Cade Cunningham was singing Detroit's praises before the Pistons drafted him. Jalen Green is singeing the city after the Pistons passed on him.
Green, who wound up going second overall to the Rockets, told Yahoo! Sports that while he wanted to be the No. 1 pick, "I didn't want to be in Detroit."
“I felt a lot more comfortable in Houston," the California native said in a story published Monday. "It felt like a real homie environment. With Detroit, it felt like I was just going back to the G League bubble, and I just got out of the bubble. That’s pretty much what it was.
“In the [G League] bubble, I didn’t really have anything to do but just stay in the gym. I didn’t have any time to get away for myself. The only time I had to get away for myself was in my apartment. That’s what it felt like in Detroit. I wouldn’t be stepping outside in Detroit. There are not many things you can do in Detroit like that. You’re going to stay in the gym and then go back to your apartment."
You might hear otherwise from Cunningham, who made his rounds in Detroit shortly after the Pistons picked him first overall. He threw out the first pitch at a Tigers game and continued to talk highly of the city after saying prior to the draft that he was "already hip to the culture in Detroit" and that he intended to "step in and embody the swag that people from Detroit walk with."
"They have an underdog, go-get-what-you-want feel to them and I like that about the city," Cunningham said.
Apparently Green, who worked out for the Pistons in Detroit a few days before the draft, wasn't quite feeling it. To each his own.
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The top two picks squared off for the first time last week, and Green got the upper hand with a game-high 25 points in a lopsided win for the Rockets in the NBA summer league. Cunningham put up a team-high 20 points for the Pistons.
Even if he wanted no part of Detroit, Green is clearly using the Pistons' decision to spurn him as fuel. He said at the start of summer league action last week that "every time I step on that floor, Detroit especially, I'm coming." And now he says he's coming for Rookie of the Year.
“I need it. I feel like I’m the best player in the class,” Green said. “I didn’t go No. 1, so I’m going to go get the Rookie of the Year."
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