Going on the Record

 Deandre is 23 years old and though he’s been a disappointment this season condsidering the contract he got I still think he has a bright future.  I see Deandre getting it together and being a Tyson Chandler type player within the next few years. That also depends on who’s coaching the Clipper at that time.  I think it’s a realistic comparison that isn’t necessarily an insult, anyone who actually thinks Drummond is the next Dwight/Amare at this point probably also thought Kwame was going to be the next Garnett. I hope Drummond does become one of the next great centers I just can’t see it at this point.  

"I know that he’ll go in the top 5 or 6 this season, but I just find it kind of absurd that people are still trying to sugar coat this pick with visions of Dwight Howard or Amare. Both players were more productive as NBA rookies than Drummond was in college."

True, but you also must admit that Drummond was more productive as a freshman this past season than DeAndre Jordan was in his one season at TAMU (at one year younger in age). To draw the comparison to the best center of his generation and a perennial All-Star is wrong. It sets the bar incorrectly, but the flip side is to overscrutinize the play and not realize that failing to meet expectations is not the same as failure.

i’ve been saying this for a minute, but w/ a lil twist.

i think dru’s floor is someone like deadre jordan, a big body that can block shots and is a great alley oop threat but…

what makes you so certain that he can’t develop much more? the dude is 18 and if im not wrong, better from a physical stand point than deadre. dru can still develop into a great p&r threat and to tell you the truth, i feel his shot is similar to john henson (to certain extent), in a way that they suck at shooting FT but have a half decent jumpshot.

to say that dru cant develop into something much greater than deandre is not being realistic, and somewhat pessimistic, which i think it’s fine, you just don’t like him as a prospect.

like i’ve said before…. i think that RIGHT NOW, dru could average close to 8p-8r-1/2b if given the minutes… of course w/ much more mistakes involved

Drummond has all the potential in the world but when all is said and done I think he will be considered a bust. He showed me nothing at UConn this past year to warrant a top 3 pick. He needs to be put in a perfect situation and I just dont see happening.

When UConn was struggling they needed a big man to step up and take control of the game, at the beginning of the year many thought he was going to be one of the best bigs in the NCAA, but he did nothing of the sort. He was not nearly assertive enough on the offensive end, even though he is raw with his size and athleticism he could have been a force in a relatively weak big east this year.

I just don’t see the drive in him that would make him a great player in this league. He does not have the mentality of a franchise player and any team selecting him with that type of ecpectation is going to gbe thoughouly dissapointed.

Considering the lack of big men if he does become DeAndre Jordan like, he should be a top 3 pick.  I think people forget that Mutumbo made his living as a defensive player.  He never really had much of an offense and he was a hard working person.  I am sure if most Gm’s knew ahead of time that Drummonds would be like DeAndre Jordan for sure than he would get drafted high.  DeAndre will only get better.  I could see him being like Chandler in a sense.  It took Chandler a while to become the player he is.  He had help for CP3 who is also a teammate of Jordan currently.  CP3 will get the best out of Jordan as long as he does not get hurt.

i do think that saying he cant amount to nothing more than a deandre type is being a little pessimistic. i have never compared him to dwight or amare. the only time i did, was saying how he could develop an amare type p&r, and i still think he can. he has better handles than deader (already probably) something is needed for that p&r and he has so much mobility, he’s the fastest guy in the uconn team ahead of all the guards.

i also like that turnaround jumpshot he has out of the mid-post. (something deandre never had) he can definitely make that a go to move…. that’s one of the reason’s i say he’s shot is similar to henson’s, how do you shoot 30% FT, yet shoot unbalanced turnaround Js.

# i think he’s better shooting when jumping, as opposed to with his feet set

 don’t think im basing ideas based on videos but here’s what im talking about…

 He’s most likely going to be a rich man’s DeAndre Jordan. I wouldn’t be surprised if he became a 16 and 10 guy though.

