Huge and unexpected problem for Jalen Duren in year three

Coming into the season, fans talked a lot about what third-year center Jalen Duren needed to improve upon. 

Almost all of the talk focused on defense, which made sense, as the Pistons need him to be their defensive anchor and aren’t as concerned about his offense, which mostly consists of rolling to the hoop and hunting lobs. 

Nevertheless, the Pistons coaching staff talked about expanding Duren’s offensive game in the offseason, which I felt was a mistake given that he already has enough on his plate at the other end. 

We have seen Duren bring the ball up the floor more often this season, which I personally hate, and he is averaging a career-high three assists per game. 

But it has come at a cost, and is adding to a problem that has held the team back for the last two seasons: Turnovers. 

Jalen Duren stats: Turnovers 

The Pistons are 29th in the NBA in turnovers per game, so it’s not just been one guy coughing it up. 

We’ve talked a lot about Cade Cunningham and his need to clean up the turnovers, especially in the 4th quarter, but Duren has been killing the Pistons as well and hasn’t gotten nearly as much attention. 

Duren is currently averaging two turnovers per game, which is unacceptable for a big man with a 12.3 percent usage rate. Compare that to Isaiah Stewart, who doesn’t have great hands, but averages half the number of turnovers on around the same usage. 

Duren’s insane 27.9 percent turnover percentage (which means he turns it over nearly 30 percent of the time per 100 times he touches the ball) is the worst in the NBA among players who play at least 15 minutes per game. This is up from 16.7 percent last year, so a huge, unexpected problem is developing.

I get that the Pistons want to take advantage of Duren’s ability to pass, but he has to cut out the high degree of difficulty pocket passes to cutters which almost inevitably end in turnovers. 

It’s bad enough that the Pistons’ high-usage guys are committing turnovers, they can’t have a guy who is not even a focal point of the offense turning it over nearly a third of the time he touches the ball. 

It’s been an issue for the whole team, but you can accept and understand a certain number of turnovers from the guards, who are handling the ball most of the time and often charged with turnovers that aren’t their fault. 

Duren has to be stronger with the ball and value it more. He can’t try to thread the needle with passes like he is Nikola Jokic, and has to get back to the basics on the offensive end. Keep the ball up, protect it, and don’t try to do too much. 

Any offense from Duren is gravy, so they need him to focus on the things that matter for this team, which are rebounding, protecting the rim and not putting the team in bad positions defensively with turnovers.