Detroit — Jalen Duren played with a chip on his shoulder throughout his rookie year.
There was some talk last offseason that the youngest player in the NBA — who entered the league at the ripe age of 18 — would be better suited to get his feet wet in the G League with the Motor City Cruise before trying his luck with the Pistons.
That notion was quickly dismissed when Duren hit the ground running as one of the most athletic young centers in the league. At 6-foot-10 and 250 pounds, the Pistons’ rookie big immediately found his footing with his innate rebounding ability and explosiveness at the rim, which catapulted him into the starting lineup 28 games into the season.
Duren, whom the Pistons traded up to select with the 13th overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, averaged 9.1 points, 8.9 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 0.9 blocks in 67 games (31 starts). His production was enough to secure a spot on the NBA All-Rookie second team, alongside his fellow first-year teammate, Jaden Ivey.
Reflecting on his first season as a professional, Duren didn’t dismiss the idea of playing for the Cruise as disrespect, but he was reasonably confident that he was prepared for the rigors of the NBA.
“I think me and a couple of people in my circle were the only ones who knew I wasn’t going to play in the G League,” Duren said in April during his exit interview. “Of course, everybody kind of felt like that, which was understood. I kind of use that as a chip on my shoulder. But, I understood who I was and what I could bring to the game of basketball, and I knew I could do it at a high level. Not saying I’m all the way there yet, but I knew coming in that I could play here. I didn’t exceed my expectations. I felt like I had a good year. Better over the year, but I didn’t think I was gonna play in the G League.”
Duren didn’t surpass his own expectations likely because he struggled to stay healthy, missing 15 games of his rookie season — 12 of which were due to a pair of ankle injuries. The latter stint occurred shortly after he put together the best scoring performance of his career. Duren became the youngest player in NBA history (19 years, 84 days) to record 30 points and 17 rebounds, in the Pistons’ double-overtime victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Feb. 10.
Duren’s season was interrupted when he suffered bilateral ankle injuries shortly before the All-Star break that caused him to miss the Rising Stars Challenge in Salt Lake City and six games of the regular season that sidelined him from late February until early March. Former Pistons coach Dwane Casey also referenced Duren’s conditioning and interior defensive presence as areas for growth throughout the season. His goal during the offseason is to keep his body in tip-top shape in an effort to play in all 82 games next season, along with being more consistent.
“Consistency is a huge word,” Duren said. “To be great, you have to be consistent. For me, it’s honestly just being locked in and trying to understand what’s going on. ‘Being where my feet are,’ I like to say, and try to take over games, dominate games and affect games in any way possible. I feel like these are conversations I have with Coach (Casey) about keeping my development going and growing as a player and as a man. I feel like that will come. I’m excited about what I can be in this league.”
After spending the majority of his life in Philadelphia before his one-year stint of college at Memphis, Duren said adjusting to the constant travel of the NBA was something he had an idea about, but didn’t fully grasp until he went through it.
“Yeah, getting on that plane every day, it’s different,” Duren said. “It became like a car ride. I’ll probably say the traveling is like no other. You’re just in a different city. Sometimes, you might have a two-week road trip and you’re just seeing (a Pistons PR spokesman) every day and you gotta adjust to it. It’s been good, though. It’s been fun to visit all the different cities. There’s a couple of cities I’ve never really been to that I’ve gotten to go two or three times and go to their restaurants and see their people. It’s been good.”
Pistons general manager Troy Weaver came away with two lottery picks during last year’s draft. After selecting Ivey with the fifth pick, he manufactured a trade with the New York Knicks to acquire the 13th pick (Duren) and veteran guard Kemba Walker, who was bought out before training camp.
Duren led the Pistons with 19 double-doubles, which marked the fourth-most by a rookie in franchise history and the fourth-most by a teenager in NBA history. He shot up the record books and finished with the highest field-goal percentage of any Pistons player (.648) and his 153 dunks were the fourth-most in franchise history.
Duren finished second among all NBA rookies in rebounds (595) and offensive rebounds (229) and ranked third in blocks (59). His 595 rebounds led the team, and his 229 offensive boards were the second-most by a rookie in franchise history. Duren joined a short list of Dwight Howard and Moses Malone as the only teenagers in NBA history to record 200 offensive rebounds.
“That’s one guy that I won’t ever put a ceiling on,” Weaver said during his end-of-the-season press conference. “You keep watching him and you just see different things. Coach (Casey) and I talked earlier (this season). He said, ‘Troy, this guy won’t be with the Cruise. He’ll be with us.’ He’s a very smart young man. He has tremendous gifts. He may be surprising some, but I had him pretty high on my board. He’s got a chance to be a big-time player and I’m looking forward to his continued growth.”
There were flashes of Duren’s upside in the latter portion of the season, as he displayed an ability to knock down midrange jumpers. He only attempted two 3-pointers this season and both missed, but it’s a shot that he constantly worked on during practice with Pistons player developmental coaches Drew Jones and Rashard Lewis.
Duren was tested by several other bigs in the league in terms of physicality and wittiness around the rim. The list ranged from newly-minted MVP Joel Embiid, former two-time MVP Nikola Jokic and other burly bigs such as Steven Adams and Brook Lopez. When asked if he was aware of what it takes to be a formidable big before arriving in the league, Duren said he wasn’t intimidated.
“I never really thought about nobody’s age as that being something they have over me,” Duren said. “It’s always been like, ‘You gotta show me.’ I know I’m young — well, significantly younger than everybody in the league — but I never felt like that made me less of a player than them. I know I still got a lot more room to grow, a lot more I can get better at, but in terms of the court, it’s a mental game.
“I’m not scared from nobody. I don’t back down from nobody. It’s basketball. We all play basketball. I feel like I was up for the challenge.”
That challenge was met and successfully accomplished, especially if you ask the NBA’s panel of voters who rewarded the league’s youngest player with one of the highest honors a rookie can earn.
Before Duren walked away from podium for the final time of his first year, he answered one final question: “Are you excited about not being the youngest player in the NBA?”
“I am,” he said. “I really am.”
mcurtis@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @MikeACurtis2