The Pistons are off to a nice 5-1 start with promising offensive growth from some young players, but the same old issues are haunting star Cade Cunningham. Unfortunately, his biggest weakness of excessive turnovers has continued into the new season; Cade is currently averaging 4 per game, a top-10 worst mark in the league for an individual player.
Cade still needs to work on his kryptonite
We have to acknowledge that Cade has been missing his true second option for all but 5 quarters of the young season. Jalen Duren's injury has forced the ball into Cade's hands more often, which has naturally led to more turnovers and more defensive pressure too. But at the same time, we can also acknowledge that Cade's own carelessness is causing a good amount of his turnovers.
The Pistons had hoped to see this issue decline this season with the addition of more shooting around Cade and potentially more creation duties for other players too. However, the egalitarian model of Detroit's offense hasn't fully taken off yet and Cade is still committing the same mistakes. Those turnovers cost the Pistons heavily in last season's playoffs, and could be a problem once again if Cade doesn't clean them up.
Too often, the turnovers are not necessarily forced by defensive intensity but rather by Cade putting himself into a bad position or making an errant lackadaisical pass. He's already got a reel this season of trying to drive into a crowded paint and throw an ill-advised pass too late with defenders swarming him. Cade needs to be more judicious with his playmaking and get off the ball earlier when he's headed for trouble.
Even against the lowly Nets, Cade managed 4 turnovers on Friday night. The majority of them were unforced, and looked more like a lack of focus from Cade than anything else. It's hard to blame him for not being fully locked in to an easy win over a league-worst team but those games can build his habits, either for the better or worse.
The Pistons can do more to help Cade once they're healthy
At their best, the current Pistons roster should have more options to give Cade support with ball-handling and spacing. Hopefully that can help his turnover numbers, although he still had plenty of giveaways in the first two games with most of the team healthy.
Beyond just better health, the Pistons can also do more from a coaching standpoint to reduce Cade's turnovers. That involves getting him off the ball more and adjusting sets to get him better passing angles. Those offensive wrinkles will be important both in the regular season and especially in the playoffs. But at the end of the day, it's up to Cade to execute and cut down on his turnovers.
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