The reason Jalen Duren is still unsigned and will have to take a pay cut
Even the best rim protectors get posterized so I’m not sure this one example is the whole reason
Yeah this is a dumb take lol I was expecting a clip of him showing low effort
Yeah I expected a lowlight reel of any of his playoff games
Legit an instance where Cade overplayed his man, got beat, and duren put a body on him at the last moment only to get posterized. Presumably, teams would prefer a C whos not afraid to step in front of a guy like this rather than pretending this is a knock against his play
Durens overall playoff performance is maybe 90% of why he cant bargain for a max (with the other 10% being a combo of the new cap limitations and the prevailing knowledge that you just cant pay max money to a C in the current era), but this poster simply doesn’t hold any weight whatsoever
Watch the rebound “battle” at the other end lol.
Incredible dunk tho. One of the best of the season and playoffs
It would be better if he didn’t proceed to get shoved around while several smaller Magic players bat the rebound around on the next posession.
Yep. I imagine that Castle dunk that got posted today got people thinking back to the other amazing dunk from this past postseason (the one above from Anthony Black) and OP just wanted a creative title to go along with it. Kinda missed the mark but I’ve been there and done the same thing.
But yeah, if we took the title literally, I’d have been totally fine if Duran played great but just happened to get dunked on. Unfortunately, it was all the other stuff.
It’s not the biggest deal but it is a pretty good encapsulation of how his postseason went. Weak in the post, weak on the glass, and weak with his challenges.
I watched enough Pistons games last year to know that is absolutely not indicative of how he played for most of the season, but it was also so bad it was kind of impossible not to notice.
The post probably should have been a our Jamal Cain anyway 🤣
There was actually another dunk that was worse by Duren, but the dunk was on Duncan Robinson. The lane only opened up because Duren reached in on the ball handler past the 3 point line and moved himself out of position.
It was just a joke and an excuse to post this dunk
Trace Jackson Davis once posterized Wembanayama… more like Washed-banyama.
Obtuse
he’s unsigned cause thats how rfa leverage workslol
He should’ve taken lakers money instead of them getting Kessler
You don’t even know that the Lakers made an offer. Kessler was always their preference.
Well no, I could be wrong but as I understand it anyone can make him offers and Detroit has the rights to match.
Only those with space, which is realistically no one anymore
Whatever he signs for is not going to be a pay cut either. He likely peaked last year
I swear to god restricted free agency really brings out the dumbest fans in America it’s so bad
How did the magic lose this series after this game. I know Franz died but fuck just win one you already did it 3 other times
Their best player got injured, simple as that
Yeah but they had like at least a 20 point lead in game 6 and ended up losing by 14. How does that happen. It was in the second half too!
A literal record for missed field goals in the playoffs
magic paying tribute to rockets 8 years ago
I was extremely disappointed watching that game . Literal basketball terrorism. I watch shitty bball cause of the bulls but that game was something else.
magic offensive execution is an embarrassment to watch and has been for years so this tracks
Lets not forget the Cavaliers blew a 22pt lead in the 4th against the Knicks…
they went up 60-38 in game 6, no excuse to lose that. cade scored 20 in the 4th quarter to the Magic’s 19. franz is not lebron, he can’t save a choke that bad
debatable about who there best player is tbh
it is and isn’t. Franz is such a well rounded player and extremely good defender while having some of the best footwork in the league attacking the paint
Paolo has none of that , but he still has a higher ceiling
yet when it came to the playoffs paolo showed out more then wagner, while u can agrue wagner is a reg season goat player
Wagner improves the team in all aspects of basketball while Paolo doesn’t & P5’s my favorite player in the NBA
thats mostly cause the rest of ur team is just okay
Or is that just recency low-sample-size bias
its literally been that way every time they were in the playoffs
The Magic are a much much better team when Franz plays and Paolo is out than vice versa. That’s not a coincidence.
Careful with that kind of talk around here mate.
Pistons are so mid the Magic should’ve still wrapped that up
So mid that we made the Knicks look like a g-league team in our matchups last year
They just won the NBA Finals…imma guess they’re much better than the Pistons
the Bickerstaff special - make the team look super good in the season and then get exposed in the playoffs
Little guy is still talking about regular season games lmao
Hold this chip 🏆
Game 6 was legitimately one of the ugliest team performances I have seen in a while.
magic had some disgusting offensive shows of basketball a year long thinking it’d be fixed with “bane” and it culminated to that game. remembered they allowed a 31-0 run from the scottie and ingram raptors?
Franz go hurt
I said that in my comment
Franz was playing for 2.5 of those wins. They choked in game 6 because they forgot how to put the ball in the hoop and I think Franz would have kept them afloat for long enough in game 6 that they close it out and win the series
Banchero is a complete fraud.
This is why this sub is full of casuals cause of takes like this lol, the entire TEAM was horrid in the second half of game 6 (I blame coaching) and then in game 7 Paolo had 38 on 14-25 from the field , the whole team gave up but blaming it on Paolo is just dumb man
Just can’t discount the mental aspect of blowing a huge lead in one game of a series. I also don’t know what they’re talking about lol. Like I don’t really remember it too well but I thought banchero had a good playoff series. That’s how I remember it at least. He’s always been a riser in big moments
Paolo in the playoffs has been fantastic barring like 3 games IMO (only 19 career playoff games) but still.
