What Cade Cunningham can learn from Luka Doncic and the Mavs

Not many NBA point guards stand at 6-foot-6 or 6-foot-7 and weigh between 220 and 230 pounds. For this reason, Luka Doncic and Cade Cunningham stand out. Both players possess a unique combination of size and skill, which has placed them at the helm of their respective teams. While Cade is far, far away from Luka talent-wise, there are enough parallels in their games for Cade and the Detroit Pistons to learn a thing or two from Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks.

Cade Cunningham's 2-point, 3-point, and effective field goal percentage were all well below the league average last season. When you're a team's offensive engine, like Cade is for the Detroit Pistons, this simply cannot be the case. In light of the comparison drawn last summer, what lessons can Cade learn from Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks?

1. Get to the line

Luka took a huge leap in his second year, and averaged 28 points per game, up from 21 in his rookie season. How'd he do this? He got to the free throw line. In between his rookie and second season, Luka went from 177 to 248 shooting fouls drawn and his FTr increased from .409 to .448, the second highest FTr of Luka's career. To put that number into perspective, Cade's FTr this past season was .235 and yes, that's his career-high. Luka's lowest FTr is .349. Overall, getting to the free throw line would be a huge step in the right direction for Cade.

Luka is consistently at the top of the league's leaderboard in shooting fouls drawn. This regular season Luka drew 283 shooting fouls and got to the line 608 times, which ranks him second in shooting fouls drawn and fourth in free throws attempted. By comparison, Cade drew 109 shooting fouls and attempted 274 free throws. That places him 62nd in shooting fouls drawn and 51st in free throws attempted. If Cade could find a way to get to the line at a rate similar to Luka's, his points per possession and overall efficiency would benefit.

Cade is improving in this area for what it’s worth. In his third season in Detroit, he drew more shooting fouls and attempted more free throws than he did in his past two seasons combined. (Granted he only played 12 games that second season.) Cade still has some work to do, but he's at least trending in the right direction.

2. Shot selection

After Luka's rookie season, he pretty much found his 'magic number' in terms of shot attempts. He shoots around 12 2-pointers, and 8 3-pointers per game, and has hit that quota every year since his rookie year. Cade, on the other hand, hasn't found his number yet.

Overall, however, Cade is shooting more. This season, he took the most shots of his career with 18.8 field goal attempts per game. For context, that same number would be Luka's second lowest shot attempt season of his career. I know, I know. We want him to be efficient. And maybe this will sound stupid, but, in order to score, you have to shoot. The issue lies in Cade’s shot selection.  

Cade prefers the 2 over the 3. This season, 27 percent of Cade's shots came from within 3-10 feet of the basket, and he converted only 40.2 percent of them, which ranks him 172nd overall out of 240 players. Not great. 19.9 percent of Luka's shots came from this same distance, but he made 56.9 percent of them, ranking him ninth in the league. Part of this could be due to the Pistons' overall poor shooting, but Cade does take a lot of poor shots.

He finished this regular season ranked sixth amongst guards in contested 2-point shots, taking 3.0 per game. You can't rely on that. These contested 2s are exactly what opposing defenses look for. A shot like that generates zero defensive rotation and is tough to make as a whole. 

3. Take the 3

Cade and Luka both attempted 13 2-point field goals per game this season, but it's the 3-pointers that really make a difference. Luka shot 744 3-pointers this season, the most of his career. He averaged 4.1 makes on 10.6 attempts from beyond the arc per game, adding roughly an extra 12 points to his scoring total. That’s a lot. Cade Cunningham, on the other hand, only averaged 5.4 3s per contest and made 1.9. Safe to say, there’s room for improvement.

Cade shot a career-high 35.5 percent from beyond the arc this season, but the problem is only 28 percent of his shots were 3s. He shot fewer 3s this season (335) than he did in his rookie year (363). Combine this with the fact that Cade Cunningham was only assisted on 26 percent of his 2-pointers this season, and you realize Cade is settling for way too many tough, contested 2-pointers. That’s a step in the wrong direction. 

3-pointers are an integral part of Luka's game and they need to be a part of Cade's. Why? They keep defenders honest and potentially give the offensive player the added benefit of attacking a closeout. This might explain why Luka's field goal percentage on drives is much higher than Cunningham's. Cade's average field goal percentage on drives is 46.8 percent, with 10 points. Luka's average field goal percentage on drives is 61.6 percent, with 13 points. Basically, Luka's defenders have to guess whether he's hunting a 3 or a 2. With Cade, you can almost guarantee that a contested two is coming.

Adding a 3-point shot to Cade's game would benefit him and the Pistons in the long run. Per Basketball-Reference.com, Luka was 4 percentage points below the league average from beyond the arc in his third season. In Cade's third season, he's only 3 percentage points below the league average. They also both shot 35 percent in their third season. So...you're telling me there's a chance?

4. Add Spacing via lob threats

For a guy who is 6-foot-6 and 220 pounds, Cade sure gets rejected a lot. He's fifth in the NBA in blocked field goals with 92. When you divide the total number of blocked shots by Cade’s FGA (1167), you find out that 7.8 percent of Cade’s shots were blocked this past season. Comparatively, Luka was only blocked 50 times. Do the same math there, and you’ll see that only 3 percent of Luka’s shots were stuffed — a much lower percentage. Cade's shot selection ties into his struggles with finishing at the rim, as 71 percent of Cade's shots were 2-pointers this season. If you don't have to worry about closing out on shooters or potential lobs, defending the paint is much easier. Realistically, a blocked shot is a turnover, and Cade needs to cut down on those already. 

It is possible that this could all be attributed to the Pistons' insufficient spacing. This is also where the Pistons should take a page from the Mavs' playbook. Admittedly, Luka is craftier than Cade inside. But the Mavericks also have Derrick Jones Jr., Daniel Gafford, and Dereck Lively, who are all serviceable lob threats that force opposing bigs to stay home on Luka's drives. Jalen Duren did this for the Pistons, but not at the same rate as Gafford and Lively did for the Mavs. Hopefully, the Pistons can replicate this for Cade Cunningham with Jalen Duren and whoever else the Pistons bring aboard this summer.

While Cade Cunningham is still far from Luka Doncic talent wise, there are indeed valuable lessons to be learned here.