Detroit basketball is now officially back after the preseason opener against the Memphis Grizzlies. The Pistons easily won the game after being down big early in the second quarter. They stormed to a double digit lead led by superstar Cade Cunningham who put on a show scoring the basketball.
Cades Cunningham is ready to take the next step
In just under 19 minutes of playing time, Cunningham scored 20 points on an extremely efficient 8/11 from the field and 2/3 from downtown. He showcased his typical versatile scoring ability, but also had a level of aggression which we don’t always see from him.
There were a bunch of standout highlights, most notably an insane up-and-under alley-oop finish. And Cade was consistently aggressive in all of his minutes, whether it was looking to score himself or create an advantage that he could exploit with his playmaking.
In addition to his interior finishes, Cunningham also had a couple of three-pointers, which he looked very comfortable shooting. One was in a spot up situation off a pass, and the other was entirely self generated via step back against Jaylen Wells, who was a quality starter level defender last season. Self created threes are an area where Cade has been weaker than some of the other superstar guards in the league, so early progress in this department could spell out another leap for him.
One play that definitely struck my fancy was an outlet pass that Cade threw to a streaking Caris LeVert down the court. He threw it from about his defensive free throw line and hit Caris right underneath the basket for an easy finish. The Pistons want to run more this season and Cade being able to throw passes of that distance will aid greatly in that effort.
Of course, even as Cade gets better attacking the basket and shooting from distance, he’s got to maintain some mid range credibility to throw defenses off and have an emergency counter in this game. It was nice to see him not stray too far from that principle as he did hit two midrange shots. He even set the tone by scoring the game’s opening basket on a mid range pull-up.
Based on the game plan in this preseason opener, it doesn’t appear that Cade’s workload will reduce much in his playing time. JB Bickerstaff correctly recognizes that Cade is by far the best decision-maker and overall scorer on the team so he’ll put the ball in his hands as often as possible. if Cade keeps up the aggression and mentality from the preseason opener through the regular season, he’ll have a chance to rack up some incredible counting stats and possibly even sneak into the MVP conversation.