Pistons starting center Jalen Duren has not only been a double-double machine, he’s become a deft distributor. Throughout the team’s six-game winning streak entering Monday’s game against the Clippers, Duren had posted at least five assists in every game, the Detroit Free Press’ Omari Sankofa II notes.
“He’s just a dynamic offensive player and it’s interesting because of his size and strength, you don’t typically see the finesse and touch that he can play with with the ball in his hands,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “Normally, guys that are built like that don’t have that type of hand-eye coordination and skill. He’s an elite passer and play-maker. We trust him with the ball in his hands.”
Duren, who is averaging 11.0 points, 10.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game, is eligible for a rookie scale extension after the season.
We have more on the Pistons:
- Coming off his first All-Star selection, Cade Cunningham continues to dazzle. He racked up 38 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists and three blocks against Atlanta on Sunday. “He reminds me of Luka (Doncic) a lot,” backup Dennis Schröder said, per Keith Langlois of Pistons.com. “I followed his game very closely. It’s impressive how he picks the defense apart. He’s really unselfish. A lot of people don’t do that if they’ve got it going, not shooting. I don’t know how many shots he took in the second half.” Cunningham could also gain a spot on the All-NBA team, which would increase the value of the maximum-salary extension he signed last summer. Rather than a starting salary worth 25% of the cap, he’d earn a salary worth 30% of the cap. That would push his five-year contract from $224MM to approximately $269MM.
- Schröder had his best outing since he was acquired at the trade deadline, with 16 points and seven assists in 22 minutes against the Hawks. “To be able to have another ball-handler out there, who can make plays, who has no fear, takes a lot of pressure off of Cade and everybody else out there,” Bickerstaff said. “But you need a guy who has courage and this is what we envisioned when we made the trade for him, to get him in the (closing) lineup where he can help us finish and he rose to the occasion.” Schröder has given the team another valuable rotation player with Jaden Ivey sidelined by a fractured fibula.
- Detroit’s success has been the biggest surprise of the NBA season. The Pistons are fighting for a top-six spot in the Eastern Conference and Bickerstaff praised the team’s chemistry. “I’ve said it before, you can have talent with lack of chemistry and you’re going to underachieve. You can have less talent with better chemistry and you’re going to overachieve,” he said. “When you become elite and win championships you have talent and chemistry and we’re developing into that. We’ve got young guys with high-level ceilings that we’re still working to get to because we’re not a finished product yet, but our chemistry and the vibes in our building every single day are unique that you don’t see, especially with young teams.”
Move Duren to PF
Cade may be the best player in the world in a yr or 2. He’s about a yr or so behind Shai in his ascent & we see where Shai is. Similar guards, but Cade is bigger. Those guys, plus Harden & Luka, all basically the perfect embodiment of the big, versatile pg I’ve always been a fan of. Thank you Paul Pressey.
I was a big Bucks fan in the early 80s before I moved to the SF Area from San Diego. Moncrief Marques Johnson Junior Bridgeman, Brian Winters Quinn Buckner, etc. always fell short to either the Celtics or the Sixers.
They’d beat one then lose to the other. One year they swept the Celtics and that was fantastic but they lost to the Sixers of course. Might’ve been 82?
But yes, Nelly was always creating new variances on offense. Why not have a taller guy as your point guard who can see over the defense? Pressey wasn’t a great shooter, so he’s the perfect one guard then you had Marques and Moncrief on the wings.
But Nelson tried. Brought in Jack Sikma to be that scoring center they never had aside from Bob Lanier after he got old.
Then they scrapped the whole bunch and started over with Terry Cummings. The 80s were decent years as Bucks fans.
Double-doubling Duren dishes dimes dynamically! Dennis dubs Doncic doppelganger!
Duren is a keeper for sure. Except if you’re the knicks, who I’m sure would love Duren about now.
Cade is so nice. Looks like he got the Mamba.
Schroder is a great fit here. He should retire in Detroit. Excellent third guard with Ivey back.
Always wanted Duren. Knicks had to trade him. To open up cap space to sign Brunson. Cost of doing business ….
What kills me there is that they traded back for Burks later on down the road.
Not sure I’d say they’re the biggest surprise. The talent has been there. Injuries, coaching, and just time with adjustments have put them into position. They’ll only get better with experience.
They set NBA records for futility and added Tobias Harris, Beasley and Hardaway Jr along with drafting Ron Holland, who has played sparingly.
Based on minutes/games played (knowing that a cpl of these guys had been moved at trade deadline, etc), those 4 replaced James Wiseman, Quinten Grimes/Alec Burks, Kelvin Knox/Marvin Bagley III.
Last years team had a healthy Jaden Ivey, this year obviously not.
Tl;dr is that while they brought in some legitimate NBA rotation pieces, they hardly made a splash signing nor did they hit paydirt in the NBA Draft.
So, no, the “Talent” has not always been there.
This entire turnaround is, honestly, due to 3 Primary Factors, all probably equal:
1) Monty Williams was fired. Might have been the worst coaching performance in NBA history. 75% of his rotation & in-game decisions can only be explained by him purposely doing the worst possible job he could.
2) Troy Weaver fired. No more collecting 12 wings that can’t shoot and 14 centers that can’t defend, with drafting Killian Hayes over Halliburton for good measure. Langdon identified needs and went out and addressed them, with a lot less bullsh** along the way
3) Cade Cunningham came to camp healthy, with an actual NBA coaching staff ready and able to push him. He’s literally and figuratively gone from being in the “is Jalen Green better?” Category this time last year to “Which All NBA Team will he be selected to”.
Recap: This is absolutely the NBAs biggest surprise this year as far as W/L goes
Go pistons, get out of the lotto and give away your first round pick.