Pistons star Cade Cunningham is guiding the Pistons to winning ways after a slow start to the season and franchise-worst year in 2023/24. As Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports writes, Cunningham is embracing the challenge that comes with being the Pistons’ franchise centerpiece.
Cunningham continues to be willing to take the blame when things aren’t going right for the team, Goodwill writes.
“You don’t get that out of many old guys, right? Like, there’s not many people in this league that are willing to accept responsibility for the total right for the whole group,” head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “You know, you deal with a lot of people now, the easiest thing to do is either shy away from it or put it on somebody else. And I think that speaks to his courage.”
In 34 games, Cunningham is averaging 24.3 points, 9.3 assists and 6.6 rebounds while shooting 45.7% from the field and 37.6% from beyond the arc, all of which are career numbers. The Pistons are 19-19, having already won five more games than they did all of last season.
“[It’s] something that comes with being, you know, ‘the guy,’” Cunningham said. “Everybody calls me ‘the guy.’ It’s a lot of responsibility. It’s a lot of … I mean, people would call it pressure, but, you know, I have to deliver, and I haven’t done that to the level that I wanted to.”
We have more from the Central Division:
- The Pistons‘ recent turnaround is helping remove some of the ‘dark clouds’ surrounding the franchise, Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press writes. “It’s huge, man,” Jalen Duren said. “It’s huge. The vets that came in, I’m not gonna say they don’t understand it, but they weren’t here. Guys who’ve been here … the guys who have been through the ups and downs of our short career, and now getting here and being .500 is huge.“
- Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton started to let some of the outside noise regarding his play affect him, leading to early season struggles for both the fifth-year point guard and the team, Jared Weiss and Sam Amick of The Athletic write. “It was the first time in my life that I had real self-doubt behind everything I was doing. … I feel like my personal struggles were leading to the team’s struggles,” Haliburton said. Returning from an injury too soon last season and re-aggravating it impacted his play. The Pacers’ floor general is starting to turn it around, averaging 20.4 points, 9.9 assists and shooting 41.3% from three.
- The Bulls are ‘still searching for answers’ as to how to best utilize forward Patrick Williams, Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times writes. Williams, the fourth overall pick in 2020, is averaging 9.5 points and 4.1 rebounds this season, in line with his career figures.
- Chicago is optimistic that guard Ayo Dosunmu will be able to return from his Achilles injury at some point during the Bulls‘ five-game home stand, although a return Sunday is unlikely, according to K.C. Johnson of Chicago Sports Network (Twitter link). Dosunmu has missed the last eight games with the injury and is averaging 12.6 points and 4.8 assists.
Chicago is clueless. They gave $90 million to Williams and in his 5th season, they’re still trying to figure out how to use him? C’mon!
And people here say Donovan is a good coach? Here, I’ll tell him one more time. He’s not a 4, He’s a 3. 3,3,3,3,3. Let’s all say it together. He’s a three. But unfortunately they have a bunch of other 3’s the best of which will end up being Buzelis. I hope they don’t take this long to figure out where HE belongs. Need a new coach. Unfortunately now you’ve paid Williams too much to get anything in a trade. If you ever could get anything anyway. Stupid.
You’re not completely wrong, but Pwill is not a 3, he’s better suited to play the 4 position. He doesn’t have much lateral quickness to hold his own against smaller players and his shooting ability leaves a lot to be desired..to put it nicely. So he’s better suited to play the power forward position, but it’s up to him on how he succeeds with that position. He doesn’t have anyone starting ahead of him anymore, or taking shots away from him (s/o deebo from Friday..Pun intended lol..and Derozan former bull)..PWill just has to take care of his body and get outta his own head when it comes to being decent nba player. Everybody that has played with him up until now, has said the same damn thing..It’s honestly no excuses anymore for him. If his teammate can come back from injury and play with more confidence and aggression than him, then that’s a serious problem..(I’m talking about Lonzo ball, who missed almost 3 years due to a bad knee, and now he’s back this season, only missing a few games due to rest and minor injuries but u get my point. Apologies for the rant.
And I do agree that coach Donovan is an idiot most nights..But i think management won’t let him go unless the bulls play horribly (like finish last in the east) or until his contract is up.♂️