Cade Cunningham is reportedly “very excited” to join the Detroit Pistons, and he should be, as Troy Weaver is building something special in the Motor City.
Jonathan Givony of ESPN was told that Cunningham is “very excited” about the prospect of joining the Pistons, which is a sentence that hasn’t been uttered by an NBA player for a long time.
Especially a player like Cade Cunningham, who has a chance to be a superstar in the NBA. The Pistons are doing their homework of course and will definitely look at some other players and maybe even explore trades, but in the end, Cunningham is coming to Detroit.
Pistons’ fans are certainly excited about him, in fact, I haven’t seen excitement this high around the Detroit Pistons since back in the heyday of the Goin’ to Work era.
We’ve been tortured long enough, so the idea of finally getting a homegrown superstar has fans ready to run through a wall.
But Cade Cunningham isn’t coming to some “poverty” franchise, so he has a lot of reasons to be excited too.
The Detroit Pistons have the coach and culture to make Cade Cunningham a superstar
The Detroit Pistons have a good group of young players in Saddiq Bey, Isaiah Stewart, Saben Lee, Hamidou Diallo and Frank Jackson along with an ascending young veteran in Jerami Grant.
But most importantly they have a coach in place who can make the most of Cade Cunningham’s talent and are building a culture that will be conducive to his long-term success.
Literally every single Pistons’ young player got better last season under Dwane Casey, who has proven himself to be a great teacher and developer of talent.
Troy Weaver has given him a group of hard working, tough and defensive minded players who have a strong work ethic and desire to get better.
This is the perfect mix of players for a guy like Cunningham, who has many of the same traits and should fit right into the culture the Detroit Pistons are trying to build.
Cunningham does have some weaknesses as a prospect, but the Detroit Pistons have the right coaching staff and team in place to balance those and promote his strengths.
Detroit Pistons: Saddiq Bey and Isaiah Stewart are the perfect complements to Cade Cunningham
The Detroit Pistons only won 20 games this season but Cade Cunningham won’t be joining a team that is completely bereft of talent.
Both Saddiq Bey and Isaiah Stewart made the All-Rookie team and were named to the Olympic Select team, so will spend their summer working out with the best players in the world.
They were already very good, but will get even better from this experience, something that has gotten the attention of Erik Spoelstra, who had high praise for the Pistons’ young duo.
The two are not only talented, but their skillsets align very well with Cade Cunningham’s, as they both play tenacious defense and do their best work off the ball on offense.
Bey is going to benefit immensely from Cunningham’s ability to collapse a defense, as he set nearly every rookie record for 3-point shooting this season without the benefit of a real creator outside of Jerami Grant.
As Beef Stew continues to extend his range as a shooter, he will be a monster in the pick-and-roll with Cunningham, who unlike Killian Hayes, can finish once he gets into the paint, which will make that play really difficult to stop.
The two are roughly the same age as Cunningham, so he has a chance to grow and develop with a group of peers that will have plenty in common.
This isn’t a situation like LeBron had in Cleveland, where the Cavs kept trying to build rosters full of old veterans around LeBron instead of letting him grow organically with guys his own age.
The pieces are all here for Cade Cunningham to succeed and maybe even become a franchise icon.
Detroit Pistons: Cade Cunningham can own Detroit
Another reason that Cunningham should be “very excited” to come to Detroit is that this is a city with a rich tradition of sports and winning that is hungry for a new star.
Let’s face it, Detroit sports have been down in recent years across the board and fans are ready to throw themselves behind a star, especially if he is on the Pistons.
Unlike a lot of the bad teams, Detroit actually has a rich tradition of winning, has three title banners hanging in the rafters and isn’t some team like the Timberwolves, whose fans have never really enjoyed sustained success.
The Detroit Pistons used to be a premier franchise, one that was in the playoffs pretty much every season and was a mainstay in the Eastern Conference Finals for the better part of a decade.
Fans are ready to get back to that, and if Cade Cunningham can be the guy to get us there, he will be a hero in Detroit. We don’t have a lot of high profile superstars in the Motor City, it’s not New York or LA, so Cade can absolutely be an icon in Detroit.
If things go right, he will own this city and if he can bring another title to Detroit, he’ll be a God.
Everything is in place for Cade Cunningham to be a star for the Detroit Pistons, whose fans are just as excited as he is to make this work.