Detroit Pistons head coach Dwane Casey on Sunday commended rookie Cade Cunningham for the improvement shown over his first four games in the NBA.
Of course, Cunningham debuted with the Pistons on Oct. 30 after dealing with an ankle injury. He struggled to find his shot out of the gate but has since looked to be more comfortable on the court, leading to his two best performances.
He has totaled 35 points, 14 rebounds, six assists and two steals over his last two games.
Cunningham recorded his first career double-double on Thursday with 18 points and 10 rebounds against the Philadelphia 76ers. He followed that effort up with 17 points and four rebounds on Friday versus the Brooklyn Nets.
Casey knows Cunningham will only continue to improve with each game.
I just think the more games, the more NBA action against NBA athletes he has in a game setting, he is going to continue to improve whether it’s cutting down on his turnovers, making decisions with the ball, shot selection, shot-making — all of those things are going to come.
The Pistons tempered expectations for Cunningham upon returning to the court. They knew it would take time for him to knock off the rust and adjust to the NBA competition. He has done that in such a short sample size, and Casey even noticed that mid-game against the Nets.
I can just tell as the game went on this last game against Brooklyn, he got better as the game went on and got more comfortable. I think that’s just going to continue throughout the rest of this next month.
Despite missing so much time, Casey knew it wouldn’t take Cunningham long to pick things up because of his high basketball IQ. That certainly appears to be the case during his initial run with the Pistons.
Detroit returns to action on Wednesday versus the Houston Rockets.
This post originally appeared on Rookie Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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