Detroit Pistons: Cade Cunningham makes leap in recent rookie rankings

Cade Cunningham had a rough start to his rookie season but has since settled into his role as the leader of the Detroit Pistons.

Cunningham is already the team’s closer, and has shown that he can thrive in those situations, hitting 6-of-8 during “clutch” time so far this season while taking over the offense.

Cade did have a historically bad shooting start to his career, but has turned it around since, and has been very good over the last five games, three of which were Pistons’ victories.

They still have only four wins, but these four wins aren’t like last season, as the Pistons got to that mark faster, with a younger team and against a much-tougher schedule.

These four wins should excite Pistons’ fans, as they have shown the progress and growth that we’ve wanted even though the team has been inconsistent overall.

There is a very slight buzz around this team, mostly because of the play of Cade Cunningham, who is starting to get more national recognition.

Detroit Pistons: Cade Cunningham is climbing up the rookie rankings

Last week, Cade Cunningham made his debut on the Kia Rookie Ladder, which is ESPN’s weekly ranking of the top-10 rookies in the NBA.

Cunningham came just seventh on the list, but after another strong week, he has made a leap in this week’s rankings.

Cade was ranked 5th on the Kia Rookie Ladder this week, leapfrogging rival Jalen Green and Chris Duarte, who both fell down the ladder.

Scottie Barnes re-claimed the top spot followed by Evan Mobley, Franz Wagner and Josh Giddey.

To be honest, Cade Cunningham should be #2 on the list, as Mobley is out with an elbow injury and Cade outplayed Wagner and Giddey last week and also beat Scottie Barnes in a nice win over Toronto.

Barring any setbacks (knock on wood), Cade Cunningham could claim the top spot on next week’s rankings and once he gets there I can see him holding it for most of the rest of the season, as he is filling up the stat sheet and making the Detroit Pistons better as a team.

The “Cade Cunningham is a bust” crowd has sure gotten quiet recently, and he is only going to get better as the season progresses and he builds more chemistry with his team after missing most of training camp.