Bob Wojnowski: Cunningham needs an assist as Pistons consider next moves

DETROIT – It’s the question that has vexed NBA executives and scholars forever, and no, it’s not, what actually constitutes traveling? It’s the one the Pistons suddenly, happily face: How soon to push the pedal?

They just completed a historically dramatic turnaround, won a playoff game for the first time in 17 years and pushed the Knicks to the brink of insanity. A week since the season ended, in some ways the real drama now begins, figuring out when (or if) to push harder. Pistons president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon knows it’s a different world than when he inherited a 14-68 team a year ago, with interest ratcheted and expectations rising.

Foremost, to take the next step, the Pistons need someone to help Cade Cunningham with scoring, ballhandling and leadership. In basketball parlance, Batman could use a Robin, and no room for Jokers.

The riddle is, does that player already exist on the roster? And don’t they at least need to find out?

Yes, they do. It very well could be Jaden Ivey, who was on his way to filling the role before going down Jan. 1 with a broken leg. In his third season after being drafted No. 5 overall, he had career bests in points per game (17.6), shooting percentage (.460) and 3-point percentage (.409). He showed enough to be worthy of a bigger shot, which lessens the urgency for a major acquisition.

J.B. Bickerstaff pieced together a cohesive team so quickly, it’s tempting to think it’s easy to add and subtract. The Pistons’ youth gives them time to be patient, and at least initially, I think they should use it.

“Helluva season for us,” Langdon said Wednesday. “Surprising, gratifying. It creates different expectations going into next year. I can see that both ways, positive and negative, but I think it’s way more positive.”

Rational vs. reckless

The positives are obvious, with Cunningham, 23, blossoming into stardom and teammates making strides, from Jalen Duren, 21, to Isaiah Stewart, 24, to Ausar Thompson, 22, to Ron Holland II, 19, and yes, to Ivey, 23. The Pistons likely will return the core of the team that went 44-38 and took the Knicks to six games.

The negative is the tricky task of differentiating between rational and reckless moves. There will be calls (from fans, media, your Uncle Eddie) for a Big Move, and Langdon dutifully will explore it. But of all the things this young team earned this season – respect, resolve – it earned the chance to grow and figure out what it really has.

“We have to learn more about our players,” Langdon said. “Do we add another person or just build from within? Is there a big play that makes sense for us? … If our team’s (ages) were 31, 33, 34 and 30, and we went on this run, that’s different than 23, 22, 21, 19.”

I doubt the Pistons pursue any big-time free-agents, for cost and continuity reasons. I highly doubt they’ll be in the trade mix for names like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker or Zion Williamson.

There’s another level of intriguing names – Timberwolves’ Naz Reid, Nets’ Cam Johnson — and the Pistons have about $25 million in salary-cap space. They don’t possess a first-round pick and have No. 37 in the second round. They have their own experienced free-agents — Malik Beasley, Dennis Schroder, Tim Hardaway Jr., Paul Reed — to consider, and I suspect they’d like to keep one or two. Tobias Harris also is here another year, barring a trade.

The Pistons need another big man, preferably a stretch-4, who can step out to the perimeter and unclog the middle. Duren could develop into that. Thompson’s elite defense makes him valuable, and if he adds a jumper, look out.

NBA championship contenders generally have a superstar and another star working in concert. The Knicks have Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns. The Celtics have Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. The Nuggets have Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray. The Warriors were revived when Jimmy Butler joined Steph Curry. Oh, almost forgot, the Lakers have LeBron James and Luka Doncic (oops).

Cunningham had a stirring breakout season with 26.1 points, 9.1 assists and 6.1 rebounds per game. The team’s second-leading scorer was Ivey at 17.6, and then Beasley. I asked Langdon if he could predict who the Pistons’ second-leading scorer will be next season?

“Nope, and I think that’s a good thing,” Langdon said. “I’m excited to see who that will be.”

Shape up

In barely a year here, Langdon has chosen prudently, from his head coach to his first-rounder, Holland, to veteran free agents. Before that, owner Tom Gores chose wisely in landing Langdon.

Those were modest moves that collectively became huge, an organizational transformation. Just because they hit on a high percentage doesn’t mean they’re about to swing wildly now.

“I’ve said to stay patient, and I’m not gonna change in that regard,” Langdon said. “We’re always looking at avenues to get better, but we have to make the right decisions for sustainable success. We think we have a group of guys we can do that with. At what level, right now we don’t know.”

It sure sounds like Langdon will take the internal, organic approach, and if he opts to add, it’d likely be via trade.

“If we’re looking at doing that hypothetically — don’t put that as something we’re gonna do — I’d assume it would have to be a trade,” Langdon said. “I don’t know how many All-Stars are gonna come here in free agency right now, and the amount of cap space we have doesn’t allow that.”

With all their youth, the Pistons have compelling reasons to expect internal growth and plan for a longer window of contention. And no reason bigger than Cunningham himself.

He set career highs in all statistical categories, but he’s not a finished product. It was only a six-game sample, but Cunningham’s 3-point percentage dropped from 35.6 to 17.9 in the playoffs, and he led all players with 5.3 turnovers per game.

He admitted how eye-opening it was, saying he learned more in the first four playoff games than he had all season.

“The physicality is up, every possession means a lot more,” Cunningham said after the Game 6 loss to New York. “You have to do everything stronger, faster and a little more together. So many times, I had a turnover and I just wished I could get that play back.”

He’ll get his chance to run it back. He’s on his way to superstar status and All-NBA honors with some key refining. His outside shooting and ballhandling need to improve, and finding a consistent Robin would help.

“He had an incredible year, stats-wise,” Langdon said. “The biggest step, the hardest step to take, is turning your stats into actual meaningful things. (Before) he was looking at other people with targets on their backs. Now he’s gonna have a target on his. I don’t think that really happened until probably game 60 or 70 when people started looking at us and him in that manner.”

And then Langdon issued a challenge for Cunningham, but really for everybody on the roster. Most had never made the playoffs and had no idea of the toll. Now that they know, they know how much harder it gets.

“We’ve talked to (Cunningham) about it, just getting in elite shape,” Langdon said. “If you’ve never experienced playoff basketball, you can’t understand the level you have to go to. Now he understands that, he’s felt it. He should be training for the second round of the playoffs and not training for game 45 anymore.”

That means getting stronger so he doesn’t get bumped off his dribble and can draw more fouls. It means setting the tone for others, and his leadership qualities already are top-notch. Cunningham showed he can lift his team to unexpected heights. Now those heights will be expected, and he’ll need more growth and more help.

____