One of the bright spots for the Detroit Pistons in this young season has been the play of their two rookies, as both Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren have gotten off to great starts
In fact, the 2022-23 rookie class has exploded onto the scene and looks a lot more talented and deeper than some people originally predicted.
I don’t think it’s any surprise that Jaden Ivey has played well, as he was one of the preseason frontrunners for Rookie of the Year and was supposed to be more NBA-ready than Jalen Duren, who is the youngest player in the NBA.
But Duren hasn’t played like an 18-year-old so far, as he is averaging eight points and eight rebounds in just 21 minutes per game while blocking 1.2 shots. His 3.4 offensive rebounds per game would have been just off the league lead last season, so Duren is definitely ahead of schedule and Pistons’ fans should be excited.
The NBA released its first Rookie Ladder of the season, which is the weekly ranking of rookies in the league. For the first week, they simply ranked the best performances so far, but I do think this list is also a pretty good indication of which rookies have been the best through the first week.
Detroit Pistons: The first NBA Rookie Ladder
Both Ivey and Duren made the first edition of the Rookie Ladder and you will find both of them in the top five, which is a great sign early on for the Detroit Pistons.
The biggest shock is that Duren is actually ranked ahead of Ivey, which I did not expect to see this season, at least not this early in the year, as Duren was supposed to be a project who could even spend some time in the G-League.
He squashed those notions pretty quickly, and has already made an argument to be inserted into the starting lineup, as the Pistons are getting killed on points in the paint and his ability to catch a lob might play better with Cade Cunningham.
Paolo Banchero and Bennedict Mathurin held the top two spots, not surprising given their red-hot starts, and Jabari Smith came in third after having a big game against Utah. While it’s a great sign that two Pistons are on the list, it’s not so great that the top two rookie performances came against Detroit.
There hasn’t been much to be happy about in terms of wins and losses this season, but the play of the two Pistons’ rookies has to give fans hope for the future, as both look like potential stars and to be ahead of schedule in their first season.