Andre Drummond = Freak of Nature

[DetroitPiston]

Against the Bucks, he put up 8 points, 11 rebounds, and 2 blocks.

And did all this in 17 minutes. Needless to say, I'm happy he went to the Pistons.

[basketballdude]

Yes he is an absolute diamond in the rough. As soon as he gets some offense this team will have to be reckoned with.

[IGotACoolStory]

Was hardly in the rough.

He looks like Javale McGee with better basketball instincts, some natural skill, and not a peanut brain.

[Kews1]

i really hope he explodes into a superstar in a few years, i love his game

[maybeshewill13]

Would love to see this dude get big minutes next year and break out. Love the way he goes about the game.

[Magic bird]

Why is'nt he starting already?, he's ROY material

[RedBlackAttack]

Obviously there is a good reason he's not playing more minutes. Anyone who has watched the team a lot want to explain why?

[chips93]

every two weeks somebody makes a thread about drummond, and when people ask about why he doesnt get more playing time, every time, Rake responds and says that his conditioning isnt good enough for him to play much more minutes.

i presume that this is still the case.

[UK-NJ]

Obviously there is a good reason he's not playing more minutes. Anyone who has watched the team a lot want to explain why?
One of my theories for his lack of playing time is that they're trying to keep him grounded. From the games I've seen, it's pretty obvious that he should be getting 25-30 minutes (fouls permitting) a night based on his talent level alone. The issue with Drummond is more a question of his motor. If they give him too much too soon, how do they know he'll keep striving to improve? The main reason he slipped in the draft was due to his questionable work ethic & I guess they're trying to make him earn every second he gets out there.

Hopefully he'll form some good habits & be the next dominant force inside. The NBA needs one.

[SourPatchKids]

He is what Greg Oden was supposed to be.

[copper]

Conditioning, free throws, foul trouble, tanking.
his conditioning has been better since early in the season and he is capable of more minutes, free throws are a rough point but that will get better with experience, fouls have not been a problem at all for him which is surprising because he attacks on defence. I think his low minutes are more to do with coaching than anything else.

[boozehound]

Against the Bucks, he put up 8 points, 11 rebounds, and 2 blocks.

And did all this in 17 minutes. Needless to say, I'm happy he went to the Pistons.
ahem. 4 blocks
and almost threw down a sick dunk off an off the backboards pass as well. dude is already the best 2 way piston. love his rapport with bynum. drive the lane and throw it up for the big man.

I even liked it when he tried to handle it a bit more. kid is way less raw than I expected based on the limited UConn games I watched and all the scouts/projections. Great touch around the basket, really well position for crashing the boards, still gets beat on D/makes mistakes, but damn. what a stud

[copper]

Against the Bucks, he put up 8 points, 11 rebounds, and 2 blocks.

And did all this in 17 minutes. Needless to say, I'm happy he went to the Pistons.
pretty sure he had 4 blocks tonight

[boozehound]

Obviously there is a good reason he's not playing more minutes. Anyone who has watched the team a lot want to explain why?
conditioning may be part of it. He definitely asked out of the game (in the last month) after playing 10 minutes straight (pretty much the longest frank had played him in a stretch). A lot has to do with frank liking a stretch 4 (even maxiell has been pretty money with his 18 fter this season) and thinking he and monroe are both better at the 5. Pistons powered had an interesting post showing two best players (by winshare) for every team and how much they play together. Pistons were monroe and drummond and every other teams two "best" players play together 8 times as much as us ()

The other possible issue is frank trying to keep him away from the rookie wall (same general thing as conditioning I suppose).

They are so much better with him in on D, even with the occasional errors/overplay he makes.

Very few big men move with the effortless grace he possesses. Very excited as a pistons fan

[Qwyjibo]

http://thestar.blogs.com/.a/6a00d8341bf8f353ef016303f9ce22970d-500wi

"We needed a SG to be that final piece to puzzle. Drummond just wasn't a fit to our playoff goals. I'm glad I picked Ross and then outbid Bryan Colangelo for Derozan. When it comes down to me or me in a bidding war, I'll always win."

