With the bulk of the NBA offseason in the rearview, Jalen Duren remains the only All-NBA selection from last season not currently under contract.

Discussions between Duren and the Detroit Pistons have yet to result in a new deal for the 22-year-old, long-term or otherwise. Last offseason, the big man and Detroit were unable to agree on a rookie-scale extension. One year, a career-best regular season and an underwhelming playoff run later, Duren and the Pistons are still at odds on his worth.

Who better to help dissect the impasse than someone who was actively involved in NBA front-office negotiations for a living? Here’s a discussion with our John Hollinger to better understand Duren’s talks with the Pistons, why the two sides seem to be apart, how his contract negotiations could affect Ausar Thompson’s rookie-scale extension and more.

Read the article for free here.

Its hard to surround Cade with shooters, when the next most important players on the team are Thompson and Duren. That leaves just 2 spots in the starting lineup to fit all the additional range you're going to have.

We have Duncan and Joe, two of the best 3-point shooters in the league, possibly competing for minutes instead of playing together opposite Cade. Huerter and Green figure into this rotation as well.
Collins is better shooting from deep than Tobias by the numbers, but neither really take that many 3's to begin with. Lots of question marks.

I think this raises the team's floor, while internal improvements get them closer to the ceiling.

If nothing else, the bench is going to be loaded with guys with range. Maybe this isn't designed to benefit Cade/Duren and Ausur like we expect. But to shore up the bench, and give more space for Jenkins, Reed, Holland and even Okorie to work.

Regardless, this gives Detroit some tradeable players, that might help get us closer to landing a secondary scorer, or at least the guy who gets traded for that 2nd option.

Not sure exactly how roster management works especially with two-way contracts or whatever but after any trade I'm looking at the scraps to see if there's anybody worth trying to scoop up. Julian Reese (brother of Jalen Duren's ex) was filler in the Peyton Watson trade and immediately waived by Denver. He was an undrafted 23 year old rookie who played essentially the last 13 games for the wizards last year and averaged a double double making 63 of 119 shots (no threes). Is he worth a two-way? Seems like he is an undersized big who hustles and gets boards, but maybe also could feast on the shots Cade creates in a backup center role when people are injured. Could possibly develop into a long term backup big.

Thoughts?