Andre Drummond

 I think he has all the potential in the world. His body is ahead of his basketball IQ but people mature at different rates. I didn’t get to see many of his games but from research I have done he prob has most upside in the draft. He could also crash and  burn. The belief always is though when you make mistake do it on a big so I dont  think anybody would blink at him going as 2nd pick.

 I agree about him being a top 2 pick. I think physically there isn’t another player like him in the draft. He should be a true C. I think he will climb draft boards after workouts. I think he is different from Derrick Favors though. I think he is bigger and uses his ability more(I rarely see Favors throw down big dunks even though he is more than capable). Motor has been question in a lot of good players over the years. Examples are Rudy Gay, Josh Smith, and Amare Stoudemire. Now those guys could have been better with a better motor but they are that good on talent and ability alone. Drummond is young and can mature and he could easily be a top 5 center if he puts in some work. 

""(I rarely see Favors throw down big dunks even though he is more than capable).""

i rarely see drummond throw down big dunks……

…

 after the combine i really see people will be locking him for the second pick once again..

don’t let long tourney runs fool you..it’s not about teams it’s about players when you draft, and yes Drummond still can’t carry his team all by him self but he is still a freakish project..he can be light years better than he is now..

No way he slips out of the top 3.  There’s just too much potential there.  I cannot see a scenario where he does slip out and even if he does, it’ll be to the 4th pick.

 His offesnive game currently resembles a young Kwame Brown’s. He has the most potential in the draft, but he probably also has the highest bust potential.

I think Drummond is going to be great in the NBA, even if I am a little bias. At UConn, Centers are mostly used for defense, not offense(Emeka Okafor, Thabeet). While drummond is great on defense, his offensive prowess was rarely shown. I’ll agree that he is raw, but ridiculous athleticism is one thing that excels in the NBA. I’ve seen every game he has played at UConn, and some in person, and I can tell that he definitely does have a motor, he just needs to get it started. 

 He won’t be a top 2 or 3 pick. All legitimate draft prognosticators don’t have him going that high. He was okay. But he has way to much that he needs to learn and get better at to pick him that high. Hes big. And athletic. You need more than that to be a top 2 pick. 

Drummond will not fall below 3.  He’s a faster DeMarcus Cousins w/o the bad attitude.  His production was suspect, but he was basically a HS senior and teams will overlook his low production when he kills the combine.  At worst Drummond is Kwame Brown (a valuable 3rd big on any team).  At best he’s a guy we’ll compare future big, fast potential stars to in 5 years.

 It’s a smoke screen if the top 3 teams on the board say they’re aren’t interested in selecting him. 

Physically, Andre Drummons is a top 5 pick, mentally, he is in the mid 20’s.

yeah he dont have no where near the skill set of Cousins. Drummond has alot of potential so he’s top 3 but he needs to refine his offense.  but in the right scenario he could be a stud.  Put him next to a Greg Monroe or a cousins and that’s a sick 4-5 combo for years

I’m not nearly as high on him as I was but I think at the very least he’ll wind up being a great defender.

 Drummond is no where near as bad as Kwame.If drummond was blind he wouldnt be that bad.

Yep, I’ve never wavered in my support for Drummond as the best prospect in the draft, but rather come to accept that it’ll take a few years before he proves me right. It all comes down to where he ends up, because he really could be a force in the right situation, and will still be pretty good in the wrong one.

Out of curiosity, how would you guys compare Drummond to Jeremy Tyler of Golden State? They both seem to have similar attributes (great athleticism, huge wingspan and solid frame) but Drummond has a few extra skills (ball-handling for example).

I’m still high on Tyler to carve out a respectable NBA career and he’s starting for GSW these days with Bogut out, with more minutes he could really produce. For a guy whose draft rights were sold for money (still shaking my head at Charlotte for doing that when they have a weak C spot), he’s doing pretty well for himself, but what sets Drummond apart from him physically?

At worst Drummond is Kwame Brown 

At worst Drummond is Kwame Brown 

At worst Drummond is Kwame Brown 

At worst Drummond is Kwame Brown 

Top 3 pick? Oh, there’s no smokescreen. Drummond has absolutely nothing in common with Cousins except they both play center. 

