Last night’s win over the Hornets was a rare occurrence for the Detroit Pistons, as Cade Cunningham didn’t lead the team in assists.
That honor went to Ausar Thompson, who racked up eight assists, finding ways to make offense even on a night when he looked reluctant to take a shot.
It’s something Cunningham will welcome, as the Pistons are desperately trying to find ways to lessen his burden in the regular season.
Thompson showed how he can take advantage of the space defenses are giving him by being a creator.
Ausar Thompson has to attack the space
The Hornets were playing Thompson in typical fashion last night, backing off him by 5-6 feet every time he got the ball beyond the top of the key.
It’s something we’ve seen repeatedly in Thompson’s career, which has created spacing issues that we’ve talked about endlessly.
Thompson did pull up for a couple of mid-range jumpers last night, which is something he needs to do more often when the 12-footer is there. He often holds the ball too long in this situation when he should just shoot it in rhythm.
The other option is to attack the space, which is what Thompson did last night, and once he gets into the lane, defenders have to react.
He did this effectively several times against the Hornets, including a late drive that sucked in most of the defense and left Cunningham wide open for a dagger 3-pointer on the kick out.
Even if Thompson doesn’t completely collapse the defense in these situations, he at least gets them moving, which sets Cunningham up to be more effective as a secondary creator.
It’s early in the season, but it would be nice to see Cunningham get more than the 2.8 catch-and-shoot attempts per game that he’s taken so far this season. His development in that area is one of the final stages of his evolution.
Thompson also took pressure off Cunningham to bring the ball up the floor every time last night, which seems like a small thing, but adds up over the course of the game. Cunningham was fresh for the fourth quarter, partly because he didn’t have to do as much.
Thompson won’t lead the team in assists every game, but he’s averaging five per game so far, which was the number I thought he should aim for as a floor on the season.
Thompson’s on-ball creation is still a work in progress, and he still has to clean up the turnovers, but he’s getting much better at finding teammates, and is making life easier for Cade Cunningham in the process.
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