Back in September, before Cade Cunningham had played a game in the NBA, Dwane Casey said the first overall pick reminded him of a player he coached for eight years in Toronto.
"DeMar DeRozan, he has those characteristics in the post, his mid-range game," Casey said.
Casey took over the Raptors when DeRozan was 21 and watched him blossom into a star. Here in Detroit, he's watching a 20-year-old Cunningham do the same. The comparison between the two isn't dead-on, and Casey didn't mean for it to be: DeRozan is more of a forward, Cunningham a point guard. But it's pretty apt when it comes to how they score, a pair of 6'6 buckets who can break you down or back you down, who can shoot from outside or inside and anywhere in between.
They both had it going Wednesday night at Little Caesars Arena.
Cunningham was cooking in the first half. He sniffed out the rim with feints and hesitations, and sheer strength when he needed it, and finished with ease. His prettiest bucket had to make DeRozan proud, a turnaround eight-foot fadeaway in the lane late in the third. He had 22 points on 9-13 shooting through the first three quarters to give the Pistons a seven-point lead over the Bulls. And then the MVP candidate took over the game.
DeRozan opened the fourth by nailing a 20-foot step-back, followed by a driving layup his next time down the floor. He got to the line by goading Cunningham into a (questionable) foul and tied the game with six minutes to go. It wasn't tied for long. Over the Bulls' next few possessions, DeRozan converted a running layup, a 13-foot fadeaway, a 15-foot pull-up and a 20-foot step-back in a real-life game of HORSE to lift his team to a 114-108 win. He finished with 16 points in the fourth and 36 for the game.
Cunningham was uncharacteristically off down the stretch. The Bulls ramped up their defense and held him scoreless in the fourth. In the end, it wasn't his night. But he still made quite the impression on DeRozan, who left Detroit an even bigger fan of the potential Rookie of the Year than when he arrived.
"I love it, I love it. I love his game," DeRozan said. "I’m definitely a fan. I told him after the game, I’m a big fan. I want to see him have an extremely successful career. He can be very, very special. His patience, his poise, his size, his strength. Everything he got, he got the whole foundation to be a great player. And I’m rooting for him. It’s fun to see him develop throughout the year."
Cunningham has developed, alright. He's averaging 20-plus points, seven-plus boards and five-plus assists in his last 10 games, which, for the season, would put him in a group with these seven players: Giannis, LeBron, Doncic, Jokic, Harden, Randle and Dejounte Murray. That's the level he's played at of late. He's come a long way from the player Billy Donovan and the Bulls saw two months ago in Chicago where he scored eight points in a 46-point loss. So have the Pistons.
"When we (first) got him, he had I don't know how many games under his belt. He’s obviously, just going off film and seeing him live, a high-IQ player," Donovan said after Wednesday's game. "Very smart, shoots it well, can play in the paint. He’s shifty, he’s got good size once he gets in there to finish. He’s going to be a really good player. It was unfortunate for his development early on that he missed so much time with his ankle, but he’s found his stride.
"And I think their team has found their stride. What did they win, six of their last eight? And they played very good teams and got some really, really good wins. So they’ve been playing well and he's certainly a big catalyst to the way they're playing. They’re getting a lot of contributions, but certainly at point guard, when the ball’s in that guy’s hands like, that’s always a tribute to how much he’s gotten better."