Jalen Duren’s defense, Deni Avdija’s speed and the NBA’s 5 most improved players – The Athletic
This was not the same Jaime Jaquez Jr.
Nearly a year ago, shortly into Jaquez’s second season, the Miami Heat wing snapped an out-of-character streak. He had scattered his rookie campaign with hard dunks but, through 13 timid performances in Year 2, was yet to throw one down. For whatever the reason, this was not the same guy who slid onto all-rookie in 2023-24. His drives to the hoop weren’t as fervent, his finishes not as powerful.
On Dec. 1, during his 14th game of 2024-25, Jaquez dunked for the first time all season, receiving a pass after curling around a screen, going one dribble to the basket and mashing in a two-handed slam. But that moment didn’t flip a switch. Jaquez didn’t dunk again for weeks.
The promising then-23-year-old ran into a sophomore wall. Today, he has bashed through it.
The Heat have renovated their offense, emphasizing a dashing style that requires little-to-no screens, a significant change from the slower, pick-heavy ways of Jaquez’s first two seasons. And Jaquez has thrived.
Now, he is one of the NBA’s most improved players.
His scoring average has doubled, as have his assists. Most importantly, the Jaquez experience includes an onslaught of the hoop. He’s getting to the free-throw line more than ever. He’s taking 12.2 shots in the paint per 36 minutes this season compared to 8.4 last year. He’s hit 60 percent of those, an eight percent increase from 2024-25.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra credits Jaquez’s decision-making while racing to the hoop. If a shot isn’t there, he’s kicking to the corners inside Miami’s swing-swing offense. A shot or a quick whip to the wing tends to follow.
“We’ve got a lot of movement, so it makes it easier to make reads,” Jaquez said. “When you’re going to the paint, you’ve got guys moving.”
And now, Jaquez looks like the player Heat optimists hoped for in his early days, averaging 17.1 points, 5.1 assists and 6.9 rebounds on career-best efficiency.
Oh, and he’s finishing with vigor once he arrives down low. It took Jaquez 14 games to dunk last season. He’s played 14 so far in 2025-26 — and has already pounded in nine.
Jaquez isn’t the only player who has shown signs of improvement a month into the season. Here are four more who have taken clear steps forward:
Jalen Duren, Detroit Pistons
Duren bet on himself this summer.
Smart man.
The Pistons’ fourth-year center asked for a large payday when he was eligible for an extension during the offseason. Detroit wasn’t willing to go so high. The team’s future, even with a young and talented roster, had question marks. One of them: What would Duren’s fit be alongside Cade Cunningham and the rest of the group’s core if he couldn’t shoot 3-pointers and also struggled to get stops at the sport’s most-important defensive position?
Those concerns are falling by the wayside.
Duren morphing into a dominant down-low threat isn’t a shocker. He’s always had the body, athleticism and spirit for this — though 20 points a game on 67 percent shooting for the top team in the Eastern Conference screams “All-Star.” He’s a daring passer. However, the reason he makes this list (and the reason why anyone could argue he’s the favorite for the actual Most Improved Player award right now) is because of what’s occurred on the other end.
There was a time not long ago when the way to take advantage of the Pistons was to put Duren into pick-and-rolls. Bring his man into every action, make the now 22-year-old defend in space, scramble Detroit and hunt open shots like they’re clay pigeons. Duren has steadily progressed guarding in those situations. The Pistons defense survived with him on the court last season, even during the first-round playoff series against pick-and-roll extraordinaire Jalen Brunson.
But there were clear roles for Detroit’s big men. Duren was the lottery pick who could sky for rebounds, bash guys out of his way, throw down flashy lobs and annihilate anyone around him for dunks. Isaiah Stewart, the backup, was the rugged bully, the underrated paint protector who did the dirty work.
Now, they both fit that bill.
The Pistons are 12-2, winners of 10 straight heading into Tuesday night, not just because of Cunningham’s stardom. “The Bad Boys” are back. This group is second in the NBA in points allowed per possession.
Good luck getting to the basket against the Pistons.
Opponents are shooting just 53 percent on dunks and layups when Duren is the closest defender, which places him on a new side of the league leaders. He was at 62 percent last season. (Stewart, by the way, is at 47 percent, third in the NBA, after leading the league in this statistic last season.)
Duren is rotating more promptly. He’s not committing as many silly, reach-in fouls, guarding more with his feet than he is with his hands. You used to be able to see him think when a facilitator put him in a pick-and-roll. Now, Pistons opponents are scoring a minuscule 0.82 points per play when Duren is defending a ball screen, according to Second Spectrum.
The most optimistic projections for Duren are coming to fruition. And next summer, when he hits free agency, he could reap the benefits of them.
Deni Avdija, Portland Trail Blazers
This is the section that could enrage fans of the Chicago Bulls. Avdija and Josh Giddey are both filling up box scores, running breaks and engineering two of the NBA’s fastest offenses. In each case, it’s working. Both are on teams exceeding expectations. Both are dwarfing their counting stats from last season — after both exploded in the final few weeks of 2024-25, showing glimpses of what was to come.
