This is Duren's real problem in this series. Two... at the level on Cade, his first read is always to Duren. Mobley tags the roller, and that's an elite tag defender (DPOY). Ausar's man rotates to cut off the corner. Ausar is left open but can't space. They need to set the pick higher up the floor and let Duren hit the corner on the short roll when Mobley comes over to tag OR build in a sequence for Duren to hit Ausar on a cut. You can say "Duren just needs to go up strong and finish!" but like, that's Evan Mobley. his chances are not great. Also, Duren is a mechanism guy. He's played All-NBA FOR HIS ROLE.show more

This possession is why I'm so skeptical of the... Duren/Ausar pairing long-term. They both prefer to work in the same areas of the court and the coaching staff all season has not been intentional enough in how they space with those two. Their reactions are to move to same areas.show more

Instead of just talking about it, I wanted to... go through it and really break it down to figure out the exact reason for the difference in Jalen Duren's play between the regular season and the playoffs. *LONG BREAKDOWN COMING* First, lets list how much the difference was: Iso in RS: 82nd %ile Iso in PS: 21st %ile Post-ups in RS: 88th %ile Post-ups in PS: 59th %ile PPP on drives in RS: 1.18 ppp PPP on drives in PS: 0.80 Layups in RS: 79th %ile Layups in PS: 19th %ile It was a staggering drop off. Shocking to many of us who watched him all season. So, what happened? Well, #1 I think mentally he was letting his struggles get to him and he started to play out of control. Something that suggests this to me is this stat: He started to figure some things out himself in isolation over the last 2 games against the Cavs. He had six isolation possessions in the final two games against the Cavs; he scored on five of those possessions and drew a foul on the other. Game 6 he started to look confident and really made them pay out of isolation. I really think a ton of it was he got hit with a punch early against ORL and really struggled to handle the pressure and struggles after, and just kept stacking and stacking. So, him being in his own head is #1 for me. #2: His handle got exposed quite a bit. In the regular season, he only had a 4.2 TO% in isolation, which is incredible. In the playoffs, though, that spiked to 20 TO%. On drives in the RS, he had a TO% of 4%. In the PS, it jumped to 13.3%. The first clip below shows how the right-to-left cross he loved doing all season was really taken away from him. Too loose of a handle, and he often got his pocket picked trying this exact move over and over. I think having his go-to move taken from him shook him a bit and left him scrambling a bit in his head to find a counter. The second clip shows, imo, him starting to lose trust in his handle. He immediately turns his back to the defender, which is what you do when you're worried about losing the ball. But, even then, he loses control of the handle and it ends up in a turnover. If I'm the Pistons, I'm showing all his turnovers due to his handle and working with him on tightening his handle and also helping him get comfortable with a counter/second move so defenders don't just sit on the right-to-left cross. #3: I think he really struggled to adjust to the playoff whistle. In the regular season, he drew free throws on 21% of his isolations and 31% of his post-ups. In the PS, it dropped to 14% and 11%, respectively. There were many possessions where in the RS he would've got free throws, but did not in the PS and he was frustrated. In the third clip, you'll see how physical he was being played by Mobley (which we all want physicality in the game). But, in the RS, he probably is getting FTA's here. There are many examples of this where it felt like a lot of his value during the RS was being able to draw FTA's on his drives, and in the PS, refs just allowed more physicality, and he struggled to deal with it. #4: Ausar-Duren duo. I believe in this duo, and I do not think this was the main reason Duren struggled. However, I am not blind to the fact that there were obviously some possessions that hurt Duren. In the regular season, Duen actually got less efficient when Ausar wasn't on the floor. However, in the playoffs, Duren went from 51 TS% with Ausar on the floor (302 minutes) to 64 TS% with Ausar off the floor (121 minutes). In the 4th clip, you really see how the lack of spacing caused a tough shot from Duren. He gets a step on WCJ going right, and probably would prefer to then just use his strength to create spearation. However, he sees Suggs sitting in the right gap off of Ausar, which forces him to spin left. Once he spins left, Paolo is completely leaving Tobias open. This is one of the reasons I really think DET needs a spacing 4 because this should be an easy kickout from Duren to a shooter. He still should've made this pass to Tobias, but a legit shooting 4 I think would relocate to the corner and make an easier outlet/easier to see for Duren. But, he still coulda made the pass, tbf. Either way, you see how the lack of spacing from both Ausar and Tobias forced Duren into a really awkward drive where he was forced into an extremely tough shot. I think if the passing returned from Duren, some of these situations wouldn't happen. Hitting Ausar early as he cuts into the space would work, or hitting Tobias (who again shoulda be making himself more available) beyond the arc results in better offense. But, also, having better spacing probably allows Duren to just get to his original move once he beats WCJ off the dribble. and lastly #5: He really just didn't play well. I can't include any more clips (I'll put some in the immediate thread reply to display), but he really just didn't play well. Missed *a lot* of looks we're used to him making. His touch around the rim left him, looked like he really felt rushed in the paint. He was struggling to secure rebounds after dominating the glass all season (during the RS, he averaged 4.3 second chance points a game, in the PS it dropped to 2.3). During RS, he had a 22.0 DREB%, which dropped to 16.0% in the playoffs. So, I think a lot of factors played into why he struggled so much in the playoffs. My takeaway is I don't think these things are unfixable; actually, I think they're very fixable. Experience of dealing with what playoff physicality is I think is going to help moving forward. All young players have to adjust to that--I think Cade really learned that from NY series to this playoff run. Tightening his handle and just having a second move to go to is not something that should be considered impossible. I'd like to believe it's pretty likely with how much he works and the raw skill he already has with his handle. Pistons adding a legit spacer at the four I think solves a lot and will make Duren's life a lot easier. The most concerning part is mental. And we won't know an answer to that until the next playoffs. Did this experience help him on his journey towards becoming mentally strong and prepared enough to move forward? Did this run help him find a routine that helps him lock in mentally, as many players have said they had to discover? Or will the pressure from struggling last postseason get to him this upcoming postseason? Will he let mistakes get into his head, compound them, and start playing rashly? I don't think the second option will be the case, but no one will know until the next postseason. Honestly, I'm more concerned and critical of his defense in the playoffs (which at times was pretty good and at other times was an incredible struggle), but that would require its own thread. My ending thoughts: I still very much believe in Duren. This playoff run showed he has areas he must sharpen up and learn from, but at 22 that shouldn't be a shocker. He is incredibly talented and made a large jump during the RS. The PS posed challenges he didn't quite have answers to yet. But another run of experience, another offseason of training, and another year older should lead him down a good path. I am fully supportive of paying Duren and extending him. I am not at close to 50 million dollars. 35-40 million is where I think they'll settle on, and I'm fine with that. But, he's gotta learn from these playoffs! Every offseason he's gotten better, I don't have a reason to believe Jalen Duren won't learn and improve again this summer. He's only 22.show more