[RedBlackAttack]

Thanks for the responses, guys. There are always guys whom I go into the season telling myself that I want to make it a point to watch... And then the season starts and life gets in the way. Drummond was one of those guys.

I really loved him as a prospect coming out of UConn, even though his stock seemed to take a hit in the lead-up to the draft. You just don't find guys that size with that kind of athletic ability too often these days.

Booze,
The rookie wall is likely going to happen... Whether it is now, in the second half of the season or next year (where it technically wouldn't be a "rookie" wall, but a wall nonetheless). I don't understand the rationale of holding a guy out in an attempt to avoid something that will happen to all young guys.

It makes no sense to me why the Pistons wouldn't be utilizing this season, where they're not in contention for the playoffs, to get experience for their young center of the future. Then again, their coaches likely know a lot more about basketball than I do, so they must have their reasons.

You should be excited, though... Guys with his combination of size, strength, finesse and athleticism are very rare. If he can put it all together, he could be a dominating force. Pair him up with Greg Monroe and that has the potential to be the best frontcourt in the league.

[boozehound]

Thanks for the responses, guys. There are always guys whom I go into the season telling myself that I want to make it a point to watch... And then the season starts and life gets in the way. Drummond was one of those guys.

I really loved him as a prospect coming out of UConn, even though his stock seemed to take a hit in the lead-up to the draft. You just don't find guys that size with that kind of athletic ability too often these days.

Booze,
The rookie wall is likely going to happen... Whether it is now, in the second half of the season or next year (where it technically wouldn't be a "rookie" wall, but a wall nonetheless). I don't understand the rationale of holding a guy out in an attempt to avoid something that will happen to all young guys.

It makes no sense to me why the Pistons wouldn't be utilizing this season, where they're not in contention for the playoffs, to get experience for their young center of the future. Then again, their coaches likely know a lot more about basketball than I do, so they must have their reasons.

You should be excited, though... Guys with his combination of size, strength, finesse and athleticism are very rare. If he can put it all together, he could be a dominating force. Pair him up with Greg Monroe and that has the potential to be the best frontcourt in the league.
yeah, Im with you (and I think most pistons fans are as well). Frank needs to figure out a way to play moose and him together, because they both deserve 30+ a night. I also think the idea that they need to make him work for it is a little dumb. I think his cultural background may be the reason he seems fairly reserved or laidback. The pistons have really been lucky in players falling to them in the draft these last three years. Sure, knight probably isnt all that, but both he and moose seem to be the real deal, and both dropped hard leading to the draft. Now, if we could only get JJ back in the rotation....

[boozehound]

http://thestar.blogs.com/.a/6a00d8341bf8f353ef016303f9ce22970d-500wi

"We needed a SG to be that final piece to puzzle. Drummond just wasn't a fit to our playoff goals. I'm glad I picked Ross and then outbid Bryan Colangelo for Derozan. When it comes down to me or me in a bidding war, I'll always win."
nice to see my favorite rasho fan on the board. hey, you guys have the lithuanian monster! or whatever hes called. besides, you still have our amir johnson held hostage without a visa

[andremiller07]

Drummond should easily be the most impactful defensive player in years to come no doubt.

[embersyc]

Too bad he blew that off the backboard oop from CV, that would have been awesome.

[DetroitPiston]

Bump.

16 points, 7 rebounds, and was a terror for the Celtics so much that Paul Pierce was grabbing his shirt on a fast break.

Even better was that they were fouling him and he only missed two free throws.

[Grinder]

I loved his potential at UConn but I didn't think he'd be this productive this soon. He's still extremely raw yet his incredible physical tools are allowing him to more than hold his own against experienced rotation big men. If he keeps up his current learning curve, he'll be a top tier player in a few years. He has lots of room for improvement and his ceiling is absurdly high.

[copper]

Heard they weighed him recently and he is actually around 297lbs and he is still elevating and moving like a player 100 lbs smaller. This kid is amazing freak of nature.

