Pistons trash-talking their way to the top with new Dawg Pound mentality

For at some point, the Detroit Pistons selected to not be a basketball group.

Regardless of an early-January skid, head coach J.B. Bickerstaff had canceled follow. The Pistons had succumbed to a few shedding groups on the highway within the Utah Jazz and LA Clippers. In different situations, perhaps Bickerstaff runs them till their legs, regardless of how younger, flip into noodles.

As an alternative, he examined one other tactic.

Bickerstaff invited the gamers to the UCLA campus, the place they convened on the soccer pitch. The Pistons cut up into groups, coaches included.

On that day, they traded an orange ball for a black-and-white one, which didn’t cease them from appearing like the identical rugged, gained’t-shut-the-heck-up, stunning leaders of the Jap Convention. Win or lose, and it’s often lose, nobody enjoys dealing with Detroit, the place basketball appears to be like extra like monster vehicles.

It doesn’t matter what sport they play, the Pistons act just like the Pistons.

Beginning heart Jalen Duren, a gentleman all the time constructed like a superhero however is now beginning to ball like one, had by no means performed soccer till that day at UCLA. The gamers competed barefoot, a lot to the reservations of the group’s medical employees. Nobody received damage, not less than not bodily.

On one play, Duren discovered himself within the open discipline with an opportunity to attain the primary objective of his life. His mind is thus far faraway from soccer jargon that he later known as the would-have-been rating “a bucket.” Along with his finest bud and fellow enforcer, Isaiah Stewart, manning the objective, Duren unleashed a line-drive kick. Stewart leaped within the air and swatted away the shot.

“Get that s— out of right here!” Stewart screamed at Duren. “It ain’t occurring! It ain’t occurring!”

The famed novice soccer gods will need to have scripted this second. Cade Cunningham is perhaps the Pistons’ MVP candidate, however Duren and Stewart are the embodiment of the group’s tenacity.

Years in the past, Duren, Stewart and then-Pistons assistant coach Drew Jones would yell “Dawg pound!” at one another each time one of many two large males would make a hustle play, set a tough display or accomplish every other feat they thought-about soiled work. The custom continued away from video games. They’d greet one another within the hallway or the movie room by shouting the phrase. Only for the enjoyable of the bit, Jones went on Etsy and made a $30 chain for Stewart and Duren. On the backside of it was a bulldog with bones in its mouth.

A sub-organization, the Dawg Pound, had shaped contained in the Pistons. The prerequisite to get in was easy.

“You gotta do dawg s—,” Duren mentioned in a latest dialog with The Athletic.

The establishment nonetheless lives robust. “Dawg Pound” is now painted above Stewart’s and Duren’s lockers in Detroit’s dwelling area.

However the Dawg Pound extends past the court docket. Stewart wasn’t even alleged to be in objective when Duren kicked that shot towards the online. He had begun the match within the discipline with assistant coach Luke Walton taking part in goalie. However midgame, Stewart went to Walton and insisted they swap.

Like Duren, Stewart wasn’t an skilled soccer participant, which was obvious in his efficiency.

“I used to be nervous I used to be gonna examine any individual,” Stewart advised The Athletic.

Stewart’s flagrant fouls and ejections are the mainstream hits, the actions that body his status, however his finest work (and true worth) comes on his indie information: his rim safety and relentless protection. Off the ground, his teammates swear by him, however in addition they witness a screw loosen any time he enters competitors.

OK, so he’s a catastrophe at soccer and surrounded by his associates. Does he examine the smallest man? The largest man?

“I examine the closest man,” Stewart clarified.

It was most likely finest for everybody that Stewart pulled himself from the sphere. In spite of everything, he gained’t change who he’s. Nor will Duren. Nor would a brand new member of the Dawg Pound, second-year wing Ron Holland. Nor would Cunningham or defensive menace Ausar Thompson.

And nor would the Pistons need any of them to take action.

That is what Bickerstaff prefers: Eternal competitors. It’s why in the course of an uncharacteristic skid, one of many NBA’s youngest groups pushed apart basketball and as an alternative leaned into the group’s persona.

It’s why Duren, whose ferocity has helped him to a breakout season, continues to be speaking about that almost-goal. The 22-year-old is posting career-best numbers on a career-best group attempting to win its first playoff collection since 2008. However that’s not sufficient.

“I wished to f—— win,” Duren mentioned. “It simply is what it’s, bro, after which we speak s— about it after.”

Over the summer season, Pistons gamers met at Wayne State College in Detroit for a two-hand contact soccer recreation that grew to become too contentious for many guys on the squad to relive.

“Everyone was speaking s— to everyone,” Holland mentioned.

Finally, the sport simply type of ended. As a result of it needed to.

Duren and Stewart say Holland solely discovered that soccer recreation to be so heated as a result of he hasn’t been round lengthy sufficient to know higher. The remainder of the group factors to summertime seaside volleyball tournaments, which veteran ahead Tobias Harris organizes in San Diego, because the scene of really out-of-pocket moments.

