The Detroit Pistons are desperate for creation outside of Cade Cunningham and may have stumbled upon it from an unlikely source in Kevin Huerter.
Huerter racked up four assists in just 17 minutes in the win over Minnesota, three of them to Jalen Duren, with the two flashing a nifty two-man game in the process.
In one play early in the second quarter, Huerter used a Duren screen and then hit him on the short roll. Gobert contested the mid-range, so Duren got it back to Huerter, who never stopped moving, re-screened, and Huerter used it to draw in the defense, eventually hitting Duren for the lob.
The two also ran a couple of traditional pick-and-roll plays that ended in shots at the rim for Duren, who looked like prime Shaq in his first game back.
It’s only preseason, but these reps are important, as this duo could end up being an effective one, especially when Cade Cunningham is on the bench.
Jalen Duren needs to be the Pistons second scorer
Jalen Duren has plenty of work to do as a player, but one thing he does as well as anyone is score efficiently, as we saw last night when he put up 24 points in a half on just nine shots.
Duren should be the Pistons’ second-leading scorer this season, but he and Huerter showed last night that it doesn’t all have to come through Cade Cunningham.
Huerter is enough of a threat as a shooter (especially in the mid-range) to draw the attention of defenders and has enough handle to get to his spots if they close out too hard, which makes him a good pick-and-roll partner with Duren.
The Pistons may have stumbled into something here and are clearly counting on Huerter to be part of the rotation if preseason minutes are any indication, as he’s been one of the first players off the bench in all three preseason games.
The Pistons don’t need all of their secondary creation to come from one guy, and the Pistons have shown a much less stagnant offense in the preseason, with the ball and players moving more fluently, which should give more players opportunities to create and take some of the burden off Cade Cunningham.
Huerter is an exciting x-factor for the Pistons, as it wasn’t immediately clear if he’d even be in the rotation, but a bounce-back season from him that includes more assists and pick-and-roll work with Duren could make his contract look like a steal.
The Pistons need wing creators, and Huerter will get a chance to step into that role.
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