The amazing Cade Cunningham number that the league needs to address

The Detroit Pistons have played back-to-back overtime games on consecutive nights and I feel about as exhausted as the players as both were emotionally draining.

This has been true for most of the Pistons’ season, as they have become must-see TV, NBA League Pass darlings for fans who want to see close, bizarre games.

The last five have come down to overtime or the final possession, and those games were decided by a combined 13 points, seven of which came last night in the overtime loss to Milwaukee.

But another number stood out last night, and that’s the number of free throw attempts, as Giannis Antetokounmpo had 17 of them, more than the entire Pistons team combined (13).

This is nothing new, as the Pistons have had lousy shutouts years back, we just didn’t notice because the games weren’t close and didn’t really matter.

Now that the Pistons are more competitive, this disparity in free throws is killing them.

First, I am in no way saying that free throws or officiating have cost the Pistons all of these close games.

Detroit has done themselves no favors with untimely turnovers, missed free throws, late scoring and their own mental lapses.

But it doesn’t help that they can’t get a call.

The Pistons are 25th in the NBA in free throw attempts per game, which in itself proves nothing. They shoot just over 20 free throws per game. game on average, while the top two teams in attempts, Denver and the LA Lakers, get 28.3 and 27.5, respectively.

This makes some sense since they have dominant centers who happen to be superstars and superstars get calls. Both are veteran teams that know how to work the refs, something the Pistons are still learning.

But when you dig deeper into the numbers, something doesn’t add up, as the Pistons are not a 3-point shooting team that never goes to the paint. They are just 20th in 3-point attempts per game. game and 10th in points from 2-pointers, so Detroit has lived in the paint and mid-range, the areas where the most fouls are drawn.

The Pistons are 15th in points in the paint per game, so even though they only have one true center, Detroit gets a lot of their points down low. Their 48.3 points per game in the paint is more than the Nuggets, who average eight more free throws per game. match.

There is one player in particular who doesn’t get many calls and his name is Cade Cunningham.

Cade Cunningham took 34 shots last night against the Bucks and made four free throws. Giannis also took 34 shots for the Bucks, but was rewarded with 17 free throws.

Obviously, Giannis’ game is different, but both players attract plenty of attention and contact, but one is rewarded with free throws at a much higher rate.

This applies to almost all the stars who take a lot of shot attempts for their team.

Cade Cunnigham is 7th in the NBA in shot attempts per game with just over 20, not far behind Luka Doncic, who takes 23 shots per battle to lead the league.

But Cunningham is just 50th in free throw attempts, an amazing number that doesn’t match his usage compared to other players.

The six players ahead of Cade in attempts all take far more free throws per game than him, with Giannis getting more than 10, Luka 7, Tyrese Maxey 6.43, Jayson Tatum 8.92 and Jaylen Brown 8 leading the way.

Cade Cunningham averages four free throw attempts per game.

You don’t even need the numbers as the eye test tells you everything. I’m as biased as they come, but there have been countless plays this year where Cade was severely hacked and not called. I’m not talking about touch fouls or 50/50 calls here, I’m definitely talking about Rick Mahorn-style fouls that anyone with sight can see.

Cade was literally held to the floor on a bounce ball by Bam Adebayo with the referee’s face about 10 inches from the action. No call.

He gets hit on almost every shot he takes in the paint, and defenders have been allowed to hack him with impunity, which is one of the reasons he has so many turnovers.

This may sound like sour grapes or whining, but the numbers don’t lie and something isn’t right when one player takes more free throws than your entire team.

Something needs to change as Cade and the Detroit Pistons are not being rewarded in a way that other teams are. We all know superstars get call-ups, something we have to begrudgingly accept, and since Detroit doesn’t have one yet, maybe that’s the problem, but it’s a problem.