Payton Pritchard is a bully. Jalen Duren is 6'10... and like 260lbs of pure muscle. Pritchard has to be the strongest dude in the league pound for pound. I've seen him body dudes twice his size for rebounds. Can't do shit but respect it.show more

Miles Bridges on the tipping point, leading up to... the fight Monday. “It was a lot of things built up, but you see Jalen (Duren) push Moussa (Diabate) in his face. That’s the most disrespectful thing you can do. After that, things just went left.” #Hornets | WSOCTVshow more

This is a tough bucket from Donovan Mitchell, but... I'm intrigued by the spacing here. Jarrett Allen's in the dunker spot *on the same side* as the Mobley pindown for Mitchell. Jaylon Tyson's deep in the corner, so Mitchell has plenty of room to operate to his right.show more

Cade is really the only adult on that team.... For two games they were way too focused on living up to the Bad Boys thing. Cade was just balling. They need to follow his lead more and get over the fake tough guy act.show more

The man standing in the middle between the other... two is the first one to pick up the plates. But instead of handing them directly to the person standing on his right, he first passes them to the man on his left, who then hands the same plates to the person on the right. Why are they doing this? Why involve an extra person when the plates could be passed directly?show more

It’s been an outrageous weekend for Vanderbilt Baseball 2026... commit RJ Cope, a 6-foot-8 first baseman and lefty with top-of-scale raw juice from the left side at the plate. The big man is 10-for-16 with a homer, double, four walks to two Ks and three stolen bases. It’s a no-doubt power over hit profile but he’s done an outstanding job of waiting for his pitch and depositing it in gaps like in the video below when he put a defensive two-strike swing on a ball to cash in runs for his team in a critical spot. All of this and Cope is still new to hitting. His potential is off the charts with the bat.show more

Devin Booker started in the left corner, unlike everyone... else. The cheat code is that it allows him to have the initial rack on his right side. That means the right corner rack is also on his right side. And it led to a 30 point round. How did the others not know this??show more

This is what Mosley drew up in his timeout... after the Pistons go on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 17 He didn’t call a timeout for the rest of the quarter meanwhile the pistons cut the lead to 9show more