 The reason he can hit turn arounds and not Free Throws is that he is much closer to the basket on those shots and he is basically equally unguarded. The FT is 15 out, in the video Drummond is shooting those turnarounds at about 6 to 10 feet. And the defender basically isn’t guarding him. Think about it, if you are some athletically overmatched 6′ 9" college center and Drummund has just decided to take a fall away turnaround, what do you do? You say thank you very much and allow him to do that. You know he isn’t going to hit that shot enough to really hurt your team. And at least he isn’t dunking on you or getting you in foul trouble. 

That is why you sometimes see athletic guys who seem to have decent jump shots in the game. It is really that they are completely wide open because the defense is just so happy they aren’t being taken to the rim and dunked on. 

what i wodner the most is if Drummond will have enough floor time to get 8 and 8 consistently. and im not referring to the coach limitting his minutes or someone better ahead of him in the depth chart. Im wondering if he will stay out of trouble in this ticky tack NBA compared to college ball where they let the players play. being a rookie, he wont be getting the benefit of the doubt from the refs. will he be able to play his game and not be called? that seems to me something consistently happening to defensive bigs when they get into the league. they get called on, a lot. but when you look at their college careers, they were only averaging 2-3 fouls per game. before we even get to the season, im very much curious to see how he will do in Summer League Play.

I’m going to go on the record and say that Drummond will have a better career and be a better player than Anthony Davis.

There are a bunch of reasons, but I can’t be bothered with explaining them all, I just have a hunch.

It all depends in what you view "future star" as. I saw you said you felt Meyers Leonard was a more fluid athlete and faster than Drummond, which I have to disagree with. Look at Leonard’s freshman year compared to Drummond’s plus the progression. Leonard had a very nice sophomore year and I do not know if Drummond would improve in one year to the point of where Leonard is, but I certainly could see him getting a good deal better.

The kid is raw, he did not come in and kill it, but he is also really young. The only player younger than Andre Drummond on the draft board currently is Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. He is a year and a half younger than Meyers Leonard and 3 years younger than the other "young" center in this draft, Fab Melo. Want to put that out there, Fab Melo is only 5 months younger than Tyler Zeller. Just want to put where these guys might be from an age and physical perspective.

Now, when these guys were 18, were they even in the same stratosphere as an even raw Andre Drummond is right now? Tyler Zeller and Meyers Leonard might have been better from a skills standpoint, but neither of them were close to as productive as Drummond due to his physical tools. People expecting him to be Dwight Howard and Amare Stoudemire obviously have to temper there expectations. They both were better and more fluid players than Andre at a similar stage. Nonetheless, DeAndre Jordan seemed to be nowhere as skilled as an older freshman than Drummond.

Drummond was supposed to be held back a year and obviously had one of the later birthdays of the players in this current HS class. He definitely did not take college by storm and was exposed to having a few issues that make him less than a sure thing. His positioning on the court needs definite work on both ends and his free throw shooting I think exposes a possible lack of confidence. It appears he sometimes loses interest and is not fully focused, sometimes does not know where to be. To me, this is a sign of inexperience more than a total damnation of what he could become with time.

I have no idea if he will be a star, but I find these DeAndre Jordan comparisons entirely pessimistic. DeAndre Jordan was a player taken FAR too low in the draft. Still, I am unsure about him being in the top half of the leagues centers. His shot outside of the paint is non-existent and I am very much unsure of his defensive prowess beyond blocking shots. For the amount of minutes Jordan plays, I think you want more.

With Drummond, I feel you will get maybe that little bit more that will put him in a class above Jordan. He is raw, but physically and athletically he could be a problem for teams. He will have his hands full against certain match-ups, but I think over time he will be that guy you just do not want to have to deal with in the middle. I would say a Nene or Tyson Chandler, even though he might be more raw than even they both were. He is also much further developed in his body and that will take him a ways.