 People stay sleeping on Andre Drummond. Like the old saying goes, you can’t coach height/size. This dude is an athletic freak. Plus like somebody mentioned earlier, most teams rather take a chance on a big with a top 3 pick. Sam Bowie went before Jordan, even though Jordan was the better prospect. Hasheem Thabeet went before Harden. Hell Darko went before Melo. It’s just how GMs think. I won’t be surprised if Drummond hops back up to number two before the draft. Unless he has a horrible combine, which I doubt he is not slipping past 3 and in my opinion he will go number 2.

Most these kids having been ballin for years.  I hate the word potential.

At the draft time no one was saying Kwame, Darko, Okafor and Thabeet would be a bust and looked how they turned out.  Not saying he will be worse than those guys but he very well could be, you just don’t know…

I wouldn’t waste a top 5 pick on him

@r377; the word potential gets thrown around about big guys because while they’ve been ballin’ for years, they’ve also been overwhelmingly bigger, more athletic and stronger in general than the majority of their opponents. You never know what you’ll get with big guys because you rarely see them face other big guys of their calibre.

Example; Kendrick Perkins is an offensive liability in the NBA, but averaged 27.5ppg in HS. You don’t suddenly forget how to score buckets, but it’s completely different doing so against guys your own size.

If you expect young bigs to be able to come into college and the NBA and be anywhere near the best players they can be then you’re sadly mistaken.

So even though this physically gifted super athlete had a subpar college season against 6"9 to 6"11 skinny undersized college centres, he is going to do better in the NBA against 7"0 250lb centres ?

I  must be mistaken as this young big by the name of Anthony Davis came into college and did alright for himself…..

The word potential is used by optimistic kids on here and nba scouts taking a longshot.  Unless your name is Hakeem Olajuwon or Dikembe Mutombo that came from O/S and started bball later in life then most the future nba players have been ballin for years.

Do you know how many threads on here i have seen about stephenson, selby, perry jones and drummond all about potential and how they will be nba stars one day…..

 r377 I get where you’re coming from, but you’re not taking a lot into account. These aren’t 26 year old men, they are young adults, and some of them are even kids, like Drummond. The word potential is used because these guys are one year removed from highschool…

They are still growing, learning, and developing as people. The talent is obviously there as they show us on a daily basis, but it’s how that player matures that makes a lot of the difference. The best example of this would have to be someone like Bynum. You draft him because he has the skills and size to dominate in the NBA, but it’s his maturaty as a person, physically and mentally, that made him as good of a player as he is today. 

im closer to r377’s in this topic than most of the people on the thread, but not agreeing with him completely as well. i would still use a top 5 pick on Andre Drummond, its just a matter of what my team needs and whose available when my selection is up.

if you look at my mock, i have a cody zeller entering the draft and i feel he would get selected before andre would be. why? simply because with what he’s shown in college and his physical tools, he shows a higher probability of reaching his potential even though Drummond may have a higher ceiling than him.

drafting a young player is all about projections any way and at the end of the day, you ask yourself two things as a scout. 1) How could can this kid be and 2) How could would this kid be. those are two different questions that has to be answered without bias. sure its hard to get an accurate answer for the latter but thats why there are professional scouts that get paid to make the best and most accurate projections.

 As a prospect he reminds me a ton of Deandre Jordan, both were touted as the next Dwight Howard, both had dissapointing freshman seasons with some flashes, the difference is Drummond sure as heck isn’t dropping into the 2nd round and is a top 10 lock. Much like Jordan I think if you give Drummond time to develop he can be a big time NBA player down the line, raw right now but donw the line has immesnse potential.  

 Look at this.

It’s stuff like this that makes scouts drool. Any big man can be a top 5 pick if he can do that. Skill not needed.

 I think Drummond would definitely benefit from a second year in college. This season was just him adjusting to his last minute decision of playing Division I. Watching his highlights and having seen one of his high school games in person, he’s a freak of nature. I think his ball handling ability is underrated. I could easily see him coming into the league as the #1 pick in the 2013 draft and being an animal in the league.