🚨🚩🚩The guy in black is an NDIS carer- the... guy laying on the ground not moving is a severely disabled person- his client. They rocked up to the park and the carer took him out of his wheelchair and laid him on the ground where he’s remained for almost an hour. How is this allowed to happen?show more

This play is hilarious because they run a Davion-Bam... pick and roll, get the switch they want, and Mitchell decides he’ll just take Giannis 1-on-1 Not only that, but help is sent??? Great read and pass to Pelle on the kick to ice the gameshow more

Dricus Du Plessis praises Israel Adesanya for putting his... reputation on the line by taking a fight against Joe Pyfer “Just kudos to Adesanya for giving a guy like Pyfer a chance. He’s not close in the rankings, but it’s an exciting fight for the fans, and that just shows the quality of warrior he is. He’s putting his reputation on the line to fight an up-and-coming guy he doesn’t need to fight. He goes out there and says, ‘I want exciting fights,’ and this is exactly that.” (Via: Fight Forecast)show more

Watters: The senate also treated Pete like crap. He's... not going to take this from another senator. Pete now controls Kelly. Kelly is going to come in and he's going to get a little bit of a spanking and Pete already looked at the war medals this guy had on his chest and they are in the wrong direction. The guy doesn't know how to dress up.show more

I encourage attackers to drive at the hips of... defenders for a few reason; — 1v1 is a duel of footwork (momentum) & angles, the avenue to space is through an angle which can disrupt the opponent’s footwork (momentum) — It offers big-space players a reference to be successful in small spaces — Directly confronting the defender (driving/touching the ball towards their hips [centre]) means you’re moving into their ‘personal space’, which naturally makes humans uncomfortable, increasing the probability for the defender to make an impulsive reaction to your action. • We know Garnacho’s relationship with the ball isn’t watertight, a consequence of his narrow footwork, which reflects in his dribbling & shooting actions —> more specifically, his inability to make many multi-directional touches in his stride + his loose connections with the ball. Because of this he’s more likely to pose threat in bigger spaces, as he’s a willing goal-getter & has fair speed, but struggles to manufacture big enough space for his key actions when the opponents congest space deeper. • What trumps all of this is Garnacho lacking methodology in his dribbling, which would help him maximise his strengths & minamise the affect of his weaknesses. Garnacho drives towards the goal with the intention to cut inside and open an angle on his strong foot, but this angle of approach keeps the defender parallel to the ball (good momentum & maintain footwork) and closer to the space inside that Garnacho wants to take If he had driven at the hips (squared his man up) he could’ve; = pushed the opponent’s momentum onto back foot = reduced the need for sharp COD touches to access the inside angle (his weak point) & maintain his own momentum = kept open bigger space either side of him If you want big space, you have to make it. Targetting the defender’s central point within their personal space can support this.show more

There are 450 players in the NBA. Of those... 450 players……maybe……38 are star players. The other 412 players are all ROLE players!! This means that roughly 85% of the players with jobs in the NBA are ROLE players. The key then to getting to the NBA and staying in the NBA is mastering your ROLE, no matter how big or small that ROLE may be. Patrick Beverley averaged 40ppg in high school while playing in the toughest inner-city league in Chicago. Beverley would not have lasted two seasons in the NBA trying to be a scorer, so he found his ROLE, and turned that into a 12 year career with $82 million in career earnings. Draymond Green is capable of averaging 18-20ppg. That is not his ROLE with the Warriors. He has turned his ROLE into a 14 year career and $228 million in career earnings. No one is asking Bronny James to be a scorer. The Lakers have FOUR scorers. Bronny’s ROLE is to be an elite defender, to knock down open jump shots, and to be aggressive in attacking on offense when opportunities arise. Bronny is growing into his ROLE. A 22-year old earning $120,000 every two weeks while working with his father who is a billionaire is a failure in YOUR eyes if the 22 year old does not average 20ppg because you are both broke AND stupid, and you don’t understand the BUSINESS of the NBA!show more

This driver is trying to ma a left turn... and the car on the opposite side stops and makes a path for them to turn. As the car starts to turn, an electric bike in the bike lane comes speeding down and well, as you can see, smashes into the car and flips over the front. Luckily he gets up and is walking. He could have been seriously injured. To me, this is quite literally why they say you’re not supposed to just stop in the middle of a street to let someone turn. Some are saying it’s the red car’s fault for stopping and letting the driver turn. Others are saying in their state, an electric bike is like a motorcycle and has to obey the traffic laws. Who is at fault? Do you think the electric bike should have been in the bike lane traveling that fast? The red car for letting the car turn left when it can’t see, or is it the drivers responsibility to make sure all is clear before proceeding?show more