Cade Cunningham sauntered into the media room at the Pistons' practice facility Monday, ready to put the last several months behind him. He wore Nikes and workout gear, ready to make the next several months count.
The Pistons franchise player is back on his feet after undergoing surgery on his left shin in December. The franchise is still trying to pick itself up. Without Cunningham this season, the Pistons finished last in the NBA and came within one loss of matching their worst season ever. With him next season, they should finally take a step forward under GM Troy Weaver.
"I don’t think with Cade we’re losing," said Marvin Bagley III. "That in itself is a sign of a team that can be great."
One step at a time, for Cunningham and the Pistons. Good comes before great, and respectable comes before both. After their third straight season of 50-plus losses, next year's Pistons just need to be competitive. They need to push for a play-in spot in the East. They need to punch back in a conference where they went 0-19 against the top five teams this season. They need to forge an actual identity under a new head coach, starting with stiffer defense.
Cunningham and the Pistons need to expunge the habit of losing from an organization that once did a whole lot of winning.
"We have a big summer ahead of us, because next year is the year for us," said Cunningham. "It’s a huge year, a year that we need to take another step and improve and be better. Just being on the side (this season), I’m really excited what I have out there and what’s coming."
There is talent on this team, green though it may be. Cunningham pointed to the rise of rookies Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren and the arrival of former No. 2 pick James Wiseman. He's especially eager to get back on the court with Ivey, who had no choice but to grow up this year in Cunningham's absence. Their ceiling remains sky high as a duo in Detroit's backcourt.
"The pace and the poise that he showed at the end of the year, obviously I knew he was going to have that, but I didn’t realize he was going to pick it up so fast," Cunningham said. "That was huge for the team to see and huge for him to feel that. He’s only going to take more steps like that. And with his work ethic, he’s going to be great. I’m just excited to play with him."
The Pistons will also add another high-end talent in this year's draft, where they're guaranteed to have a top-five pick. And Weaver has the cap space to further upgrade the roster via free agency or trade. If you ask Bagley, who's coming off his second season in Detroit, "we got dogs in this locker room."
"Now we just gotta bring the pieces together, hopefully get everyone playing and healthy and I think we’ll be a problem for teams in the league for the next years to come," he said.
A lot if it will hinge on the former No. 1 pick living up to his potential. The Pistons need Cunningham to be a star. If he's anything less, their rebuild will rot at the base. The silver lining to his lost season is that Cunningham used the extra time to refine his jump shot with Pistons development coach John Beilein. He recognized his three-pointer "got really flat" when he arrived in the NBA last season, an issue he said he has fixed.
Physically, Cunningham said he's "progressing pretty fast now" in his rehab. He's running at full body weight, "which was a big step for me," and mixing in some change of direction. He admitted he "thought I would be going insane by now," but the feeling that he's "getting my foundation right" has motivated him to keep pushing.
The hardest part for Cunningham this season was simply not being on the court: "It’s tough watching my brothers go out and compete, tired, not feeling great, and not being able to help them out. It’s just brought a whole other love for the game, another layer on top of it, that I’m excited to get back out there."
And when he does, Cunningham expects the Pistons to start rewarding a fanbase that's seen the most losses in the NBA over the last four, five, six, seven seasons and hasn't seen a playoff win since 2008. The Pistons were 12th in the NBA in attendance this season, up from 20th last season, despite finishing 17-65 and winning just nine games at Little Caesars Arena.
"I talk about it all the time," Cunningham said. "We go to all these other arenas and there might be teams that are in the playoffs and the crowd is dead. It’s just not the same feel as what it is at LCA. I’m super proud of the fact that I was drafted here and this is the team that I get to play for.
"To have a fan base like that, they deserve to have a winning team and I’m excited to be part of the group that’s going to make that happen for them."
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