ORLANDO – Jalen Duren is costing himself money. Perhaps because he’s worried about money and, more specifically, the size of his next contract.
That’d be the human thing to do, considering Duren is, well, human. He’s also 22, and playing in his first playoff series as the undisputed No. 2 option for the No. 1-seeded Detroit Pistons.
Young and new. A tricky combo, no question, as the Pistons’ center has struggled over the first three games of these NBA playoffs.
Hey, whoever figured Wendell Carter Jr. gave the Orlando Magic the upper hand in the paint before the series began … good for you. While you’re at it, take my money and play the markets. You saw something no one else did.
Save for Carter himself, and maybe his Magic teammates. That should be clear by now, after Duren’s latest faceplant in the first round Saturday, April 25, at Kia Center, where Orlando took the young center out of the game, and then took his soul.
They had to have taken it, right? Made a deal with the underworld? How else to explain Duren’s complete and stunning regression?
Oh wait, that’s right. He’s 22. And he’s not even up to 10 playoff games played – No. 10 will come Monday in Orlando. Heaven forbid it takes a while for a youngster to find his footing in the postseason.
Cut him, am I right?
Banish him.
Trade him for a second-round pick and be done with him.
If he must be kept, offer him the minimum to stay.
These are the prevailing moods among many within the Pistons’ interwebs at the moment, where patience and sound judgement are the order of the day.
In the context of Saturday in the Magic Kingdom, where Duren mostly flailed and failed to find his way into any kind of offensive grace? Yeah, Duren needed to be banished. At least to the bench. At least for a while.
But for good?
Where’s the fun in that? Or, you know, where’s the common sense?
Also, where is the space to let an athlete fail and find their way from that failure? Like, you know, most human beings deserve the chance to do.
Searching for intensity
Look, Duren’s struggles are one reason the Pistons trail 2-1 in this series. But so are Cade Cunningham’s turnovers – he had nine Saturday – and so is coach J.B. Bickerstaff’s inability to get his team ready to play for the second time in three games.
You know who was ready to play? And whose play is the only reason the game wasn’t a blowout?
Ausar Thompson, that’s who. He was ready. Asked what the issue was during the first 3½ quarters of the game when the Pistons fell behind by 17, Thompson said:
“Intensity.”
As in: they lacked it.
Though he didn’t say they lacked it, because he doesn’t roll like that. But he could’ve, and he would’ve been right.
So, how about that? Is that all Duren’s fault?
No, it’s not, and I suspect if the Pistons had brought their true selves in Game 1 and again in Game 3, they’d lead 2-1 at the very least, if not 3-0. That’s the biggest issue. It’s just harder to define, and harder to measure.
It’s much easier to see that Duren took 10 shots and missed seven. It’s much easier to see him take the ball, dribble, hesitate, dribble again, finally shoot, and clank it high off the backboard.
It’s much easier to see him keep trying to attack Carter, and keep coming up empty, once to the point where Carter turned away, smiled, shook his head, and said:
“Is that all you’ve got?”
Well, he didn’t actually say that. But his face did. That was as clear as Duren’s uncertainty, and when Duren let his futility offensively carry to the other end, like early in the third quarter when he half-heartedly tried to stop Paolo Banchero on a fastbreak dunk? Bickerstaff had no choice but to bench him.
Keeping it simple
To his credit – yes, credit – Duren returned later in the fourth quarter and blocked a couple shots (he had five total) and helped the Pistons go on a 28-6 run to get back in the game. He eventually fouled out.
He brought, shall we say, a little more intensity, and simplicity. In other words, he kept it simple.
If he’s going to help the Pistons, he’ll need to keep keeping it simple. Roll hard off his screens with Cunningham and attack if there is space. Kick the ball to the outlets if there is not. Use a dribble or two and go, forcefully. And stop thinking so much.
Easy to say, harder to do, especially when he bet on himself in the offseason, spent this season playing at an All-Star level and figured the playoffs were the next step in showing his worth.
As Draymond Green likes to say, there are 82-game players, and there are 16-game players. Right now, Duren looks like an 82-game player. But that’s right now. Today. Not tomorrow or next week or next season.
“These last three games haven’t been what he wants or what we might want for him,” Cunningham said. “I and the whole team have no doubt he’s going to figure it out and he knows he’s going to figure it out.“
Again, he is 22. He got loads better from a year ago, especially defensively. He’s a worker. He shows bits of skill and vision that suggest almost tantalizing possibility.
Now, is he hurting his leverage for a max contract? No doubt. He’s showing how much work there still is for him to do.
Yet this isn’t it for him. Can’t be. Mostly because almost no one maxes out at 22, even if it’s simpler to pretend folks do.
Contact Shawn Windsor: swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him @shawnwindsor.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Are we really giving up on young Jalen Duren after three lousy games?
Reporting by Shawn Windsor, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
