Earlier this week the Detroit Pistons won the NBA Draft Lottery for the first time in their history. They’ve had the first pick twice before this, but never as a result of winning the draft lottery. As a Pistons fan, I was so incredibly excited. I can’t even explain how exciting this was for me at the moment. Mostly it was because I hadn’t really considered this as a real possibility. Of course it was possible that they could win the lottery (they had the second best odds to win), but I mentally was preparing to be in the 3-6 spots. Why was I so excited to get the first pick you ask? Because this draft has Cade Cunningham in it. He’s 6’8”, 220 pounds, shot 41% from three point range, scored 20 points per game, and is a “Franchise-Changing offensive orchestrator with smooth scoring skills, versatile defense, and a winning mentality” - Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer. Is Bloodround a Basketball site now? Nope. So why are we talking about Basketball? Because I realized recently that Oklahoma State is home to Cade Cunningham, and the most exciting and talented true Freshman wrestler in quite some time in AJ Ferrari. I’m a big fan of cross sport comparisons, wrestling, basketball, and 660 pound deadlifts. With that in mind, I’m going to compare the game of Cade Cunningham to the style of AJ Ferrari.

AJ Ferrari is one of the most athletically gifted and impressive wrestlers to watch in a long time. This might seem like it’s no big deal, but as a true Freshman, AJ was a fully grown 197 pounder. It’s important to emphasize this. 197 pound wrestlers are big, AJ looked big for 197. He’s not just big, but he’s long as well, with what looks like a close to 7 foot long wingspan. Despite being huge for the second biggest weight, he was crazy fast. I think most people think of his double legs from space when you think of his speed, but he’s fast all around. He is so quick to attack the corners in his short offense, as well as to get to a single leg. Another underrated piece of his offense and speed is his ability to continue to progress through positions. Once he gets to the leg, he’s not one to sit there and wait on a whistle. He’s quick to come up to his feet to look for a finish on a single leg, or to continue to circle behind and create an ankle to catch the far leg. He’s smart enough to know what to commit to in his finishes and gets to them quickly. His versatility on offense is super impressive for a young guy, but don’t let that be overshadowed by his defense. We’ll get to that soon enough.

The way basketball is played now in the NBA, you try to build a team around wing players with size who can create their own shot, handle the ball, and can switch on defense. It’s easier to say that than it is to find those players. Cade is one of the rare ones who can do it all on offense, defense, and who can handle the ball. Not many players have his diversity in attacks, ability to create shots for others, and such a natural feel for the game. He showed at Oklahoma State that he could dictate the pace of the game with his offense, as well as get the most out of his teammates. His diversity in attacks remind me of the impressive scoring that AJ has. Both AJ and Cade can score from inside, outside, and their ability to finish their attacks at a high rate are both elite. Each of these guys are ambidextrous when it comes to their attacks, with Cade finishing at the rim with both hands, and AJ finishing shots to either side of the body.

Another awesome trait to have in a basketball player is having someone who is as comfortable playing off the ball as they are with the ball in their hands. Some basketball players tend to check out when they don’t have the ball in their hands, or when the play isn’t called for them. Despite being far and away the best player for the Cowboys last season, Cade showed that he can be very effective without the ball in his hands, committing to the play call, looking to box out for rebounds, and to help create space for his teammates. Cade is an unselfish star player, and that is a tough quality to find among elite basketball talents.

Defense is not what you think of necessarily when you think of Cade or AJ, but I think that’s a reflection of how talented they are offensively rather than their inability on defense. Both have a lot of length and flexibility which they use to create opportunities for themselves. AJ can use his speed and length to create opportunities to score, and his flexibility to avoid situations where others would usually get scored on. As far as Cade is concerned, he has great instincts on defense, and is able to use his elite measurables (size, speed, length, etc) to get into passing lanes, and his intelligence to sniff out plays and use his energy and motor to break up plays. Both of these guys have elite size for their position/weight, which certainly helps as well. Most importantly, both AJ and Cade also have the mindset that it takes to fight through the difficult situations. They each have a winners mentality. That’s worth mentioning because it’s completely necessary to have that mindset to get to the levels that these two are obviously at. Is it safe to say that AJ is a type A personality? I think so. The same can be said for Cade and his ability to lead his team and bring out the of his teammates. I can’t emphasize this enough. Basketball and wrestling at this level have enormously talented athletes, but the ones with the winning mindset and who are coachable, and have the type A personality, tend to reach and exceed their athletic potential. In the first minute and a half of this interview, AJ manages to humbly talk about the teams history, his place in that history, his potential chance at winning 5 titles, dials it back to one takedown at a time, then drops a preview for their upcoming team title (date to be determined). It’s a winning mentality if I’ve ever seen one.

If I’m being honest, it wasn’t hard to find comparisons between two super freak Freshman athletes who happen to both wear Orange and Black. Regardless, both of these guys are going to be staples in their respective sports for years, and enormously fun to watch. Mostly, I just thought it was cool to point out, and I hope you felt that way as well. Cowboy Up! Here’s a picture of AJ and some lovely fans.