I don't understand what's happening here. It's not like he's playing poorly. He looks exactly like the mobile lob threat, project big he was scouted to be. His passing and vision are further along than expected.
I have not been the biggest Jalen Duren fan and I never felt he was a top 3 player in his class because of his position and lack of perimeter skills. Having said that, he really isn't a dinosaur defensively. He has a massive 7'5" wingspan and is a good enough athlete to switch and defend on the perimeter well enough to stay on the floor when other big men are going to be taken off the floor. He is going to keep teams from trying to get in the paint, and players that get in the paint will have a high percentage of altered or blocked shots. So defensively he has the potential to be very good and capable of playing in the modern NBA. Offensively right now he is capable of finishing really well and has shown at times the development of a jumper, but that will take time if it ever becomes a staple for him. Everyone sees a traditional back to the basket type player, and Weaver sees more of a Bam Adebayo type player that will make a massive difference defensively and possibly offensively.
Kinda funny that most everyone here councils that we shouldn't pronounce final judgement on Jabari's ceiling because he just turned 19 but are ready to do so with Duren, who is even younger. He has uber athleticism and if he developes even a few basic skills he can be at a minimum a bigger, better Clint Capela! And they gave up very little to get him so even if he doesn't work out it they're not out a lot of draft capital. No. Don't you know if we had taken Liddell he wouldn't have hurt his knee. Different timeline. Haven't you ever heard of Marvel "What If"?
Thank you for not drafting Banchero, Stone. Dude can't even play 3 games in the summer league before getting babied
He sounds like Clint Capela in your description. Is that a fair assessment? Is his defense going to be better than Rudy Gobert's? Grant Williams? Because as good as those guys were defensively and as well as they played their role offensively, their defender was always harassing the primary playmaker on every drive to the basket and once you get to the 2nd round of the playoffs there will be guys who can harass the playmaker and still recover in time to deny the C cutting or being a lob threat. On one note - development of jumper - Duren has horrific hands and imo is highly unlikely to develop that. Never say never, but 9 out of 10 such players do not develop a jumper. Also, remember, we're talking about in a few years that his defense is playoff level and we're then going to work on his jumper. The NBA doesn't remain static and it hasn't been cyclical as ex big men seem to love saying on ESPN. C's are going to be more perimeter oriented in 3 years, more of them will be able to hit the 3. Right now if a big man can hit 36% of his wide open 3's, that's good enough to stretch the floor. In a few years, you're going to need to hit 36% overall at that position so the finish line is moving and Duren is way behind. I really understand what you're saying. If all these things go well, he'd be a great player. We can say the same about Koloko or Kamagate who were drafted in round 2. If we put a ton of resources into their development and all these same things go well for them, they would be awesome for us and no one will care about the 1 extra inch of wingspan. I don't know anything about Duren's off court work ethic, but no one has really said to draft him because he's a gym rat and crazy about working on his game. That would sway my opinion, but I've read in some amateur scouting reports that his motivation or performance is inconsistent. Sounds like a lot of work. There are players in the first round who just need better fundamentals or a 3pt shot to shine.
Sadly Garuba is in the doghouse. Still, I would pick Garuba over Duren. Garuba has shown in a better league than Duren that he can patrol the interior and shut down the perimeter. That's a more dynamic defensive player if you're going to wish and dream and dump tons of resources into developing him. That's if they can stay off the cheeseburgers, which f*cking Garuba can't seem to do.
I had high hope for Garuba when we drafted him. But his attitude turned me off. He pouted when he didn't get to play, and didn't keep in shape while rehabbing from injury. I still hope he will turn it around. Maybe it was the adjustment to living in a new country or something. (Sengun's attitude was a stark contrast.)
No, he isn’t like Capela because Capela cannot switch and cannot stay on the court at the end of games or deep in playoff games. Duren can switch and can defend on the perimeter and should be able to stay on the court in more match ups. As far as his offense is concerned, I have some degree of skepticism about his ability to shoot from the perimeter but he did do it some in college and was surprisingly successful. I haven’t heard anything negative about his work ethic, just that he can be timid but that isn’t a shock for a guy that reclassified to come out early - he is the youngest player in the draft. The players you listed are as athletic as Duren, nor as mobile. The fluidity and athleticism is what makes him potentially the rare big to stay on the court.
