Detroit Pistons report card: Position grades for October

Centers: A

Jalen Duren: 4 GS, 15.5 PTS, 13.3 REB, 3.3 AST, .8 STL, 2 BLK, 2.8 TO

Marvin Bagley III: 0 GS, 11.5 PTS, 5.5 REB, 1.3 AST, 0 STL, .3 BLK, .3 TO

James Wiseman: N/A

My personal favorite position group this season is the centers. All of Detroit wanted to see how Jalen Duren was going to progress this year, and it’s safe to say he has exceeded expectations thus far. Still just 19 years old, Duren is averaging almost 15 and 15 and is converting at an absurd rate of 80 percent from the field. His defense was often an area of concern last season, but it seems as though he is reading offenses more accurately, and finding himself out of position less often.

Marvin Bagley has been a pleasant surprise as a backup center. Even with only averaging 17 minutes per game this season, Bagley is putting up 11.5 points and 5.5 rebounds all while shooting 50 percent from deep. Bagley is forcing Monty to keep him in the rotation and James Wiseman on the bench.

Overall: B

Averaging out the scores from each position group, Detroit sits at a B at the end of October. As mentioned multiple times, this is a small sample size being that the season started as October was already coming to a close. Overall, fans should be excited based on what we’ve seen from the center position, from Ausar, and, at the very least, encouraged by Cade. The Pistons have a lot to clean up, but starting the season with a B isn’t too bad.

We’ll check back in on November 30th to see if each group is able to improve on their scores.