Detroit: Game Notes and Three Big Things

I’ve enjoyed posting my notes from the game watched in preparation for my Low Man Help podcast and guest spots on the All-NBA podcast with Adam Mares and Tim Legler.

• All-NBA Notes: Here.

• MIN Notes: Here.

• DAL vs. OKC Notes: Here.

• DEN Notes: Here.

DET went 2-2 during this stretch of games. (No CHI game due to trades)

• DET vs. IND

• DAL vs. DET

• ATL vs. DET

Three Big things stood out to me on this three-game set:

1. Cade Cunningham’s PnR “Process”

2. Adults in the room.

3. Development.

1. Cade Cunningham:

When you draft a player with the #1, he is expected to be a franchise cornerstone. The likelihood of drafting an All-Star at this spot is higher than any other. Cunningham’s first three years in DET did not have him on the track to becoming a guy who looked like he could be the best player on a high-level team, but this year has been different.

The most significant area of opportunity for a lead ball handler is in the two-man game via PnR or DHO. Cunningham excels in both, and while the results look good, his process is jumping off the screen!

Cunningham’s 24/25 PnR Numbers:

• Total: 1851 (99th percentile)(3rd in NBA!)

• Per 100: 54.7 (99th percentile)

• PPD: 1.047 (73rd percentile)

• Possession Points Per Game: 34 (98th percentile)(4th in NBA!)

Cunningham’s 24/25 Handoff Numbers:

• Total: 498 (99th percentile)(1st in NBA!)

• Per 100: 14.7 (99th percentile)(3rd in NBA!)

• PPD: 1.133 (83rd percentile)

• Possession Points Per Game: 13 (99th percentile)(2nd in NBA!)

You don’t get results like Cunningham produces throughout the season without playing with great process. Rarely does he miss a read, and he’s got a potent blend of ball handling, shooting, and creativity to create unique advantages for himself and his teammates.

2. Adults in the Room:

Tim Hardaway Jr, Tobias Harris, Simone Fontecchio and Malik Beasley. These four have provided a presence for JB and the coaching staff to lean on. None of these guys are top-end players, but each has close to 10 years of professional basketball playing experience; that matters!

3. Development:

If this team is going to be a serious player in the future, they’re going to need one of two things to happen:

• Develop Ausar Thompson or Ron Holland II into a bonafide All-Star level player.

• Trade them early enough for a lot of good stuff.

Cunningham is at the level of a player who will set a high floor for this team. They will not get many (if any) more bites at Top 5 picks. Ivey is a good player but not an All-Star-level guy. This means that one of their other Top 5 picks will have to be the one to pop.

Both lack shooting (results and process) and show little creativity in their game. They won’t have the chance to hide their lack of shooting by being the primary ball handler because Cunningham and Ivey will take all those reps.

I’m skeptical either can pop.

• Is Duren the right center for this team, aka a Cade Cunningham team?

He’s a good vertical floor spacer with an average handle for a center. Both of these are good things for a two-man partner like Cunningham.

However, Cunningham is starting to demand the level coverage in two-man games, which means a big that can function at a high level in the pocket is one of the most essential skills to pair with him. And make no mistake, everything about this team is based on what fits with Cunningham; he’s that good.

Factor in that Turner and pretty much any floor spacing center has burned Duren this year on the defensive side of the floor, and you’re not talking about a good combination.

I’m skeptical that Duren will be the ideal Big you want to pair with Cunningham.

DET/IND:

DET—Turner burned them in DET with eight threes, so they cross-match with Harris on Turner and Duren on Pascal… no bueno. I'm unsure why DET thought it would be better this way, but it’s not.

• Pascal is cooking Duren in the PnR and closeouts.

• Turner is playing bully ball on Harris in the post.

IND—They spread you out so much and use shooting the ball to open up space for passes. They pass so much.

DET—How happy is Cunningham that Nembhard is out tonight? It's a very different story than the last game in DET. He has 11 of the first 13 points.

DET—Beasley is seeing a big bucket tonight. I love the setups he's got going into screens tonight and the balance he's shooting with because of winning early on the setups (Core 3 changes). IND has to get up to the level on his actions.

DET—What is with Steward? So weird, man. Just be tough WHILE you're PLAYING basketball. Or don't play basketball. Do UFC or something. Just weird.

DET—Holland and Thompson’s shooting. There is a difference between good shooting mechanics and mechanical shooting. Shots must have a rhythm; these guys look like they’re “thinking” when shooting.

I see it in their catches. Their shot prep footwork shows me that they don’t see every catch as an opportunity.

