Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey made their backcourt debut together in last night’s blowout loss to the New York Knicks.
It wasn’t a pretty game, as the Pistons coughed up 21 turnovers and shot horribly from 3-point range, two of the hallmarks of last year’s 23-win season.
But Cunningham and Ivey did have some great moments together and you can see how they are going to fit, as each of them command attention from the defense and can set up teammates or get their own shot.
Both guys are going to play on and off the ball at times, so it doesn’t really matter who is officially the lead guard, but I was surprised to see how comfortable Ivey was running the offense last night. He set up teammates several times, and didn’t turn the ball over once, while Cade Cunningham had four turnovers, most of them of the sloppy, lazy pass variety.
While it’s way too early to overreact to anything, I do have to wonder if we’ll be seeing Cade play much more off the ball this season, with Jaden Ivey initiating the offense.
Detroit Pistons: Turnovers and Cade Cunningham’s post and 3-point game with Jaden Ivey
Turnovers were a big issue for Cunningham in his rookie season, as he had the 6th-most in the NBA. Part of that was because he carried a huge burden offensively and often faced double teams with no reliable teammates to lob or kick-out to.
That should be better this season, but Cade also has to cut down on the brain farts where he just throws the ball away or tosses out a lazy pass as he did on the very first play of the game last night.
Putting Ivey on the ball more should help reduce that load and get Cade more open 3-point shots and quality looks in the post.
Cade’s only 3-point make last night came off an Ivey drive and kick out, something defenses are going to have to respect, as Ivey has shown he can blow by just about anyone and finish at the rim.
Cunningham also looked comfortable in the post, something I think we’ll see more of this season even though he did miss a couple of bunnies last night. The point is that the shots were there, and Cade is going to knock those down most of the time.
Balancing the ball-handling duties will hopefully reduce some of Cade’s turnovers, but will also benefit him by getting him more quality looks from 3-point range and the paint when defenses overreact to Ivey’s speed.
Cunningham and Ivey are both going to have the ball in their hands plenty, but the distribution should be a little more equal this season as Cade plays more on the wing and in the post.