Pistons Fans: Drummond Breakdown Requested

[sp6r=underrated]

I'm not a Pistons fans and haven't watched them place this year and only saw Drummond 1-2 in college. I was browsing the stats and notice that Drummond is just killing all other rookies on a per minute basis. Could you give me your impressions of Drummond in the following areas:

Offensive Rebounding
Post-Game
Shooting
Passing
Defensive Rebounding
Man Defense
Help Defense

Also why doesn't he get more minutes (sorry if this is a sore subject)? I really don't get why a rebuilding team wouldn't give him more minutes.

[mercury]

Can't leave someone with 7900 posts hangin'...
Quick summary...
Controls the paint on D... the shots that aren't blocked are altered by his presence.
Evolving raw offensive game... yet he seems to have a soft touch for finishing... sometimes surprises us with his handles and SG like moves.
He carves out space with a tremendous lower body.. no coincidence that he's getting inside position for boards, put backs and oops... then you add in great leaping ability with a ridiculous wingspan... top it off with excellent hands and you have a future allstar... oh yeah, he's got a great attitude and willing to pass the rock.

[Cowology]

^Yup.

As for minutes the staff seems pretty intent on easing him in gradually. He's had some minor conditioning issues but that's pretty typical when adapting to the 82-game season. I think they also like the idea of Drummond being able to gain confidence and establish himself against other teams 2nd units. That said, when given the opportunity he's looked pretty damn good no matter who's been on the floor with him.

If you look at the minute breakdown by month he basically went from averaging 17 mpg in Oct/Nov to 22 mpg in Dec/Jan. I'd expect that trend to more or less continue with his minutes gradually going up to 28-30 the 2nd half of the season. I think we'd all like to see him starting, but no telling when that will happen.

[Brapman]

I'm not a Pistons fans and haven't watched them place this year and only saw Drummond 1-2 in college. I was browsing the stats and notice that Drummond is just killing all other rookies on a per minute basis. Could you give me your impressions of Drummond in the following areas:

Offensive Rebounding : he is one of the, and will continue to be one of the dominant offensive rebounders in the game. He's the fastest leaping truly big man you'll ever see. I saw an analysis of this a month ago, but normally he's 3/4 of the way into his leap before anyone else on the floor has even gotten off the ground. His standing reach, no step vertical reach are astounding. He's a very hard worker on the court and his instincts for rebounding are to die for.

Post-Game : "post game? He don't need no stinkin" post game." He doesn't have one yet. But he is supposedly the most coachable guy on the team and a very hard diligent worker and quick learner. This will come in time. Right now, he's been told to do what he does best - rebound everything, always find a way to get to the rim, defend.

Shooting: He actually has great touch and I think his form is smooth looking. He even has good ability to put the ball on the floor and dribble past his man - even from halfcourt on drives. I expect him to be a good shooter in years to come.

Passing : he's a very good passer. Surprisingly so. Overall, he's a very instinctive BB player. When you watch him play you get that HE gets it.

Defensive Rebounding: Very strong. His fundamentals need some work at this end, of course - as you'd expect for a 19 year old. But his athleticism, length and young strength (he's nowhere near his full man-strength, which is scary as hell when you think of it) are freakish. Plus, he has the best hands you'll ever see on a big man - he catches everything - both on O and on D. Overall he's probably going to lead the league in rebounding all the time and over a lot of years.

Man Defense : He's quite strong already, but he doesn't know the players in the league yet, so their moves on him work better now (sometimes) than they will in the future. Every game, btw, he's working with Coach Roy Rodgers on post moves and detailed film study on his opposition for 3 hours before that game. This kid is diligent.

Help Defense: Fantastic. His instinct for the defensive game remind us of a young Ben Wallace. Ben was a super athlete of course, but his instincts for D were the best. Drummond is similar. And he's enormous, and covers more ground than any Center - tied with Dwight Howard for that, I guess. He blocks shots with either hand and ALMOST EVERY TIME he keeps the ball inbounds when he blocks it. P.S. He runs like a deer, very fast, and his agility is off the charts.

Also why doesn't he get more minutes (sorry if this is a sore subject)? I really don't get why a rebuilding team wouldn't give him more minutes. : Here, I disagree with the Frank critics. This kid, as impactful and great as he's been, is still raw. They're bringing him along great, as evidenced by the fact that he has the 19th best PER in the NBA as of today, and, by far, the top rookie PER. Coach is rewarding him for good play and great habits, and instilling in him the habit of hard work and intensity when he's on the floor. Also, as he's acknowledged, he's developing the ability to not get fatigued as much with long stretches of play. All NBA pro's have to learn how to pace themselves on the Court. Drummond's had a big breakthrough in that area in recent weeks. The Pistons are in no hurry. This season is entirely about developing the young core and figuring out who will be on the roster and in what roles in future seasons. We have a ton of young players to train, develop and evaluate. It's actually going quite well.

edited for readability ~ roc

[Han Solo]

Looks like my fellow Pistons fans did a good job answering the OP's questions.

Drummond is a #1 pick talent we got at 9. Watch him. I doubt Pistons fans would trade him for any other big in the league. At 19, he's our best player already and our team is getting better.

[Han Solo]

and Drummond hasn't even scratched the surface ... scary really.

[Brapman]

Han, you and I might be brothers separated at birth (although I'm clearly much better looking).

IMO, I think we're looking at a future MVP candidate. I wouldn't choose any player that's come into the league in the last 3 years over Drummond.

