Cade Cunningham has made a huge leap for the Detroit Pistons this season, going from a guy who was putting up “empty” stats on a bad team to an All-Star leading his squad to a playoff berth.
If you asked most people the biggest factor in his improvement, they’d say it’s that he has a better team around him, that Trajan Langdon went out and got solid veterans and shooters, the types of teammates that Troy Weaver never provided.
And they’d be right, as Tobias Harris, Malik Beasley and Tim Hardaway Jr. have given the Pistons exactly what Cade Cunningham needed to thrive, which is solid veterans who know their roles, play them well and aren’t always hurt.
It seemed like a no-brainer and it was, as we all watched Cade Cunningham struggle with no space, playing mostly with other young players, none of whom could shoot.
But the idea that the Pistons suddenly became an elite shooting team with tons of floor-spacing shooters is overblown, which makes what Cade Cunningham is doing even more impressive.
The Detroit Pistons’ 3-point shooting and Cade Cunningham
The veteran additions Trajan Langdon made in the offseason have undoubtedly been a big part of the Pistons’ renaissance this year and have improved the spacing on offense as advertised.
The numbers show it, as the Pistons are improved in every statistical category for shooting, which was a low bar to clear considering they were near the bottom of all of them last season.
They have improved, but still aren’t a good 3-point shooting team, as they are just 19th in attempts, 15th in percentage and 19th in makes per game. Improved, yes, but still mediocre at best.
The Pistons only have one player shooting above 40 percent from 3-point range (Malik Beasley), though Jaden Ivey was shooting at 40 percent before his unfortunate injury.
Tobias Harris is shooting 33 percent, Tim Hardaway Jr. 36 percent and everyone else is either below league average or flat out bad and except Marcus Sasser (37%), who rarely plays. Isaiah Stewart and Ausar Thompson have pretty much stopped shooting them at all.
There are two conclusions to draw from this: One is that the Pistons still need more shooting and it should be a priority this offseason, especially at the four spot, where Simone Fontecchio has been disappointing.
The second is that Cade Cunningham is really good. He’s made this leap playing with two non-shooters (at least) at all times. He deserves credit for his huge improvement in navigating tight spaces and finishing in the paint.
The Pistons are 6th in the league in points in the paint and almost all of them are generated by Cade, either as a scorer, or setting up teammates for lobs.
Give JB Bickerstaff some of the credit for figuring out how to create space without much shooting, but it goes to show you how little help Cade really needed to thrive.
It’s also exciting to think about what this offense could look like with the addition of another shooter or two (Jaden Ivey returning should help) or with upticks from guys like Ron Holland and Simone Fontecchio next season.