Cade Cunningham quickly rose up the young player rankings last season after making an All-Star team and All-NBA team for the first time in his career. This coming season, Pistons fans hope to see even more from him and some are even hopeful of the highest awards in the NBA. However, a recent podcast ranking of young players has enraged the Pistons fanbase by ranking him abysmally low.
Cade Cunningham: The Disrespect Continues
Cade was written off by the national media and the general public in his first couple of seasons due to a lack of team success. What they didn’t see, but Pistons fans knew all along, was that Cade had been thrust into a much worse team environment than other young players of his generation.
Still, Cade continued to produce and improve; eventually, he had his “breakout” last season. But some fans, especially those who are very analytically focused, continue to doubt him. Recently, the Nerd Sesh podcast did a ranking of young players to build around and the two hosts had Cade 6th and 7th, respectively.
The lists were expectedly topped by Victor Wembanyama and Anthony Edwards, but both hosts also had Evan Mobley, Cooper Flagg and Chet Holmgren above Cade as well. I thought we were past the point of putting Cade below his draft contemporaries, but I guess it needs to be restated.
Mobley and Holmgren both have All-NBA first team members carrying the load for their teams on offense. With this support, they are able to score more efficiently from the field and focus on the defensive end.
Cade instead has the more difficult task of carrying the offense himself. Last season, he had one of the highest usage rates in the league on a team with defensively oriented players. It would be nice for Cade to pick his spots more, but he doesn’t have that luxury as the franchise centerpiece.
The Pistons are truly building entirely around Cade, whereas Mobley and Holmgren are parts of extremely stacked teams. Cade is unquestionably better at carrying a team and is arguably in a whole separate tier of player.
The fact that Cade was able to lead the Pistons to success and a playoff berth last season without a true second star is a testament to his ability. He’s already producing at an All-NBA level without having the proper support around him to truly refine his game.
And the selection of Flagg over Cade is another matter altogether. Ranking an incoming rookie that highly, especially one without outlier abilities such as Wemby’s size or Ant’s athleticism, is an extremely bold take.
Cade Cunningham has already proven a lot to those who have been paying attention. But he and the Pistons will have to take another leap before everyone realizes what Pistons fans have known for years.