The relationship between Jalen Duren and the Detroit Pistons has soured over the last three months. As the stalemate continues, it's understandable that Pistons fans are frustrated with the process. This has caused some of them to turn against Duren.
But the latest fan survey by The Athletic paints a fascinating picture. The souring of the relationship has led many fans to significantly underrate Duren.
The Athletic's Pistons insider Hunter Patterson shared the results of the survey question, "Who is the second-most valuable Piston behind Cade Cunningham?" An overwhelming majority of 1,285 respondents (67.6%) had Ausar Thompson as their answer, while only 27.9% of them said Duren.
This evaluation between Duren and Thompson isn't based on any reality and seems to put way too much weight on Duren's playoff struggles.
Frustrating stalemate is causing Pistons fans to underrate Jalen Duren
How disappointing Duren was in the playoffs is undeniable. But his struggles received a ton of attention because of the bar he set in the regular season. Relative to his regular-season performance, which earned him All-NBA honors, of course Duren was terrible. But it's important to remember that Duren was the youngest All-NBA selection and was arguably the most improved player in the NBA.
It's not like Thompson covered himself in glory in the playoffs, but that didn't receive as much attention as Duren's struggles. JB Bickerstaff closed plenty of games without Thompson because the Pistons had trouble scoring when he was on the floor. As bad as Duren was, he still averaged as many minutes as Thompson in the playoffs.
In 14 postseason games, Thompson had a 13.6% usage rate. His efficiency (52% True Shooting) was also worse than Duren's. He averaged 8.2 points per game, and it's not like he provides any value as an off-ball player or a floor spacer.
Regardless of how excellent a defensive player Thompson is, he is too bad offensively to be any title contender's second-best player.
Just think of any championship contender of the last decade: Is there a single perimeter player who is as bad as Thompson is offensively among its three best players? Depending on whether you consider Draymond Green a perimeter player (you shouldn't, since he played center in the best Golden State lineups), the answer is no.
If Thompson is and will be the second-best player on the Pistons going forward, they can kiss goodbye to any hopes of contention. Unless Thompson becomes way better as a dribbler, playmaker, shooter, and scorer, he is unlikely to ever be the second-best player on a serious contender.
This isn't to say that Duren is a perfect player. He has his flaws. He still needs to improve defensively and get better at passing and shooting. But teams have won titles with All-Star centers who are better offensively than defensively. Has any team won a title with their second-best player a perimeter option who is an offensive liability?
Thompson is an exciting prospect. He has elite physical and athletic tools. But we can't jump the gun and treat him like a star already. He needs to improve in so many areas, and until he does that, it's difficult to place him above Duren in the team hierarchy.
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