Drummond at the 4?

[PistonPride]

After watching him play in the summer league and watching some of his old high school highlights, it looks like Andre has more potential in developing his face up game then dominating in the post. Is it possible then that he would be better positioned to play the 4? I certainly think hes capable, hes more athletic and agile then most fours in the leagues, and I think it would be scary for teams like the knicks who play carmelo at the four or the Heat who play lebron at the four to have someone as big and agile as Drummond playing the 4 against them.

Offensively Drummond reminds me of Amare when he was young, he has that insane athleticism and I think he might even have an okay jumper. His face up game has looked much better then his post game. I think it is too early to say Dre cant develop an elite post game, he has the strength and he is very quick and agile. He just has looked better at facing up and scoring that way.

If Dre plays the 4 we could keep Greg at the 5 all time, and still have drummond play backup 5. Im looking at a staring lineup of Josh smith at the 3 Drummond at the 4 and Moose at the 5 then Josh can play 4 with greg at the 5 and Drummond can play 5 with josh at the 4. Everyone has been saying Moose would play the four in a Twin Tower scenario, but am I crazy for thinking Andre would be better suited at playing the four?

[need4detroit]

After watching him play in the summer league and watching some of his old high school highlights, it looks like Andre has more potential in developing his face up game then dominating in the post. Is it possible then that he would be better positioned to play the 4? I certainly think hes capable, hes more athletic and agile then most fours in the leagues, and I think it would be scary for teams like the knicks who play carmelo at the four or the Heat who play lebron at the four to have someone as big and agile as Drummond playing the 4 against them.

He's more athletic and agile than about every pure 4 in the league. Your not the only one who thinks this way about Dre. People look at his body and assume he plays an offense like a center. In reality, he plays naturally like a face up 4. He's extremely fast, agile, and he is far more comfortable facing the basket.

I've said this for a while, Defensively Dre plays like a center (Or wherever the hell you put him), offensively he plays like a face up 4.

The question comes where does Drummond have the greatest potential. Ideally you want him to develop both, and I think hes to damn agile not to eventually.

Post Move- Drummonds post game is raw. But on this specific play, he literally looks like Hakeem with the nimbleness. Thats how high is potential is in the low post-- hes more built than Hakeem ever was.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryerr-9m2dE[/youtube]

So the question is, would you develop Dre's face up game more or his post game? Naturally hes better facing up. He plays like a big guard. However, he may potentially be more dominant as a post up player. Despite this, the ability to stretch the floor also helps your teams offense significantly...

[DetroitSho]

The sooner yall realize this is not baseball or football, the sooner yall would realize it don't matter what you call Dre and Monroe. Their roles on offense and defense will be determined by their skillset. Its not like if you're called a center you're required to be at a certain spot on the floor all the time.

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[PistonPride]

I definitely agree he has the potential to develop a post game, I just see so much potential in a face up game. I think at the four he has more potential because he has the opportunity to go to his face up game against bigger power forwards and then against smaller power forwards just back them down and destroy them in the post. Defensively I think he can still be an elite help defender and rim protector at the four, and we wouldn't lose any of his defensive presence

[need4detroit]

I definitely agree he has the potential to develop a post game, I just see so much potential in a face up game. I think at the four he has more potential because he has the opportunity to go to his face up game against bigger power forwards and then against smaller power forwards just back them down and destroy them in the post. Defensively I think he can still be an elite help defender and rim protector at the four, and we wouldn't lose any of his defensive presence

Well what he plays on offense won't restrict what position he plays on defense. However, as a 4 on Defense, he will be pulled further away from the basket which makes his help defense less impactful.

[StickAndMove]

I've noticed Drummond does favor a short-range jumper. However, he's so raw that I find it irrelevant to his development. Whether you work on his jumper or his post game, you're basically starting from scratch. So go with the post game.

Also, it's funny you compare him to Amar'e. Look what happened with him. I know he got hit with injuries, but he would've been so much more effective had he developed post moves early on in his career rather than working on his jumper.

I can see the argument for Andre at the 4. I think there would be situations in which he would defend the other team's PF. But offensively, and really just overall, he's too big not to put him at center. The kid eats rebounds all day and has a 7'6" wingspan. He doesn't have a ton of finesse moves, so hopefully the Pistons push him into the gym and get him to reach his potential as a power player. He could be a force down low; I don't want to see him standing fifteen feet from the basket where he can't help on the boards because we've got him shooting jumpers. Maybe the sessions with Hakeem will help.

