Time to face reality about Cade

[Canadafan]

The only players this year averaging 22+ PPG 7+ APG and 4+ RPG this season (min 25 games played)

LeBron 25.0 , 7.2 , 7.9
Jokic 26.1 , 9.3 , 12.3
Luka 34.5, 9.6, 8.8
Cade 22.5 , 7.4 , 4.2

If you took away the 4+ rebounds and just looked at 22+ and 7+ it only adds in Trae Young to the group.

Right now its all about consistency with Cade, but at only 22 years old, and only 120 some odd games, im not all that worried.

I do have some fears of him regressing again, as Andre did after showing flashes of greatness, but all this losing is either going to forge him, or break him.

We are all gonna find out together

Ew. Drummond? If so, I never saw anything special with that guy. He missed so many close range shots which padded those rebounding stats.

Love what I'm seeing from Cade. Just stay healthy!

[buzzkilloton]

I copied the numbers from another persons post I seen but it was good so wanted to post it here.

Bookers 22year old season was season 4. Cade is in season 3 but he missed season 2. He ofc had training camp and some offseason but still.

Cade, 48 games into his 22 year old season

22.5 ppg, 18.4 fga, .458 fg%, 5.3 3pa, .361 3p%, 3.8 ftm, 4.2 rpg, 7.4 apg, 3.6 tov, 0.9 spg, 0.4 bpg

DBook, 48 games into his 22 year old season

24.6 ppg, 18.8 fga, .455 fg%, 6.4 3pa, .324 3p%, 5.4 ftm, 4.0 rpg, 6.8 apg, 4.0 tov, 0.9 spg, 0.2 bpg

[Moses ShamMoses]

It's funny that Cade's "reality" changes month to month I'm just as guilty. Reality is we just don't know...

[buzzkilloton]

I know many of us had have had some doubts about Cade from time to time which I think is fair esp with the injuries. As Pistons fans we have had it bad a long fkn time we should have some PTSD its OK to have questioned some things. What were seeing post all star break from Cade this is what a star looks like. Hes leveling up its so obv.

Everyone here bear,bull,hater,negative, always positive, whatever you're you deserve this we all deserve this. You've been here because your a Pistons fan and you fan they way you fan. Now that hes arriving enjoy it everyone its really happening we got a star.

[tmorgan]

Need to put “required tanning” into Cade’s next deal.

[Kalamazoo317]

Cade's looked less terrible (and more committed) on defense, has looked like he's solved the problems the hard doubles were giving him earlier in the season, and, of course, he's stroking it from outside, which opens up the rest of his offensive game tremendously. If he can stay consistent with that three, it keeps his ceiling nice and high.
And *maybe* he'll finally start getting some star treatment when it comes to getting to the free throw line. That's probably the biggest hole in his offensive game right now.

[NYPiston]

I know many of us had have had some doubts about Cade from time to time which I think is fair esp with the injuries. As Pistons fans we have had it bad a long fkn time we should have some PTSD its OK to have questioned some things. What were seeing post all star break from Cade this is what a star looks like. Hes leveling up its so obv.

Everyone here bear,bull,hater,negative, always positive, whatever you're you deserve this we all deserve this. You've been here because your a Pistons fan and you fan they way you fan. Now that hes arriving enjoy it everyone its really happening we got a star.

The biggest doubt with Cade was always injuries, at least for me. He's either been injured or playing injured most of his first 3 seasons.

The only times he seemed 100% healthy was the second half of his rookie season (don't forget the nagging ankle/foot issues he had in the first half) and since the All Star Break this season.
It'll remain a concern until he distances himself from these injuries and strings together a few healthy seasons in a row. If healthy, he'll be an All Star caliber player whether it's as a lead guard or more likely as a combo guard that shares ballhandling.

[vege]

Cade's looked less terrible (and more committed) on defense, has looked like he's solved the problems the hard doubles were giving him earlier in the season, and, of course, he's stroking it from outside, which opens up the rest of his offensive game tremendously. If he can stay consistent with that three, it keeps his ceiling nice and high.
And *maybe* he'll finally start getting some star treatment when it comes to getting to the free throw line. That's probably the biggest hole in his offensive game right now.

People always ignore the defensive side of the game, which makes hard to have any kind of conversation here, but yes. Cade have been worse than Ivey on defense since the mid of the season, and he is injured way too often. I still love his game tho, but there are a ton of concerns about him.