DET—Cunningham is outstanding in the DHO actions when they get him a screen before the DHO. He has good neutral → attack body movements but lacks the explosive athleticism of other guards. These screens help him get a half-step advantage without having him work as hard as ISO or PnR actions would.

Cunningham Handoff Numbers:

• Total Handoffs: 1st (462)

• PPD: 7th (1.137)(Filtered for Top 40)

DET—They are playing Thompson at PG a lot. Is it because the other team's worst defender usually defends Thompson, and having him bring it up eliminates the ball pressure on Cade?

I would love to see more of Cade being used as a backscreener for Thompson. Teams won’t be thrilled switching their worst perimeter defender onto Cade, and Thompson is one hell of a cutter/finisher (if he doesn’t have to dribble).

DET—I’m not saying that Thompson needs to be a 40% shooter or a volume shooter. But at some point, he has to be willing to stand right above the break, catch with great shot prep, and let this shot rip (make or miss). This is what negative gravity looks like.

IND—TJ McConnell is an agent of chaos. I watched him closely for a few years in his career and always came away impressed by all the plays he made in the margins.

IND—Haliburton when he sees Beasley guarding him:

DET—When Cade goes to the bench, the Harris mid-post ISO game is in heavy rotation. Pascal just hit a mid-post fadeaway, too!! I must send these clips to

Neil Paine

; he’ll love them.

IND—Single → single → single → Wide open catch and shoot three. It just doesn’t get better than this: if you don’t love this action, you don’t love basketball.

DAL/DET:

DET—Where is the LMH on these 2i PnR actions? Gafford is getting free runs at the rim. Not a great tone-setter.

DAL—Klay has it going, great Core 3 setups. Why is no one from DET up at the level on his catches? You can’t go UNDER on a Handoff here. He’s still Klay Thompson.

DET—Cade won't let you go UNDER on the PnR. I love to see him letting it rip on all of these; his process is locked at a high level right now. If you're late getting up to the level on Cade… shot. I love the mindset! You need your process to have this high standard to be the best player on a really good team from the lead guard position.

DAL—Washington at center lineup looks fun. It could be an excellent change-up pitch for Kidd.

Offense: They've gotten the ball in nice spots every possession.

Defense: They are small and have given up a few dunks. They must not get bullied and give up dunks for this lineup to be played in the PO.

DET—Cade is doing more fun PnR actions—nice little Gortat with Duren.

Duren is a massive screen and pretty good in the pocket; Duren will need to be great in the pocket because more blitz coverages will be coming Cade’s way.

DET—Right on queue, we get a blitz PnR on Cade into a pocket pass into an open Beasley three. Having Beasley and Fontecchio opposite Cade is helpful. What happens when that's Thompson and Holland?

Next poss, Holland is in the corner on a 2i with Beasley when Cade gets blitzed. Holland makes an excellent cut as Beasley is holding the help the helper man with his shooting gravity.

DET—Empty corner PnR lefty finish from Cade. Wow!! Gafford tried to bait him into throwing a lob by not “breaking” coverage, and Cade took what he gave him. I'm so impressed with his PnR play tonight. He’s making great reads and not forcing anything.

Cade Cunningham PnR vs. DAL:

• 41 Total PnR

• 1.4 PPD

Thread Below

1. (Level → Blitz) Cunningham takes precisely what the defense gives him and trusts Duren in the pocket to find the right play in the 4v3 advantage situation. LMH and 1st tag are on him quickly, and he makes the correct read to pass to the opposite corner. (That 1st tag guy isn’t worried at all about Thompson…)

2. (Under/Soft Switch) YES! Cunningham isn’t thinking twice here. Under = Death! To reach his ceiling, Cunningham has to punish these actions as a lead ball handler EVERY time he sees them. Love this!

3. (Over → Drop) Empty corner action, and Gafford tries to bait Cunningham into throwing an ill-advised lob. Cunningham does a great job of keeping the action as “his” until the Drop defender “breaks” his 2v1 coverage and commits to the ball. If he doesn’t (like this one), then it’s a simple finish. I like the left!

4. (Soft Switch) Again, YES! Cunningham isn’t thinking twice here. Under = Death! This is what great process looks like: simple reads repeatedly; that doesn’t mean it’s easy, but it is simple.

5. (Under/Soft Switch) The other great process read besides shooting the ball when you get an under is re-screening. Cade wasn’t on balance here, and the screen was lower, so he needed to go to the next layer.

6. (Over → Drop) This is the one. This shot starts to move Cunningham into the players who matter in the playoffs and what coverages you can’t play on him. This shot, against this coverage, will determine whether he hits his ceiling.