[SIRI1]

Just 19 and he's already huge. Cant imagine where he'll be in a few years.

[Budadiiii]

He is what Greg Oden was supposed to be.
:lol


Get the **** out of here kid. You don't know a god damn thing about the NBA.

Greg Oden was supposed to be the best center in the NBA. Andre Drummond isn't close to that. Christ, go make some friends kiddo.

[Suckafree]

I kinda like how the coach is handling this.

His potential is obvious, and coach knows this. He's bringing him along nice and slowly. It's not even the all star break yet. I think Coach Frank is giving Drummond some time to learn the ins and outs of the game, get his conditioning up and then start to slowly increase his minutes. In other words, he's making him earn his place in the NBA. I think thats a better strategy than forcing him into a huge role and having to learn on the fly.

I expect by the end of the year he'll be playing 20-25ish minutes as opposed to 15-20 mpg. 7/7 and 1.5 Blocks in 20 minutes is awesome for a rookie.

Heres a question, who would you take going forward. DMC or Drummond?

[JerryWest]

He is what Greg Oden was supposed to be.
Stupid stupid stupid :facepalm

[CavaliersFTW]

He is what Greg Oden was supposed to be.
healthy?

[Nash]

Dwight Howard type of player.

[STATUTORY]

Dwight Howard type of player.
more natural instincts and skills than Dwight has ever shown.

[Rake2204]

and was a terror for the Celtics so much that Paul Pierce was grabbing his shirt on a fast break.Speaking of which, not a big deal at all, but how was that play not a clear path foul?


Heres a question, who would you take going forward. DMC or Drummond?I recognize Cousins' skills but for me, right now he just seems like too much of a knucklehead for me to want to take him over either Drummond or Monroe. I recognize that might be a poor basketball skills choice, Cousins is just feeling like a more problematic Derrick Coleman right now.

[JohnnySic]

I stated that he was probably the best prospect in the draft and everyone laughed. He who laughs last...

[Stuckey]

:bowdown:

at this point of his career, there's no need for him to log big minutes for he might gas out for hurt the team

having said that, I can see him getting close 25 minutes a game come March

[Rake2204]

I expect by the end of the year he'll be playing 20-25ish minutes as opposed to 15-20 mpg.
:bowdown:

at this point of his career, there's no need for him to log big minutes for he might gas out for hurt the team

having said that, I can see him getting close 25 minutes a game come MarchI agree there's no super pressing need to throw 35 minutes a night at an already steadily growing youngster but in reference to his minutes, he's already averaging about 23 a night for the last month or more, so he's basically already in that 20-25 minutes a night range.

[UConnCeltics]

If OKC had the Toronto pick last year instead of this year (Impossible, yes) they probably would have taken Drummond. Westbrook/Lamb/Durant/Ibaka/Drummond/Jones GOAT 24 and under core of all time?

[chips93]

more natural instincts and skills than Dwight has ever shown.

:facepalm





stickying with the howard comparisons; strangely, dwight has the shorter wingspan, and shorter height, yet he has the higher standing reach, i guess dwight has a much shorter neck?

:confusedshrug:

[Myth]

He is what Greg Oden was supposed to be.

Um, Greg was supposed to be more than what Andre Drummond is.

[NattyPButter]

Could win more games with him on the floor but what's the point? I think they are one more piece away, and they will get that player next draft. Will be a lot more Piston fans next year.

[LikeABosh]

He'll be better than Dwight in a few years if the Pistons can manage him well

[gyu]

Per 36 he averages 14 points, 13 rebounds, 1.5 steals, 3 blocks, 1.5 turnovers and he wouldn't foul out :applause:

[PP34Deuce]

more natural instincts and skills than Dwight has ever shown.


Dwight is stubborn and not always the smartest when playing offense, but he naturally was able to score 20 ppg with 13 rebounds in his sleep. At the same age They are about the same in my eyes with Dwight being a better conditioned 19 year old.