Jumbo floor generals are all the rage in today’s NBA, and Cunningham brings plenty to the table as one of the smoothest pick-and-roll operators in the country. The vision, touch and timing on his passes are all second to none, and the ease in which he plays the game with is exceptional.

What’s one man’s trash is another man’s treasure to Cade Cunningham. Even on a broken play or well-communicated collapse by the defense, Cunningham finds a way to make something happen. Not many players can whip a pass along the baseline like this despite the swarming double team.

That pass was on the money to the corner shooter, and that kind of assist will be well appreciated once he gets into the league.

No pass is too difficult for Cade to make. This clip may be one of my favorites, the way he attacks the teeth of the defense, spins and keeps his balance to dump the dish to his big man for an easy deuce. 

What really gives him the edge is the fact that he has the size of a wing/forward prospect to affect the game in different ways before he’s even given the chance to fling a pass cross court.

Cunningham’s ability to fight on the boards, combined with his offensive recognition to immediately kick the ball back out to the open shooter at the top of the key is outstanding. Where the average player would grab that board and look to put a shot up despite the defender all over him, Cade knew he had a better chance of strolling back on defense with his team putting points on the board if he gave the rock up to someone with a much more open look.

And I haven’t even gotten to what he can do looking to score with the ball in his hands. I mentioned earlier that he has an isolation package that resembles Tatum, and I’m not exaggerating. Who else does this fall-away shot in a high-pressure situation remind you of?

Admittedly, one of my biggest questions about Cunningham coming in was how much of a shot maker he was. Could he take over games down the stretch and hit contested looks from the perimeter in crunch time?



Upon further review, it’s almost as if I shouldn’t have had that question in the first place. Time and time again, Cunningham converted on tough looks be it from mid-range or even behind the arc. For someone who wasn’t thought of as much of a shooter before the season, Id’ consider hitting 40 percent of his threes a major success.

What’s more impressive is the polish on his shot mechanics off the catch. Being able to generate offense for his team off the ball is a major selling point for anyone who doubted he could contribute without dominating the rock. Look at how he’s ready for the shot and goes up without hesitation. 

A huge part of being a catch-and-shoot threat is always having your hands ready and body square to the basket so there’s no wasted motion and hesitation. I didn’t expect to see this level of poise from Cade as a shooter yet he has his mechanics down to a tee.

Even out of pick-and-roll sets, Cunningham proved he’s a reliable shooter off the bounce and wasn’t afraid to pull the trigger in a moment’s notice.

Those are shots oozing with confidence. And they weren’t forced or bad looks either. These are great examples of Cade not trying to play hero ball, but balance his scoring and playmaking responsibilities and making sure his team won the possession.

The other main question I had was regarding Cunningham’s finishing at the basket. Could he absorb contact and have his way closer to the basket on a drive? That question was also answered in spades throughout the season, one example being on this contested finish.

When you watch all of these clips and break down HOW Cunningham is executing both in pressure situations and in space, it’s clear he understands the game on a level that isn’t exactly “expected” from a freshman.

And that’s what’s most impressive. These are NBA-level moves that Cunningham is executing at the drop of a hat.



So where are areas Cunningham can improve offensively? In short, he doesn’t have many “holes” in his offensive arsenal, except for on occasion when he tries to do too much.

One of Cunningham’s bad habits throughout the season was being a little too eager to throw his elbow to help him create space for a pull-up jumper, as shown above. Getting in foul trouble was Cunningham’s greatest downfall through his freshman campaign, and the charges the defense was able to draw and bailout opportunities such as that one landed Cade on the bench for more minutes than he should’ve been.

Another weakness of Cunningham’s is in his handle. While I wouldn’t call his ball handling “sloppy” by any means, there were times where he appeared a smidge too confident driving into the defense and didn’t take into full account the weak side helper chomping at the bit to poke the ball away on a drive to get their team out in transition.

Both of these issues stem from Cunningham having to take over at times when his teammates either were on cold streaks or he just didn’t have enough trust in late game situations. Those errors in judgment along with his knack for getting off to slow starts are areas for improvement Cunningham will have to focus on if he wants to be the consistent star player he has the potential to be.

Now the majority of scouts and fans alike love to bloviate over Cunningham’s offensive talents, but I was also curious to evaluate him as a defensive prospect given his positional advantages in the backcourt and his IQ to read opposing offenses and capitalize on miscues.

And as I suspected, Cunningham wasn’t inept to contributing a timely play on the defensive end.

It’s one thing for Cunningham to be able to run out in transition with one of his teammates making a play on the ball and pushing it up the floor. But it’s a whole different game if he’s able to take the ball in transition as the cerebral passer and capable finisher he is.

While there were more examples of steals and runouts on his resume this year, what I found to be intriguing was his recognition of when to rotate, closeout and recover on the ball in certain situations.

Jalen Suggs may have had the sequence of the NCAA Tournament with his block on UCLA and then the wicked one-handed bullet pass in transition for the finish. This play isn’t far off, however, and is one of the best plays I saw from Cunningham all year. He actively rotated and recovered on defense to disrupt the drive to the rim, got the ball and then almost had what would’ve been an impressive assist on a monster dunk in transition.

Plays like those are the definition of versatility. Here’s another example of Cunningham blowing up a play on defense leading to the opposing offense getting out of rhythm and turning the ball over.

The way no one talked about Cunningham’s defensive potential, I honestly came into this season thinking he’d sort of be like Luka Doncic on that end; a not exactly exceptional athlete with enough size to bother certain matchups and the court recognition to at least not be a negative.

Except he’s more than that. His anticipation, awareness and heads-up play helped to further establish the Cowboys’ tough defensive moniker all year long.

Sure he’s not without his warts on that end either. There were absolutely examples of lazy defenses, particularly along the baseline, where Cunningham could’ve made a more concerted effort to contain his man in front of him and not give up an easy bucket or a foul. But I don’t chalk these plays up to a lack of lateral mobility.

The good news for some of these negatives in Cunningham’s game is that they’re correctable with proper coaching. And any potential strength disadvantages he runs into as he switches and guards those who are bigger than him can also be mitigated to an extent, as his body still has plenty of room to fill out, and likely will in time on an NBA strength and conditioning program.



Although, one can make the argument that’s not as much of a problem as could be initially speculated on either.

Bottom line, Cunningham is a winning player on both ends of the floor. There’s a reason why he’s generally been the consensus top prospect in the field, and there’s little room to argue against a franchise-changing ceiling.

He offers the most value in his floor of any other prospect in this draft, and can improve his efficiency and handle in the league to become an even more lethal scorer and playmaker than he is now. And he’s already pretty dang good at both.

I would be quite surprised if he didn’t hear his name called first in the 2021 NBA Draft, and any team that gets to take him should be praising the Lottery Gods for the luck that shined upon the ping pong balls bouncing ever so in their favor.



He’s as talented a prospect as any who has come into the draft in a long time, and will be handed the keys to an NBA franchise from day one.