Your entire group competes in volleyball — from gamers to coaches and even the PR employees.

Stewart, one of many NBA’s grandiose intimidators, was picked close to final whereas selecting groups this previous August, which set the tone for the day.

“That’s a f— you,” Stewart mentioned. “So, you’re already coming in very aggressive. … You simply wanna bust some ass. So now each recreation, you’re coming in like, ‘Carry your ass over right here,’ and we’re simply jawing between each level.”

The Pistons trash-talk on the court docket. On the sphere. On the seaside. After they play video video games. Throughout taking pictures competitions after follow.

“It’s in all the pieces, bro,” Duren mentioned. “It may very well be getting meals.”

If one man’s meal appears to be like extra scrumptious than one other’s, cowl your ears.

Each nice Pistons champion has gained whereas exuding the identical type. There have been the “Dangerous Boys” of the Eighties and early ’90s, who bashed their option to two NBA titles. There have been the mid-2000s Pistons who reached six straight Jap Convention finals and gained a championship on the backs of protection and toughness.

Solely a few seasons in the past, with most of the identical characters already in Detroit, this group misplaced 28 consecutive video games. Final season, the Pistons shocked the league, reeling off 44 victories and shedding in a hard-fought first-round playoff collection. Now, they personal the NBA’s second-ranked protection and sit at 30-10, 4 1/2 video games higher than the second-place Boston Celtics, who the Pistons face Monday evening.

Cunningham is revving towards All-NBA First-Crew standing. Thompson and Holland are hounds. Harris, Duncan Robinson and Caris LeVert are reliable vets. On any given evening, an surprising younger man would win them a recreation. Daniss Jenkins might get sizzling, or Marcus Sasser might nail three 3s in three minutes. Stewart is making his clearest case ever for an All-Defensive Crew look.

However the biggest growth of the season has been the Dawg Pound’s different chief, Duren, a former first-round choose who relied on pure capability over his first three skilled seasons however now has emerged as an All-Star hopeful and one of many league’s most improved gamers.

The Pistons have adopted a Dawg Pound mentality this season, thanks partly to Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart.  (Courtesy Detroit Pistons)

The Pistons couldn’t hit a jumper the day earlier than that soccer match. They went 0-for-11 from deep throughout the first half of an unpleasant loss to the Clippers. Apart from throughout a third-quarter run from Cunningham, they couldn’t create clear photographs. Kawhi Leonard torched them for a career-best 55 factors.

And but, even on their off nights, the Pistons function in a different way than they’ve in years previous — particularly Duren.

Halfway by means of the sport, with the Clippers on a heater, Duren pulled Thompson to the facet to talk about pick-and-roll coverages. “I can present extra on that display,” he advised Thompson. The 2 children mentioned how one can good their technique, as in the event that they’d been doing this for millennia.

Later, after committing a sloppy foul, he went to LeVert, almost a decade his elder. “I’m gonna cease reaching,” Duren advised him.

“He is aware of when he messes up now,” mentioned Pistons assistant Vitaly Potapenko, who performed for 11 years within the NBA and now works intently with Duren. “He’s teaching himself.”

The brute heart’s scoring has skyrocketed this season. For the primary time, he’s the definitive second choice behind Cunningham. However his largest leap has come on the opposite facet of the court docket.

In the course of the starting a part of his profession, whilst just lately as final season, opponents leaned on an apparent recreation plan in opposition to the Pistons: Carry Duren into area. He might need been a chiseled big in peril of concussing himself on the sector ceiling any time he jumped, however his group protection was wonky. He’d run to the improper locations or not acknowledge an opponent’s performs. He’d flip a method, then one other after which one other till he watched the enemy rating. In moments, he appeared like he was impersonating the ultimate scene of “Inception.”

For the primary time in his life, Duren couldn’t overpower any individual in entrance of him. He had been a extremely ranked highschool recruit, a dominant down-low pressure and lottery choose. However when he first entered the league, he was the youngest participant in it. NBA athletes are consultants at figuring out and attacking vulnerabilities.

Finally, Duren hit a breaking level.

“No extra of this being-picked-on s—,” he mentioned.

He studied movie on his protection this previous summer season. He labored with Potapenko and Bickerstaff on verticality across the rim, retaining his arms straight within the air whereas contesting guys who jumped into him, which might assist restrict fouls. All through final 12 months, he began to note within the second why his errors had been occurring, although he couldn’t all the time repair them instantly.

“When you perceive what your weaknesses are, you’re capable of work on them,” Duren mentioned. “Rome wasn’t inbuilt a day.”

Duren modified his physique, getting leaner within the offseason to assist along with his mobility and adaptability. Not solely is he smarter when opponents pull him away from the paint, however he improved manning facilities who can pop to the 3-point arc; it’s additionally not almost as straightforward to drive by him.

