Cade Cunningham shows biggest weakness in best game

Cade Cunningham had his best night shooting in the Detroit Pistons’ loss to the Portland Trail Blazers and there was a lot to like about his game.

Cunningham came out confident and scored consistently from all three levels, finishing with 26 points on 10-of-13 shooting including 5-of-7 from the 3-point line.

It was the breakout shooting game we’ve all been waiting for, but his teammates forgot to get the memo can continued throwing up bricks at a historic rate.

Cade had a good game defensively with three blocks and a steal and grabbed seven boards, so it was arguably his best game as a member of the Detroit Pistons.

But he also showed a weakness that has been plaguing him all season and going back to college, which is turnovers. Cade Cunningham had six turnovers overall and is now averaging 3.6 per game on the season, which prompted coach Casey to say this:

Cade did this for the entire first half last night, but the second half revealed areas where he needs some work. I watched all of Cade’s turnovers and picked out three that are representative of the problems he’s been having taking care of the ball.

Cade Cunningham’s turnovers

Cade had three turnovers in the second half that stood out and fell into categories that are probably his most common types of turnovers:

Trying to do too much in traffic

In the 3rd quarter Cade penetrated into the lane and the entire Portland defense collapsed, which is what you do when you are not worried about the offense making a shot. Cade held onto the ball for too long and Portland swarmed, ripping the ball from Cunningham as he tried to power through the double team.

This was just a case of him trying to do too much and not realizing that he can’t just overpower guys like he did in college. He brought the ball down in traffic and the Blazers got the rip.

Poor decisions in transition

Cade Cunningham is mostly very good in transition, but there are times when he doesn’t recognize the moment and makes poor decisions. This happened in the second half when he tried to thread the needle to Luka Garza on a fast break.

This was a case of Cade not recognizing the moment, as Portland already had two defenders back as he tried to make a tight pass through a tiny window, which is much harder to do in the NBA, where those openings close quickly.

Also, Garza is not a good transition player, and likely wouldn’t have been able to do anything with that pass even if he had caught it. Cunningham needs to be patient on these plays in transition, as sometimes you just have to pull out and reset the offense instead of trying to go for the fast break hoop.

This is where having a legit rim runner and lob threat would help, as some of these happen because the Pistons don’t have any finishers.

The cross court

Late in the game, Cade tried to throw a one-handed cross court pass off the bounce that was predictably intercepted.

Like I said, windows close fast in the NBA, so while that player in the corner might be open for a split second, NBA defenses are just too fast and good for him to remain that way long.

I’ve only seen one player make this pass consistently, and that’s LeBron James, who has the strength to fire a bullet cross court that beats the closing window.

Cunningham is not there and these types of passes are never going to reach their destination in the NBA, as guys are just too long and fast.

I have no doubt that Cade Cunningham is going to adjust to the speed and length of the NBA over time, but right now he is making plays that might have worked in college but won’t work at this level.