Drummond being the physical specimen he is makes him that intriguing and I believe makes him a top 5 pick. He seems like a good kid and have not heard issues with his attitude, other than slightly lacking maturity (he is an 18 year old who does not turn 19 until August). Will he be a star? Do not know, but my outlook on him is a lot more positive than most any other player in this draft. He can jump high, but he also has a body that will be hard to push or get around. That to me is why he is viewed as a lock for the top 10 after a freshman year that left people wondering what the hype was about.

I think that Andre Drummond would be a very good fit on the Blazers if he is still on the board.  He would be a good fit next to LaMarcus Aldridge. 

I don’t see where else he would really fit though.  Washington could use a shot blocking center and move Nene to the 4 spot.  If the Wizards fall outside the top 3 then that could be a good pick.

Cleveland could use a center going forward but I would think they go after a guy with more scoring potential.

Drummond should be solid but is he a better center prospect than Nerlens Noel or Cody Zeller next year?  I am not sure. 

With most bad teams now in a 2 or 3 year rebuilding mode they have to ask themselves if I pass on this guy will I be able to get a comparable player next year?  Drummond should be solid but I don’t think he is one of those once in a decade big men.  I think he gets picked anywhere from 4-8.  It will depend a lot on team need and how he does at the combines.  

A lot of people are going on record as saying they have been mildly impressed with what Bismack Biyombo has done as a raw rookie center (I am not one of them). He has averaged 5.2 ppg and 5.9 rpg in 23.1 mpg with a solid 1.8 bpg. That translate to 8.1, 9.2 and 2.8 per 36 minutes. We knew Biyombo was going to block some shots, but the first two numbers are pretty damn bad. DeAndre Jordan is atleast around the 10 and 10 mark.

David Thorpe (ugh) is one who likes to say, "if Biyombo were at Connecticut, would he not be doing better than Drummond?" Well, if he were the year before, have to say, do not think so. Do not even know if he would be this year. Now, I think I have gone on record (like a lot of people) in saying that I thought that Biyombo was a massive mistake at 7 for Charlotte. I think even more so now, because they would be in prime Drummond drafting range. If they play Drummond and Biyombo together, well, seems completely counterproductive. Also not very keen on the Biyombo/Davis pairing, think that they should hope they do not win the lottery. Or if they do, ship out Bismack.

My thought is, if people are happy with Biyombo’s production (or lack thereof), than Drummond will have to put a smile on their face. Biyombo was never really "ranked" as a HS player, sort of came out of nowhere. He was this anomaly with a possibly fake birthday, massive wing span and a hilariously awesome name. Drummond was marked as 1, expected to come in and lead UConn to another championship. He had no chance of doing so, but was given those expectations. To me, there were more disappointing players on his own team, but he was given those massive shoes that he would not fill.

In the NBA, hopefully he will have less expectation to come in and kill it. The reason potential has become such a huge word in the draft is that due to the insanely early entry, you have to do a lot more prediction of development. People are left with the fresh image of Drummond not having the season of some other players he is pretty much guaranteed to go in front of. But, at a similar stage, the guys body and ability left these guys in the dust.

Do we know if he is going to get to that point in a few years time? We don’t and his somewhat passive style of play at times is a concern. But, I think you have to take the gamble. He may not be the once in a generation center, but his being this big and athletic is a gift in itself. If he does not make an impact at some point and turn into a starting center you would want on your team, I would be very surprised. Star, no idea. Starter? Down the line, I believe a very good one, which can give your team a major boost.

!

 ""The reason he can hit turn arounds and not Free Throws is that he is much closer to the basket on those shots and he is basically equally unguarded. The FT is 15 out, in the video Drummond is shooting those turnarounds at about 6 to 10 feet. And the defender basically isn’t guarding him. Think about it, if you are some athletically overmatched 6′ 9" college center and Drummund has just decided to take a fall away turnaround, what do you do? You say thank you very much and allow him to do that. You know he isn’t going to hit that shot enough to really hurt your team. And at least he isn’t dunking on you or getting you in foul trouble.

