It’s hard to fully measure the effect losing Cade Cunningham has had on the Detroit Pistons.
In many ways it is a lost season, not just for Cade, but also for his young teammates, who aren’t getting the advantages he provides on both ends. It’s also difficult to evaluate how this roster fits together without its top player.
The only real positive to come out of the situation is that Killian Hayes has gotten an expanded role in the starting lineup and has shown signs of turning his career around.
But it’s clear the Detroit Pistons are missing their star point guard and primary playmaker, especially on the offensive end, where the ball movement has not been the same since Cade Cunningham went out.
The Detroit Pistons’ passing problem without Cade Cunningham
The Detroit Pistons were not playing well before Cade Cunningham got injured, but it is pretty clear that he is the engine that makes their offense go, especially when it comes to ball movement.
They are just 7-20 overall and the offense has been near the bottom of the league. Their defense has been even worse, but one thing that has really stood out is the lack of ball movement.
The Pistons are at or near the bottom of the NBA in passes per game, assists, secondary assists and potential assists, areas where they were actually pretty good last season. Here is their league rankings in those categories compared to last season:
- Passes made: 28th, last year 4th
- Assists: 27th, last year 24th
- Secondary assists: 30th, last year 12th
- Potential assists: 28th, last year 10th
A lot of the assist issues come down to the fact that Detroit is not a very good shooting team, but they are also down in sheer number of passes, as well as secondary and potential assists, so this is not just about missed shots.
When you look at the teams at the top of these categories (Warriors, Pacers, Nuggets, Pelicans) they are all playoff teams with high-powered offenses in the top-10 in points per game.
They are also teams that have better shooters than the Detroit Pistons, so there is obviously a correlation, but ball movement is one of the keys to a successful offense and the Pistons aren’t getting much of it with Cade Cunningham out.
Hayes leads the team in assists with 5.3 per game, but they don’t have another guy with at least five and some of the players who have the ball in their hands the most (Bogdanovic, Bey) are averaging 2.5 and 1.6 assists per game, respectively.
Cade creates a lot of gravity because of his mid-range game, which not only creates open shots, but chances to make the extra pass and get those secondary and potential assists that they are not getting now.
You can argue that the Pistons have been playing selfishly (and I have) but a big part of it is that they are missing their primary passer and the guy who sets up ball movement in the half court. Losing Cade Cunningham for the season had a ripple effect on the Pistons’ entire offense, which never really got the chance to show what it could be.