You couldn’t have asked for much more from Cade Cunningham this season, as he made an All-Star leap and is likely to make his first appearance on the All-NBA team after guiding the Detroit Pistons to the playoffs for the first time in six years.
Cunningham improved nearly all aspects of his game this year, as he was more efficient offensively and much better on defense. Becoming a true two-way player was key to his development and it happened this season.
If you had to nitpick his game, most fans would start with his 3-point shooting, which is still below average. Cade shot just 35.6 percent from 3-point range in the regular season and was completely broke from long range in the playoffs, hitting just 17.9 percent, going 1-of-15 over his last three games.
But according to Sam Vecenie of The Game Theory Podcast, there is another area where Cade must improve to take the final step to superstardom and that is getting better around the rim.
As good as he was in the playoffs, Cunningham did miss some key shots around the rim, which Vecenie broke down, and it’s an issue Cunningham has faced throughout his career. He was better this season, but given how much he lives in the lane, he has to continue to improve to get into the elite tier.
Cade Cunningham can be an MVP, just ask Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Cunningham shot 56.4 percent on shots under five feet this season, which was a moderate improvement from last year when he shot 54 percent on those shots.
But it’s still not good, especially when you consider he hit just 49 percent of his layups.
To get an idea of where he needs to be, we should look at likely MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who has a similar game to Cade in that he lives in the mid-range and paint.
SGA shot an incredible 68 percent on shots under five feet this season, more than 10 percentage points better than Cade, which is the primary reason he’ll probably be MVP after leading the league in scoring.
SGA isn’t a lights-out 3-point shooter either, but he makes up for it by finishing a high percentage around the rim, which is the area Cunningham must improve, something I said before the season started and is still true even after Cade’s big leap.
The good news is that Cade is putting up better numbers than SGA did at his age, so he could end up making similar improvements in this area.
It starts with getting stronger this summer so he is better able to handle the contact he faces (especially when he doesn’t get SGA’s whistle) and turn some of those misses around the rim into makes.
When Cade is hitting that shot, he is unstoppable, so it’s obvious where he needs to focus his attention this summer.