The Official Andre Drummond Thread

[SWedd523]

This is the place to discuss Andre Drummond. Post up your Youtube videos, news articles, and fantasies!

[SWedd523]

Andre Drummond is a 6'11" Freshman C from the University of Connecticut

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

[ziggy]

How can someone THAT athletic and skilled have such an average statistical season this year? 10 points and 7.6 boards?

Somebody please enlighten me.

[Chef]

How can someone THAT athletic and skilled have such an average statistical season this year? 10 points and 7.6 boards?

Somebody please enlighten me.

college basketball is terrible at getting guys the ball when and where they need it.

[Plowright]

Apparantly he doesnt even look for the ball though, he doesnt even ask for it. If you were that skilled you should be confident and demand the ball

[Chef]

http://statsheet.com/mcb/players/pla...tate/greg-oden

http://statsheet.com/mcb/players/pla...andre-drummond

similar stats. oden a bit better, particularly with rebounds. both get offensive boards at the same rate and block shots roughly on the same rate. drummond only shoots 30% from the FT which is criminal. if he could get to 60% he probably would have avg'd closer to 14 pts per game. the rebounds are concerning because they show hustle and desire at his size. however, i only watched uconn a few times and it seemed to me he wasn't afraid of hustle and work. didn't watch minute for minute (i know there are some unconn fans around here who could probably lend some great opinions) but i wonder if opposing teams didn't try to go small ball and pull him away from the rim when they were on offense. it doesn't make a whole lot of sense that his offensive rebound rate was fairly high while his defensive was pedestrian. if we can get him and don't have #1 pick, i would definitely do it on potential alone.

dream scenario: get #2, trade down with hornets by offering #2 overall and our second for their 2 lottery picks. take drummond.

trade with portland NO's pick, DJ and the portland pick 2013 for NJ's pick and take beal.

edit: not sure if this is even a valid point but...he avg'd 8.5 shots per game and a little over 3.5 offensive rebounds. if 50-55% of his offensive rebounds were putback shot attempts that means he really only got between 5.5-6.75 shots per game on "touches". this is criminal considering he is the premier big man in the country. part of this could be heart/not demanding the ball, part could be freshman adjustments, but either way calhoun has to absolutely require his team to get him involved early and keep him involved.

[Katmandu]

How can someone THAT athletic and skilled have such an average statistical season this year? 10 points and 7.6 boards?

Somebody please enlighten me.

I don't know. Ask Tyrus Thomas.

And that, fellow fans, is the trouble with Drummond. We already have a freakishly athletic, worth the risk, power foreward and there should be a lesson there. We gamble a lot. Take the solid player for once. I still like MKG but if you want top go big, go Robinson.

[BrotherDave]

Argument: He's too soft/passive; he can't shoot FT; can't rebound; has no "motor," et cetera.

Counter: He's 18 and coasted on his athleticism his whole life. He can't box out, shoot FTs or play aggressive b/c he hasn't had enough coaching to play organized basketball, due to a tumultuous season at UConn with Calhoun being in and out of the picture. These things are easily fixable. What he's good at are not teachable.

Argument: He lost 20 lbs, that means he has a weight problem a la Sean May.

Counter: At 268, he was already the fastest player on his team and had no injury problems at that weight. He's dieting and eating better id est taking basketball seriously so 20 lbs lighter he'll be even more of an athletic freak.

Argument: He can't co-exist with Bismack, they're both too raw, too many projects.

Counter: He's potentially the best complement to Biz. When he's #1 option on his team like in his high school and AAU days, he displayed excellent court vision and passing ability for his size, not unlike LeBron. On offense, they're both raw but Andre has the handle, passing, and soft hands enough to roam and draw doubles and get Biz wide open looks. He's also got legit C size at 6'11" and 7'2" wingspan which would allow Biz to guard PFs if match ups call for it. With Robinson, you're pretty much stuck with Biz at C. It would be a lot of projects but we have the unique luxury of being a rebuilding team and it's actually counter-productive to get too good (or worst case scenario: mediocre) too soon. Biz's youth and maturity would go a long way in rubbing off on Andre and giving him a guy to compete against and guard against becoming timid of older vets and becoming a bust.

Argument: He's too risky, we need to take a solid, safe pick. A winner with an impressive college resume, a sure thing.

Counter: There's no such thing as a sure thing. Impressive college winners get bounced out of the NBA just as much as raw projects. Players have to find right situations for them to succeed, very rarely are players transcendent beyond this like LeBron, Jordan, etc. The Bobcat's have done nothing but take "safe" college winners and have little to show for it. Okafor, Felton, May, Morrison, Wright, Dudley, Augustin, Henderson. All hugely successful in college, all gone or mediocre players that have stalled this franchise. We took a drastic departure from this strategy when Cho traded up and drafted Bismack, a player with many red flags (age? offense? small sample error?) and higher bust potential than Andre. It's working out.

Argument: He's most likely gonna be no better than Kwame or DeAndre Jordan.

Counter: Even though I hugely disagree with this evaluation I'll play along anyway. As a rebuilding team, we need assets, players to build around or worth value to other teams as to improve us via trading. Teams are high on Bismack. DeAndre got a huge contract and all he does is block and score on alley oops. Kwame, at 29 yo got a 1 year 7 million dollar deal. No matter how bad a big is, he still has value as a big and Andre's a very young big. We sold Jeremy Tyler for like $3M if I remember correctly, he is not as skilled as Andre and he already started late in the season, albeit while they were in tank mode, at Golden State.

[spectre]

Good post and welcome to the forum.

I'm not against a risk pick and I agree with a lot of what you said. The more I'm learning about the (supposed?) flaws in all the other choices the more I'm open to going for the home run.

[ziggy]

How is he mentally?

Is he soft, a space cadet, lazy, unmotivated?

Any ideas on what he is like from the neck up?