[Laimbeer]

It's funny that Cade's "reality" changes month to month I'm just as guilty. Reality is we just don't know...

We do know that thus far he has performed significantly worse than we had hoped. But some folks seem to think that means he is on a SGA trajectory


Sent from my Pixel 6 using RealGM mobile app

[Snakebites]

It's funny that Cade's "reality" changes month to month I'm just as guilty. Reality is we just don't know...

We do know that thus far he has performed significantly worse than we had hoped. But some folks seem to think that means he is on a SGA trajectory


Sent from my Pixel 6 using RealGM mobile app

He’s inconsistent. Thats his reality. Consistently.

[GreekAlex]

It's funny that Cade's "reality" changes month to month I'm just as guilty. Reality is we just don't know...

We do know that thus far he has performed significantly worse than we had hoped. But some folks seem to think that means he is on a SGA trajectory


Sent from my Pixel 6 using RealGM mobile app

He’s inconsistent. Thats his reality. Consistently.

Yeah, it’s a lot easier to overlook inconsistencies and injuries when there’s not the expectation of such a massive contract coming.

[Snakebites]

We do know that thus far he has performed significantly worse than we had hoped. But some folks seem to think that means he is on a SGA trajectory


Sent from my Pixel 6 using RealGM mobile app

He’s inconsistent. Thats his reality. Consistently.

Yeah, it’s a lot easier to overlook inconsistencies and injuries when there’s not the expectation of such a massive contract coming.

I’ve made my peace with the extension.

[bstein14]

He’s inconsistent. Thats his reality. Consistently.

Yeah, it’s a lot easier to overlook inconsistencies and injuries when there’s not the expectation of such a massive contract coming.

I’ve made my peace with the extension.

5 year max extension this season essentially locks him up with us for a total of 6 more years until the 29-30 season in which he'll be 28 years old and likely in his prime. I feel like the most likely scenario that plays out, is he slowly gets better improves efficiency and his overall skillset and likely by age 26/27/28 range he becomes an all-star level player but I doubt he's ever top 10 type guy. The biggest thing for me is that he needs to go beyond the stats, become more efficient and do more of the little things to help the team win.

Its tough to hand out that type of money after the season we had essentially locking all future hope to one guys massive contract.

[Snakebites]

Yeah, it’s a lot easier to overlook inconsistencies and injuries when there’s not the expectation of such a massive contract coming.

I’ve made my peace with the extension.

5 year max extension this season essentially locks him up with us for a total of 6 more years until the 29-30 season in which he'll be 28 years old and likely in his prime. I feel like the most likely scenario that plays out, is he slowly gets better improves efficiency and his overall skillset and likely by age 26/27/28 range he becomes an all-star level player but I doubt he's ever top 10 type guy. The biggest thing for me is that he needs to go beyond the stats, become more efficient and do more of the little things to help the team win.

Its tough to hand out that type of money after the season we had essentially locking all future hope to one guys massive contract.

The bottom line is we did a bad job drafting.

We had a good starting point for the rebuild- no bad contracts and control of all of our picks. We could easily be in Orlando’s position right now if we’d made better choices. They didn’t even hit on all of their picks. But they did a far more competent job than we did.

Either Wagner or Banchero would be our best player.

[Laimbeer]

I’ve made my peace with the extension.

5 year max extension this season essentially locks him up with us for a total of 6 more years until the 29-30 season in which he'll be 28 years old and likely in his prime. I feel like the most likely scenario that plays out, is he slowly gets better improves efficiency and his overall skillset and likely by age 26/27/28 range he becomes an all-star level player but I doubt he's ever top 10 type guy. The biggest thing for me is that he needs to go beyond the stats, become more efficient and do more of the little things to help the team win.

Its tough to hand out that type of money after the season we had essentially locking all future hope to one guys massive contract.

The bottom line is we did a bad job drafting.

We had a good starting point for the rebuild- no bad contracts and control of all of our picks. We could easily be in Orlando’s position right now if we’d made better choices. They didn’t even hit on all of their picks. But they did a far more competent job than we did.

Either Wagner or Banchero would be our best player.

Do we want to drop that kind of money hoping someone gets better and seeing a limited ceiling in any case?

