The biggest criticism against Cade Cunningham in his career has been his turnovers, and the noise was getting loud after the Pistons’ blowout loss to the Cavaliers.
Cunningham piled on the turnovers in the first four games of the season, so once again we had to go through the thing where some question whether Cade is really a point guard and wonder if it’s a problem he’s ever going to sort out.
Cunningham has responded in the last two games in epic fashion, as he has dropped a whopping 28 assists to just one turnover and done it against teams that are supposed to be good defensively.
Cade is a student of the game, so you knew it was just a matter of time before he figured it out, but he’s been doing things over the last two games that are sustainable, and he’s getting help from his teammates.
Cade Cunningham: Limiting the turnovers with a little help from his friends
Cunningham was brilliant conducting the offense last night, especially in the 4th when the Pistons pulled away.
We know Cade is a great passer with elite floor vision, but he gets in trouble when he doesn’t aggressively avoid double teams or turns his back to the play.
After the Cleveland game, Cunningham recognized that he was struggling with the constant double teaming and vowed he would get into the film room to figure some things out.
Since then, he’s had one turnover.
The main reason is that he is not allowing the double to get all the way to him before he gets rid of the ball, as we saw a lot last night.
Cade’s teammates haven’t helped much in these situations historically, as there is often too much standing around, which leads to passes that are easy to pick off. Last night, we saw Ausar Thompson repeatedly flash to the ball aggressively when the double teams were coming.
Jalen Duren was doing the same thing, so Cade was able to get rid of the ball before the double came, which left the defense out of position and scrambling to recover, something Thompson and Duren were able to take advantage of.
Teams are going to continue to double team Cade Cunningham, but as Duren and Thompson keep making them pay for it, they will eventually back off. They just need to keep flashing to the ball, not allowing the defense to surround Cade and forcing them to try and recover as the ball skips to the other side of the floor.
It’s a formula that has worked in the last two games, when Cade averaged 25.5 points, six rebounds, 14 assists and half a turnover per game.