DAL—Dinwiddie vs Edwards help UP the lane plays. These are the difference between making it and not making it. Under control vs out of control. Playing in rhythm and on balance vs. Not.

That's what separates the next layer of players; they don't miss these reads and hit singles every chance they get.

DAL—Washington is a matchup nightmare for other teams. He’s the piece that makes this DAL team so versatile offensively.

He continues to pop on film for me. It’s not a finished product yet, but these playmaking reps he's getting with Luka out keep improving. Significant development if reading the court and hitting singles ever clicks at a high level for him.

DET—The Thompson at point guard thing makes sense in theory, but he's not close to being good enough as a ball handler or creative enough to do anything other than dribble down against zero pressure.

DET—The Cade whistle is pretty bad. It’s as inexplicably bad as the DeRozen one is good.

DAL—Klay created some nice looks for his teammates tonight using his shooting gravity on closeouts.

DET—Is that Jalen Rose standing up? I love him; bring back the Bat!!

DAL—Just traded Luka to the Los Angeles Lakers… wow. 🤯 I can’t watch anymore of this game; I’m calling this one DOA with 4:11 left in the 4th.

ATL/DET:

DET—The First PnR rep of the game for Cunningham is perfect process. ATL is up at the level with two, and Duren is a step past LMH; throw that bad boy up! I like the flex set into a handoff with your best shooter as the weak side of LMH—nice design for simple reads.

DET—I saw a Todd Whitehead (GDTBATH) post the other day about most “junk play” points scored. Amen Thompson was at the top. Ausar is just about the same to me. In transition or a broken play, they’re great. If the action is half-court and under control, not so much. I can’t help but think where Ausar shakes out on this roster, given there is no space for him to become a primary ball handler like his brother.

DET—Cunningham gets Young switched onto him, and there is zero resistance. I know he has to have energy for offense but come on, you have to give the impression you at least care about defense. Great help UP the lane → lob read from Cunningham. He’s just hitting singles, great process!

DET—Double-drag for Cunningham; again, the process is so good.

• Under → Re-screen ✅

• It’s your action until the 2v1 Big “Breaks” to you ✅

ATL—Young is so good in the two-man action. I know the defense sucks, but this guy is on the “I am the system” level of Harden and Luka when it comes to generating good offensive looks for everyone.

DET—Duren is again in the pocket and does not look crisp. A big who can play in the pocket and look fluid is rare. What I’m seeing from Cunningham is telling me that the Blitz actions will be coming, and they need someone to be lights out in the pocket.

ATL—For the life of me, I can’t figure out why the DET defenders are “downing” Young so aggressively. I understand the strategy, but you must do it with some resistance. They’re just giving him free advantage opportunities; he’s too good for that. Young is cooking Beasley to start the 2nd. Tough stretch here.

DET—Thompson and Holland II lineups struggle with spacing. You do not usually see help from the strong side on PnR actions in the NBA, but not only is ATL willing to help with two players off the strong side, but, more importantly, Cunningham isn’t willing to give this one up. He doesn’t see this as a good opportunity for the team, that’s telling.

DET—This is the second time I’ve seen Cunningham shy away from using the left hand, leading to a block. His process has been great, but he still needs to sharpen this. He’s not enough of an athletic outlier that he can get away with bad process.

DET—Harris's mid-post actions are a significant part of this offense. I don’t know how much I love that, but my guy

Neil Paine

is always up for some 90’s style play.

ATL—The offense is a tough hang when Young is off the floor. +6.2 Net rating on CLG.

DET—Cunningham is seeing the 2v1 and if the big “break” so well right now. If LMH is this late and low on Duren here, then it will be a lob every time.

In the next play, ATL is late on a Veer switch, and Cunningham + Duren connect on another lob… PROCESS!!

ATL—Daniels just blocked a Harris layup and almost broke the backboard, geez.

Adam Webster

That’s our mate!

ATL—You know who’s fun…? Larry Nance Jr. that dude just a good basketball player. Some top-end athleticism is gone, but he’s always keeping the offense on schedule, communicating coverages/helping on defense, making good reads, and is a big-time teammate.

DET—Hollard II charge on a simple help UP the lane read. Nance, again, is just in the right spot early and making simple plays. Being able to make simple plays over and over again is what it takes to stick in this league. This must be two points or at least a foul if you want to play in this league.

It's tough to tell on the DET stream, but it looks like Hollard II is yelling at Tony Brothers as if he made a bad call or something. No bueno.

Next poss, great cut by Holland II and a good help up the lane read pass to Steward. Good response.

ATL—Trae Young…

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