The Whiteboard: The Pistons offense looks better, Cade Cunningham does not

Cade Cunningham has missed 13 of his 19 shots through two preseason games, including a 1 for 6 lemon in the Detroit Pistons’ loss to the Phoenix Suns Tuesday night.

New Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff changed a lot — almost everything — from former coach Monty Williams’ offense. The ball is in Cunningham’s hands less, the ball movement already looks sharper and others are thriving. But Cunningham, the No. 1 overall pick entering his fourth season, can’t use any of that as an excuse. He simply needs to be better at making shots, or else all the other good stuff he does won’t matter.

This is especially concerning for Pistons fans because Cunningham has had a hard time making shots his whole career. He’s made 43.2 percent of his total shots in three seasons and his struggles at the rim are alarming. Despite his size at 6-foot-6, Cunningham made just 54 percent of his shots within 5 feet of the basket last season. He tends to over-dribble as things get crowded and is slow to get his shot off. 

We’ve seen a lot of that in this preseason. Suns rookie Ryan Dunn blocked two of Cunnginham’s shot attempts at the basket in the first half of Tuesday’s game. Cunningham has had four shots blocked already this preseason.

Only four players had more of their shots blocked than Cunningham last season. Some players, like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Zion Williamson, will naturally have a lot of their shots blocked because so many of their attempts are at the rim. That’s not the case with Cade. Among players who had at least 90 shots blocked last season, Cunningham totaled the fewest points in the paint. The juice isn’t worth the squeeze.

That we’re still seeing this in Year 4 is alarming. Cunningham is big and strong. He should be able to power through defenders or get shots off over them. The player he was most often compared to in the predraft process was Luka Doncic. That was always a best-case (and probably unrealistic) scenario, but Doncic made 58.8 percent of his shots within 5 feet of the basket as a rookie. By Year 4, he was converting on 69.7% of those shots. Even Luka Lite, Cunningham is not.

It’s not all bad. His assist-to-turnover ratio has never been better. He’s rebounding and defending well. There are moments when he and the Pistons’ offense look like they finally have a plan.

Bickerstaff is making things easier on Cunningham by empowering teammates to help run the offense and maximizing spacing to the degree his roster allows. In two preseason games, he has started Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, a shooter (Tim Hardaway Jr. or Malik Beasley), Simone Fontecchio and Jalen Duren. 

Cunningham is still the lead point guard, but the Pistons often run sets with another guard initiating the action. Cunningham gets in trouble when he overthinks and over-dribbles. He's better when he can easily get to a spot on the floor and make quick decisions. Pistol actions and dribble handoffs have been effective triggers. Here’s a pet set that Bickerstaff installed early on. It’s a pistol action where Cunningham advanced the ball with a hit-ahead pass, then gets it right back on the move. Ivey draws just enough attention to open up a driving lane.

Where Cunningham has largely struggled, Ivey has thrived. He’s averaging 19 points on 57.1 percent shooting in two preseason games. After a frustrating rookie season, he looks like a new man in the new offense. He leads the team in usage rate while Cunningham’s is down and the spacing has made it easier for him to use his jets and get to the basket.

It’s early, but the Pistons’ offense already looks better than last season’s 27th-ranked outfit. The infrastructure is there for Cunningham to have a career year, but he needs to do his part.

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NBA news roundup:

• NBA general managers overwhelmingly picked the Boston Celtics to repeat as NBA champions in NBA.com’s annual survey. A poll of all 30 front offices saw 83 percent of the vote come in for the Celtics who, if they won the title, would be the first repeat champion since the Golden State Warriors in 2017 and 2018.

• RJ Barrett will miss the rest of the preseason with a shoulder sprain he suffered in Sunday’s preseason game, the Toronto Raptors announced Tuesday. His status will be updated after the preseason, putting his availability for the start of the regular season in question.

• Washington Wizards point guard Malcolm Brogdon underwent surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right thumb on Tuesday, the team announced. According to The Athletic, Brogdon is expected to miss at least a month.

• The Miami Heat will honor longtime team president Pat Riley by permanently naming their playing floor in his honor, the team announced Monday. “Pat Riley Court at Kaseya Center” will be unveiled on Oct. 23, when the Heat open the season with the Orlando Magic.

Trend to watch: Bam Adebayo is shooting 3s

Don’t look now, but Bam Adebayo might be a volume 3-point shooter. After talking about taking more 3s for the better part of the last couple of seasons, Adebayo averaged 1.5 3-point attempts per game over the final 20 games of last season and willingly shot them during his run to Olympic gold with Team USA.

Then, in Monday’s inter-squad scrimmage, he literally turned it up to 11 and went 2 for 5 in 17 first-half minutes of Tuesday’s preseason game. Make no mistake, Bam is making a statement. He’s a 3-point shooter now.

This, from the All-Star whose game was defined by best-in-class defense and mid-range jumpers. He attempted 42 3-pointers all of last season and has never made more than 15. Adebayo suddenly averaging multiple 3-point makes per game would be an abrupt shift, but also a necessary one. 

Despite his climbing usage and role in the Miami Heat’s offense, Adebayo posted the lowest True Shooting percentage since he was a rookie last season. That’s because an overwhelming chunk of his shots came from the inefficient mid-range. His pet shot – a free-throw line jumper – didn’t do enough to lift the offense. No team relied more on mid-range jumpers than the Heat last season, and Adebayo’s shot diet was a big part of that. They were upside down on the math, and the Heat had a bottom-10 offense because of it.

Adebayo stepping beyond the 3-point line will help Miami’s overall shot quality, not just by swapping long 2s for 3s, but also by creating more space for Jimmy Butler and others to get to the basket more often (the Heat ranked 28th in shots at the rim).

Adebayo won’t be taking 10 3-pointers per game – he’s not Klay Thompson. But making it a legitimate part of his game will mark an evolution that can raise his and the Heat’s ceiling.