Cade Cunningham knows the Detroit Pistons have been overlooked all offseason.
It’s easy to forget that the Pistons finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference (60-22), essentially holding the lead the entire season despite a relatively serious collapsed lung injury by Cunningham late in the season. The MVP candidate — he finished fifth in MVP voting — was limited to 64 games, but Detroit still proved to be the best team in the conference during the regular season.
However, a lot has happened since April with not only the Pistons losing in seven games to the Cleveland Cavaliers, but the New York Knicks emerging as everyone’s favorite second team after surprisingly winning the NBA Finals. They defeated the heavily favored San Antonio Spurs in just five games.
With that being said, the Pistons are a team on the rise with the 24-year-old Cunningham as their leading man, winning their first playoff series since 2008 while overcoming a 3-1 series deficit in the first round.
Cunningham revealed the key — and perhaps their biggest weakness — to making a deep run in the playoffs is being more consistent offensively.
He also stressed continuing to be a “top defense” in the league after the Pistons ranked third in the league in points allowed per game.
“We have to be a top defense in the league,” said Cunningham in a one-on-one interview with Heavy Sports. “That’s something we hang our hat on. We go do that, we’re gonna give ourselves a great shot every night. After that, you have to be able to find offense. We defended at a high level last year. This year, we want to grow in our offense and finding that consistently. So whatever that looks like, we’re figuring that out. We found success later in the playoffs that we’re going to try to continue next season. So yeah, there’s a lot that we can grow on.”
Pistons’ Offense Dropped Big Time in the Playoffs
The Pistons ranked a respectable eighth in points per game, averaging 117.8 points per game. But they were below teams that advanced deeper in the playoffs such as the Cavaliers (whom they lost to), the Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Furthermore, they dipped big time in the playoffs by nearly 13 points to 104.9 points per game. It became clear throughout the postseason that the Pistons could rely on only one guy (Cunningham) for points consistently. That’s a major issue considering all of the elite teams have deep depth and can rely on players beyond their top scorers.
For example, the Thunder had Alex Caruso stepping up when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was struggling. The Spurs have Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle when Victor Wembanyama gets slowed down. And the Knicks have a plethora of options beyond Jalen Brunson in Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby.
John Collins Addition Hopes to Boost Pistons’ Inconsistent Offense
Detroit is hoping that the offseason addition of John Collins will help mitigate that scoring issue. Collins will be entering his 10th year and has averaged 15.7 points per game during his career. He once averaged 21.6 points per game with the Atlanta Hawks earlier in his career as the primary secondary option to Trae Young.
The hope is that he can provide that type of scoring complement to Cunningham and rising star Jalen Duren, who is coming off of a 19.5-point per game season, but is in the middle of a contract standoff.
If the Pistons can get the proper scoring they need beyond Cunningham, Detroit could be a dark horse team amid all of the talk surrounding the LeBron James, Jaylen Brown-led Philadelphia 76ers and the Giannis Antetokounmpo-led Miami Heat.
Cade Cunningham on Why He Uses Thorne Products to Help With NBA Career
Cunningham is partnering with Thorne, the brand well-known for its dietary supplements. The rising NBA star details how Thorne products are a part of his regular routine and how it helps with his workouts and recovery from basketball.
“You can get everything that you need, electrolytes, and they’re a brand that you don’t have to worry about,” said Cunningham. “The ingredients are special. A lot of things they say what’s in there, things break down to different chemicals, and people get in trouble for stuff like that. So to have something that you can trust, and you know the ingredients are good, and gets you everything you need to be at the highest performance to be a NBA athlete. In my case, I mean it’s great.”
The Pistons star details how “magnesium” is his favorite product because it helps him with his sleep patterns.
“Magnesium, that’s my favorite one,” said Cunningham. “That’s something that I’ve noticed a real difference in as far as my sleep and all the stuff immediately. That’s probably my number one most used.”
Cunningham said he’s been using the product long before the partnership began back when he was the No. 1 overall pick of the Pistons back in 2021.
“This is a new partnership, but I mean they’re top of the line,” said Cunningham. “Whenever I got to being a professional, that was the supplement and the company that was immediately recommended to me, and to be able to five years later now be partnering up with them and having to deal with them is so fun for me.”
Cade Cunningham’s Answer on How Pistons Can Overcome Playoff Struggles