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He's evolved man.. wow. His post game isn't polished, but it's dominant already. He may be the most dominant player in the league not named Steph Curry. He's 22 too.

We finally have a superstar in Detroit..

Side note totally unrelated.. Are we the most active board on RealGM? It looks like it.

Absolutely. (I said exactly what you just said as well) Some people may be delusional (Heat fans saying they would take Whiteside is the absolute hieght of delusion) about it but if this is what Drummond is, a 20/20 guy, He will be the best player in Piston history for sure.

Long haul though. If Drummond's numbers remain this high until the All-Star break he will absolutely be a superstar on par with anyone in the league.

AT 22.

Let's see how it goes.

We know

It was so nice watching nba tv tonight and hearing them say they think Drummond is the best center in the league right now, It's crazy how much better he has gotten since last season and the scary thing is he can be even better.

I actually thought he would average 17 PPG, 16 RPG, 2.2 Blocks, and 1.5 Steals last year. I was a year to early (sure losing Moose helped tho), he is doing better than I predicted last year, dude is a freak, only 22, lol

To think Lawrence Frank didn't start him his rookie season

Spider156 wrote:To think Lawrence Frank didn't start him his rookie season

Maybe that has helped shape who he is today?

Frank was a clown but not handing rookies minutes is something I support. So does SVG so I'm happy to agree with him lol

I've never watched a superstar grow into that roll but I have with Drummond and it's pretty incredible. Drummond developed into a player that exceeded my expectations and I thought he'd be like Howard. But he's better and it's crazy. I can see one is a high flyer and the other just brute strength. He's a giant. I don't think any team can stop him now. He's figured out how to not get into foul trouble. The next thing he needs to develop is his shotblocking. Imagine if Drummond blocks shots, averages 2-3 a game. He averages 1.4 right now. Then players will be afraid to shoot around the basket. He's still developing and getting better. That's what's scary!

I told a friend two years ago Drummond (with impressive rebounding) reminded me of Moses Malone, he laughed. Now he's saying it and so are the experts. Drummond is on the rise.

Spider156 wrote:I've never watched a superstar grow into that roll but I have with Drummond and it's pretty incredible. Drummond developed into a player that exceeded my expectations and I thought he'd be like Howard. But he's better and it's crazy. I can see one is a high flyer and the other just brute strength. He's a giant. I don't think any team can stop him now. He's figured out how to not get into foul trouble. The next thing he needs to develop is his shotblocking. Imagine if Drummond blocks shots, averages 2-3 a game. He averages 1.4 right now. Then players will be afraid to shoot around the basket. He's still developing and getting better. That's what's scary!

I got to personally witness Dwights progression from a rookie into a superstar and Drummond is on the same path. Neither of them had much of an offensive game and were poor free throw shooters. I feel Drummond will end up the better rebounder, but Dwight for a while was a monster on defense. This is getting pretty exciting.

It's good that he's getting a bit pissed off with the Hack-a-Dre (should be called Bang-a-Drum) because that will make him work on his free throws to get them up to respectable level. If he can ever become a 60% FT shooter, that tactic goes away as well. I believe FT shooting is almost all mental. It's the ultimate gut/nut check. All the eyes are on you, all the pressure is on you at that moment - can you take all that pressure and make a otherwise easy shot?

He's been a damn monster, I want to see him start blocking more shots now though. His block numbers are down but at least he is playing much much better defense this year.

Spider156 wrote:The next thing he needs to develop is his shotblocking. Imagine if Drummond blocks shots, averages 2-3 a game. He averages 1.4 right now. Then players will be afraid to shoot around the basket. He's still developing and getting better. That's what's scary!

If blocks go up and folks are scared to attack the basket around him his rebounds will go down as longer shots mean longer rebounds off misses. Of course it's better for our chances of winning to have teams taking shots further away from the basket, but his personal rebound numbers might take a bit of a hit.

Kilo wrote:It's good that he's getting a bit pissed off with the Hack-a-Dre (should be called Bang-a-Drum) because that will make him work on his free throws to get them up to respectable level. If he can ever become a 60% FT shooter, that tactic goes away as well. I believe FT shooting is almost all mental. It's the ultimate gut/nut check. All the eyes are on you, all the pressure is on you at that moment - can you take all that pressure and make a otherwise easy shot?

I fully expect this to be the last season you can even get away with the hacking. Silver was already talking about getting rid of it and now it's getting out of hand. Last night Bogut was getting hacked and slowing down the game. It's just dumb anyways, You shouldn't be able to foul someone off the ball intentionally over and over.

Hacking surely does ugly up what can be a beautiful game. As long as it's within the rules it's not necessarily a dumb thing to do. I'm torn on the issue, as shooting free throws is a basketball skill. It's probably dumb from the entertainment product side.

It's been clear for a while that AD has the athletic potential to be among the greats. The question always was about head and heart. Looks like he might turn out okay.

hoophabit wrote:Hacking surely does ugly up what can be a beautiful game. As long as it's within the rules it's not necessarily a dumb thing to do. I'm torn on the issue, as shooting free throws is a basketball skill. It's probably dumb from the entertainment product side.

It's been clear for a while that AD has the athletic potential to be among the greats. The question always was about head and heart. Looks like he might turn out okay.

If you want him on the line then foul him when he has the actual ball in his hand. Just to be able to run up and hug a guy not even involved in a basketball play is ridiculous.

Pharaoh wrote:

Spider156 wrote:To think Lawrence Frank didn't start him his rookie season

Maybe that has helped shape who he is today?

Frank was a clown but not handing rookies minutes is something I support. So does SVG so I'm happy to agree with him lol

Not to mention he was super raw and had a questionable motor coming out of college. He's improved greatly, but starting his rookie year was not a given.

Kinda random question, but I saw Whiteside had a monster box score the other day vs. Drummond. Could you guys tell me how that matchup was to watch? Basically an unbiased analysis of that head-to-head matchup.

Thanks in advance.

Vincent_Askew wrote:Kinda random question, but I saw Whiteside had a monster box score the other day vs. Drummond. Could you guys tell me how that matchup was to watch? Basically an unbiased analysis of that head-to-head matchup.

Thanks in advance.

When was this? We've yet to play the Heat this year.

Navas wrote:

Vincent_Askew wrote:Kinda random question, but I saw Whiteside had a monster box score the other day vs. Drummond. Could you guys tell me how that matchup was to watch? Basically an unbiased analysis of that head-to-head matchup.

Thanks in advance.

When was this? We've yet to play the Heat this year.

Sorry I feel stupid, I read his 24 point 10 block game was vs. Heat from someone. Obviously a mistake.