Drummond has arrived.

zeebneeb · Post #1 » by **zeebneeb** » Wed Nov 11, 2015 2:13 pm

Now that my brain has reset after the Golden State game and after having rewatched both the Blazers and Warriors game I have collected my thoughts.

During both of these games I watched something amazing unfold with Andre but at the time I was to entrenched in the game itself to get past the foam and vitriol spewing from my mouth to really take notice and truly understand what I was seeing.

Andre was becoming a superstar.

We all heard that he was putting in tons of time working on his post moves and even watched some videos of him and we also read that he wanted to become a leader of the team. Well during both of these games not only did we see Andre barking at his teammates to bring the ball up the floor faster (on one particular play during the warriors game he ran up the floor yelling at jackson and waved his arm as if to say "get your ass up here! Stop dogging it!")but we also saw him giving his teammates encouragement on the bench during timeouts.

Vocal. Encouraging his teammates. Talking with the refs. Waving towards stan after he picked up his second foul not to pull him out. Telling the media he only cared about winning. Demanding the ball in the post. These are the things superstars do vocally that others do not.

Then I witnessed his post play. It is truly amazing to go back and see the switch go from slowly flipping to bam! It's on, give me the damn ball and let me go to work mode. Passing out of triple teams. Scoring on double teams. Unbelievable footwork the likes of which I haven't seen in years (combined with raw power)drives to the hole, angry dunks, twirling layups, almost automatic hook shots, pure unadulterated power moves utilizing his strength and size like we have been wanting him to for years. He was not meekishly getting the ball and putting up a soft off-balance shot, and acquiescing to smaller players. He was using his strength and size to move/throw/push players out of his way. (During one play in the warriors game he rammed speights so hard he flew 8 feet under the basket and wasnt called for a foul. I was shocked) He was spinning, twirling and leaning his way closer.

Andre was the unquestioned leader of the Pistons both those nights and became the player I, and everyone else here had hoped he would eventually become.

Andre has arrived.

bballnmike · Post #2 » by **bballnmike** » Wed Nov 11, 2015 4:04 pm

Needs to improve on passing out of double teams (just getting rid of it quicker really), but yeah his offensive progress has been great.

Post #3 » by **Cowology** » Wed Nov 11, 2015 4:31 pm

Passing out of a double team is a skill just like any other; it takes time to learn. This is the first time Dre has commanded that sort of attention so it's no surprise that his passing is sub-par. He'll get lots of practice this year.

tbennett5438 · Post #4 » by **tbennett5438** » Wed Nov 11, 2015 4:33 pm

I'm really glad Andre is showing up this year; I was worried that he was going to have a down year. Because everyone here was saying that he wasn't playing with a motor and seemed not to care during the preseason.

hoophabit · Post #5 » by **hoophabit** » Wed Nov 11, 2015 5:12 pm

tbennett5438 wrote:I'm really glad Andre is showing up this year; I was worried that he was going to have a down year. Because everyone here was saying that he wasn't playing with a motor and seemed not to care during the preseason.

Yeah, so much angst over AD treating the preseason like preseason at the start of his 4th year. How rather "veteran" of him. :wink:

eddh0713 · Post #6 » by **eddh0713** » Wed Nov 11, 2015 5:35 pm

Sorry, Z, don't agree.
His hook shot is still clumsy and hurried. Passing out of double teams will definitely get better. He is showing hunger to win finally but it is not under control YET. His free throw shooting will get better.
Then he will have arrived.
It is scary how good he COULD be.
Nearly as strong as Shaq and can jump like Dennis and Russell!!!

MrBigShot · Post #7 » by **MrBigShot** » Wed Nov 11, 2015 6:34 pm

eddh0713 wrote:Sorry, Z, don't agree.
His hook shot is still clumsy and hurried. Passing out of double teams will definitely get better. He is showing hunger to win finally but it is not under control YET. His free throw shooting will get better.
Then he will have arrived.
It is scary how good he COULD be.
Nearly as strong as Shaq and can jump like Dennis and Russell!!!

What he's done so far is superstar level play, no doubt about that. His hook shot is clumsy/rushed when he's doubled or faces someone with a lot of length, but I think generally he's shown he's comfortable getting it off against single coverage. But, he's shown that he's starting to learn how to use counter moves to combat that.

In the Portland game for example: he caught the ball deep in the paint, faked one way, turned the other way, pump faked the shot, went under the defender, did a jump stop and then dunked it. That's an advanced move if I've ever seen one. He's way ahead of where I expected him to be this early in the season.

zeebneeb · Post #8 » by **zeebneeb** » Wed Nov 11, 2015 7:20 pm

eddh0713 wrote:Sorry, Z, don't agree.
His hook shot is still clumsy and hurried. Passing out of double teams will definitely get better. He is showing hunger to win finally but it is not under control YET. His free throw shooting will get better.
Then he will have arrived.
It is scary how good he COULD be.
Nearly as strong as Shaq and can jump like Dennis and Russell!!!

Becoming/realizing your a superstar is not about production so much as attitude. I didn't talk about the insane rebounding or his dramatic and insane defensive presence either.

It's about attitude and he is showing that front and center without a doubt and more importantly he expects it.

He is still just 22 years old and will have growing pains as a player but his head is screwed on right and wants and expects certain things now. Andre has all the talent to be bill Russell. The difference now is that he knows it.

Andre will absolutely lead this team to a title I can feel it. He is that dominant.

I'm just giddy detroit has a player of his stature.

coordinator0 · Post #9 » by **coordinator0** » Wed Nov 11, 2015 7:39 pm

Drummond is erasing any doubt about the Pistons giving him that $120 million extension. That's pretty significant. The team can really feel good about building around him and Jackson (in that order) going forward. I'm excited to see what Van Gundy does when he starts giving up real assets to acquire players.

Todd3 · Post #10 » by **Todd3** » Wed Nov 11, 2015 7:57 pm

eddh0713 wrote:His hook shot is still clumsy and hurried.

He is 15-27 FG (56%) in the post the last 4 games. "Still" might be the wrong word (at the moment at least).

eddh0713 · Post #11 » by **eddh0713** » Wed Nov 11, 2015 8:10 pm

Todd3 wrote:
eddh0713 wrote:His hook shot is still clumsy and hurried.

He is 15-27 FG (56%) in the post the last 4 games. "Still" might be the wrong word (at the moment at least).

He is definitely making them but I don't see as really graceful at it yet. That means I expect him to get even better with them.

Todd3 · Post #12 » by **Todd3** » Wed Nov 11, 2015 9:18 pm

eddh0713 wrote:
Todd3 wrote:
eddh0713 wrote:His hook shot is still clumsy and hurried.

He is 15-27 FG (56%) in the post the last 4 games. "Still" might be the wrong word (at the moment at least).

He is definitely making them but I don't see as really graceful at it yet. That means I expect him to get even better with them.

Not so much vs GS but his post ups vs POR were the definition of graceful.

Opposition has something to do with it too. Against physical defense like GS its hard to be pretty in the paint. You gotta kinda will it in. Against a softer defense like POR you can be more finesse .