Pistons center Jalen Duren spent some time in the gym with a notable Detroit legend

While the Detroit Pistons have officially broken the offseason with the start of training camp this week, fourth-year center Jalen Duren has kept a linear track of improvement all summer long. After lodging 11.8 points and 10.3 rebounds per game last season throughout the Pistons’ playoff charge, Duren thinks he’s entering the 2025-26 campaign at the peak of his physical ability. 

“I think this is the best I’ve felt body-wise,” Duren said at Media Day. “I think my body fat is down, strength is up, and the whole summer’s just about progressing, honestly, going into year four, becoming a better basketball player, understanding the game, becoming a bigger role for this team, honestly.”

To be specific, Duren stressed that he’s been working on his ball handling, pace and footwork over the summer, and one helpful influence in that regard has been Rasheed Wallace. A former Pistons legend in his own right, Wallace has maintained a multi-year relationship with the current Detroit center, and the two linked up recently to get a little bit of pre-season work in the bank.

“That's a guy that I've been in touch with for a long time,” Duren said. “Since college, he's been sort of like a mentor for me. You know, being able to go back to Philly and work with him. It was great, you know, we got a lot of good bump in, a lot of good gyms. If you know Sheed, you know I can't repeat all the things he says, but it was great, though, man. He's definitely the OG, and it was great to even get some work in with another Pistons legend.”

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Throughout his extensive NBA career, Wallace possessed an inside-outside game that forced defenders to respect not just his ability in the post but his accuracy from longer range as well. And after Wallace worked with Duren over the summer, now the present-day Pistons big man has been cleared to open up his offensive repertoire by mixing in more jump shots.

“I’m going to start putting them up now that I’ve got the green light, so start putting them up,” Duren said. “But like for real though, but just working on it, staying consistent, staying in the gym, getting back to the fundamentals, the basics, my balance, like I said, my feet earlier, shot mechanics, just locking in on every day, trying to progress as a player and get better, and just be able to be used in any way possible, like in any way JB [Bickerstaff] wants to use me or put me in spots. I just want to be able to, you know, fill my role to the best of my ability.”

From a broader perspective, the willingness of Wallace to work with Duren on his game is indicative of a larger feeling that the 6-10 Pistons center has gleaned from his time in Motown. 

“It's become like home,” Duren said. “Honestly, it's become like home. The hope is to spend my whole career here. It's the fans, the city, everybody I feel like has embraced me. I'm a guy who likes to kind of move around. I kind of like to explore, so everywhere I've went in the city over these last couple years has always been love. You know, it's always been love, and I want to reciprocate that. I want to give everything I have to this organization, to this city, to show them that I love them back.”

And in pursuit of giving his all back to the city, Duren hopes to dazzle fans with an efficient, productive pick-and-roll offense this season.

“I think our pick and roll should be number one–period– in the league,” Duren said. “But the lob connection, that should be a given every year. That shouldn't be something that's just a one, one year thing.”

During his Media Day availability, Duren spoke about the chemistry he’s hoping to build with Duncan Robinson right off the bat, and he singled out the sharp-shooter as a player he’s excited to grow with throughout the coming year. 

The Detroit Pistons will begin the pre-season on Monday, Oct. 6 with a matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies. 

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