This feels a lot like the Wiggins situation. RealGM in general scorched the Wolves for that extension at the time but for some reason I don't see the same venom with Cade potentially getting his.

[Snakebites]

5 year max extension this season essentially locks him up with us for a total of 6 more years until the 29-30 season in which he'll be 28 years old and likely in his prime. I feel like the most likely scenario that plays out, is he slowly gets better improves efficiency and his overall skillset and likely by age 26/27/28 range he becomes an all-star level player but I doubt he's ever top 10 type guy. The biggest thing for me is that he needs to go beyond the stats, become more efficient and do more of the little things to help the team win.

Its tough to hand out that type of money after the season we had essentially locking all future hope to one guys massive contract.

The bottom line is we did a bad job drafting.

We had a good starting point for the rebuild- no bad contracts and control of all of our picks. We could easily be in Orlando’s position right now if we’d made better choices. They didn’t even hit on all of their picks. But they did a far more competent job than we did.

Either Wagner or Banchero would be our best player.

Do we want to drop that kind of money hoping someone gets better and seeing a limited ceiling in any case?

This feels a lot like the Wiggins situation. RealGM in general scorched the Wolves for that extension at the time but for some reason I don't see the same venom with Cade potentially getting his.

I don’t want to extend him- I don’t think he’s shown enough. I’ve accepted the likelihood that we do it.

[BDM22]

I’ve made my peace with the extension.

5 year max extension this season essentially locks him up with us for a total of 6 more years until the 29-30 season in which he'll be 28 years old and likely in his prime. I feel like the most likely scenario that plays out, is he slowly gets better improves efficiency and his overall skillset and likely by age 26/27/28 range he becomes an all-star level player but I doubt he's ever top 10 type guy. The biggest thing for me is that he needs to go beyond the stats, become more efficient and do more of the little things to help the team win.

Its tough to hand out that type of money after the season we had essentially locking all future hope to one guys massive contract.

The bottom line is we did a bad job drafting.

We had a good starting point for the rebuild- no bad contracts and control of all of our picks. We could easily be in Orlando’s position right now if we’d made better choices. They didn’t even hit on all of their picks. But they did a far more competent job than we did.

Either Wagner or Banchero would be our best player.

Obviously we couldn't have drafted Banchero and I personally don't think Franz is any more of a #1 guy than Cade is. We just got the #1 pick in the draft where it turned out there were a lot of comparable players in the top 8-ish and fell in the drafts with true franchise players at the very top (Wemby, Paolo, Chet, etc) and a big drop off below that.

That's the frustrating part, I feel like we've drafted fairly well overall, with the one glaring flaw being the obvious #7 pick that shall not be named.

There wasn't anyone that we were going back and forth on in these last 3 drafts (Green, Mobley, Mathurin, Sharpe, Hendricks, Walker, Cam, etc) that you'd say would have made our outlook much higher, if at all. None of those are #1 franchise players and that's the thing we still lack.

[Snakebites]

5 year max extension this season essentially locks him up with us for a total of 6 more years until the 29-30 season in which he'll be 28 years old and likely in his prime. I feel like the most likely scenario that plays out, is he slowly gets better improves efficiency and his overall skillset and likely by age 26/27/28 range he becomes an all-star level player but I doubt he's ever top 10 type guy. The biggest thing for me is that he needs to go beyond the stats, become more efficient and do more of the little things to help the team win.

Its tough to hand out that type of money after the season we had essentially locking all future hope to one guys massive contract.

The bottom line is we did a bad job drafting.

We had a good starting point for the rebuild- no bad contracts and control of all of our picks. We could easily be in Orlando’s position right now if we’d made better choices. They didn’t even hit on all of their picks. But they did a far more competent job than we did.

Either Wagner or Banchero would be our best player.

Obviously we couldn't have drafted Banchero and I personally don't think Franz is any more of a #1 guy than Cade is. We just got the #1 pick in the draft where it turned out there were a lot of comparable players in the top 8-ish and fell in the drafts with true franchise players at the very top (Wemby, Paolo, Chet, etc) and a big drop off below that.

That's the frustrating part, I feel like we've drafted fairly well overall, with the one glaring flaw being the obvious #7 pick that shall not be named.

There wasn't anyone that we were going back and forth on in these last 3 drafts (Green, Mobley, Mathurin, Sharpe, Hendricks, Walker, Cam, etc) that you'd say would have made our outlook much higher, if at all. None of those are #1 franchise players and that's the thing we still lack.

