Cade Cunningham plus internal improvements will be enough to get the Detroit Pistons to the playoffs
Cade Cunningham will be joining All-Rookie team selections Saddiq Bey and Isaiah Stewart as well as Olympian Jerami Grant, the three best teammates (BY FAR) that he’s ever played with.
Teams won’t be able to just double and triple team Cunningham like they did in college, which will open up his game even more. Cunningham had a ton of “potential assists” that will turn into buckets with better shooters and scorers around him.
He will also make everyone else better, as his ability to collapse the defense will create more open looks for Grant, Bey and Frank Jackson, who can all knock them down.
We can also expect some improvements from guys like Bey, Stewart, Saben Lee and Hamidou Diallo if he is re-signed.
Cunningham will make his teammates better and they will make him better.
The Detroit Pistons don’t have the supporting cast just yet
While we can expect some improvements, this will be essentially the same team as last year plus Cade Cunningham, whoever the Pistons add in free agency or trades.
Even though the Pistons were tanking for most of the season, they were still playing hard and trying to win games. They just weren’t good enough to do it.
20-win teams don’t generally make huge leaps without a major overall, which isn’t happening in Detroit, as the Pistons don’t have the cap space or roster spots to make drastic changes, and don’t really want to, as they are trying to build a homegrown team.
Without the ability to add the types of players they would need to make run at the playoffs, they will come up short, even with Cade Cunningham.