[need4detroit]

I've noticed Drummond does favor a short-range jumper. However, he's so raw that I find it irrelevant to his development. Whether you work on his jumper or his post game, you're basically starting from scratch. So go with the post game.

Also, it's funny you compare him to Amar'e. Look what happened with him. I know he got hit with injuries, but he would've been so much more effective had he developed post moves early on in his career rather than working on his jumper.

I think he was just comparing their natural play styles. Their both powerful human beings with a finesse style of play.

[StickAndMove]

I've noticed Drummond does favor a short-range jumper. However, he's so raw that I find it irrelevant to his development. Whether you work on his jumper or his post game, you're basically starting from scratch. So go with the post game.

Also, it's funny you compare him to Amar'e. Look what happened with him. I know he got hit with injuries, but he would've been so much more effective had he developed post moves early on in his career rather than working on his jumper.

I think he was just comparing their natural play styles. Their both powerful human beings with a finesse style of play.

Ah, maybe. But I agree largely with the Amar'e comparison. My point is that, Amar'e would've been so much better off developing a post game in the early stages of his career, rather than having to go back and do it over the last couple seasons around the age of 30. It might not have been his natural tendency, but with his physical ability, it would've been to his advantage. Although I don't blame Amar'e entirely -- D'Antoni clearly couldn't care less about if his bigs know how to post up or not.

Another player Andre reminds me of is Dwight Howard. Dwight's been getting by with just two post moves his whole career. When you're a physical freak like they are, it doesn't take much. But if you take a physical freak and get him to develop his post game to it's utmost potential, you end up with a player more like Shaq or Hakeem. Imagine if Dwight had six solid moves in the post right now. He could at least put up 25 a night.

[joseph mamah]

I think offensively he could play some 4. he doesn't have the mid-range J yet, but I think hes quick enough and has good enough handles to face up and take his man off the dribble as he gets more comfortable on offense. but I want him at center on D.

[Cowology]

He's one of those freak athletes that could probably defend 3-4 different positions, but you want him in the paint. He is a 5. Not a 4. He could develop a 17 foot jumper and I'd tell him to stop shooting it and get his ass in the paint. He needs to be Shaq-lite, not CWebb.

[willywazza]

At this point, Drummond and Monroe are pretty much interchangeable at the 4 and 5. They will both play stretches per game at each position.

I think that's an AWESOME thing to possess, instead of having two bigs without any versatility (imagine playing Jerome James and DeSagana Diop together...)

I think the most important thing is that they develop skill-sets that complement each other.

Drummond is clearly the more athletic of the two and has the potential to be a game-changer on defense. Preferably, I would like to have him at center more often as his athleticism will be used to his advantage in match-ups.

I think he has the ability to become a beast in the post as he increases his offensive arsenal. However, there's also no harm in getting him to develop a mid-range shot to mix it up and throw the defense off guard.

He'll be a complete player.

[princeofpalace]

I wouldnt want to take Drummond at of the paint of defense and onto the perimeter because he is our defensive anchor. That being said, if he does develop a jumper before Monroe then Im all for Drummond playing a little further away from the basket on offense. It really doesnt matter, Monroe and Greg are interchangeable.

And, Cow- Id take Chris Webber with elite defense any day of the week.

[cedric76]

Keep them at 4+5., u guys r in great shape with those 2

Detroit will be back on top soon

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[HotelVitale]

Drummond is an utterly awful shooter right now. He shot maybe 10% from midrange last year. If he develops something vaguely in the range of a passable midrange shot, then you might consider something like this. For the time being, move that guy more than 5 feet from the goal and his defender just pulls up a bar stool and smokes a cigarette.

Also, Amare always had nice touch. I remember an old video of him sinking 18 foot j's while in high school. Shot around 70% from the line his first couple years in the league, then up to the 80% range. I love Dre, but all the offensive greats people compare him to--e.g. Hakeem and Shaq-- were way way ahead of him. I personally don't think he'll ever become a good skill player, but I hope and believe that he can become one of the best bruising put-backs-and-dunks guys ever. I think he could score 20 a game for a few seasons just by fighting. (I also think he could score maybe 14 a game on something like 70% from the field, which might be a better thing.)

[Laimbeer]

Clearly you want him in the paint on defense, as opposed to Monroe. Right now his offensive game is rough, to be kind. It could develop, but some folks don't think he'll ever be much of anything on that end.