The point isn’t that we could have gotten those guys literally. It’s that we could have made the right choices.

The Magic could have easily taken Jabari Smith as most mocks had them doing. They could have easily taken any number of guys instead of Franz.

There are timelines where they’re in the same spot we are. They aren’t because they made better choices. They haven’t been luckier than us. They’ve just been better.

And they’re a good point of comparison because of how similar our situations were a few years ago.

[mattao313]

5 year max extension this season essentially locks him up with us for a total of 6 more years until the 29-30 season in which he'll be 28 years old and likely in his prime. I feel like the most likely scenario that plays out, is he slowly gets better improves efficiency and his overall skillset and likely by age 26/27/28 range he becomes an all-star level player but I doubt he's ever top 10 type guy. The biggest thing for me is that he needs to go beyond the stats, become more efficient and do more of the little things to help the team win.

Its tough to hand out that type of money after the season we had essentially locking all future hope to one guys massive contract.

The bottom line is we did a bad job drafting.

We had a good starting point for the rebuild- no bad contracts and control of all of our picks. We could easily be in Orlando’s position right now if we’d made better choices. They didn’t even hit on all of their picks. But they did a far more competent job than we did.

Either Wagner or Banchero would be our best player.

Obviously we couldn't have drafted Banchero and I personally don't think Franz is any more of a #1 guy than Cade is. We just got the #1 pick in the draft where it turned out there were a lot of comparable players in the top 8-ish and fell in the drafts with true franchise players at the very top (Wemby, Paolo, Chet, etc) and a big drop off below that.

That's the frustrating part, I feel like we've drafted fairly well overall, with the one glaring flaw being the obvious #7 pick that shall not be named.

There wasn't anyone that we were going back and forth on in these last 3 drafts (Green, Mobley, Mathurin, Sharpe, Hendricks, Walker, Cam, etc) that you'd say would have made our outlook much higher, if at all. None of those are #1 franchise players and that's the thing we still lack.

Yeah while we haven't hit a homerun on a pick, drafting hasn't been terrible lots of on base hits but the main problem is besides the draft our Goofy GMs laissez-faire approach has put us in a terrible spot.

He should of been much more active in trades and FA to aquire established NBA talent. Now after 4-5 years besides our 7 1st round picks we got fonteccio and Grimes.... these guys are rotation players at best.

Sent from my SM-A528B using RealGM mobile app

[BDM22]

The bottom line is we did a bad job drafting.

We had a good starting point for the rebuild- no bad contracts and control of all of our picks. We could easily be in Orlando’s position right now if we’d made better choices. They didn’t even hit on all of their picks. But they did a far more competent job than we did.

Either Wagner or Banchero would be our best player.

Obviously we couldn't have drafted Banchero and I personally don't think Franz is any more of a #1 guy than Cade is. We just got the #1 pick in the draft where it turned out there were a lot of comparable players in the top 8-ish and fell in the drafts with true franchise players at the very top (Wemby, Paolo, Chet, etc) and a big drop off below that.

That's the frustrating part, I feel like we've drafted fairly well overall, with the one glaring flaw being the obvious #7 pick that shall not be named.

There wasn't anyone that we were going back and forth on in these last 3 drafts (Green, Mobley, Mathurin, Sharpe, Hendricks, Walker, Cam, etc) that you'd say would have made our outlook much higher, if at all. None of those are #1 franchise players and that's the thing we still lack.

The point isn’t that we could have gotten those guys literally. It’s that we could have made the right choices.

The Magic could have easily taken Jabari Smith as most mocks had them doing. They could have easily taken any number of guys instead of Franz.

There are timelines where they’re in the same spot we are. They aren’t because they made better choices. They haven’t been luckier than us. They’ve just been better.

And they’re a good point of comparison because of how similar our situations were a few years ago.

But that's what I'm saying. Even with total picture perfect 20/20 hindsight, who could we have taken at #1 in 2021, #5 and #13 in 2022, and #5 in 2023 that would have us in a dramatically better position, if at all?

And Paolo was certainly in the discussion with Jabari and Chet. It was a clear top-3 and then a drop off, of which, Paolo was in that group. Paolo was ranked #1 at various points throughout the season, he wasn't like a reach (And an argument could be made that Chet will be, or is, better).