The Detroit Pistons gave Jalen Duren a five-year, $200 million contract based in part on what he had already accomplished as a 22-year-old All-NBA center, and partly on what they hope he becomes.
When you look at the list of centers making $35 + million a year, you’ll find mostly older guys with much longer lists of accomplishments than Duren has at this point in his career, including multiple MVPs, rebounding titles and Defensive Player of the Year awards.
Duren has some work to do to get there, but at age 22, there is time for him to add to his game in ways that will make him worth the Pistons’ investment.
Jalen Duren has to be more of a hub on offense
Duren was taken out of the playoffs by his inability to consistently do anything but crash the rim as a roller on offense. Orlando and Cleveland just packed the lane with big players and essentially made Duren obsolete.
He has to get better at facilitating for himself and others out of the short roll, as that area was there for him to take advantage of in the playoffs, but he never did.
When Duren gets the ball on the roll at the top of the key area, he has to be more decisive. If teams are going to sag off as they did in the playoffs, then he needs to be able to consistently step into the mid-range jumper to make defenses respect him from there.
Duren has shown he can hit that shot, but not consistently enough for defenses to care.
He also needs to get back to being more of a passer out of the short roll, as an area where he was more effective in his third season. Duren’s assists went down last year, and by reducing passing as part of his arsenal, it made him much easier to defend, especially in the playoffs.
With better shooting and increased space, Duren should be able to get back to hitting cutters for dunks out of the short roll, something he has shown he can do.
Duren can’t be one-dimensional on offense, which doesn’t mean he has to start launching 3-pointers, but it does mean a few more mid-range jumpers and increased passing opportunities in the short roll.
Jalen Duren has to protect the rim
With Isaiah Stewart gone, the Pistons are light on rim protection and have to get more out of Jalen Duren in this department. He didn’t even average a block per game last season, which is not easy for a starting NBA center who lives around the rim.
This comes down to consistency and effort, which will hopefully be helped by the slimmer frame he carried into training camp this season, as there were times when motor was an issue on defense.
Duren has been an effective defender in the pick-and-roll, especially with Ausar Thompson (shocker) but still gets lost on rim rotations at times and still gets off his feet too often on pump fakes.
These are all areas of improvement that are within Duren’s grasp, and if we see these developments, there will be less concern about his contract.
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