The Detroit Pistons have an expensive decision to make regarding Jalen Duren this offseason, but Trajan Langdon is confident they can reach an agreement
Since the Detroit Pistons were eliminated from the second round of the playoffs just two days ago, there is still a fresh wound throughout the organization. To some, the Pistons had untapped potential after winning 60 games during the regular season, so much so that a second round exit at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers could be considered a let-down.
But rather than leaning into that narrative, Pistons President of Basketball Operations Trajan Langdon offered a more measured, pragmatic approach when evaluating Detroit’s 60-win regular season and second round playoff appearance.
“I think we were the youngest number one seed in the history of the NBA or at least one of the youngest,” Langdon said. “Don’t quote me on it, but I think it's pretty close. So, obviously we take all that into [account] when we're thinking about everything, decisions to be made. This team is now, I think we won seven games in this postseason and two years ago the team won 14 in the regular season. So, when you take all that intro I perspective, this team has come a long way in two seasons. Now our job is to evaluate our team, evaluate where we’re at and evaluate how we can get better, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Part of that evaluation process means that Langdon will have to assess what went right for the Pistons during their dominant stretch of regular season basketball and what fell apart for Detroit once some difficult matchups arrived in the playoffs. Along those lines, Detroit center Jalen Duren made his first All-Star team by putting up nearly 20 points and 11 rebounds per game, but the big man’s production cratered once the Pistons shifted to the postseason. So, Langdon offered his view on where the team moves forward with Duren after what could be described as an underwhelming playoff performance.
“I think defenses took some things away from him, and I think that’s the biggest thing,” Langdon said. “A lot of the things we did during the regular season, defenses made sure he didn’t get easy baskets close to the rim. I think that was the biggest thing offensively, but he battled in both series. I don’t think it made him quit at all. He kept battling, he did a lot of things to help us win. I think if you were to ask himself if he was the best version of himself, he would say yeah, I didn’t play the basketball that I would have liked to have played. Sometimes that happens with young players in the league, but like I said before with all our guys, we are going to learn from, we’re all going to learn from the positives and the negative takeaways and we’re all going to get better from that. But saying all that, he had a lot of success this season. He got a lot better from the previous season, a lot for him to be proud of and build upon.”
At the moment, Duren will be headed for restricted free agency as soon as the Pistons extend a qualifying offer to the fourth-year center. Many have speculated that JD played himself out of a potential max contract given his production in the playoffs, but the big man’s eventual price tag is another important topic that Langdon will tackle during the offseason.
”First of all, JD had a fantastic season,” Langdon said. “All-Star, one of the biggest contributors to us being the number one seed. Near 20 points and 10 rebounds per game, incredible year and incredible leap from last year to this year because of the work he put in last summer and his focus. I have no doubt that we’ll help him put a plan together and he’ll attack it this summer just like he did last summer and come back a better player from his experience, not only from the regular season but from the postseason just like all our guys will. So, we look forward to coming together with his representation, getting a deal done and for him continuing to be a Piston.”
By all accounts, Duren is an important part of the Pistons’ plan for the future. At only 22 years old, JD added several facets to his game that shined during the regular season, such as his isolation scoring and an improved free throw percentage. Now, Duren will focus on making sure those qualities carry over to the playoffs in the future, but the Pistons have an immense amount of belief in the player that JD can become, so it sounds like he will be a cornerstone of Detroit’s squad when next season arrives.
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