That is why you sometimes see athletic guys who seem to have decent jump shots in the game. It is really that they are completely wide open because the defense is just so happy they aren’t being taken to the rim and dunked on.""

…

i definitely know what you’re saying, but i have to disagree on this particular case, with dru. i’ve seen him make that mid-post/, unbalanced shot since early footage of him, and i’ve seen him do it live. to tell you the truth i don’t think his mechanics are that bad, he just needs to balance his feet (teammate j. lamb does the same). i think you have to look at the bright side of those shots… you can clearly see has the feathery touch, and the balance to square up his jumper, something that doesn’t come w/ your usual 6’10 athletic freak… i think it’s something to look forward. also, his FT shot/ mechanics are much worst than his actual unbalanced shot if judging among their categories.

People were expecting to much from a guy straight out of high school..That was never taught how to play correctly as a center..It seem that his high school coaches only wanted him to focus on dominating people athletically..That might work in high school ,where 90% of the time,you’re much bigger than everyone else…At U Conn Drummond never displayed any back to the basket game nor did he show consistent post moves..

It seem to me that there were 3 Major reasons for Drummond stuggles at U Conn.Their guards rarely ran pick & roll with Drummond,in high school ,he shined in that role…1.He played with selfish shoot 1st guards…2.He never seemed focus or comfortable on the floor…It was like whenever he got the ball he didnt knew what to do with it or he would rush his shot when he got it..3.Drummond joined the team late and he never got use to playing with the team and they never got use to playing with him.. …

Despite his flaws Drummond has huge upside, i dont see why any team would pass him over if they had the 2nd pick..No player after Davis can offer you offensive rebounding,size,length and ability to get off the floor quick…For someone so young he’s a great post defender…He really needs someone to teach him how a big man is suppose to play….

i also don’t overlook the fact that while he was still putting up decent numbers, he never used his body to full advantage, something that is almost a skill and can be obtained w/ good coaching and maturity. this imo, gives him even more potential cuss i know he was capable of more if he just went up stronger, imagine mkg in dru’s body. something i’ve mentioned before. i remember im watching a game and dru lays it up a misses it, and im thinking; sh!t, he could’ve dunk that!!!… then the commentator says it and im like –__– and i posted it in the game thread that was going

…. i know H.S. bb and cbb is two different worlds, but we all know he can finish much stronger than he did, he has more hops than he showed in cbb.

Andre Drummond needs a little bit more slack in my opinion. He’s only 18 years old and I thought he played fairly decent considering he decided to play college basketball in late August and missed a lot of offseason workouts and had to learn how to acclimate to the college game fairly weakly. Combine that with the instability/drama at UConn (Calhoun and NCAA penalies) plus how the team completely fell apart halfway through the year and the players seemed like they were playing for themselves offensively and didn’t give Drummond enough touches. Despite that, Drummond still posted much better numbers, 10 pts 8 reb 3 blk vs. 8 pts 6 reb 1 blk. I agree with the poster that said Deandre is a floor (if he doesn’t improve dramatically) and I still think Dwight Howard is the ceiling. I doubt he gets on Dwight’s level but I can see a 18 point 12 rebound 2 block stat line in his prime.

if someone wants to do the kid a favor, they should draft him then trade him to the rockets so that McHale can coach him and teach him first hand how to play in the post without relying on athletiscm while maximizing your other physical features.

honestly, i wouldnt mind washington drafting him then trading him with Blatche for Kevn Martin and the rockets’ lotto pick. im hoping andre shows more interest in learning and progressing than Thabeet did.

His birthday is August 10, 1993. So while he had just turned 18 before the season started (normal age for a high school senior) he went up against players in their 20s. It’s a major transition when you’re used to being the best player on the court and barely having to try.
And don’t forget, he still averaged 10.2 PPG ,7.7 RPG, 2.7 BPG. While many, including myself, expected a little more, those numbers are still good.

