LAS VEGAS — In the Detroit Pistons’ Summer League opener on Saturday, Jalen Duren looked both familiar and new.
There was the dominant athleticism that powered his encouraging rookie season, which earned him a second-team All-Rookie selection. He muscled through defenses and out-jumped opposing bigs to grab rebounds while serving as a frequent lob target.
There were also flashes of shot-making he hadn’t previously shown. His first bucket was a stepback 3-pointer, and he added a pair of midrange jumpers in the fourth quarter. Nearly all of his 11 points from the floor at the Thomas & Mack Center came off jump shots, and he also went 6-for-10 at the free throw line. He even attempted to put the ball on the floor and engineer his own scoring, rather than rely on his teammates.
For a player who took — and missed — two 3-pointers last season, he looked surprisingly comfortable as he watched his lone 3-point attempt rattle through the net. How long has that been part of his game?
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“Ah, man,” he said following the game. “Since about April.”
It’s Summer League, and Saturday doesn’t mean Duren will instantly become a Karl-Anthony Towns-level shooter next season. But he was eager to show how his game has grown during the Pistons’ 89-78 victory over the Orlando Magic on Saturday, in ways that were both noticeable and subtle. He finished with a team-high 17 points and eight rebounds.
Duren knows he needs to continue polishing his game following a rookie season that saw him start 31 of the 67 games he played. He averaged 9.1 points, 8.9 rebounds and 0.9 blocks per game, and his energy and rim pressure made him a rotation staple for a Pistons team that battled frontcourt injuries.
He’s not the same player he was in Summer League a year ago, when he was just three weeks past the draft and the youngest person in the league. This time around, on a roster filled mostly with rookies and players looking to establish themselves, he got to be a veteran. And he took advantage of his green light.
“Just feeling more comfortable,” Duren said. “I felt way more comfortable coming in. Just felt like I just understood the game a lot more. Coming in last year, it was a lot of me just trying to figure it out, just trying to understand my role and what it will be with this year, is just working on what I’ve been working on all summer. Coming out here and just trying to put it to the test.”
Beyond the shooting, Duren also stretched himself more as a playmaker. Those results were more mixed. He found James Wiseman in the corner for a 3-pointer, his lone assist of the night. He also produced six turnovers. Again, it’s Summer League. Head coach Jarrett Jack wasn’t concerned about Detroit’s ball-control issues afterward — it’s the perfect time for players to step outside their comfort zone.
We’ve seen Duren make smart, instinctive reads. He found bigs for lobs, cutters for layups and shooters for open 3-pointers last season. The Pistons believe he’ll eventually be able to feed his teammates routinely. He said he didn’t try to force the issue on Saturday, but he did get reps.
“Honestly, it’s not something I’m thinking about, it’s just the flow of the game,” Duren said. “I feel like I’m a great passer and I feel like I can make a lot of good reads. When I got here, I tried to do that.”
Defensively, he didn’t record any blocks but he still had moments of defensie success, such as the possession on which he stuck with 2023 No. 6 overall pick Anthony Black on the perimeter, pestering the 6-foot-7 guard into a turnover.
Duren has also been working on his conditioning this offseason. It was a problem for him at times, and Cade Cunningham is among the people who told Duren to prioritize it this summer. It’s tough to get a read on a player’s conditioning level from one Summer League game, but he’s aware of the NBA grind and has a better idea of where he needs to be going into his sophomore season.
Former Pistons coach Dwane Casey challenged Duren to channel Bam Adebayo last year, and specifically highlighted the Miami Heat star’s motor and hard floor-running as things Duren should emulate. He took the challenge to heart.
“Just trying to get in the best shape possible to be able to run up and down that floor and rim to rim, honestly,” he said. “That’s one of the biggest things I was working on. Even talking to Cade, Cade made that emphasis for me. I talk to him a lot about, what you see in my game, what can I get better at. He said, ‘We need you in the best shape possible.’ A lot of guys honing on that, I try to make that the biggest thing.”
Duren, who turned 19 last November, is still younger than both of Detroit’s first-round picks from last month. He’s only two months older than Black, who tallied 17 points for the Magic. To reach his ceiling, Duren knows he has a lot of work ahead.
In Vegas, he got a chance to show his work is bearing fruit.
“I want to keep growing and getting better,” Duren said. “We got a new coaching staff, we got new players. I want to just be out here hooping. There’s no reason for me to be sitting down and watching when I can be out here playing with my guys. I feel like even though I’m one more year in almost, basically, it’s still not enough to be like, ‘Oh, I’m going to sit down and watch.’ I feel like I can still be out here getting better.”