For two nights in the dead of winter, Little Caesars Arena was thawed by tomorrow. In time, its doors will open deep into the spring. Cade Cunningham took the floor Sunday and stated his case for Rookie of the Year against Evan Mobley of the Cavs. Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond took the ice Monday to state theirs against Trevor Zegras of the Ducks.
Cunningham spoke loud and clear. The first overall pick exploded after a quiet first half to lead the Pistons to a comeback win. Mobley, the third overall pick, was good. Cunningham was better. He finished with 19 points, 10 assists and 10 boards -- and just one turnover -- to become the first rookie in franchise history with multiple triple-doubles. Mobley's still looking for his first, but who's counting.
"He's a clutch player," Dwane Casey said of Cunningham. "He has 'it' down the stretch, and hopefully it continues throughout his career here in Detroit. The bigger the moment, the better Cade steps up."
Seider and Raymond were rather understated a night later. But when a 1-1 game went to three-on-three overtime, did you notice who was on the ice for Detroit? (And did you notice who was on the bench for Anaheim?) In regard to Seider, the better word might be 'underrated.' Even when he's absent from the box score, he's everywhere on the ice. He played north of 25 minutes for the fifth time this season and made a very Raymond-like between-the-legs touch pass to trigger what looked like the game-winning goal by Filip Hronek late in the third until it was called off upon review. The Wings would win in OT.
"I've not seen him slow down at all," Jeff Blashill said of Seider. "I think there's still a learning curve that he's creating a bunch and not giving up much, but I definitely haven't seen him slow down. He's had a big impact in a number of games."
Zegras is a hell of a player, full of jaw-dropping talent. He creates a new viral moment every couple weeks. He's the most electric rookie in the NHL. He's not, until further notice, the Rookie of the Year. What Seider has done as a No. 1 defenseman in his first NHL season -- Zegras is in his second, by the way -- stands alone. The 20-year-old went shift for shift with Sidney Crosby and Auston Matthews on back-to-back nights last weekend and came away with two assists, a plus-two rating and a newfound knack for unsettling No. 87. He's been doing this all season long.
"I don't think he's ever been afraid," Blashill said. "He's never backed down from everybody, and I think that's a great trait."
Cunningham has some work to do to catch Mobley, but he's closing the gap. Their head-to-head was just the latest example. Thanks to a two-month surge, Cunningham now ranks first among rookies in scoring, second in assists and fourth in NBA.com's efficiency rating. Mobley ranks first in efficiency and rebounding, and third in scoring. He's also helped spark a turnaround season for the Cavs, while Cunningham is trying to pull the Pistons out of the cellar.
Neither Seider nor Cunningham is outwardly gunning for Rookie of the Year. They've both made that clear, Cunningham by deflecting questions about it, Seider by basically refusing to talk about himself. Cunningham said he knew his clash with Mobley would be a talking point for fans and the media, "but I can't play Evan Mobley's game better than him and he can't play my game better than me, so I just try to focus on what I have to do."
"If I just focus on myself, I feel like I'll put myself in the best position," he said. "Sometimes when you focus on the narrative and stuff, your mind's not in the right place."
So we'll take the narrative from here. If Cunningham runs down Mobley and Seider fends off Zegras, Detroit will be the first city to produce simultaneous Rookies of the Year since New York in 2018. But New York is represented by eight teams across the four major pro sports. The last city with one team per league to produce a Rookie of the Year on separate teams was Miami in 2013: Aaron Ekblad of the Panthers and the late Jose Fernandez of the Marlins.
The last time in happened for the same city in the NHL and the NBA? That would be Boston in 1980, when the Bruins produced Ray Bourque and the Celtics produced Larry Bird. Those guys turned out alright. Playing for the same fans in the same arena for 13 years, Bourque and Bird breathed life into the New England winter. Then they lit up the spring. And around the corner, a pair of homegrown stars who had debuted the same year for the Red Sox headlined the summer: Jim Rice and Fred Lynn. Here come Spencer Torkelson and Riley Greene.
It feels fanciful in Detroit, especially right now. Nothing is given except for the losing in front of us. The Red Wings, Pistons and Tigers haven't finished above .500 in the same year since 2016. They haven't made the playoffs in the same year since 2006. But when was the last time they shared such a fertile crop of talent? Seider, Raymond and Cunningham are beginning to bloom. Torkelson and Greene have all but outgrown the farm. It's been dark and dour, and we're not free yet, but our long sports winter is coming to an end.
