Play or pass? Best future bets on the Detroit Pistons
Play or pass? Best future bets on the Detroit Pistons
MVP: PASS
There wasn’t a single member of the Detroit Pistons listed as an MVP candidate, which is fair. Even if Cade Cunningham or Jaden Ivey were to bust out for a huge year, they haven’t put in the time and likely won’t have the team success necessary to even be part of the conversation.
Nikola Jokic has the best odds at +430, with Giannis at +500, Luka at +650 and this year’s MVP Joel Embiid at +700 to repeat. Jokic probably should have won last season and is a good bet to win next year as long as the Nuggets are good.
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Ausar Thompson to win Rookie of the Year (+5000): PLAY
Obviously, Victor Wembanyama is the favorite at -140, but behind him it is wide open. Wembanyama is going to be handled very carefully by the Spurs, who have already talked about load management for the young center. If Wembanyama doesn’t play enough games, the field is wide open behind him, which is why I do like Scoot Henderson at +460, especially if the Trail Blazers trade Lillard.
Ausar is a long shot here for a reason. He might not even be in the starting five at the beginning of the season, but he will stuff the scorecard either way, and who knows, if the Pistons make a big leap in wins and he is an obvious reason for it, then he could have a shot. I wouldn’t be putting your house on the line, but a small, long-shot bet is always fun.
Cade Cunningham to win Most Improved Player (+1300): PLAY
This one is another long shot no matter what the odds say, as any player could come out of nowhere to win this award. In some ways it’s the most difficult to predict, as we don’t know which guys are going to make a big jump statically.
But Cade has the second-best odds behind Mikal Bridges (+650) who figures to have the same featured role in Brooklyn that he had to finish last season. But is he really going to put up numbers that are better than the 26 ppg that he had last season in 27 games for Brooklyn? If he does that over a whole season, this award may be his.
But Cade was playing at an All Star level before he got injured, and has the advantage of not having a big body of work to look at. If he puts up 22/6/6 on efficient shooting and takes the Pistons to the play in, then he’ll get a lot of attention for this award.