To the untrained eye, Cade Cunningham might not jump through the TV. The trained eye can be tricked the same. Oakland University basketball coach Greg Kampe admits he wasn’t overly impressed when he watched Cunningham on film ahead of the Grizzlies’ game against Oklahoma State early last season. Then Cunningham took the floor for warmups …
… “and I went ‘Holllyyy ____,’” Kampe told the Stoney and Jansen Show. “This guy’s shoulders are so big and his body, you think about what he’s going to be in three to five years, he’s 19 years old and he just cast a shadow when he walked out there. And now he plays the point, he handles the ball, he’s a really good passer.”
Oakland limited Cunningham to six points and three assists in the first half. But he finished with 18 and 8, including a couple daggers to down the stretch to help the Cowboys pull away.
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“In our prep for him we didn’t know if he could shoot it,” Kampe said. “Late in the game we backed off him and dared him to shoot – and he buried two threes. Just didn't even think about it, just knocked them down. And I walked away from that day saying, ‘OK, I understand why everybody’s saying he’s No. 1.’
“But the whole key to it is, the NBA now is big strong guys. Giannis, LeBron, those guys grow and look like football players and then they just play one-on-one, pick-and-roll basketball. They put their shoulder down and they go to the rim. And that's what this kid, in two to three years nobody’s going to be able to stop him.”
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The only knock on Cunningham is his athleticism. The Pistons aren’t concerned. They drafted him first overall because he has a game like Grant Hill and a mind like Larry Bird and the drive to be ‘one of the greats.’ He’s eyeing the playoffs as a rookie. There’s a school of thought that says second overall pick Jalen Green will be a better player down the road because he’s a better athlete now.
Kampe, for one, isn’t buying it. After watching Cunningham in person, he knows what awaits the NBA.
“I have never seen Jalen Green play, but I can’t believe that his future is better than this kid’s," Kampe said. "You just see the way the game is played and who’s successful in the game, I know some people have said there’s no generational player in (this year's draft), I disagree with that. I think this kid could be a generational player.”