Both seem bound for their first all-star appearances. Giddey is a smidgen off a triple-double average for the season. And yet, Avdija makes this list, and Giddey does not.
It’s not about the quality of play, just the year-over-year progression.
Avdija is averaging 26.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists after posting comparable numbers this past March into April. But a large part of Avdija’s spring uptick, which has been steady ever since his final season in Washington, was unsustainable shooting production. Now, he’s the top player on a team vying for Play-In Tournament contention in the tougher Western Conference.
The Blazers are true to their name; no squad — not the Heat or even the Bulls — flies back and forth like they do. They are addicted to full-court pressing and have the personnel to do it with Jrue Holiday and Toumani Camara stalling dribblers up the floor. On the other side, they get into their first actions faster than any other offense, according to Second Spectrum.
Avdija is defending big wings. He’s a one-man fast break, an unrelenting raider of the middle. Not many forwards are more physical. Only the persistent Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has driven to the rim more times this season than Avdija, per Second Spectrum. He’s refined the game’s subtleties, like this over-the-head hook pass to open up teammates for corner 3s.
Avdija isn’t just blazing. He’s controlling pace in a way he never has before. He’s never been so confident with his jumper, hitting 38 percent on nearly seven 3-point attempts a game. And he’s churning out the most effective, efficient basketball of his life.
Ryan Rollins, Milwaukee Bucks
Rollins is the epitome of improvement, a journeyman second-rounder who bounced from the Golden State Warriors to the nation’s capital before the Washington Wizards waived him.
Anyone could have signed Rollins. Anyone could have scooped up his defense and waited for the scoring outbursts. Only the Bucks did, inking him to a two-way deal, then converting him to a contract that now looks like one of the league’s greatest values. Rollins is a defense-first, sweet-shooting, starting-caliber point guard — and Milwaukee will pay him only $12 million over three years.
What is improved if not 25 points on only 11 shots against the New York Knicks, his first scoring outbreak of the season? What is improved if not a 32-point detonation the following game, when he spurred the Bucks, who were without Giannis Antetokounmpo, to an upset victory over the Golden State Warriors? What is improved if not increasing your points and assists by 2.5 times in a winning situation?
The Rollins-Antetokounmpo pick-and-roll has immediately become one of the league’s most devastating combinations. The Bucks are overridden with shooting, which allows Antetokounmpo to dominate the middle. Rollins, who’s nailing 46 percent of his 3s, is a major reason why.
Through 15 games, Rollins has been Milwaukee’s second-best player. Who is improved if not Ryan Rollins?
Ajay Mitchell, Oklahoma City Thunder
Various second-year players could justify a spot on this list.
The Wizards’ Alex Sarr is a changed man, a 20-year-old 7-footer who has softened his hands and added to his bag. He will face up defenders from the mid-post, go one dribble right, then loft a jumper as he turns around his other shoulder. He will receive passes in traffic, gather himself and go up with touch. He couldn’t pull any of this off last season.
Reed Sheppard barely played as a rookie. The Houston Rockets had no choice but to throw him out there and hope for the best after their starting point guard, Fred VanVleet, went down for the season. There are still moments when Sheppard will miss a defensive rotation or bolt to the wrong place. A fun subplot of any Rockets game is head coach Ime Udoka’s visceral reactions to any Sheppard miscue. But his extra ballhandling and elite shooting (48 percent on almost six 3-point attempts a game) has more than offset his question marks. After a first NBA season on the bench, Sheppard has proven he’s at worst a reliable contributor on an elite team.
Jaylon Tyson has forced his way into the Cleveland Cavaliers’ rotation, but we need to see more from Tyson before he can appear on this list.
The Bulls’ Matas Buzelis looks like a future all-star, but we could have seen that coming.
And that’s why none of the aforementioned players make this list, in spite of obvious improvements. Sarr was the second pick in the 2024 draft. Sheppard was third. The 11th selection, Buzelis, was enthralling as a rookie and seems on his way to something special. Tyson went in the first round.
But there is one second-year exception — because no one outside of Oklahoma City could have anticipated this leap from Ajay Mitchell.
A year ago, Mitchell was a second-rounder mired on a two-way contract, an older rookie who could mess around off the dribble but who wasn’t refined enough to burst through on the NBA’s deepest team. A month into this season, the Thunder have dealt with serious injuries. All-NBA forward Jalen Williams hasn’t played yet. Lu Dort, Chet Holmgren, Aaron Wiggins, Alex Caruso and Isaiah Joe have all missed time. And yet, this team has lost only one time.
Turn to Mitchell.
He’s stepped in as an instant-offense option off the bench. He’s the group’s third-leading scorer, behind only Gilgeous-Alexander and Holmgren, at 16.3 points a game. More importantly, he’s a secondary creator alongside the reigning MVP.
Especially during the first few games of the season, the Thunder would use Mitchell and Gilgeous-Alexander in pick-and-rolls together. One would screen for the other. It didn’t matter who. Oklahoma City loves these types of guard-to-guard actions.
Chances are, they will continue once Williams returns. If the defending champs needed anything, it was an extra ballhandler to help their two All-NBA facilitators. Now, they have one — and, in typical Thunder fashion, he rose from within.
