The Whiteboard: Jalen Duren looks special, Chris Paul returns and more

The Detroit Pistons achieved one level of ignominy earlier this season, with a record 28-game losing streak, but avoided another last night with a 105-95 win over the Chicago Bulls. Even if they lose their remaining 24 games they will avoid single ownership of the worst record in NBA history.

There have been precious few bright spots in Detroit this season but even amidst all the losing their rotation has settled and a productive core is starting to take shape — Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren.

Cunningham has been incredibly productive all season long and his dramatically improved his scoring efficiency as the season went along. Ivey bounced in and out of the starting lineup at the beginning of the season but has now started 32 straight games going back to the middle of December, averaging 17.6 points, 4.4 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game, shooting 38.9 percent from beyond the arc. And, perhaps most importantly, who won't turn 21 until early next season, has emerged as a two-way force.

Jalen Duren is doing a little bit of everything

Duren was one of the youngest players in the 2022 NBA Draft and made an impact in his rookie season mostly with his elite physical tools. This year he has improved by leaps and bounds — the game has slowed down for him and he has been increasingly impressive at leveraging his size, speed, strength and explosiveness with intentionality.

Duren is already a tremendous force on the glass, leading the league in defensive rebound percentage and ranking seventh in offensive rebound percentage. He has crashed the glass relentlessly and is adept at carving our space with his upper body strength or simply beating other players to the ball.

Those same skills translate on the defensive end where he's already a strong rim protector and showing a burgeoning ability to defend in space and eventually anchor an elite defense. But his growth as a versatile offensive hub is by far the most useful development for the Pistons.

The base of his offensive contributions is as a screener and roll-man. Per Second Spectrum data pulled by Jared Dubin, he is involved in just under 26 two-man actions per game with Cade Cunningham, the most of any duo in the league. He ranks in the 82nd percentile in scoring efficiency as the roll man, second only to Myles Turner among players who finish at least 2.5 such possessions per game.

He's a handful when rumbling to the basket but it's not just bulk or leaping ability that makes him such an effective vertical spacer. Duren has fantastic footwork and great touch and there are plenty of difficult finishes helping drive his 69.0 field goal percentage within five feet of the basket.

Duren has also been getting a ton of elbow touches this season — 5.2 per game, about the same as Joel Embiid, Bam Adebayo or Anthony Davis. Some of those are coming on short-rolls but a lot are simply him acting as a hub looking for dribble hand-offs for guards wheeling up off down screens on the wing.

He's been very good at setting his ball-handlers up for open lanes on these action, both with his timing, body position and delivery method — sometimes he's pitching the ball to get it into their hands faster, sometimes he's making them come to him so he can create more contact with the defender and create space.

But in addition to these hand-offs, Duren has been really good at making alternate reads out of these elbow touches — finding open shooters in the corner or backdoor cutters slipping behind the defense.

Duren is passing on a fairly high percent of his elbow touches — 46.7 percent, about the same as Nikola Jokic and Domantas Sabonis. And while he still has a long way to go before he's anywhere near as effective as them as a facilitator, he's getting reps with the kind of role.

The other aspect of these elbow touches is threatening the defense as a scorer and making sure there are multiple variables for defenders to handle. Duren has also shown tremendous growth in understanding when to pass and when to exploit seams in the defense for his own scoring opportunities.

He is increasingly comfortable pulling back the hand-off, stepping through two defenders and exploding to the rim.

That burgeoning ability as a driver isn't just manifesting from the elbows. We're also seeing his comfort in grab-and-go transition situations and Duren has made some really impressive plays in the open court with the ball in his hands.

Through 43 games, Duren is averaging 14.0 points, 12.0 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game, all dramatic increases from his rookie season. He's still not a jumpshooter — just 7-of-29 outside of 10 feet for the season — but his two-way impact and growing offensive versatility are really positive signs.

And while it's not showing up in the standings, the Pistons are seeing results. The five-man unit of Cunningham, Ivey, Duren, rookie Amen Thompson and sharpshooter and trade deadline acquisition Simone Fontecchio has already played more minutes than any other Pistons lineup this season, outscoring opponents by an average of 4.2 points per 100 possessions over seven games. Across the entire season, the Pistons have essentially a neutral point differential in the 550 minutes Duren, Ivey and Cunningham have been on the floor together.

There were a few people who expected the Pistons to take a big step forward this season. That obviously hasn't been the case but it's not unreasonable to think they could be a lot more competitive over the last third of the season and carry some meaningful momentum into next year.

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Chris Paul is back

The Warriors have been on a roll — 12-5 with a plus-8.3 point differential since Jan. 24. They received a boost last night against the Wizards with the return of Chris Paul who had missed the last 21 games with a hand injury. He made an instant impact in his return, putting up 9 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds and 4 steals in just under 22 minutes.

Steve Kerr, per ESPN, has nothing but praise for Paul after the 123-112 win:

"That's what Chris does. He gets you organized, he gets you good looks. All season long, he's been such a high performer. All of our best lineups, it seems like he's in."

The Warriors have climbed to No. 9 in the Western Conference standings and have a tough stretch coming up with road games against the Knicks, Raptors and Celtics before heading home to host the Bucks.

READ MORE:

• Chris Paul steadies Warriors in return, keys win off bench by Kendra Andrews, for ESPN
• Chris Paul returns, plays well and further crowds Warriors’ rotation by Anthony Slater, for The Athletic