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The Andre Drummond Thread
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Drummond Emerges as Elite Center
Andre Drummond always had superstar potential. With his size, athleticism, length and skill set, it was clear that he had all of the necessary tools to become one of the best big men in the NBA if he reached his ceiling. It’s why he was featured on this website when he was in high school and why he was the first center selected in the 2012 NBA Draft.
The shocking thing about Drummond isn’t how good he has become, it’s how quickly he has emerged as one of the game’s elite big men. He just turned 20 years old in August and he’s in only his second season in the NBA, yet he has already separated himself as a dominant big man and cornerstone of the Detroit Pistons.This season, Drummond is averaging 13.3 points, 12.7 rebounds, 1.4 blocks and 1.8 steals. Not to mention, he’s leading the league in field goal percentage (62.7 percent), rebounding rate (22.2 percent) and offensive rebounding rate (16.9 percent). Drummond also ranks 13[SUP]th[/SUP] in the NBA in efficiency rating (23.36) and eighth in win shares (3.1).
Teams usually have to be patient with young centers since it typically takes big men longer to adapt to the NBA’s physicality and competition level. However, Drummond hasn’t needed much time at all to make an impact in Detroit. Despite being one of the NBA’s youngest centers, he’s already dominating down low and earning praise from opposing players.
“They have a cornerstone guy in Drummond,” Miami HEAT forward Shane Battier said. “He’s a guy you can build a franchise around. His talent is that apparent. They’re going through some growing pains right now, trying to blend the talent they brought in. It doesn’t happen overnight. The East the way it is, they’re going to win some games and be competitive. They can be a handful on any given night.”
“He’s tough,” Philadelphia 76ers guard Michael Carter-Williams said of Drummond. “He’s big, he can rebound, he’s athletic and he works hard. When you’re that big and you work that hard, that’s a good combination. He’s a great player.”
Even within the organization, there has been some surprise with how quickly Drummond has developed. Pistons head coach Maurice Cheeks admits that he didn’t predict this kind of impact from a center who was still a teenager just four months ago.
“Joe [Dumars] told me he was on an upswing like that, but I didn’t know,” Cheeks admitted. “I watched him a few times, but I didn’t know he was going to be as good as he is now. But trust me, he reminds me every day, the double-doubles he has. … Andre is really on the upswing as we can see, the way he plays. He plays with fire in the game and he’s 20 years old. He’s just a kid. He’s got a lot of basketball left.”
While the statistics are very impressive, Drummond is more concerned with winning games and ending Detroit’s four–year postseason drought. He could care less about his numbers if they don’t help the Pistons get a victory. Detroit is currently 10-13, holding the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference.
“It’s not all about the stats,” Drummond said. “I just do what I can to contribute to the team and help us get a [win]. … Double-doubles are great, but if you’re not coming out with wins then it doesn’t feel the same.”
Perhaps the scariest thing about Drummond is that he still has a long way to go before he reaches his ceiling. As good as he has been, he could cut down on his fouls (he has 69 on the season, 10[SUP]th[/SUP] in the NBA) and improve his free-throw shooting (he’s hitting just 37.5 percent from the charity stripe). He realizes this, and has leaned on his teammates when he has dealt with foul trouble or missed free throws.
“I kept my head, having Josh [Smith] and all of those other guys keeping me positive when things like [foul trouble] happen to me,” Drummond said. “It is part of the game, fouls. They bring you down, but having my teammates around really helps me keep my focus.”
Entering this season, there were some questions about how Drummond would be used on the Pistons. After all, the team also has Greg Monroe in their frontcourt and added Josh Smith over the offseason. Last season, he started just 10 games and averaged 20.7 minutes. This year, Cheeks realized that Drummond was ready for a bigger role, inserting him into the starting lineup alongside Monroe and Smith while playing him 32.6 minutes per game.
Drummond believes that Detroit’s frontcourt has a lot of potential. He says there are times when they’ve “clicked on all cylinders” and been extremely difficult to match-up against.
“We are really starting to gel,” Drummond said of the team’s frontcourt. “We’re starting to find ourselves and find an identity for ourselves.”