Just think. He’ll be slightly older then most freshmen when he’s playing in the NBA. He’s young and has a lot of potential. I definitely don’t think he’ll be Dwight Howard, but he has the body and could definitely develop into an Amare Stoudemire. Maybe around 17-10-3 for his best season. It really all depends on what team he lands on.

@JoeWolf; you said that Drummond won’t ever have the opportunity to be a first option, but I really don’t think he’d have that in college, even if he’d stayed another year, UConn’s system doesn’t give bigs many scoring opportunities, it’s very guard-centric.

I agree that big men should get experience at being the first option before making the jump to the pros, but in Drummond’s case, unless he transferred he wasn’t going to be given that opportunity.

omphalos

I wouldn’t say UConn’s system is guard-centric.  I mean, this is the same system that made Hasheem Thabeet look like a 2nd overall pick.

Honestly, I don’t like Drummond.  He doesn’t play hard, doesn’t use his strengths, I didn’t see anything in his lone season at UConn that says superstar.  He obviously did not want to be "the guy" at UConn and what makes me think he’s going to want that in the NBA?  

I’ll go on the record and say Perry Jones has a better motor and more heart that Andre Drummond.  And we all know about Perry Jones.  PJ3 atleast showed that he could take the game by the horns and be "the guy".  He wanted to be "the guy" a lot more often than Andre Drummond.  

10pts-7rebs?  Really?  When you’re probably one of the strongest players in the nation as well as one of the more athletic players in the nation.  10-7?  I thought he would come in and drop somewhere between 12-9 and 16-10.  

He can be an Amar’e Stoudemire or a DeAndre Jordan.  I’m betting on DeAndre Jordan.

Thabeet was the 2nd overall pick because of his potential defensively, nobody could have been particularly impressed with his play on the other side of the ball.

Defensively, Drummond is already sound, and yes, he improved some under Calhoun, but UConn is not a place to learn how to score as a big man.

Just because UConn can raise your draft stock doesn’t make it a great place for developing big men.

I’m not saying he was drafted because of his offensive prowless but if Hasheem Thabeet can average nearly 14 PPG in that system, don’t you think Andre Drummond could have as well?

Sure, in his third year with the Huskies he averaged 13.6, but only 6 or so in his freshman year. Okafor averaged 7.9 in his freshman year.

People are really sleeping on Drummond, what he’s done at UConn is very impressive when you consider that he didn’t have a pass-first PG on his team, and was at best the third option offensively.

Caron Butler was a beast. Taliek Brown was much less ball dominant, Ben Gordon was a better scorer and they had more rotation experience (not to mention size). Okafor also played more minutes on a team that scored almost 10 more points per game. Okafor may have had a slightly better freshman season in the scheme of things, but I think that he and Drummond were pretty comparable.

The other thing is, both Okafor and DeAndre Jordan were a year older than Drummond as a freshman (Okafor 11 months and Jordan almost exactly a year). Let’s say that Drummond came into college this year, after actually prepping at Wilbraham & Monson. Would he not have gone through a lot of physical and skill development in that year? I think that a player going from 18 to 19 can be a big year of development. How would Okafor and Jordan have done as 18 year old freshmen? My guess is not as well as Drummond.

The other thing with Andre was, at least from the games I saw, he was not just planted in the middle of the paint. He had to chase players around, sometimes with limited success. Still, I see no way that Okafor or Thabeet would be given the assignment of a Jae Crowder or a Royce White. They would both be planted in the paint trying to block shots. Those are where the higher shot blocking numbers come from, but I bet neither were the overall defender that Drummond was or has promises of becoming.

This is why I disagree with the Jordan assessments. This guy is better than DeAndre Jordan as a physical specimen and I believe even with his horrible free throw shooting, has a great deal more offensive potential. He has a chance to be an absolute chore to box out and a defender that covers a lot of ground. His freshman year did not blow you away, but he was a young freshman and still is reaching his physical maturity. I think in terms of where he, Okafor and Jordan were at 18 years old, Drummond is ahead of either.