And people gotta remember how checked out the magic were with coach Mose at the helm, reports alllll year of him and Paolo butting heads and what not definitely played a factor in the season. I think once Franz got hurt and they blew that lead they just said fuck it we’re done trying for this coach
Bro should never be taking 25 shots
Banchero gets empty numbers but plays like a complete idiot. He makes his teammates worse instead of lifting them up. Ball hog that looks decent when his shot is falling but his bbiq and shot selection are so bad.
I hate paolo because he COULD be really good, but his baffling shot selection makes him such a miserable player to watch. A 6’10” atheltic forward who can’t shoot, but shoots half his shots from the midrange or behind the arc
The weird thing about Paolo is that he kind of sucks but he is definitively a playoff riser at this point. Like the magic took the 1 seed to 7 games. They probably beat them if healthy.
cade went nuclear as well
Banchero was going toe to toe with Cade at times lol
I dont think u wanna talk about blown 3-1 leads
the difference is losing to Lebron James or Tobias Harris
The difference is losing with the greatest team of all time vs losing with Carter Jr as your second best player
or maybe Banchero is just the modern day Carmelo.
In about 2 years your team will be completely irrelevant. So stop yapping about a future you hope you have.
Dubs? team of Uncs already but thankfully they don’t have a huge loser like Carmelo or Banchero on it. Draymond is a toxic chucklefuck but at least he knows how to win games
He wishes. No Carmelo fan, but Banchero might be the least intelligent player in the league. Straight-up stupid.
That’s the problem right there. Paolo THINKS he’s Melo, except he can’t make a jump shot to save his life.
Lmaoo
And the refs/league
They win with Franz it’s that simple
Too busy diving at knees to do anything else
The Pistons were playing terribly, even in the games they had Franz, you could tell if Detroit could muster even a mediocre offensive showing they’d beat Orlando
Poor coaching
One of my least-favorite aspects of NBA discourse on this sub is the way people act like this is, in some way, a bad play by Duren or a reflection of anything negative about him.
It comes up whenever somebody gets dunked on, and it’s frequently bullshit.
Duren played this great. He got in the way, contested the shot, and didn’t foul. This is exactly what you want your defenders doing. Just make the shot a little harder; the offensive player already has a head of steam towards the basket, he’s probably going to score.
Yeah, he gets knocked backward, but that’s because he giving ground to avoid fouling! It’s great defense!
There is some legitimately terrible defense on this play, but it’s by Cade Cunningham, who for some reason overcommits at half court and gives up a free lane to the basket where Duren has to help but has no support - he can’t leave Wendell Carter any sooner or it’s the easiest dump-off you’ve ever seen.
Jamal Cain made a great dunk, and deserves the hype because dunking over somebody who is contesting as well as Duren is contesting this is freakin’ hard. But if you think this is somehow a negative reflection on Duren you flat-out don’t know ball.
Yeah. Terrible play by Cade here. The dunk is still nasty, though.
Ball Knower
It was a shitpost and an excuse to show the best dunk of the year
I mean, he coulda stepped up and atleast tried to draw the charge. You could say that Bane would do a side step or pass, but then that at least makes either block easier because it’s not a guy with straight forward running momentum going straight up into you while your left foot is in the restricted area.
I think his defensive IQ, maybe I don’t know how exactly to defend this possession, seemed lacking. On the other end he struggled too. I still think Duren is worth 30-40 but he’s clearly got to improve or will hold the potential of the roster back in the playoffs.
The man jizzed all over his face. Im supposed to say great job to Duren?!
Go to bed, nephew.
His cut angles to the basket off of picks were atrocious all playoffs. He made it easy for other teams to defend him and Cade at the same time during that action.
Thank you for pointing this out. I tortured myself to watch so many Duren possessions again after the fact and this is entirely true. Maybe he was rushing or panicking.
I’m not certain what it was, it was certainly something mental. Maybe the lights were too bright for him, not sure, but you can even see it in the clip above. You want to take a more rounded cut to the basket, which gives your ball handler the ability to operate from the middle of the basket, to one side or the other. This gives your ball handler more options to attack the rim AND it makes it easier to dump the ball off to Duren if his man helps. The way he’s cutting here, and in many other instances in the playoffs, is more of a straight cut down the middle. This keeps the opposing big in front of the basket and allows him to easily defend the man he is guarding, plus it allows him to easily help onto Cade as he attacks the basket. It doesn’t allow Cade to attack the middle of the basket and it forces him to pick a side. The problem with that is that it also makes it easy for Cade’s primary defender to cut him off when he does choose a side, and this jumbled mess in front of the rim renders the pass angles very difficult if Cade wishes to dump off to Duren. It results in the only real option being Cade floating up a shot from the free throw line to about 9 feet, or kick the ball out and restart the action. It kept happening all playoffs and was so maddening to watch. It wasn’t just that Duren can’t shoot jumpers so that the spacing was clogged, Duren just did him no favors whatsoever on his cuts. Duren didn’t struggle with this often in the regular season so maybe it can be coached out of him long term, but none of what I saw inspired confidence and it certainly demonstrated that’s he’s not worth what he’s asking for.
