Las Vegas – in Detroit Pistons In Saturday’s summer league opener, Jalen Duren looked both familiar and new.
There were dominant athletics that fueled his encouraging rookie season, earning him a Second Team All-Rookie selection. He leaps through defenses and beats top opponents to grab rebounds while serving as a repeat lob target.
There were also flashes of shots he had never shown before. His first bucket was a rolling three-pointer, and he added a pair of midrange jumpers in the fourth quarter. Nearly 11 of his points from the floor at the Thomas & Mack center came on jump shots, and he also went 6-for-10 at the free throw line. He even tried to put the ball on the ground and engineer his own goals, rather than relying on his teammates.
For a player who hit three-pointers and misses last season, he looked surprisingly comfortable watching his only 3-point attempt slip into the net. How long that Was it part of his game?
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“Oh, man,” he said after the game. Since about April.
It’s the summer league, and Saturday doesn’t mean Doreen will become an immediate Carl Anthony-level shooter next season. But he was eager to show how his game unfolded during the Pistons’ 89-78 win over the Orlando Magic on Saturday, in ways that were both remarkable and nuanced. The team finished with 17 points and eight rebounds.
Duren knows he needs to continue to improve his game after a rookie season in which he started 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 edge pressure made him a staple in rotation for a Pistons team that struggled with front court injuries.
He’s not the same player he was in the summer league a year ago, when he was just three weeks out of draft and the youngest player in the league. This time around, on a roster filled mostly with rookies and players looking to prove themselves, it has to be a veteran. He used his green light.
“I just feel more comfortable,” Doreen said. “I felt more comfortable going in. I just felt like I understood the game so much. Last year a lot of me was just trying to figure it out, just trying to understand my role and what it’s going to be like this year, just working on what I’ve been working on all summer. Getting out here and trying Just test it.”
Beyond shooting, Doreen has extended himself as a playmaker. Those results were more mixed. He found James Wiseman in the corner for a three-pointer, his only assist of the night. He also produced six turnovers. Again, it’s the Summer League. Head coach Jarrett Jack wasn’t worried about Detroit’s ball control issues after that—it’s the perfect time for the players to get out of their comfort zone.
We saw Doreen provide smart and instinctive readings. He was a great found hole breaker, putt breaker and 3-putt open shooter last season. The Pistons believe they will eventually be able to feed their teammates on a regular basis. He said he didn’t try to force the case on Saturday, but he did get representatives.
“Honestly, it’s not something I’d think about, it’s just the flow of the game,” Doreen said. “I feel like a wayfarer and I feel like I could write a lot of good reads. When I got here, I tried to do it.”
Defensively, he didn’t score any blocks, but he still had moments of defensive success, like the possession he held on to the 2023 No. 6 overall with Anthony Black picking on the perimeter, upsetting the 6-foot-7 guard. .
Duren is also conditioning it off-season. It’s been a problem for him at times, and Cade Cunningham was among the people who asked Doreen to prioritize it this summer. It’s hard to read a player’s conditioning level from a single Summer League game, but he’s familiar with the NBA grind and has a better idea of where he should go in his sophomore season.
Former Pistons coach Dwane Casey challenged Bam Adebayo’s two roles last year, It specifically highlighted the Miami Heat star’s drive and the solid ground that Doreen had to emulate. He took the challenge very seriously.
“I’m just trying to get in the best shape I can to be able to run up and down that floor and edge the rim honestly,” he said. “That’s one of the biggest things I’ve been working on. Even talking to Kid, Kid made that focus for me. I talk to him a lot, about what you see in my game, what I can improve on it. We need you as best we can,” he said. Players master it, I try to make that the biggest thing.”
Doreen, who turned 19 last November, remains the youngest of both Detroit first-round draft picks last month. He is only two months older than Black, who has accumulated 17 magic points. To get to his roof, Doreen knows he has a lot of work ahead of him.
In Vegas, he gets the chance to show that his work is paying off.
“I want to keep growing and getting better,” Doreen said. “We’ve got new coaching staff, we’ve got new players. I just want to be here hoops. There’s no reason for me to be sitting around and watching when I’m here playing with my buddies. I feel like even though I’m almost an extra year old, it’s not enough for me to be like, ” Oh, I’ll just sit and watch. ‘I feel like I’m still here getting better.’
This article originally appeared on the Detroit Free Press: Jalen Doreen of the Detroit Pistons appears in the Summer League off-season