![\"Jalen](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Copy-of-1920-2026-03-27T225057.763.png\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Jalen Duren of the Detroit Pistons is having a breakout campaign.<\/p>\n
One of the reasons for the Detroit Pistons<\/a>\u2018 turnaround over the past two seasons is JB Bickerstaff<\/a>, and Jalen Duren<\/a> perfectly explained the impact of the veteran coach.<\/p>\n Before Bickerstaff was hired to take charge of the Pistons in July 2024, the franchise had missed the playoffs in five consecutive years. They also had a total of 94 wins in that span<\/a>, with 23 wins as the most in a season.<\/p>\n With Bickerstaff at the helm, the Pistons made the playoffs in his first year. They gave the New York Knicks<\/a> a scare in the first round, with a total of 44 regular-season wins. They made the leap this season to legitimate contenders and would likely finish with the best record in the East.<\/p>\n In Bickerstaff\u2019s first two seasons, the Pistons have already won 97 games and counting<\/a>. Before joining Detroit, the 47-year-old coach had stints with the Houston Rockets<\/a>, Memphis Grizzlies<\/a> and Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a>.<\/p>\n Duren on Bickerstaff\u2019s Impact on Pistons\u2019 Culture<\/p>\n In an interview with The Athletic\u2019s David Aldridge<\/a>, Duren opened up about the impact coach Bickerstaff has had on the Pistons. The All-Star big man, who is having a breakout campaign, pointed to his coach\u2019s attitude rubbing off on the players.<\/p>\n \u201c(Bickerstaff has) established a culture,\u201d Duren said. \u201cHe established an expectation for how he wanted us to play, and what he wanted the team to look like. And we just tried to follow that to the best of our ability.<\/p>\n \u201cWe hadn\u2019t known or seen too much winning, or didn\u2019t even know how to win too many games in the NBA<\/a>. So when he came in, as a proven coach, he kind of fit the characteristics of the guys in the locker room, first and foremost. And from there, it just kind of took off.\u201d<\/p>\n GettyHead coach J.B. Bickerstaff of the Detroit Pistons looks on during the second half against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center on October 24, 2025 in Houston, Texas.<\/p>\n The young Pistons team has found its identity, led by Cade Cunningham<\/a>, who has seemingly positioned himself as a superstar in the NBA. Duren\u2019s rise was also impactful, averaging<\/a> 19.5 points and 10.6 rebounds per game this season on 64.3% shooting.<\/p>\n Duren Central to Bickerstaff\u2019s Offense Amid Cunningham\u2019s Absence<\/p>\n The Pistons have been playing without Cunningham since March 19 due to a collapsed lung. He is expected to return on or before the first round of the playoffs. The team has a 4-1 record since the injury, with Duren taking charge of the offense.<\/p>\n Duren is averaging<\/a> 24.6 points, 10.4 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.0 steals in his last five games. Their lone loss to the Atlanta Hawks<\/a> was a 130-129<\/a> overtime defeat, with Duren missing the game-winner at the buzzer.<\/p>\n Speaking to reporters after the Pistons\u2019 129-108<\/a> win over the New Orleans Pelicans<\/a> on Thursday, Bickerstaff explained how important Duren is to their offense amid Cunningham\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s untapped potential being able to use him as a hub, put the ball in his hands and let him make plays,\u201d Bickerstaff said<\/a>. \u201cThe growth he\u2019s shown this year offensively has been through the charts.\u201d<\/p>\n The Pistons have nine games left in the regular season, with a 4.5-game lead against the Boston Celtics<\/a> for the best record in the East.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tJuan Paolo David<\/a> Juan Paolo David is a sports journalist covering basketball for Heavy. He has a decade of experience writing about the NBA and WWE. He’s currently based in the Philippines. More about Juan Paolo David<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Pistons\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Jalen Duren of the Detroit Pistons is having a breakout campaign. One of the reasons for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":683828,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3773],"tags":[7,296,188,3860,6,297],"class_list":{"0":"post-683827","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-pistons","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-detroit","10":"tag-detroit-pistons","11":"tag-detroitpistons","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-pistons"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116305937277269838","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=683827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/683828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=683827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=683827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=683827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"jb](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774687658_891_GettyImages-2243912923-e1771079290692.jpg\")
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