Zach Lowe on Drummond's early season struggles

[ImHeisenberg]

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/andre ... t-pistons/

Lowe is great as always.

[kurtis48239]

Reading that just reminds me even more how dumars screwed this team for years.Once you breed a losing culture,its hard to get back from it and it takes time,a long time to get back to where we once were .

It makes me sad to think how joe brought us to the mountain tops and then we spiraled down,never to re-turn.

[Lionlifer]

Nice little shot of hope, loved that article.

[Spider156]

What would our offense look like with this lineup:

First string Second String
Jennings Augustin
KCP Meeks
Butler Martin
Smith Jerebko
Monroe Drummond

I wonder...Or we could switch and have Monroe come off the bench while he plays inside the paint.

[sc8581]

What would our offense look like with this lineup:

First string Second String
Jennings Augustin
KCP Meeks
Butler Martin
Smith Jerebko
Monroe Drummond

I wonder...Or we could switch and have Monroe come off the bench while he plays inside the paint.

It's obvious Drummond can't improve his post play with Monroe out there, he has a slightly better chance to with Smith at the 4 but that's not ideal either. I would like to see the rotation you suggest for several games and see what happens.

[Notanoob]

It's obvious Drummond can't improve his post play with Monroe out there, he has a slightly better chance to with Smith at the 4 but that's not ideal either. I would like to see the rotation you suggest for several games and see what happens.

I disagree entirely with the bolded. As was pointed out in the article, Dre doesn't get any respect from other teams on the block, so he never sees double teams despite the fact that Monroe (and therefore the other team's PF) is never far away. He's getting plenty of good opportunities out there as it stands with Monroe or Smith out there. The thing is that he can't post up with both, because at that point the paint becomes too crowded to operate in at all, and there's nowhere to kick the ball out to because there are people surrounding him.

[mus123]

Zach Lowe is amazing great read. I think Drummond should come of the bench so he doesn't pick up those dumb fouls early. Let him crash boards and play freely he gets 13/13 just from that. Svg should focus on developing dre rim protection and shot blocking.

[Spider156]

Is starting Drummond essential for his development?

[Pharaoh]

Is starting Drummond essential for his development?

No, but at this point it might be a severe blow to whatever confidence he has left.

I'd be more inclined to bring Monroe off the bench as it's unlikely to effect his play, since I think Smith wouldn't be open to it.

Bringing Monroe off the bench also should see him match up against some bench bigs, which he should kill offensively

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[sc8581]

Is starting Drummond essential for his development?

No, but at this point it might be a severe blow to whatever confidence he has left.

I'd be more inclined to bring Monroe off the bench as it's unlikely to effect his play, since I think Smith wouldn't be open to it.

Bringing Monroe off the bench also should see him match up against some bench bigs, which he should kill offensively

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Seemed obvious this time last year but of course it never happened.

[princeofpalace]

LOL people really want to bring Monroe off the bench despite his play? Too funny.

Monroe specifically said that he was ok with coming off the bench if it was based on play. If we based starting on performance, Drummond would be coming off the bench- let him beat up against second stringers- its clear that he's not good enough yet to face starters.

Benching Greg to start Smith/Drummond- two of the worst starting bigs in the league right now is laughable and would surely lead to Greg leaving in FA. We've aleady seen that lineup and it was a disaster SVG isn't that stupid.

[Ghost]

I love Lowe's pieces and I wish we could see more of this!

[Minas]

I hope Dre can become to the C position what Zach Lowe is to sports writing

[Joe Berry]

Trying to develop Drummond's offensiv game and trying to win at the same time would both be so much easier without Josh Smith.

[Pharaoh]

LOL people really want to bring Monroe off the bench despite his play? Too funny.

Monroe specifically said that he was ok with coming off the bench if it was based on play. If we based starting on performance, Drummond would be coming off the bench- let him beat up against second stringers- its clear that he's not good enough yet to face starters.