“I was just telling Greg, at one point in the game, I was looking at all three of them crash the boards,” Pistons point guard Brandon Jennings said. “And I was like, ‘Wow, that’s a scary sight.’”
Opposing players would likely agree. While Monroe and Smith are key players for the Pistons, it’s becoming clear that their most important piece and franchise player is Drummond. He’s already making his presence felt in the post on a nightly basis, and all signs point to him continuing to improve and dominate for years to come.
Read more at http://www.hoopsworld.com/nba-am-drummond-emerges-as-elite-center#F3okZ8M2Fo1puU6B.99
RealKingofCleve
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Nice evidence provided to back that claim up.
Hoops world had a Drummond write up this morning. Pretty stock piece, but I was just surprised in that stat paragraph about how crazy his rebounding numbers are. The win shares number is higher than I would have thought as well.
http://www.hoopsworld.com/nba-am-drummond-emerges-as-elite-center
Tornicade
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the evidence has been presented. people either dimiss it or post a highlight.
A couple quick pieces of evidence:
A: He's shooting under 40% from the line. It's kind of strange to talk about a guy like he's one of the best centers in the game when he's gonna stay glued to the bench in the final minutes of any meaningful game.
B: He has the worst plus/minus this season out of all the Pistons' regular rotation players. If he's such a star, why is he having a negative effect on his team's bottom line?
Jack Brickman
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That one is simple. It's because, despite his highlight reel blocks, he's a subpar defender right now. He has all the defensive potential in the world, but he's nowhere near an elite defender yet (he's arguably kind of far from average right now), and he's going to have to become one at some point if we want to start calling him the best center in the game, because I just can't ever see him as an elite offensive player. Efficient, yes, just not elite as in any ability to create shots for himself.
Pretty much. I think his ceiling's around Tyson Chandler if he puts it all together. That's very good, probably top-25 player in the NBA, but people talk about him like he's already a top-20 player in the league. It's silly. Time is on his side, but he's got a long road to travel before he can claim to be among the best centers in the league.
Jack Brickman
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He's just one of those guys that people watch and assume he's a good defender already even though he's not. I call that Nicolas Batum Syndrome. If you're long and athletic, you therefore must be a positive defender.
Understatement of a lifetime.
To put into perspective how far along he already is at his age, he is 5 months younger than Anthony Bennett.
Big men are traditionally slow to develop, and he is already one of the most efficient players in the league and statistically one of the best rebounders.
Considering his true prime is 6-7 years away, he is on the right track.
Besides, look at the leap he took from his rookie year to this year. His PER 36 stats as a rookie reserve were off the charts good, and he has maintained them playing fulltime minutes against starters while improving his already high efficiency level. That bodes incredibly well for his future.
Kovah
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That's funny because he was just in ESPN's top 25 under 25 ranked 3rd. Ahead of Kyrie (which pissed me off) among many others. No other Cav on list. Doesn't seem the professionals deem him overrated at all.
PPG: 13.5BPG: 1.4RPG: 13.03-YR WARP: 46.3
Elhassan: Probably already the best rebounder in the NBA, Drummond's combination of size, elite athleticism and motor give him the ability to impact the game every time he steps on the court. He's still raw in terms of skill and feel, but the instincts are there.
Thorpe: He is nowhere near the same player in a fast game as he is in a more deliberate half-court game. Drummond has the ability to both outrace bigs end-to-end or earn deep post position in early offense. Doing so significantly elevates Detroit's offense and makes him a far more dynamic player.
Pelton: Dwight Howard is the only player with a similarity score better than 90 compared to Drummond, who could become the fourth-youngest All-Star ever after Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Magic Johnson.
Can post the rest if necassary.
http://http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/10110549/nba-anthony-davis-paul-george-james-harden-top-players-age-25
Says alot that the only comp they could find is a multi time All-star all-nba player.
The people who nit-pick Drummond's game are not seeing the forest through the trees.
At the position he plays and the age he is what he is doing very rare. There are absolutely areas of his game that need work, but he is wildly ahead of schedule right now at his age on the development scale of 6'11/280 big men.