Could Cade Cunningham win Rookie of the Year for Detroit Pistons?
The best way to look forward is to look back.
If Cade Cunningham hopes to win rookie of the year, his numbers will have to look something like the award winners of the past.
Last season, Charlotte’s LaMelo Ball took home the award, averaging 15.7 points, 6.1 assists, and 5.9 rebounds per game.
His counterpart in the close race, The Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards, averaged 19.3 points, 2.9 assists, and 4.7 rebounds per game. It’s likely that LaMelo’s all-around game, including his high number of steals, and the Hornets team success, were what put him over the edge.
In the 2019-2020 season, the Grizzlies’ Ja Morant averaged 17.8 points, 7.3 assists, and 3.9 rebounds per game, beating out Zion Williamson, who missed a good chunk of the year due to injury. Morant impressively led what was suppose to be a woeful Grizzlies squad to a 34-39 record, just narrowly missing the playoffs.
I know Pistons fans would be ecstatic if Cade were able to lead the Detroit Pistons to a ninth place conference finish, which now results in a play-in birth. If this were to happen, it would tough for Cade to not win NBA Rookie of the Year.
In one of the most impressive rookie seasons to date, Dallas’ Luka Doncic poured in 21.2 points per game in 2018-2019, to go along with 6.0 assists and 7.8 rebounds per game. It would be tough for Cade to duplicate this all-time great season, but crazier things have happened.
Looking even further back, to some of the ball dominant guards drafted in the last decade, Damian Lillard and Kyrie Irving each averaged over 18.5 points and five assists per game in their rookie of the year winning seasons.
It is safe to say that this year’s rookie of the year will have numbers that resemble Doncic, Morant, or Lillard, rather than the more disappointing winners of the past like Malcolm Brogdon or Andrew Wiggins.
We know that the best recipe to win rookie of the year is the perfect combination of great individual stats and decent team success. There is the potential for Cade Cunningham to achieve both of these things.
However, with the Detroit Pistons where they are at in the rebuild, Cade’s potential to put up great individual stats slightly outweighs the Pistons potential to have elevated team success.