As Cade Cunningham approaches his NBA debut, the forces around him are rising: the excitement, the expectations, the pressure. The forces within him are still. Cunningham has been in this spot before. He was the No. 1 recruit in the country last season at Oklahoma State, charged with bringing the Cowboys back to life. Now the No. 1 pick in the draft is trying to help revitalize the Pistons.
"I feel like any situation that I’ve been in where there’s been a lot of pressure on me, I’ve stayed true to who I am and still found ways to come out on top," Cunningham said Monday at Pistons media day. "I know that this is a different pressure than I’ve faced before, but I don’t really look at it as pressure. It’s more of an opportunity to show people something."
Cunningham led Oklahoma State to its first NCAA Tournament win in six years, and he's eyeing the playoffs in year one with the Pistons. He's the early frontrunner for Rookie of the Year. Fans and critics and opposing players will watch his every move this season, all for their own reasons. He'll be a superstar after his first big game. He'll be a bust after his first bad one. Ultimately, Cade Cunningham will be whatever he decides to be, the labels be damned.
"One thing I know, Cade won’t be a bust," said Pistons head coach Dwane Casey. "You can guarantee that."
But he will be a rookie.
"There will be growing pains," said Casey. "We have to be supportive. He’s going to have a target on his back each and every night, and it’s on us, his teammates, the coaching staff, the whole organization, to make sure we support him. There’s going to be some nights he scores seven and some nights he scores 25. Is that who he is either way? No, it’s somewhere in between until he gets used to the NBA game."
Cunningham is such a compelling player partly because his game resists comparison. He's a point guard and a forward, a facilitator and a scorer, a thinker as much as a talent. Nevertheless, he's drawn comparisons to Grant Hill from the moment the Pistons won the lottery. And to whom would Casey compare Cunningham in today's game?
"That’s a loaded question," Casey said with a smile, "and a good question."
Casey talked his way around it at first, noting that the 6'7 Cunningham is "longer than you think he is" and "an excellent shooter" and that it's hard to attach him to one name or two because "he has the tools of a lot of different players in our league." But as he talked some more, Casey couldn't resist.
"Paul George comes to mind, just off the top of my head, with his size. The way he can post up, DeMar DeRozan, he has those characteristics in the post, his mid-range game," Casey said. "There’s a lot of guys. I don’t want to pigeonhole him and say that’s all he is, but most recently those are the names that come to mind that he can be if he continues to work."
Surely, Pistons fans would take it. George is a seven-time All-Star, six-time All-NBA selection and four-time All-Defensive selection. DeRozan, who played under Casey for eight seasons with the Raptors, is a four-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA selection. George, per game, over the last eight seasons: 23.2 points, 6.7 rebounds, 3.8 assists. DeRozan: 22.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.9 assists.
Here's what Pistons fans wouldn't take: zero NBA titles combined, zero Finals appearances combined, more playoff series losses than wins. Cunningham wouldn't take that either. He wouldn't even entertain it. That's one of the reasons Troy Weaver and the Pistons like him so much, because above all else Cunningham wants to win. He went into Summer League action talking about earning the trust of his teammates. No. 2 overall pick Jalen Green, who's said a thing or two about Detroit, was talking about winning Rookie of the Year.
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"It’s all about the person, the human being," Weaver said of Cunningham. "He’s a smart young man who loves to compete and loves to work, and that’s what we’re trying to build this ballclub around. His game will speak for itself."
His game is mature beyond his years. That's why Cunningham has a chance to hit the ground running, to thrive before and after his physical peak. It's all speculation at this point. It is. We won't know anything at all until Cunningham plays a few games, and we won't know anything for sure until he plays for a few years. But it's notable that when Pistons leading scorer Jerami Grant was asked how he expects his game to mesh with Cunningham's, the US Olympian said, "I think it’ll be seamless."
"He’s a great person," said Grant, no slouch of a dude himself. "Obviously extremely talented, extremely skilled, but he has high character for a young guy. Definitely moves as an older player. The way he thinks, the way he moves is a lot older than his age."
The way he speaks, too. As he begins what he hopes is a legendary career, Cunningham knows his story will feature stops and starts. He said he's already gleaned the importance of patience from conversations with former No. 4 overall pick Josh Jackson, who's just hitting his stride in Detroit after two stops elsewhere.
"It’s the NBA, nothing’s given to you," Cunningham said. "You have to be humble coming in and just take it for what it is and try to work your way up. I feel like if you can be consistent every day and just work hard, the good things will come. I’m not really going to press or force the issue too early. I want to make sure that everything’s smooth with the squad and be patient."
There he goes, talking about the team again. When Cunningham envisions his NBA debut, Oct. 20 against the Bulls in downtown Detroit, you can bet he begins by picturing a win. If he brings enough wins to fruition, everything else will fall into place: the awards, the accolades, the labels like Superstar. And then other labels will follow, like hero or sell-out or something in between. Of the No. 1 picks who've been in the NBA for more than three years -- there's 11 of them, going back to LeBron -- exactly one will start this season with the team that drafted him. Pistons fans wouldn't take a defector, either.
Cunningham said he's studied the history of No. 1 picks, "because it's fun to see" the different trajectories. This is an exclusive group to which he belongs, and to which he'll add his own legacy, one way or the other. Cunningham wants to win in the NBA and win in Detroit, and leave the comparisons and labels to everyone else.
"I just try to stay me and stay locked into the fact that I’m trying to live this every day," Cunningham said. "I’m really writing my own story. I’m not any of those guys (before me). It’s exciting to see where I can take it, to show everybody that I am the No. 1 pick and I was taken there for a reason."