Benching Greg to start Smith/Drummond- two of the worst starting bigs in the league right now is laughable and would surely lead to Greg leaving in FA. We've aleady seen that lineup and it was a disaster SVG isn't that stupid.

I think SVG would start the game with more D, which is another reason to bring Monroe off the bench.

While Stan has praised Monroe's ability to grasp the defensive system I'm still of the opinion that SVG believes Smith is superior on that end of the floor.

It's not an insult to come off the bench and play 30+ minutes. Coaches are more inclined to look at substitution patterns and balance while fans debate who should start!

IF bringing Monroe off the bench helps us win games AND helps Drummond get going then what's the problem?

There's no guarantee Monroe stays regardless of starting

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[Lucidity]

It's obvious Drummond can't improve his post play with Monroe out there, he has a slightly better chance to with Smith at the 4 but that's not ideal either. I would like to see the rotation you suggest for several games and see what happens.

I disagree entirely with the bolded. As was pointed out in the article, Dre doesn't get any respect from other teams on the block, so he never sees double teams despite the fact that Monroe (and therefore the other team's PF) is never far away. He's getting plenty of good opportunities out there as it stands with Monroe or Smith out there. The thing is that he can't post up with both, because at that point the paint becomes too crowded to operate in at all, and there's nowhere to kick the ball out to because there are people surrounding him.

Everyone on Earth disagrees, SC is the last person who still doesn't get it. Lol that's my dude tho


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[Lucidity]

Phenomenal article.

Like Stan said, we must continue to feed him. That's the only way he's going to improve. His improvement is our shot at being great again.

You can see the potential even in the struggles, the wash preseason game showed you where it could be pretty quickly with reps & more reps, failure & more failure. It's the only way he's going to get better.

He also stated something I've stressed a few times. A bigs defense is usually related to his offensive involvement. That doesn't mean we want him taking more shots but he needs to be involved a lot more touch wise. & as Stan has also said we need to get back to getting him his easy baskets. The wings have been awful with that so far.

This is all part of the process though. We all must remain patient.


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[Ghost]

Like Stan said, we must continue to feed him. That's the only way he's going to improve. His improvement is our shot at being great again.

This is all part of the process though. We all must remain patient.

Yep, and just like Lowe ... or maybe it was Fieldman ... someone wrote it, I forget which, force feeding Drummond, even if it is not a great thing to watch right now is well worth it due to the fact that he is our best chance at returning to relevancy. We could settle with him being who he was before, DeAndre Jordan-like, but that still leaves us with: a DeAndre Jordan/Greg Monroe who is like a #2 option on offense/nobody/KCP? No one is looking at him like a #1 option on offense/and Jennings, even though he's been good, he's not a #1 option. So where would we pull out a legit #1 option SF like Melo or KD?

I imagine that you hope that Monroe sees the progress and commitment as a positive for the future of the team instead of a negative and that it helps us resign him. His mindset is going to have to be long-term, instead of the immediate "why is he getting all these touches, he's awful, I deserve them" :/.

[Lucidity]

Like Stan said, we must continue to feed him. That's the only way he's going to improve. His improvement is our shot at being great again.

This is all part of the process though. We all must remain patient.

Yep, and just like Lowe ... or maybe it was Fieldman ... someone wrote it, I forget which, force feeding Drummond, even if it is not a great thing to watch right now is well worth it due to the fact that he is our best chance at returning to relevancy. We could settle with him being who he was before, DeAndre Jordan-like, but that still leaves us with: a DeAndre Jordan/Greg Monroe who is like a #2 option on offense/nobody/KCP? No one is looking at him like a #1 option on offense/and Jennings, even though he's been good, he's not a #1 option. So where would we pull out a legit #1 option SF like Melo or KD?

I imagine that you hope that Monroe sees the progress and commitment as a positive for the future of the team instead of a negative and that it helps us resign him. His mindset is going to have to be long-term, instead of the immediate "why is he getting all these touches, he's awful, I deserve them" :/.

Great post




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[djsunyc]

just hope he doesn't follow the career path of beidrins.