What Jalen Duren has done for the Detroit Pistons this season is nothing short of old-fashioned domination.
Duren has become the best version of what he already was, which is a guy who can physically dominate most of the players he plays, which we have seen this season, as Duren is controlling the rim on both ends.
He hasn’t tried to add anything too crazy to his game, though we have seen him face up and take defenders off the dribble, something he did repeatedly against the Pacers last night on his way to 31 points. Duren has a rare combination of quickness and power that makes him difficult for most centers to hang with off the bounce.
We know all about his offensive rebounding and his dominance as a roll man, and Duren has even added some basic post moves to his repertoire.
But we saw something last night against the Pacers that could unlock his offensive game even more.
Jalen Duren: Facing up and hitting jumpers for the Pistons
If you watch the first part of these highlights from last night’s game, you’ll see Jalen Duren doing all the things he does best, hunting lobs, grabbing offensive rebounds for putbacks, running the floor and even a nice grab-and-go that he took end-to-end.
What I didn’t expect to see was what happened at around the 31-second mark of the video, as Duren put on a nice display of handles, going around the back and between the legs like Allen Iverson before pulling up for a top-of-the-key jumper and nailing it like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
You’d think you were looking at Kevin Durant, a guy who has made a living pulling up for that exact jumper.
But that’s not KD, it’s the Pistons’ 6-foot-10 bruiser who had been burning Pacers’ defenders all night off the bounce. Once they backed off, he simply pulled up and swished the jumper, and if he can do that consistently, he’ll be one of the toughest covers for centers in the NBA.
We’ve already seen Duren bully people in the paint, so if they have to respect that jumper, it opens up even more things for him offensively. What if Dwight Howard had Bam Adebayo’s jumper? We may be finding out with Duren, who has been entirely impressive this season and has to be the current frontrunner for Most Improved Player.