SpurNani wrote:Better defender ill give u. Ill take Cades rebounding and scoring, he is a 3 level scorer now that his 3 is falling close to 39% last time I checked.
Yup, definitely a better shooter. Still not a better scorer overall. Also creates considerably less north-south pressure. It isn't an overall area of advantage, even if they are in the same neighborhood.
ValvPiti wrote:
Just out of curiosity how many games do you actually watch Cade? No shots taken, but its literally all advanced analytics. What do you see? I see a player, like against the NY Knicks, completely taking the game over singlehandedly with his scoring and especially playmaking on a very bad team. Same thing against Miami minus the 4th. Cade is having more and more of these Doncic-type nights where he looks like the by far best player out there and a true maestro.
I've seen maybe a half dozen Pistons games so far this season. His middle game is decent, and it's nice that his shot is falling. I don't really care overall because he has established his quality as a scorer (to this point, and minding that he's quite young and has no help) at this point. The really good scorers out there get it done regardless of what's around them, and it's more the degree of dominance which changes with surrounding quality. He isn't that. He doesn't have the physical tools to do that. Obviously, the fact that he's creating for himself and doesn't have incredible spacing or the luxury of working off-ball impacts the specific numbers, but when you're a -2% rTS guy who can't get to the rim much and finishes poorly when he does, there's a limit to how much credit I'll give you as a scorer. That's a formula that doesn't end with elite quality regardless of what's around a guy. 100%, he would look much better in a more appropriate environment, though.
As a playmaker? That's different. He's looked very impressive as a shot creator and playmaker this year. And he's, what, 23? That is a promising thing as well.
I don't think he's an AS THIS year, but if he can maintain that shot creation, that'll eventually change, particularly as the team around him improves.
EDIT: Oh, I missed a point you made. You talked about the Knicks game and the Miami game, and like, I don't really care about single games.
I imagine you're talking about the win over the Knicks. He was 5/8 from 3. Everyone grabs a hot streak now and again. His PASSING in that game was phenomenal, but he did all his relevant damage as a scorer n the 2nd when he was just banging away from 3. Was real quiet and unimpressive in the 4th as a scorer, for what it's worth.
That said, in general, he's been shooting better from 3 this season, and that IS helping him have more relevance as a scoring threat. Not a ton, but it's a nice development. He has a nice shot away from the rim and he's clearly quite capable at the line (this year to date notwithstanding, of course), so it's nice to see the 3 starting to catch up.
With Miami, they've won 2. In the November game, he was ass in the first half, hot in the second and pretty decent in the OT. In the December game, he was profoundly awful in the second half and that carried into the OT (remember, he was 3/13 after the first half). So I'm not really sure what to take away from that (again, strictly focusing on scoring).
