SAN FRANCISCO — Inside the Golden State Warriors locker room Friday, a game-worn, signed Cade Cunningham jersey sat at Draymond Green’s locker.
Green, a Saginaw, Mich., native and admitted follower of Detroit Pistons basketball, had swapped jerseys with the first-time All-Star starter earlier in the evening. Cunningham was fresh off leading the Pistons to a 131-124 win over Green and the Warriors on the second night of back-to-back games after a loss to the Phoenix Suns.
While he wasn’t Cunningham’s primary defender Friday, Green offered valuable insight postgame into Cunningham’s evolution. As Cunningham’s ascent into superstardom continues, the defensive game plan against him is leaving opposing teams scrambling to scheme up ways to neutralize him.
Cunningham is processing the game at the highest level of his career, the impetus of Detroit’s resurgence. The game seems to move more slowly from his perspective with each passing game. And because of it, he’s continuing to guide the Pistons, 35-12, to new heights as they maintain their spot atop the Eastern Conference and look forward to more meaningful hoops in the postseason.
Green has taken notice of Cunningham’s development and spoke on it with an earnest sense of pride.
“Initially the scouting report would be, ‘Throw two guys at him. He doesn’t want to pass the ball.’” Green said of Cunningham. “And today the scouting report was more about how much he’s looking to lob and get other guys involved. To watch someone take that next step and continue to build and grow, I respect that a lot.”
If anyone is qualified to discuss the nuances that elevate an offensive player to the next level of their game, it’s the 2017 Defensive Player of the Year and anchor of Golden State’s defense. Cunningham dropped a game-high 29 points on 57.9/50/83.3 shooting splits, 11 assists, four rebounds and just three turnovers in their win over the Warriors.
He made it a point to get his teammates involved early after Detroit’s lethargic start in Phoenix the night before. Golden State doubled him from 94 feet. It trapped him when he looked to get downhill off of ball screens. Warriors coach Steve Kerr tried a multitude of different defenders on him.
It was all to no avail.
“It’s something I’ve always worked on. I’ve seen a lot of different coverages now,” Cunningham said when asked how comfortable he feels navigating different defenses.
But aside from the comfort level he has developed, what exactly is Cunningham’s strategy when trying to take advantage of his opponents?
“I’m trying to figure out who allows them to send two (defenders),” Cunningham continued. “Which guys are jumping out at me and blitzing. And then from there, just trying to find the best outlet to allow us to score on the four-on-three.”
It’s easier said than done, but as a point guard at 6-7 and 220 pounds, Cunningham has an ability to force defenders into disadvantageous situations. Dillon Brooks was one of several players who split time guarding Cunningham in the Pistons’ loss to the Suns. He shared his approach roughly 24 hours before Green.
“He’s athletic, he’s fast, he gets downhill,” Brooks said at the postgame podium Thursday. “So (we were) just full-court pressing him, making him use a lot of dribbles. (We were giving him) a lot of bumps so when he gets to his shots he’s a little bit more tied. Just continuously having a body on him.”
Brooks and the rest of his Phoenix teammates limited Cunningham to 26 points on 22 shots and seven assists. But in totality, Cunningham made the most of this second West Coast road trip and the defenses he saw. Detroit finished 2-1, and Cunningham averaged 25.3 points, 9.7 assists and 3.3 boards.
Though he shot 29.4 percent from 3-point range in that span, he still managed to be effective over this stretch, in spite of myriad defensive coverages.
“He’s awesome,” Kerr said of Cunningham ahead of Friday’s Pistons win. “He reminds me of Luka (Dončić), James Harden. Just kind of a one-man offense, running everything through him. He’s so big and strong, he’s able to dominate possessions, find the right person to get the ball to. They’re such a big, physical front line. He’s got lob threats in the pick-and-roll. Cade is awesome.
“He’s a great, great player really coming into his own.”
The more Cunningham continues to come into his own, the further Detroit’s ceiling continues to climb. It all boils down to the way he calculates coverages.
“He’s a student of the game. He’s got a high level of IQ. And he understands how to make teams pay for whatever is in front of him,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said Friday. “And he can do it in real time. A lot of guys can’t recognize it in the moment as it’s happening, as teams change their coverages. Cade has the ability to take a snapshot quickly, find where his outlets are, and make decisions where he can be aggressive.”
Cunningham has an uncanny ability to diagnose what defenses are scheming up against him, especially at 24 years old. Couple his talent and size with the resilience he’s shown since being in a Pistons uniform, and you have the makings of a franchise-altering guard.
Cunningham is not only garnering the respect of the basketball world. The way he’s processing the game and being defended shows he’s earning the respect of his peers. As evidenced by him ranking No. 1 in the player rank for All-Star voting in the East. He has seemingly yet to reach his peak, but the way defenses prioritize him, it’d be fair to think otherwise.
“They’ve done a great job of building that team up,” Green said. “When you have somebody who embraces the challenge like Cade Cunningham… They lost 28 in a row at some point when he was on the team. He embraced the challenge. He didn’t cry about the challenge. Very similar to what Shai Gilgeous-Alexander did in Oklahoma City. He didn’t cry about the challenge. Didn’t cry about the process they were going through.
“Stayed 10 toes down and look at him now. And I see that same thing coming from Cade Cunningham.”
