Cade Cunningham had a rough start to his season but has since played more consistently for the Detroit Pistons and has put himself squarely in the running for Rookie of the Year in the NBA.
Cunningham made team history against Utah last night, becoming the only rookie since Isiah Thomas and Grant Hill to record at least four games of 25 points, five rebounds and five assists this early into his career.
The number one pick is leading all rookies in scoring and is in the top-5 of several other key categories including assists, blocks and steals.
He has declared himself the best rookie in his class and is backing it up, which you love to see from a guy who is the hope of a beleaguered franchise and fanbase.
His recent entry in the team history books had me wondering where he might stand on the list of Pistons’ all-time great rookies.
I ranked the top-10 Pistons’ rookies of All-Time at the beginning of the season and Cade Cunningham has already surpassed many of them in just over a half a season for Detroit.
But how high has he climbed? Let’s take a look.
Cade Cunningham on the Pistons’ all-time rookie list
The modern players: Andre Drummond, Brandon Knight, Saddiq Bey
In my opinion, Cade Cunningham has already leapfrogged these three Pistons, who all had good rookie seasons but have not put up the kind of all-around numbers we are seeing from Cade.
He is averaging more points per game than all of their respective first years, more assists than any of them, and trails in rebounds only to Andre Drummond and not even by that much, crazy considering that Drummond is known as one of the best rebounders in the modern game.
Drummond ended up second team All-Rookie, while both Knight and Bey made first team, an honor that will almost certainly be bestowed on Cunningham by the end of his first season.
Cade Cunningham on the Pistons’ all-time rookie list
The old-school players: Dave DeBusschere, Bailey Howell, Bob Lanier
It’s really hard to compare players from different eras, as the game was so much different now, there are more teams, more players and frankly a lot more talent.
I know a lot of old-school fans like to wax poetic about the old days (I am one of them) but it’s hard for me to imagine Cade Cunningham not being a dominant force of nature in the eras that DeBusschere and Howell played in.
It’s also hard to compare Lanier, who put up similar scoring and rebounding stats to Cade, as he was on an injured knee and managed to make the All-Rookie team anyway.
I would put Cade Cunningham ahead of all three of them even though Howell averaged more points and rebounds, and both DeBusschere and Lanier averaged more boards as well.
Cade is younger than all of them in their respective rookie seasons, so we really aren’t comparing apples to apples here, and like I said, I really hate to compare eras, so I would definitely concede that Lanier particularly could still be ahead of Cade on the list without argument.
If you don’t want to put Cade above these three old-school guys you’ll get no debate from me.
But he’s definitely not ahead of the next four….yet.
Cade Cunningham on the Pistons’ all-time rookie list
Cunningham is not there yet: Isiah Thomas, Kelly Tripucka, Dave Bing, Grant Hill
Both Isiah Thomas and Kelly Tripucka joined a terrible Pistons team in the same year and both not only made All-Rookie but the All-Star team as well.
Thomas averaged 17 points and 7.8 assists, providing the kind of spark to a franchise that fans are hoping Cade is going to replicate. Tripucka averaged 21.6 points, 3.1 and 5.4 rebounds to have an even better rookie season than Isiah.
Dave Bing is one of the best Pistons’ comparisons for Cade Cunningham, as he had a great all-around rookie season, putting up numbers of 20 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.1 assists on his way to Rookie of the Year.
Same with Grant Hill, whose stat line of 19.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 5 assists, 1.8 steals and a block per game earned him a share of the Rookie of the Year award and landed him on the All-Star team, the last Pistons’ rookie to make it. He also led the NBA in All-Star votes that season.
The common factor was that these guys were all older than Cade Cunningham and came into the NBA with a lot more experience, but I still can’t put Cade ahead of them, at least not yet.
There is a lot of season left, so Cunningham has a chance to climb even higher if he continues playing consistently, but to already be in the discussion for the top-5 after just over a half a season is pretty impressive.