jfuchs91 wrote:I'm shocked given you guys are all Pistons fans, but I don't think you really understand how good Andre Drummond is.
Over the past several weeks, we've all been watching prospect videos and wondering how they'll fare in the league. Well, Drummond is younger than some guys who got taken in the lottery, and is just eight days older than sixth pick, Willie Cauley-Stein. In some senses, Drummond is still a "prospect." He's 21 years old.
For those comparing him to DeAndre Jordan, sure, they both had a similar style of play this past season. But DeAndre is five years older. At age 21, Jordan put up 4.8/5.0. Drummond just put up 13.8/13.5.
Drummond are Jordan are both large in stature (both height and length, though Drummond has a slight edge in each), but Drummond has 20 pounds on Jordan. Andre is a massive human, and amazingly is still an elite athlete. In that regard, he's on another level than DeAndre, especially in lateral quickness. Despite his enormous size, Drummond moves like an athletic wing player.
The key to Andre's success is him realizing how big he is. He often tries to play like a finesse player when that underutilizes his two elite traits: his massive stature and athleticism. Van Gundy (and really the whole league) understands the rare physical tools that Drummond possesses, and realize that he's still just 21. People are too quick to give up on young players nowadays. Patience, my friends. The Pistons have made some really nice personnel decisions, and their organization is moving in the right direction. Drummond is going to be the cornerstone of a Detroit revival.
So yes, Drummond is unquestionably a max player. If the Pistons foolishly decide not to give it to him, handfuls of other teams will eagerly get in line to give him the max themselves.
I think Dre can be better than Howard and be a All-Star the next 10 years. He's a smoother athlete than Howard all-around and bigger. I get how good he could be.
My only concerns are... 1) His FT shooting and the increasing popularity of Hack-A-Shaq (who knows how bad it could get?), 2) The Tony Allen "make him beat us" treatment for players who can't shoot, be a playmaker, or iso/post-up efficiently, and 3) What will his impact be in the deciding minutes of games? On offense?
You can be a great player a lock All-Star and put up monster numbers regular season, but 4th quarters and the playoffs are a different animal. Think how LeBron was on offense in 4th quarters until he developed his post game and began to trust his pullup mid-range J as iso moves. Even in the last finals when forced to iso he still wasn't efficient.
As a 4th quarter player or against playoff defense, Dre is a potential defensive anchor and potentially a complete offensive liability without great pieces around him. He has potential to get his post/iso game better because he's young but you can still always foul him, his lack of touch from the line does not bode well for the development of his post shots (hooks, turnarounds, etc), and he has more of a finesse mindset at this point.
As ridiculous as this sounds... I don't know if I want Dre's 18 points and 19 rebounds through 3.5 quarters if when the game is tight in the 4th he's going be an offensive liability bricking FTs, turning the ball over, throwing up errant post shots, getting benched, etc, that will cost us the game. Is a player that has to come out of the game in the most important minutes worth all that money? Idk...
) on a 2nd max, is us tying up 8 figure money in Drummond PLUS guys like Reggie Jackson and Tobias Harris. Then we'd be boxed into mediocrity with very little wiggle-room to improve for a while 
