People doubted Cade’s ability to lead a team, they said he wasn’t fit to be a leader, well this season, Cunningham has done just that and more.

Cade Cunningham has been by far the best player for the Detroit Pistons, being the main fuel powering their rise. The scoring versatility, the league leading playmaking and the all around defence, Cunningham seems to be the perfect player, but here is the real question: Is Cade the MVP?

This blog is based on my Short I made about why Cade Cunningham is the MVP, check it out here:

Cade Cunningham is an Offensive Superstar

Outside of Giannis, Cade Cunningham is the leagues most responsibility-loaded offensive player, and their is no question about that. He averages 25.3 Points and 9.6 Assists per game, both top 15 in the league. While the stats are impressive, the percentages are even more.
42% of his teammates baskets come from one of his passes, which would make sense since he is leading the NBA in Assists per game. On top of all of this, he has a Usage rate of 30%, which means he finishes 3/10 possessions when he is on the court. (With either a pass or bucket.)

Compared to the other MVP candidates this season, it seems like Cade Cunningham has a scoring problem. Luka leads the NBA in PPG with 33.8, SGA is 2nd with 31.8 and even Jokic pre-injury was averaging 29 PPG. These scoring stats have directly correlated with their rankings on the MVP ladder, with SGA and Jokic sharing 1 and 2 for the whole season, while Luka has hovered around the 2-3 range. Does his pure playmaking get him high enough to even come close for a MVP?

Shooting is NOT Cade’s Speciality

Compared to the other stars in the NBA, Cade is a very capable scorer, which in this day and age is rare. Elite playmaking, but he seems to be holding back on the scoring end. He shoots 46.2% Field Goal and 56.8% True Shooting, which is below elite, but still incredible.

Cade doesn’t have a shooting issue, the other MVP-calibre players are just that much better. Take Nikola Jokic for example, he shooting 59% Field Goal and 42% from 3 on 4.6 attempts a game. Shai Gilgeous Alexander shooting 67% True Shooting as a guard is absurd. Cade shoots 33% from 3 Point range, and not only is this low, it’s been the case his whole career.

Shooting is Mid, but Playmaking is Elite

If we move out of shooting and into playmaking, Cade might as well be the league’s best. Cunningham averages 9.6 Assists per game, leading the NBA. He has an assist to turnover ratio of 2.6 which is elite, meaning he gets 2.6 assists per 1 turnover. An underrated stat is potential assists, for when a player could have got an assist, but their teammate missed or got fouled, and Cade averages 17.7 a game, leading the NBA.

Although the passing is elite, just like the case with most high usage guards is their extremely high rate of turnovers relative to other players. He averages 4.4 Turnovers per game, which is top 3 in the NBA. He also has a 16% Turnover Percent, while having a 2.6 Assist to turnover ratio, which is great, but some players like Tyus Jones can get up to 8.4 Assist/Turnover Ratio, which has led the league for 6 seasons straight.

Detroit Would Not be Here Without Cade Cunningham

It’s no doubt that Cade Cunningham elevated the Detroit Pistons, we can see it, even when they were losing. They have a steady grip on that 1st place finish in the East and have been dominating the power rankings as of late. One of the best ways to indicate a players true impact is with the Net Rating Swing on/off, and Cade has a net rating of 7.9, but is he the only reason they are winning?

The Detroit Pistons actually rank 1st in Steals and Blocks, the only team in the NBA to do so. The Pistons have slowly developed in a more controlled and worthy roster of contending. Their defence is what makes them so great, holding their opponents to just 3d in opponents PPG with 109.3. Here are some of their players stats:

• Ausar Thompson: 1.9 Steals and 0.8 Blocks
• Cade Cunningham: 1.5 Steals and 0.8 Blocks
• Ron Holland: 1.4 Steals and 0.4 Blocks
• Javonte Green: 1.3 Steals and 0.3 Blocks
• Isaiah Stewart: 1.7 Blocks (Leads NBA in Blocks off the Bench)
• Jalen Duren: 0.9 Steals and 0.8 Blocks
• Paul Reed: 0.9 Steals and 0.7 Blocks

So Cade isn’t the defence, but offense is a different story, with Jalen Duren averaging 17.7 PPG, it marks one of the highest differentials between a team leading scorer and 2nd place.

Is Cade Cunningham a “Good” Defender?

Cade Cunningham, according to CraftedNBA’s Defensive Versatility rating, is in the 81st Percentile with a score of 79.1, which for a offensive focused player is incredibly good.
Outside of SGA and Giannis, most superstars in the current era often forget about defence, Cunningham has clearly not, having a -6.2 Rim Defence, in the 80th percentile and a defensive box +/- of 0.2, a career high.

Although he has good defence, it isn’t all time elite, he does rank in the 80th percentile for most defensive stats, but true superstars push past this limit. Let’s take Shai for example. SGA ranks in the 85th percentile in Crafted Defensive Plus Minus, elite even for an offensive player, who if you were wondering has the NBA’s best Offensive Plus Minus with a perfect score of 100.

Now the $1 Million Question, is he the MVP?

Without all these advanced metrics, Cade Cunningham simply doesn’t “play” for the Detroit Pistons, he IS the Pistons. Now in 2021, when he was drafted, I also doubted his ability to win, after the Pistons set the longest losing streak ever of 28 games. The turnaround from last years 6th seed east finish to this years 1st place start and most likely finish is truly incredible, and I fully take credit and responsibility for calling Cade a “Fake Star.”

I just wanted to go over a few more stats that we should take into account before I let you go, and for this experiment, we will be comparing him against SGA’s stats again:

• Cade has a Passer Rating of 96, compared to SGA’s 92.
• Cade has a Box Creation of 99, compared to SGA’s 99.
• Cade has a Offensive Load of 99, compared to SGA’s 99.

Now the final question still lies, does the MVP award just been best in the NBA, or does it mean most detimental to team success, because if we are going of team success , then I think we have to include Cade Cunningham in that top 3.