Former NBA star Jalen Rose reckons the Detroit Pistons will have yet another All-Star backcourt following their drafting of Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey.
Cunningham was drafted as the first overall pick by the Pistons last year and finished his first season with an average of 17.4 points per game while Ivey is looking forward to showing his stuff in the pros, having come in as the fifth overall selection in 2022.
Speaking at the 12th annual Jalen Rose Leadership Academy Celebrity Golf Classic at the Detroit Golf Club this week, Rose, who was born in Detroit, compared the youngsters to former All-Star backcourt pairings who played for Detroit and tipped them to be named All-Stars as well.
“When you talk to me about the Pistons, it made me think about great backcourts,” he said in quotes cited by the Detroit Free Press. “There was my biological father, Jimmy Walker, and Dave Bing was an All-Star backcourt in the 70s. And then Bad Boys, Joe Dumars and Isiah Thomas was an All-Star backcourt, right? How about Chauncey B-B-Billups and Rip Hamilton? An All-Star backcourt. I think we now have another All-Star backcourt in Jaden and Cade Cunningham.
“I believe the way Cade not only led and matured on and off the floor last year, and was not only able to create his own shot and be a lot more effective and efficient, just look at the way he played against the Nets, going against (Kevin Durant). Now for him to have somebody that’s going to make the game easier for him, because Ivey’s a blur, he’s been knocking down shots in practice, working really hard. I’m really excited about the potential of our team. I’m excited about the culture that they’re building.”
Ivey averaged 14.9 points in two seasons at Purdue and was named a second-team All-American this year.