He’s not taking a pay cut. He played himself into not getting a max or close to max. During the regular season he was trending towards a possible max or close to it.
Then the playoffs showed he’s not ready for it.
Playoffs tend to amplify guys weaknesses
Dejalen Durayton
Dude got Baptized by this Dunk and hasnt been the same since
Detroit have had two summers to get Duren to sign a contract and so far have not been able to achieve it.
Last summer they told him go out and prove you deserve an extension. Understandable but the Pistons could likely have got Duren on a team friendly deal. They let him reach RFA and during the season he made All-Star and All-NBA.
Duren feels he is worth a certain amount of money. He will most likely return to Detroit because generational wealth is so hard to turn down when its way over $100 million.
But perhaps Duren feel under appreciated and feels like the best move for his career is to sign his Q/O and then he’s free to sign with any team he chooses and next summer numerous teams have cap space including GSW, Brooklyn and Chicago who all need a young centre.
he might roll with the QO if its still there for him if he’s waiting this long tbh
If someone offers you \(150 million for your signature and you are 22 years old are you really gonna say no? Duren can play for only \)5 million next season even though 12 moths later he might get that $200+ million offer he thinks he deserves? It is really high-risk.
But he’s 22 so he’s not that mature yet and he really might feel like Detroit just don’t value him like he thinks they should and he’ll make that high risk/high reward decision and sign his Q/O.
If Jalen Duren wants to come to the Pelicans with 3⁄110, I would not mind it.
Dude averaged an efficient 20⁄10 through a full regular season. He’s also maybe the strongest player in basketball and can score in the post. Starting center for the league’s best defense as well, although he’s not a defensive stalwart, there’s definitely worse out there.
That’s within the range Pistons already offered him. Reports saying he wants $45 million+
Current NBA salaries are so fucking insane…It’s like they somehow kept up with inflation and the CPI index while we are down here paying \(3.75 for a 20oz Sprite. (Fed minimum wage still \)7.25 an hour btw)
But don’t you know? They get money taken out for this thing called “taxes.” They’re basically living paycheck to paycheck
1 million turns into a 50k check that they have to buy their sister a car with 😞
ts so sad 😢
The power of the union
Im pretty sure he wants more than that. Reports from our local media are saying Pistons are offering 35 and willing to go slightly over. My guess would be he wants close to 45 AAV or more.
Based on reports from our reporters he would find that low of an offer insulting.
This is overrating him, he averaged 10⁄8 in the playoffs which is pretty pathetic for someone who considers himself a star center and he completely choked in the playoffs where you earn your money
this playoff run was really eye opening and he’s still young. Take the paycut now and play with Cade and improve. Its going to get harder to get that max money without someone like Cade
UY PHILIPPINES
That’s why we call him Durbuns
Dirty Durbs
Damn he got his shit stuffed on
He’s not going to take a pay cut he was only making $6.4 million last year.
Damn, I was rooting for the Magic so hard😭
Why is the announcer more hyped than the home crowd
“Uh Oh, be careful” 😂
That entire series really exposed him. Like blood was getting outplayed by Giga Botaze and Wendell Carter at times.
We can fix him… 😂
This was the most enjoyable series last playoffs
Cain can get up!
https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/s/bSQE3DtENP
This one was way worse
Jalen’s going to get a solid two-year contract. He can make most teams better and even though he under-performed during the playoffs, there should be no heavy baggage on him imo, as he is young and will still improve.
I mean he is a 33M center max, he should be signed similarly to what raptors signed IQ for bc he is a glass cleaner center that relies on others to set him up. He is not capable of carrying the team as a true second star. People will say bc he made the all star game and all nba at 22 but all star is a joke since someone like Fox made it and he was trash. Not to mention he completely choked in the playoffs where it matters so even if he had a great regular season that leverage disappeared
He gonna get the bag Pistons not gonna let a All Star Center who is 23 walk
Not the main reason but this did cost him like 5 million right here.
This is the opposite end of the floor of why he is waiting
His great-grandchildren gonna have to take a paycut from the genetic aftershocks
For playing defense?
He made $6.5M last season. He’s taking a paycut?
He’s getting a raise from what he made last year so I don’t understand the pay cut framing
Rudy Gobert must’ve taken a couple dozen pay cuts in his career then.
Everybody gets dunked on.
Problem with NBA hard build team cause everybody want more money cade and Thomson did their thing duren struggle and he feel deserve more money lol
I’m actually surprised no team has offered him a contract as a RFA.
One random dunk whether Duren got posterized is not particularly meaningful to why he is still unsigned…
He made 6.3m last season. His contract will probably end up around 4 for 150m. That is very much not a pay cut.
Cool highlight but this play is not why lol
he sucks. full stop