Cade Cunningham: ‘Unacceptable’ that coach had to question ‘bad’ Pistons’ effort

And it’s safe to say Detroit guard and former No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham is none too pleased about the state of things. Nor is Monty Williams, in his first year coaching the team after a successful run with the Suns.

“I think a few of our guys are dealing with how hard the league is,” Williams told reporters. “When you’re dealing with it, the one thing you can control is your competition level. I didn’t see that across the board tonight.”

Those comments were relayed to Cunningham, who said the fact the coach felt the need to question the Pistons’ effort was “unacceptable.”

“That should be the last thing that needs to be asked of us or talked about, is how hard we compete,” Cunningham said. “That should be a given.”

He didn’t stop there.

“We’ve got to be realistic about the situation,” Cunningham said. “It’s hard to just be like ‘Oh, we’re good, we’re good,’ because we’re bad. We’ve got to address that.”

The Pistons (2-12) appear likely to again miss out on the playoffs, or even reach the play-in tournament. And there are 60 more games to go.

They do get a taste of the Finals on Monday, though. That’s when they host the defending champion Nuggets.