Pistons vs. Thunder: How Detroit can make a similar leap
The Detroit Pistons will head to Oklahoma City tonight to take on the Thunder, hoping to break their six game losing streak.
The Pistons have lost 17-of-18 overall, hitting a low point for the season with a shorthanded roster that is missing all of its key veterans.
The Thunder have been one of the surprise teams of the season, as they went from a 24-win team last year (just one more win than the Pistons) to a team that has won 37 games so far and is sitting in the 10th and final play-in spot in the Western Conference.
For next season to be a considered a success, Detroit would need to make a similar leap and OKC has shown it is possible in a league that is wide open and has plenty of parity.
The two teams are similar, as they are both young and being led by dynamic guards, but the Thunder have gotten much different results this season even though they too lost a key player for the season when Chet Holmgren went down before the season even started.
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The Detroit Pistons lost Cade Cunningham just 12 games in, but unlike the Thunder, haven’t been able to play through losing a key guy.
Troy Weaver has talked about “being great” next year, but fans would settle for “not terrible.” The Thunder are far from great, but fans in Detroit would be happy if the Pistons were in their position.
So how do they get there?
Pistons vs. Thunder: How Detroit can make a similar leap
#1: Cade Cunningham needs to become Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Both the Pistons and Thunder lost key players this season, but in the Thunder’s case, it wasn’t their best player.
That would be Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who has made a big leap this season to become an All-Star scoring over 30 points per game.
The two have some similarities, as they are both big guards who can distribute, score and rebound. They also like to do their work in the mid-range.
For Cade to make that kind of leap, he first needs to stay healthy, which is obviously the most important factor, as he might have made similar gains had he been on the court this season.
Cunningham also needs to get to the line more, as SGA is shooting more than 10 free throws per game while Cade shot just 3.6 per game in his 12 games this season and only 2.6 in his rookie year. Some of that will come when Cunningham stats getting a more favorable whistle, but he needs to be more aggressive trying to draw fouls and getting some cheap ones at the line.
If Cade Cunningham plays a full season next year, that in itself might be enough to get the Pistons into the play-in conversation, but they will likely need more.