Detroit — Cade Cunningham sat in front of a group of reporters on Monday afternoon to reflect on his shortened second season, which was halted after 12 games, due to season-ending surgery on his left tibia.
When asked to describe what he’s learned about himself in almost a full season without basketball, Cunningham took a brief pause before answering, as the thoughts swirled through his mind.
Cunningham has watched his teammates from the sidelines through the rigors of an NBA season. He’s tried to encourage them as they compiled the second-most losses in franchise history. He’s tried to become a voice that his teammates desperately needed, even if he wasn’t able to help them out with his basketball talents.
“It’s tough not being on the court,” Cunningham said. “It’s tough watching my brothers go out and compete, tired and not feeling it and not being able to go help them out or be out there with them, but it’s brought another love to the game.”
Jaden Ivey, the Pistons’ explosive rookie guard, received an expedited introduction to the NBA in Cunningham’s absence. As the season waned and injuries to the rosters’ top offensive threats in Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks occurred, Ivey became the Pistons’ number one scoring option. He also played with the ball in his hands significantly more than his first couple of months in the league.
Ivey’s in-season growth as a player exceeded the expectations of his former coach in Dwane Casey, but it also has Cunningham champing at the bit to make a full recovery so they can restart the process of building chemistry together as Detroit’s backcourt of the future.
“From the beginning, I knew that we were going to make it work,” Cunningham said. “I wasn’t sure how, maybe still not sure exactly what it’s going to look like, but over the course of the year, I’ve come to respect and like the person, Jaden Ivey, more than anything. The way that he goes about life, the way that he goes about his work and because of that, it makes me want it to work even more.
“I like the way that he’s grown throughout the season. I feel like him having the ball more and having so much attention on him is really gonna pay off in the future whenever we’re on the court together. I think all of those things, just being able to watch him and take in things about his game. Things that he’ll need from me, things that I’ll need from him, it’s all going to help.”
Ivey was all smiles when asked about the duo’s potential of playing alongside each other again.
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“I’m super ecstatic to be able to be on the court with him again and I talk about it all the time,” Ivey said. “It’s not the player that I look forward to playing with, it’s the person that I enjoy seeing every single day when I step in that locker room. It starts with the spirit and he has that. He’s the key to getting every single person going in this locker room, but I’m definitely looking forward to getting back on the court with him and getting to work this offseason.”
Ivey finished the season with a worthy resume for the league’s All-Rookie first team with averages of 16.3 points, 3.2 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game. His scoring mark was third amongst all rookies and he led all first-year players in assists per game.
Cunningham successfully underwent surgery on Dec. 16 to heal a left tibia stress fracture with the expectation that he would make a full recovery to resume basketball activities this offseason.
He gave an update on his progress and said he’s at full-body weight in his workouts. He was last listed at 217 pounds, but he appears bulkier since he last played an NBA game.
“I’m at full-body weight in running right now, which was a big step for me,” Cunningham said. “I’m shooting jump shots now. I’m doing a little bit of changing direction right now. Not too much, as far as running up and down and changing direction yet, but the next week or two weeks, I should be getting that going. I’m progressing pretty fast right now. I’m at a point now that I’m at full body weight; I can do a lot more.”
Cunningham finished the season averaging 19.9 points, 6.2 rebounds and 6.0 assists and made strides in several areas on offense, as he picked apart defenses, mostly to create space for his go-to midrange jumper. He finished with shooting splits of 41% from the field, 83% from the free-throw line and 27% from the 3-point line, which could be attributed to his lingering shin injury.
Over the past several weeks, Cunningham has used shootarounds and pregame workouts to practice standstill shooting with Pistons senior advisor of player development John Beilein. The Pistons’ star guard said he’s used this time off to completely build his shot back from the ground up, which could help him become a better 3-point shooter.
“I’ve been able to really build it up from the ground up. Midseason, you don’t really have that time to break it all the way back down and get the shot right and focus on our details, so having all this time, I’ve really tried to make the most out of it and build a good foundation for my shot. Now that I’m jumping again and running again, getting my legs back under me, I feel like it’s coming together well.”
When Cunningham was asked if some around the league has forgotten about what he brings to the table and if he feels any pressure to show what he can do, he simply said he doesn’t care for the discussion around his potential as a player.
“No. I kind of released all of that,” Cunningham said. “I don’t really care for it. I just want to play again.”
mcurtis@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @MikeACurtis2