Pistons: Is Cade Cunningham lobbying for more minutes with Jalen Duren?
Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren: The lob threat
Isaiah Stewart has a terrible habit of fumbling passes and not finishing at the rim, which has cost the Detroit Pistons a ton of points already in this young season.
Beef Stew is not a lob threat and he’s not big enough to finish around the rim in traffic. This has noticeably frustrated Cade Cunningham at times, as he’s done his job to draw in the defenders but doesn’t have a big that can take advantage of it.
Not only is Duren a much greater roll threat in the pick-and-roll, but he will finish those dump offs around the rim with dunks, as he has done many times already this season. Cade knows this and it seems like he might be lobbying his coach for more minutes with Duren, as he is leaving a lot of assists and easy buckets on the floor:
Cade Cunningham on Jalen Duren: "He's special."
— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) October 27, 2022
"To be so young and to know so much about the game, he has a high IQ," Cunningham said. "He's the ultimate lob threat in the league." #Pistons
Calling Duren the “ultimate lob threat” is a sideways jab at Beef Stew, who just hasn’t been able to improve around the rim, and actually hurts Cade in the PnR a lot of the time.
The sample size is small, but Detroit has been much better defensively when Cade plays with Duren, and Duren has the skillset to help unlock Cade in the pick-and-roll, so it’s time we see these two on the floor tougher more often.
Even if Duren doesn’t start, coach Casey needs to stagger him and Stewart more to make sure Cunningham gets more chances to play with a lob threat and rim protector.
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