Dynamic big man duos were at least on the endangered species list, if not fully extinct, when Troy Weaver improbably maneuvered for an extra lottery pick and used it to select Jalen Duren last June.
Duren surely was a tantalizing prospect too good to pass up with the 13th pick. And even if it was hard to see how he fit on a roster that already had a big man Weaver and Dwane Casey felt was a foundational piece of the Pistons restoration, Isaiah Stewart, well, Duren was 18 and time was on everyone’s side.
Nobody expected Duren to force his way into the rotation before the 2023 half of the season, never mind the starting lineup, and fewer than that thought he’d be playing not behind or ahead of Stewart but, in fact, alongside him.
And, yet, here we are. In Duren’s third career start, he and Stewart combined for 26 points, 30 rebounds and five blocked shots in an overtime win Wednesday at Charlotte. With the rest of the NBA still trending toward smaller lineups, the Pistons are going to find out if they can capitalize on a market inefficiency and thrive with two big men.
Two big men who – if this thing works – could line up next to each other for the next decade and beyond.
“They’re going to grow together,” Casey said after the Charlotte win. “They’re going to be together for a long time, so they better like each other. If they don’t, they’re going to be in big trouble because they’re going to be with the organization a long time.”
The Pistons have some beloved former big man duos and – no surprise – the thing that elevates them to adoration is the championship banners they helped put in the rafters at The Palace and now at Little Caesars Arena. Bill Laimbeer and Rick Mahorn, Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace – that’s the gold standard Stewart and Duren will be chasing.
Stewart didn’t hesitate when asked what the ceiling is for the new-age big man duo.
“I don’t think we have a ceiling, us two,” he said Thursday after a 19-point, 11-rebound stint in which he played 41 minutes due to Marvin Bagley III suffering a first-half injury. “I think the sky’s the limit for us.”
The key to making it work – the thing that led Casey to conceptualizing playing with two-big lineups – is Stewart making the transition to center, the only position he’d ever known, to power forward. That would not have been a remarkable move in the Laimbeer-Mahorn or Wallace-Wallace days, but it’s a different game today.
“It is, just because of the shooting aspect, the spacing aspect offensively,” Casey said. “The league is a lot smaller now at the four. Guys that were three back then are now fours. So everybody’s downsized, especially at the end of games. There’s a few teams that have two traditional bigs, four and five, but not many.”
Weaver had unique insight into Stewart as a prospect, in part because Washington coach Mike Hopkins also was on the Syracuse bench under Jim Boeheim when Weaver cut his teeth there two decades ago. And nobody was a bigger believer in Stewart than Weaver. Casey saw why Weaver was so infatuated with Stewart in training camp two years ago and has been the biggest proponent of his future as something beyond a blue-collar grinder moored to the paint.
Casey also believed Stewart would thrive in that role because he was confident he’d embrace the challenge. That’s exactly what happened. Despite a comfort zone playing with his back to the basket and near the rim, Stewart didn’t need to have his arm twisted.
“It was something I definitely looked forward to. I knew it was going to be somewhat of a challenge because I’d never played that spot offensively in my life,” he said. “But as I got some game reps under me and watched some film, I’m starting to figure out each game. I’m starting to grow and learn more in that spot.”
Stewart has crested any reasonable expectations already as a 3-point shooter, hitting 37.5 percent on 4.2 attempts a game – almost exactly half his shots. He’s also making the transition look pretty easy defensively. None of it surprises Casey. Or Stewart, for that matter. Transition defense is the area Casey sees as the biggest challenge – finding a shooter at the 3-point line as opposed to charging full bore to the paint to protect the rim.
“I’d say offensively is pretty much the easiest, but defensively I feel there’s a lot of things you’ve got to remember,” Stewart said. “But I’m a person who loves defense, so I’m looking forward to growing in that area to be a great defender at that end, as well.”
From the lineage of Laimbeer and Mahorn, Wallace and Wallace, a big man who relishes the dirty work of defense is a pretty good start on winning over Pistons fans. And they’re both younger – Duren just turning 19, Stewart still only 21 – than any of those four before they ever donned a Pistons uniform. Duren and Stewart figure to have a lot of years together to work on that other thing that guarantees forever winning over those fans.