Drummond Energy Level Called Out by SVG/Jennings

[princeofpalace]

I didn't want this to get lost in the game thread, but Drummond is not sick. He is not injured. He's just not playing with energy nor effort and its inexcusable. Here are some comments from SVG and Jennings. I hope Drummond is embarrassed by these comments and comes to play next game. We need him to care about the game, when he comes out listless our entire team feels it. When Andre is on, he helps us big time by allowing us to get out in transition because of his shotblocking and rebounding. When he's off, he's useless.

The rebound totals are troubling. He was bothered by a cold last week, but appears to be fine now – although he was listless the entire game.

"We all know what Andre can do," Jennings said. "We know what he is capable of doing. He's the type of player who gets 15 and 20 with no plays being called or anything like that so I think it's something Andre has to get with his self and talk about.

"I'm going to talk to him of course because we need him. He's a big part of our success and a reason we had this great winning streak. When he's out there playing, getting rebounds and scoring and dunking, it makes everybody's job easier."

"It's four games in a row where he hasn't brought a lot to the game," Van Gundy said. "And we need him, obviously. He hasn't given us a whole lot. Tonight he didn't rebound. So we just sat him down.

"We brought absolutely no energy whatsoever to the game. That's starting to be a trend at the start of games. I don't know how much longer we'll go with that lineup."

Clearly, the Pistons are concerned about Drummond.

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports ... /21787709/

[Blkbrd671]

Of course you would


I hope its Dre being frustrated with how teams have taken him away or out of games and not a problem with his attitude or with SVG. I am quite interested what happened 4 games ago.

[Redeemed]

Drummond is pretty immature for his age. I think it has been showing this season. In fact it probably manifested during his time with the USA Basketball Team. Frank played the tough love card giving Drummond spot minutes to get him to learn and earn his minutes. Coach K played the tough love card trying to develop him. SVG started force feeding him in the post at the start of the season with less than stellar results.

I believe Drummond is pouting. This is one of those lessons learned moments for him. He's got to grow up. He's got to give max effort at all times. If he can only do it for 20 minutes, play him 20 minutes. Drummond can be special based on athleticism alone. His one special talent for rebounding makes him stand out from the pack.

He has to bring it every night. He has to become a student of the game. I would like to think he will, but I don't know. This disappointing trend makes me think the Detroit Bad Boys blog was on to something when they said Monroe is really important for Drummond continual development.

[ImHeisenberg]

Inexcusable is it's simply an effort issue.

[Pharaoh]

Jonas V ripping him a new one probably didn't help matters.

Could be a confidence thing, a conditioning thing or a pouting thing. Either way it needs to get fixed sooner rather than later

[DetroitPistons]

Good, I'm glad both of them did. We got destroyed on the glass and in the paint last night. If Drummond isn't going to be a consistent interior defender/rebounder for us then we will continue to struggle like that. We NEED him and it's incredibly frustrating that he has been so lackadaisical these past four games. I hope any lineup changes that SVG hinted at doesn't include benching Drummond though. He is the future of this franchise and benching him will just alienate him and hurt his confidence. Hopefully SVG finds another way to get him back to what he was doing for the majority of this streak. I hope the change is putting Meeks into the starting lineup and sliding KCP to the SF position while burying Singler on the bench.

[ImHeisenberg]

Jonas V ripping him a new one probably didn't help matters.

Could be a confidence thing, a conditioning thing or a pouting thing. Either way it needs to get fixed sooner rather than later

Tough to think it's a confidence or conditioning issue- he was tearing it up before this slump.

[Redeemed]

Jonas V ripping him a new one probably didn't help matters.

Could be a confidence thing, a conditioning thing or a pouting thing. Either way it needs to get fixed sooner rather than later

I think it's a combination of all the above. He was favorably compared to Jonas V as the big with a more favorable upside. Sadly Jonas has taken his game to a higher developmental level while Drummond is in failure to launch mode. He competed with Plumlee over the summer for a spot on USA Basketball. Plumee is playing better. Cousins is playing better. Anthony Davis is an MVP candidate.

