secondary Creation Hampering Pistons
The Pistons’ lack of secondary creators is also a factor. The front office looked at Harris, Caris LeVert and Daniss Jenkins behind Cade and decided that was sufficient ball-handling depth. So their big trade-deadline move was Jaden Ivey for Kevin Huerter, even though they have all of their future firsts and there were acquirable players who could’ve helped.
Detroit’s struggles extend beyond Cunningham’s individual performance. The team’s construction and lack of supporting cast are contributing to their playoff struggles.
Potential Missed Opportunities for Improvement
There were opportunities for Trey Murphy or Michael Porter Jr. A trade would’ve been extremely expensive, just like Desmond Bane was for the Magic, but sometimes paying through the nose is the cost of getting out of the first round.
Despite his inefficiencies, he’s still averaging 29 points per game. In fairness to Cade, he did suffer a collapsed lung that knocked him out of the lineup for 11 games. Detroit also isn’t built like a modern contender.
We can talk about the shooting. We can talk about the secondary creation. We can talk about Jalen Duren turning into Darko Miličić.