Jalen Duren’s offseason workout clips are going viral among Pistons fans and sparking some hot debate. In the videos, Duren shows off his jump shot with shots from the midrange and 3-point land. The shots also come in different scenarios, including spot up, coming off screens and off the dribble, which have some fans excited for a potentially expanded role.
Some pessimistic fans have already dismissed the workout clips as much ado about nothing and compared them to videos of other non-shooters expanding their range in the offseason, such as the infamous Ben Simmons or even former Piston Andre Drummond. While it’s fair to take summer workout videos with a grain of salt, it’s also worth noting that Duren’s jumper generally looks more fluid than the other bigs in discussion.
Can Jalen Duren unlock offense for the Pistons?
Videos have also shown that Duren was working on his midrange jumpers consistently last season during warmups, as confirmed by beat reporter Eric Vincent. At times, we also saw him handle the ball in transition and against lesser defenders last season so these new clips seem like a natural extension of that.
Duren was already a force in the pick and roll with Cade Cunningham. He was often on the receiving end of alley-oops and the two finished as a top-ten assist duo in the league last year. But Duren was a very limited offensive player last season: nearly all of his field goals last year were in the paint and 62% of his field goals were assisted.
This last postseason showed us how valuable it can be for a big man to have a versatile offensive game. We saw Myles Turner and Karl-Anthony Towns give defenders fits with their combination of outside shooting and inside finishing. Even Isaiah Hartenstein, a more limited center, added wrinkles to his offensive game with elite passing out of the short roll and a soft touch in the floater range.
Expanding his range and improving his handle can help Duren be more of a threat in isolation or the post but more importantly within the flow of the team offense. Duren will be asked to develop a two-man game with new addition Duncan Robinson, who had previously established a strong connection with Bam Adebayo built off of dribble hand-offs. With some improved shooting and dribbling, Duren can take full advantage of Robinson’s shooting gravity.
I am of the opinion that Duren’s most important improvement will be on the defensive end but he can also tremendously uplift the team offense with a more complete arsenal. No one is asking him to launch 3s next year but Pistons fans do hope to see some of these offseason clips translate onto the NBA floor next season.