The Pistons have labored with their large males not essentially on shot blocking, however extra on what they name “altering and difficult” photographs. If a dribbler infiltrates the paint solely to strive a layup or dunk, the objective isn’t to get a hand on the ball. It’s to make that participant uncomfortable sufficient to pressure a miss. Stewart, who can rattle off his superior rim-protection metrics to the decimal, has develop into obsessive about this idea. Duren has adopted go well with.

The Pistons enable solely 62 % taking pictures on the rim, the third-lowest determine within the NBA, in accordance with Cleansing the Glass. A lot of that’s due to the Dawg Pound duo. Stewart, despite the fact that he stands at solely 6-foot-8, has develop into one of many world’s simplest shot alterers. Duren is fouling much less and deterring extra.

“He realized he was rattling close to 7-foot-2,” Thompson mentioned.

Duren, whose biceps are the scale of thighs, is perhaps the one participant listed at 6-foot-10 who may very well be precisely described that means. The conclusion comes at an opportune time for the soon-to-be restricted free agent. Duren was eligible for an extension this previous summer season, however he and the Pistons had been thus far aside on numbers that the 2 sides by no means even received into negotiations, league sources mentioned. Duren sought a max contract. Detroit didn’t consider doling out a lot cash earlier than its beginning heart proved himself extra can be prudent.

Duren will enter the upcoming summer season with a stronger argument for a payday — not simply due to particular person enchancment, but additionally due to how he matches into an up-and-coming tradition.

Isaiah Stewart has discovered a gear with the Pistons this season. (Nick Cammett / Getty Photographs)

Duren and Stewart have a brand new favourite bit.

The 2 stay the arbiters of who will get in and who stays out of the Dawg Pound. Holland earned entry purely on vibes. He’s not a shooter and defends as if he doesn’t really feel ache. They’ve denied membership requests however, out of respect, gained’t say to whom — with one exception, Thompson.

Years in the past, Cunningham created his personal Pistons membership, Massive Guard College (BGU), which has since considerably disbanded. Thompson, one other defensive menace who thrives on physicality and sometimes guards the opposite group’s finest participant, yearns for Dawg Pound acceptance, however Duren and Stewart inform him he may be solely “part-time.”

Generally, the 22-year-old, who on high of being an all-defensive expertise additionally has true offensive potential, will get too expert for his or her liking.

A few weeks in the past, Duren jabbed Thompson for being part of Cunningham’s BGU, not the Dawg Pound. He couldn’t presumably be a member of each.

“I haven’t even heard of (BGU),” Thompson quipped, insisting he was the fourth member of the Dawg Pound.

He made his Dawg Pound case, smirking however pissed off along with his pal, who he knew was solely messing with him to encourage a response. Properly, Duren received one.

“I’m the most important dawg,” Thompson retorted in jest. “Generally you wanna exile the most important dawg.”

Thompson gained the interplay with the one-liner. Duren broke character and burst out laughing. After all, the remark didn’t change Thompson’s part-time standing. Nothing might. So long as Thompson’s denied entry bothers him, Duren and Stewart will likely be too entertained to grant him admission.

However Duren is reaching an uncomfortable actuality, too. He nonetheless fights for rebounds. Defensively, he’s higher and definitely grittier than ever. And but, Duren — who might, after all, by no means truly be described as a guard — is inching nearer to Massive Guard College than he would possibly care to confess. He’s averaging six extra factors per recreation this season than he did in 2024-25. And he’s not only a rim-diving heart anymore.

For the primary time in his profession, he’ll convey the ball up in transition. He units screens for Cunningham, rolls to the paint, receives bounce passes, then assaults the ring or creates nook 3s from there. His passes are bold. He’s added a bevy of strikes across the basket and a dependable midrange shot.

He locked on this summer season on stability and pivots. Setting a wider base after he picks up his dribble permits him to remain centered.

His face-up recreation has remodeled. By no means earlier than has he put the ball on the bottom so usually. The Pistons common 1.194 factors on passes, photographs, turnovers and fouls immediately out of his drives, not simply the very best variety of his profession but additionally seventeenth out of 200 qualifiers within the NBA, in accordance with Second Spectrum. Consider, that’s a listing together with a number of the league’s premier on-ball expertise, corresponding to reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, three-time MVP Nikola Jokić and two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.

And but, Duren doesn’t appear involved about banishment to the land of Thompson.

“I’m nonetheless all in regards to the soiled work,” he mentioned. “It’ll by no means change.”

He mentioned his favourite kind of play isn’t certainly one of his jumpers or perhaps a planet-shaking dunk. It’s when the Pistons protection forces a shot-clock violation.

“That s— is sweet,” Duren mentioned, rubbing his palms collectively as if he had some unhealthy relationship with the sound of a buzzer.

“S— like that’s simply … I don’t know,” he mentioned. “It simply does one thing for the entire group.”

Such is the Duren means. And such is the best way of the Pistons, who introduced collectively naturally aggressive folks and watched them trash-talk one another to the highest.