Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren Power Select Squad to Wins Over Team USA
The second day of open scrimmages saw the USA Select Team defeat Team USA in back-to-back 10-minute periods, mostly thanks to two Pistons youngsters.
LAS VEGAS — Team USA is in trouble; meanwhile, perhaps more importantly amongst NBA circles, the Detroit Pistons are turning heads around the league. Well, that’s at least if Friday’s open scrimmages action is any indication.
Pistons guard Cade Cunningham and center Jalen Duren stole the show in the second of two open scrimmages that saw the USA Select Team and Team USA play back-to-back 10-minute periods. The Select Team won both matchups — 21-20 in Game 1 and 26-19 in Game 2.
For Cunningham, playing for the Select Team could yield big results for him as he enters his third season in the NBA. Last season, Cunningham, who was the No. 1 selection in the 2021 Draft, was limited to just 12 games before undergoing surgery on his left shin. Before the injury, Cunningham was averaging 19.9 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 6.0 assists on 41.5 percent shooting for the Pistons.
In Duren's case, he's coming off of a rookie campaign after being selected late in the lottery. Duren averaged 9.1 points and 8.9 rebounds for the Pistons in 2022-23, playing in 67 of the team's 82 games. But Duren started 31 games for Detroit, averaging 10.5 points and 10.6 rebounds during that time. For the season, Duren shot 64.8 percent from the field.
The anticipation of seeing Cunningham play was somewhat palpable. After all, it was the first time Cunningham had been seen in a competitive setting in roughly 270 days. What transpired was pretty fantastic.
Cunningham used his size, strength, and pace to keep defenders at bay in the pick-and-roll, and also took advantage of mismatches in the post, attacking the New York Knicks’ Jalen Brunson one time on the low block and drawing a foul in the process.
Duren did what he does best: get right to the rim and finish. Last season, Duren shot 65.9 percent inside the paint. But that was largely without the aid of Cade as the duo was limited to a paltry 79 minutes last season due to Cunningham’s injury and subsequent surgery. If Friday was the road test for this Pistons duo, they passed with flying colors.
“You can tell they’ve been playing together,” Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards told Russo Writes following Friday’s scrimmages.
“You can tell they’re teammates. The way that their chemistry – he looking for him, he looking for, like, they wasn’t passing the ball to nobody else. So, I mean, they looked good, though. I was kinda surprised how good they look.”
It’s what makes Cunningham and Duren so unique that makes them a special tandem, at least to those who got to see them up close and personal.
“Cade’s size, his pace, and Jalen Duren’s just big, man,” Edwards said. “He big, athletic, and he’s actually smarter than a lot of people probably would think. Like, his reads and stuff. And, like I said, they was looking for each other only. Cade come off a screen, he pick up the ball, he trying to pass it to Jalen, Jalen throwing it right back. So, it was fun, though.”
It’s not just players in the Western Conference that took notice of the pair on Friday. Eastern Conference foes weighed in when asked.
“I mean, Cade, Cade been playing the same way since we was in high school,” Orlando Magic star Paolo Banchero told Russo Writes. “You can’t ever speed him up. He’s just kind of a pick-and-roll master, keeps guys on his hip, you know, he kind of puts you in a tricky spot because he can finish at the rim, throw the lob. He’s just a master in terms of running the offense.”
But don’t lose sight of Duren in this ballet of basketball. For as good as Cunningham is, you can’t dance by yourself.
Duren’s prowess as a rim runner and vertical lob threat has put people on notice in Las Vegas. And, beyond that, his strength has given some tenured NBA players some issues. One such play Friday saw Duren body Brandon Ingram of the New Orleans Pelicans under the hoop for an and-one.
“Jalen getting to play with [Cunningham] and off him, you know, and him being able to go up, catch lobs, finish at the rim, it makes it tough,” Banchero told Russo Writes. “Those guys, those guys are going to be good."
Cunningham’s mastery hasn’t been on full display yet in his NBA career due to last season’s injury. However, it’d be foolish of folks to write him off just yet. With Duren in tow, it might not be too crazy to start thinking that the Pistons, especially under new head coach Monty Williams, could find themselves better off in 2023-24 than pundits might think.
“They’re good,” Jalen Brunson told Russo Writes. “They have chemistry, and it’s a dangerous duo. Being able to watch them, just from today, there’s something exciting going on in Detroit.”
For Pistons fans, that’s the type of thing they want to hear on a day when we saw a glimpse of what could be possible down the road for Detroit.