Emeka ended up as the #2 pick and he has been alright. He has averaged 12.7 and 10, but his first time being in the play-offs was last year with New Orleans (Age 28). Part of it was a bad situation (drafted to the expansion Bobcats), but the larger part was Emeka being absolutely limited due to his average athleticism and lack of offensive skill set. At the very least, Drummond has the athleticism and even size Okafor wishes for. I think his potential as an offensive player is vastly superior.

At age 28, 12.7 and 10 would be a fantastic average for Drummond to shoot for. Okafor probably would still have been a top 10 pick if you had to re-draft 2004, overvalued slightly due to the lack of knowledge into the development of guys like Al Jefferson (15) and Josh Smith (17, said by Jay Bilas "the most likely player drafted thus far to end up being a bust"). Nonetheless, Okafor was not bad but you pretty much knew what you were getting. I think Drummond has more uncertainty, which could go either way. 

If Andre Drummond continues to develop, odds are that by 28, he is going to be helping his team win more games than Okafor at the NBA level and have been to the play-offs well before than a few times. In my mind, Drummond may not fill that scoring void, but all things considered that is not what most true centers are expected to do. He is expected to use his size to make life difficult for opponents on defense and get a few extra possessions on offense. You look at his frame and ability, seems like he might excel at doing so. This is why I think he is seen as a valuable commodity. The mental game is something to worry about, but if you want a starting center that does the things that help teams win (defending, rebounding), than to me Drummond looks like the guy.

"I don’t think DeAndre Jordan is incredibly pessimistic. He’s starting for a playoff team in his 4th season, but I don’t see Drummond developing on offense like many people do."
Andre Drummond made more shots outside the paint at UConn than Jordan has in his entire career. People really need to come around and realize DeAndre Jordan isn’t good. Jordan doesn’t make the Clippers a decent defensive team, he doesn’t keep opponents from easy points, he still will pick up two fouls in two minutes far too often, and he is one of the least skilled offensive players in the league. If Andre Drummond turns out like him, he would be failing. The fact that the Clippers acquired Chris Paul and elevated their standing to what the Hornets were with Chris Paul does not make DeAndre Jordan better.

“And when looking at former Huskies like Okafor and Thabeet, his impact was less than Okafor, who despite only averaging 7.9 points as a freshman, put up 9 rebounds and 4.1 blocks per game.”
3.6 offensive rebounds per game in the Big East isn’t an impact for you? He was fourth in offensive rebounds and third in blocked shots (which while minimally important for looking at him in the NBA is certainly holds value at the level he was playing) in the Big East. The lack of offensive polish is a legitimate concern, and a concern I certainly hold, but he was not without impact (which was my initial and continual problem with your stance). It certainly it did not meet that of his expectations, but that is a problem beyond his control. Tristan Thompson was a far inferior physical specimen to Andre Drummond, but they essentially had the same freshman years. They hung around the hoop, crashed the offensive glass, and blocked a few shots. Nobody reflected Tristan Thompson’s season as being without impact or minimally impactful, and his production was widely praised.

I usually agree with you to the full JoeWolf, and I mostly do here, but I don’t think you can say he is going to be DeAndre Jordan. For one, he already has 35 pounds on a 23 year old Jordan at 18. Strength is DeAndre’s weakness and Drummond’s strength, so its hard to compare them. I definitley agree with you that the Stoudemire and Howard comparisons are even further off. I mean I can see him ending up like DeAndre Jordan, but I can also see him being a lot better. Maybe he will turn out liek that, but that is certainly not his ceiling. But Joe you made a real good point about Biyombo. You said that you think people are just happy about his sub-par stats because he is not completely terrible. You are soooo right here. I expected Saer Sene and a player who might not ever play in the NBA, yet alone come over his first year and contribute a decent (questionably)_amount. Maybe Biyombo can give you Serge Ibaka production, maybe not. Unfortunately there hasn’t been like one single Bobcats game on this year in my area so they might be the only team I didn’t get to see play this year.