Just considering young players in this league, I think his upside could prove to be in the Durant, pre-injury Rose class of best players in the league (after LeBron slows down a bit).

My question about Drummond's and Durant's and Rose's potential is this: Will they become the type of transcendent talent to be one of the all-time greats? Jordan, Bird, Magic, Isiah, Hakeem, Kareem, Wilt, Russell, LeBron (who IMO just arrived at this level), Chris Paul (I think he belongs here). It takes an incredible will to win along with ungodly talent to be in this category. Some really great players never make it to this level (e.g., Barkley, Dr. J.)

[hoophabit]

Can't really argue with any of the observations made about Andre. All of the negatives thrown around prior to the draft have pretty much been put to rest except that he's very young and raw. The enormity of his talent actually lets him break some basic "rules" without much impact. Almost every game he does something where you just react "D@mn, how does he do that!" Sometimes, it's not really a terribly obvious thing. The reaching back left handed lob dunk aside, two examples during the last game with the Hawks are:

A defensive rebound under the basket. Andre was being bodied up by two guys and the ball appeared to be out of reach, but he stuck out his right arm to full extension and one-handed pulled it in.

On another occasion he went almost to the three point line to challenge what would otherwise have been an open shot. I often think he challenges too far from the paint. The thought that now you're out of rebounding position crossed my mind, but when the ball came off the goal it was Andre who had the rebound. (D@mn!!)

Drummond isn't there yet, but he regularly flashes what truly is transcendent talent. Few players were ever better blessed with physical gifts to play the big man role. Piston fans are a little giddy, but it's hard not to be.

[Goldtop]

My favorite draft misconception of Drummond, from Warriors owner Joe Lacob:

I'll just say that he's a very, very impressive athlete. He's not an impressive basketball player today.

http://www.goldenstateofmind.com/2012/6 ... e-drummond

[Brapman]

Joe Lacob:

Dumb**s, and person most likely wishing to all that's holy that he'd drafted Drummond (tied with at least 6 other, and possibly 8 other owners).

[the_l_train]

The dude is already an elite level rebounder, and he still doesn't fully understand the concept of boxing out.

I predict he will be an All-Star as soon as next year. Really sucks they got rid of the Center position on the ballot, he could be a shoe-in for the next decade.

[nyhuskyfan]

As a UConn fan, his performance in college was uneven - he could dominate at times and be taken out of the game at others by collapsing defenses. He had a broken nose in preseason and played with a mask for a while as he started his career which really messed him up, and he didn't have a refined offensive game. Sometimes he would force bad shots, feeling like he needed to make something happen, and look awkward.

But I marveled at his hands - you could throw terrible alley-oops to him and he would go get them. He would get rebounds out of his area and just absorb the ball like his hands were magnetic. I thought he probably the best hands I've seen on a big since Chris Webber.

Funny thing was I never saw any draft reports that mentioned how good his hands were - it was all about his athleticism, questionable skill, motor, etc. I didn't read them all, so I'm sure someone picked up on it, but it surprised me how he had such an obvious attribute that a lot of scouts seemed to ignore.

[Brapman]

Yeah - having great hands as a center is incredibly important.

The thing that the draft experts totally seemed to whiff on was the character issue. There were a lot of opinions out there suggesting that Drummond wasn't a serious guy, that he didn't like the game , that he wasn't a hardworker. Normally, that sort of label ends up being pretty accurate with 20-20 hindsight. This time, it was 180 degrees wrong - as wrong as you can get.

Drummond's character has been a huge strength. It's rare that you get that combined with elite athleticism in a 280 pound package.

The kid is very well spoken, too. He's going to be a huge hit as a player and a guy who is marketable. Dude's going to make a crapload of money - and I'll bet he does a lot of good in the community with his fame and riches.

[Mr. Krabs]

http://youtube.com/granthill

Not my channel but I think the owner wouldn't mind me posting this, it has a lot of Drummond highlights.

[Goldtop]

This dunk at 8 sec is ridiculous.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNvdH5Bzz_Y[/youtube]

[sp6r=underrated]

Thanks for the breakdown everyone especially Brapman

[Han Solo]

[MrBigShot]

My favorite draft misconception of Drummond, from Warriors owner Joe Lacob:

I'll just say that he's a very, very impressive athlete. He's not an impressive basketball player today.

http://www.goldenstateofmind.com/2012/6 ... e-drummond

Thank you for bringing this back up...I remember reading this quote predraft. Everyone already knew Drummond was a beast athletically and physically, but this season he has proved that he has a really good feel for the game. The way he adjusts in mid air to finish layups, his passing ability, his ability to use his body effectively in the paint, and most importantly his ability to protect the paint. He has that defensive anchor instinct in him...

Joe Lacob had no idea what he was talking about. Him and Bryan Colangelo are going to be very dissappointed looking back at this draft and realizing what a mistake they made. Golden State has essentially gifted us our future front court in the past few drafts...

[DetroitDon15]

I love what Drummond has done this far at his age/stage of his career. I'm growing more concern though that the Pistons Brass will have to make a choice between Drummond and Monroe going forward. Monroe just looks too slow to play the four. I think the Pistons need a 4 who can step back from 15 and even as far back as the 3 point line.

[Brapman]

There won't be a tough choice between those two. Even if Monroe somehow fails as a PF partner for Drummond, there is no chance that Joe, and every person in the Pistons organization would not choose Drummond as the centerpiece of the team.

Drummond has elite superstar potential. Monroe looks like a borderline all-star - perhaps a perennial all-star if things go perfectly for him.