The first rule of Summer League: Don’t read too much into good play at Summer League.
That said, Pistons fans have some real reason for optimism. No. 1 pick Cade Cunningham has shown off the full bag of tricks at Summer League: Fluid athleticism, great floor vision and passing, ability to finish through contact, good on-ball defense. The only real question about him coming into the draft was whether he could be a No. 1 scorer in the NBA.
He sure looked like it against the Knicks on Friday, hitting seven 3-pointers on the way to 24 points.
Cade put on a show 🔥 #NBASummer pic.twitter.com/2i48u0ZXhv
— NBA TV (@NBATV) August 14, 2021
Cunningham is averaging 18.7 points and 5.7 rebounds a game in Las Vegas, while shooting 50% from 3 for the Pistons.
Again, it’s just Summer League so take everything with a grain of salt, but these are all good signs for Detroit as it starts to build around its young stars. Cunningham looks like he could be a special player.