The Pistons got their first real hint of something they’ve badly needed: a way to function when Cade Cunningham isn’t carrying everything.
That was the biggest question hanging over Detroit after a quiet offseason. If Cunningham isn’t creating it, where does the offense come from?
In the opener, the answer wasn’t clean for long stretches. The half-court offense bogged down, and Cunningham kept running into a crowded paint.
But the second half brought a different look. JB Bickerstaff spread the floor with plenty of shooting around Cunningham, using those shooters as decoys and giving Cunningham room to operate. The most encouraging twist came after that: Detroit put together a 23-0 run, and most of it happened with Cunningham on the bench.
That stretch was where the Pistons’ offensive options finally started to show themselves. Detroit scored 18 of those points without Cunningham, with Ausar Thompson and Daniss Jenkins handling much of the playmaking.
Thompson was a real part of the action as a passer. He used dribble handoffs to spring shooters for open looks, got the ball moving in transition and worked as a screener and passer in the dribble handoff game. Jenkins, meanwhile, managed to get into the paint a couple of times and create kick-outs.
The Pistons are clearly trying to expand Thompson’s role as a ball handler, and the night made that effort stand out. He finished with five assists, and the variety mattered: transition passes, kick-outs and reads as a screener all showed up in his game.
If that kind of production becomes routine, Detroit won’t feel nearly as much pressure to chase a major offseason fix. Thompson’s growth as a table setter would help the Pistons survive the non-Cunningham minutes, and it would also lighten Cunningham’s load when he is on the floor.
Cunningham, for his part, had a quieter night than usual. He was able to spend more time off the ball and didn’t have to spend quite as much energy doing all the creating himself.
It’s only one game, but the early read is clear: the Pistons may already be better built to hold up without Cade Cunningham than they’ve been in the last couple of seasons.
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The decision to move on from Sasser and keep other guards around him, including Daniss Jenkins, was always going to invite second-guessing because Jenkins offers more as a facilitator while Sasser is built more for scoring punch. Nights like this do not settle the argument, but they do keep it alive, especially for a team still sorting out what it wants from its guard rotation and how much value it can place on a player who can create offense in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]