Cade Cunningham missed most of last season with a shin injury but it wasn’t a wasted year, Keith Langlois of Pistons.com writes. The top pick of the 2021 draft firmly established himself as a team leader.
“His voice is always in the locker room. His voice is always in our ears,” center Jalen Duren said. “For me, for sure, and (Jaden Ivey) coming in as rookies, he was always giving us advice and walking us through everything. Him not being on the floor, we didn’t lose a step with him in his voice and his appearance. He was always around. That’s just testament to who he is as a person. He’s a guy who just loves to work. He’s a guy who’s a leader at heart. That’s just who he is.”
We have more from the Pistons:
- The front office had additional motivation to sign Isaiah Stewart to a four-year extension, James Edwards III of The Athletic opines. Stewart was part of general manager Troy Weaver’s first draft class with the organization. The team’s lottery pick that year, Killian Hayes, is unlikely to stick around long-term since Weaver has drafted guards Cunningham, Ivey, and Marcus Sasser, along with trading for Monte Morris. The other first-rounder in 2020, Saddiq Bey, was dealt at the trade deadline last February. Optically, it was important for the rebuilding franchise to have something to show for its initial draft class, according to Edwards.
- After serving as the Rockets’ head coach for three seasons during their rebuild, Stephen Silas believes he’s in the right spot as a top assistant to Monty Williams, he told Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. “It’s a good situation for me because I can take a lot of the experience that I had with the Rockets and pour it into this situation with these young guys and kind of see stuff before it’s coming after three years,” Silas said. “So it’s kind of good for me, and to work with Monty and the coaching staff and ownership and management, they’re all top-notch. It’s really fun.”
- James Wiseman‘s assertiveness in two Summer League games has been one of the positives for the Pistons in Las Vegas, per Mike Curtis of The Detroit News (subscriber link). Wiseman has been effective both in the post and on perimeter jumpers. Wiseman has averaged 16.5 points in the two games while posting double-doubles both times. He’s eligible for an extension this offseason or else will be eligible for restricted free agency after next season.
Part of the problem with Detroits rebuild is that a 20-21 year old who is out for the season was a major voice in the locker room. Maybe I am wrong and he is a great leader of men but more likely they lack veteran leadership, hopefully Monte will push for some vets
I don’t really buy anything the Pistons, their front office or any writers that cover the team say, they were tanking as blatantly as any team the last two years but dropped in the lottery both years.
Now they’re trying to save face by saying they’re happy with their team when the team still isn’t in great shape and no one wants their money except someone who’s not going to playing.
Other than landing Cade in 2021, their rebuild hasn’t gone well.
They also landed Wiseman for almost nothing, he was the #2 pick in the draft. He’s very good, and we should be very critical of Steve Kerr, who refused to ever give him a fair shot.
Detroits rebuild is going just fine. You will eat your words with this post.
Wiseman is a minus player all the way around. And you want the warriors who got a ring while he was there n the roster to cater their around a 20 year old inefficient player? Your posts prove ur a casual fan with no bball iq
Regurgitating real plus-minus stats does not define real “bball iq”. Sure it’s a tool that helps one understand a player’s value statistically, but it’s negligent to use that solely to define a career.
Wasn’t using plus-minus at all guy. I meant the negatives out weigh the positives when it comes to him being on the floor. I actually watched him play. He don’t pass the eye test. Doesn’t mean he can’t develop but he has a long way to go
That’s funny. Duren is a man at 19 and Ivey was good. In the one draft after cade
The Pistons had veteran leadership on the roster last season with Alec Burks and Bojan Bogdanović. They also added Monte Morris and Joe Harris this off season.
Detroit needs talent! Vets cannot help a team lacking talent win.
Cade Cunningham doesn’t elevate the game of his teammates as the primary ball-handler, and he can’t shoot.
Bro he was hitting 55% of his midranges. What are you talking about?
He played 12 games. He shot 41% from 2-pt range, and 27% from the arc. Not good numbers.
DET’s FO is just the latest group of glorified 2k’ers who somehow got control of an NBA team. They don’t have a clue as to how to build a team. But they do know how to blow one up (its a lot easier). It’s not reasonable to expect anything from them other than tanking and using the resulting draft picks to accumulate talented players, while being a halfway house for ex-AAU all stars.
On the positive side, they’re better than the HOU FO.
Please DXC, tell us all how to properly build an NBA team?
The same way you build anything of significance. Methodically, moving forward, achieving milestones, and knowing that blowing something up isn’t building something, and activity isn’t necessarily achievement. Anyway, it’s probably not something you’ll ever need to worry about.
In other words. . . You don’t know how.
With such a detailed response DXC, I am shocked that you are not in the C-Suite of a multi-billion dollar corporation. Or are you?
Well Weaver’s moves aren’t great. They don’t own their own first until possibly 2028 due to the Isaiah Stewart trade. Basically they re-upped him b/c Weaver had to double down. Even though he also traded (7) 2nd round picks for MB3 and Wiseman. And he traded a 1st to land Duren. So… dropping 2 1sts and 7 2nds for 4 centers isn’t exactly good roster construction.
Bagley and Stewart are PFs and not centers but yeah I agree he’s starting to slip and make mistakes
@Who – I imagine you’re shocked quite often if life. Learn more and it will happen less. Of course, if you run your life like the DET FO has run this team for 3 years, then that might not be possible.
At least free agents want to go to Houston and at least OKC has a bunch of future picks, Detroit really has nothing to show for their rebuild except Cade. They’re just a dumping ground for expiring contracts.
Troll… funny.. they have a good young core. Go bet the under on their win total. Monty Williams improved Phoenix by 15 wins year one so please share a screenshot of your big bet against detroit. Easy money
This will be the year to see where Detroit is at. Monty is a good coach. Cade should be a leader.