Detroit Pistons: Do you still take Cunningham, if Suggs or Green impress at workout?
Is Cade Cunningham definitely the No. 1 pick in the draft for the Detroit Pistons, no matter what? Is it 100-percent a certainty he is the best player? Yeah, during the college season maybe he was, but that was months ago. What about now?
It is reported by ESPN that Cade Cunningham, Jalen Suggs and Jalen Green have come to Detroit to work out for the Pistons. If either Green or Suggs have a spectacular workout, and really impress the Pistons brass, would Detroit pick one of them at No. 1?
No discussion of the importance of in-person draft workouts can be held intelligently without some background:
In 2017, there was also a consensus No. 1 pick for the NBA Draft: Washington guard Markelle Fultz. The Boston Celtics held the first pick that year and Fultz came up for a workout. His camp said Boston was the only place he was planning to go (sound familiar?).
Fultz did some shooting, or, more like it, a lot of missing, at the workout with the Celtics.
At the time, a sister site, Chowders & Champions, downplayed the poor performance. Everyone knew Fultz was the top player after all:
"Bad shooting days happen, so the Celtics will certainly not base their overall assessment of Fultz based on such a small sample. Let’s hope not anyway. (emphasis mine)"
Despite word being spread it would not affect the Celtics opinion on Fultz, it most certainly did. Boston GM Danny Ainge thought a player not considered by almost anyone to be drafted first, Jayson Tatum, had looked better than Fultz, when he had come in for a workout.
Related Story. Why Boy Scouts will stop Detroit Pistons from trading No. 1 pick to Houston. light
We all know what happened after that. Boston traded down to No. 3 with Philadelphia, and took Tatum (currently on the USA Olympic team). The 76ers now were at No. 1 and took Fultz, to much rejoicing among Sixers fans at the time.
The excitement dimmed as Fultz simply could not shoot the ball (for physical reasons he said) and a year-and-a-half later, he was traded to Orlando for whatever the Sixers could get, as the whole Fultz situation had become a major headache.
Note of caution: If, for some reason, the Sixers had passed on Fultz at No. 1, and taken Tatum or De’Aaron Fox, their fans would have been absolutely furious … until they saw him play.