Cade has made many strides. I think he will always be a high turnover guy. I just don’t know if he should be PG. I guess he can but if he isn’t who would compliment Cade best?
I think he needs to be an on ball player and needs to figure out how to manage the turnovers - right now the play-making rate hasn’t justified the turnover rate in his career (at least not if the Pistons want to be actually good). I don’t see the path to him being off-ball - his next season scoring at above league average efficiency will be his first, and he’s taking mostly off-the-catch threes (70% of his 3-pt makes are assisted) to a not-particularly good accuracy (again, a bit below league average). It just seems like you’d be excising the thing he’s doing best?
The thing here is that he’s not a #1 guy if the Pistons are going to be a top 3 seed (which is basically the requirement for winning a title), in my opinion (and has been for awhile obviously)
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17th is a huge improvement to whatever last few years has been. They played a good schedule to begin the season.
Their shooting hasn’t fallen but they are shooting inside the arc well for the most part. They need to cut down the turnovers.
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Obviously early but given their last three years were 26th - 29th - 27th in net rating, yes, 17th is a step up. Even raw numbers: -7.8, -8.2, -9.1 to -3.1 this year.
I get all of this and I do think it is fair to say that Cade isn’t a true #1 option on a great team. While that’s disappointing and likely means we can’t win a title with him as your #1 and playing PG…that isn’t where my expectations fall right now. For me I think Cade is “fine” as your #1 and I’d rather work on the parts around him than try to force him off-ball or replace him with the next high draft pick we hope is elite. There are just so few true elite players available that I think you try to build a stronger core. Maybe his playmaking improves if he has better finishers around him.
My goal for now would be to show progress, make the playoffs, and be a team that is fun to watch and perhaps annoying to play against as an opponent. We’ve basically be an auto-win opponent for a decade. Let’s see if we can maintain this 17th rating and stay in the playoff picture all year. Not sure that’s possible with the holes on the roster, but I’m not worried about Cade at this point.
Helps to have a little more functional roster this year. It’s still not a good roster, but it at least makes sense functionally, which you couldn’t say the last few years.
Cade and Ivey are having a nice start to the season. Back to back triple-doubles for Cade. Problem is that obviously if Cade and Ivey are your two best players, you are still going to be worse than most teams. Need to continue to add talent.
Last night’s buzzer beater loss stunk. Starting the season 4-5 would have been about as good as you could have asked for.
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Yeah, they’re still losing too many close games even with improved play from this roster and competent coaching. I do think “late game performance” is a thing in the NBA even if a lot of people don’t agree and just think it is random or you should just stop playing close games. IMO there are a majority of games in the NBA that come down to what happens in the last 10 minutes and right now the Pistons are good enough to be in those games, but haven’t figured out how to win their share.
A lot of late game stuff is just the better teams and better players are usually going to play better when the game gets tight down the stretch and every possession matters. It’s no surprise that 3 of their close losses were to playoff teams. Winning players make winning plays. Pistons aren’t good enough to win a lot of close games.
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if there is such a thing as “late game performance” that differs vs the other 43 minutes or whatever I’d bet dollars to donuts it’s probably closely tied to how well your starting lineup performs vs. your bench
Not saying that these are typical development patterns but important to remember these guys really do tend to improve on O for a while bc shooting gets better and better with age, among a few factors. Development paths vary a ton player to player but crucial to remember what kind of outcomes are still on the table for these guys.
Like, I still don’t think Cade’s going to peak as a top 15 guy but pretty clear he can be an All Star. And not too hard to imagine his role changing as his teammates change and his shooting slowly improves.
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I think there’s still another level of conditioning that he can get to. By and large, he still performs better in the first 3 quarters than the 4th. I don’t think last night, starting 8 of 11 and then going 1 for his next 11 was primarily to getting tired but I do think it played a part.
Aside from conditioning, having a 3rd PG (or a true 2nd PG) would help a lot.
Cory Joseph, where art thou?
This is a cool story:
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what prompted this? I don’t watch the Bulls if I can help it and esp. not since I’d have to figure out where our antenna is
Relatedly, I do think that one thing that the NBA has uncovered with D-first guards the last few years is that letting somebody get all of their usage, so to speak, being an absolute pest on defense of the court can be totally worth it.
So, I’d be surprised if the value of a closer comes on offense but esp. in a really long season I do think just being young and athletic and high motor is worth something. And maybe you can assemble the equivalent of a starter with a couple guys you ask to play unbelievably hard for 16 min a night.
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I don’t watch them or have any way to, just read the boxes
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Just saw he’s got 45% TS even tho he’s making 36% of his 3s bc he’s making 29% of his 2s.
Yikes.
0 rebounds in 30 mins tonight
Rad
Annoying how much Cade gets shoulder checked without getting a call.
https://x.com/KuKhahil/status/1855012092413165809
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As long as it’s not til the deadline I’ll hit my over.