Drummond is struggling. His team had been losing. And around him he sees other guys doing what he said he wanted to do, lead their teams. He's in his own head and he's pouting. That being said, bring the energy. Energy alone makes him a special player in the league.

[Kilo]

Would Stan have enough juice with Gores to be able to trade Andre if he thought it was the way to go?

[bstein14]

And conditioning wise, its hasn't been playing a ton of minutes even during the streak he's only been at about 29 to 30 MPG. Its not like we're asking him to go out and play 38 minutes a night. When you're playing just 30 minutes a night, you should be able to go balls to the wall each and every night.

[Redeemed]

If Drummond is low energy at the start of the game, it isn't conditioning. He was a monster in the games against Dallas and San Antonio. He's dogging it.

[dVs33]

It's very strange. I'll give him the games where he was sick, but the last couple he has given nothing and has been outplayed dramatically.
I don't think it's a conditioning thing since he didn't play many minutes of late and still struggled the following game.
I think it's a mental thing. Maybe he's lost confidence some how? Maybe it's a deeper issue like depression/bipolar ?? Who knows. But it is an issue that needs to be addressed by SVG and Drummond. if the team wants to be good, they need him

[bballnmike]

I'm glad SVG and especially Jennings called him out, not sure we would've seen that leadership a year or two ago

[princeofpalace]

I don’t think Drummond is depressed, nor do I think he’s pouting or fatigued. He has always had stretches where he’s played like he doesn’t care about basketball going back to his days at UCONN. This is why we got him at 9. Here are quotes from some of his scouting reports.

The biggest question NBA teams will be asking will revolve around how much he can improve on his technique, offensive skill-set and mental approach as he gets older. His feel for the game in general is still a work in progress, as he's the type of player who can make incredibly good and bad plays, sometimes on consecutive possessions. He doesn't appear to be going 100% at times, and there have been some concerns raised about exactly how passionate he is about the game of basketball due to his laid-back demeanor.

Sliding a few spots in the draft may actually not be the end of the world for Drummond, as it would lower the expectations he'll have to deal with early on and allow him to ease his way into the NBA, which will likely take some time. As someone who is extremely affected by the ebbs and flows of games and obviously still in a very early stage of maturation, going to a strong organization with positive figures around him on and off the court would clearly be very beneficial.

Maturity issues, level of commitment and the need for vast offensive development could be a cause for concern from GMs not looking to take a chance in the top 3-5 ...

One of the principal reasons why Toronto passed on Drummond for Terrence Ross, was because Bryan Colangelo

“felt like he [b]didn't have the right mental makeup[b/]

. Obviously, passing on Drummond was silly and there are 6 or 7 teams kicking themselves for passing him but still- this is exactly who scouts and GM’s thought Drummond would be.

I have no doubt that Drummond will get it together soon and have a string of 18+ point/18+ boards games in the near future but it will likely be followed by a string of games like this where it looks like he’d rather do anything but playing basketball. He’s still a very good player but this is something that he has struggled with for years now. I hope SVG can light a fire under him though- if any coach can- its him. I like SVG and Jennings calling him out and am glad that he's not being babied or excused for his play.

[bardobeing]

This is were i think not retaining Rasheed was a mistake and retaining him would go a LONG way. He truly had a mentor and champion in Sheed and respected him. And I don't think Rasheed would have let him coast.

[Kilo]

^Except Sheed is a case of wasted talent as well. He could have been one of the true greats but didn't have the mentality or work ethic to make it happen.

[need4detroit]

^Except Sheed is a case of wasted talent as well. He could have been one of the true greats but didn't have the mentality or work ethic to make it happen.

He is but he was great at firing Andre up. Like in the game at Sacramento last year.

[sfballa13]

Andre + KCP + Martin + Datome
for
Cousins

Jennings - Augustin
Meeks - Singler
Singler - Butler
Monroe - Jerekbo
Cousins - Anthony

[Piston Pete]

If we're trading Dre + KCP, I'd want Anthony Davis.

[DBC10]

It is absolutely inexcusable that he's been playing this way for the past 4 games.

What the hell happened during that period anyways? This is a sharp decline from where he was at before during our win streak. I mean, it could be due to sickness or maybe some deep personal issues?