Didn't see a thread for Andre Drummond. Against the 76ers he had a stat line of 31 points, 19 rebounds, 6 steals, 2 blocks and 0 assists on 12-15 from the field and 7-18 from the free throw line. This season he is averaging 13.1 ppg, 12.2 rpg, 0.4 apg, 1.2 bpg, 2.0 spg and 1.2 topg on 65.2 FG% and 32.1 FT% in 33mins Remembering that he is only 20 and is still developing post moves, I think he has tremendous potential and in 3-4 years he will be putting up monster numbers and will be dominating the league like Shaquille O Neal was. Obviously free throws is a glaring problem for him.
Unless he gets his FT shooting to at least Shaq/Dwight level, teams will start hacking him all the time with their bench stiffs and he has to be taken out of the game. 50% FT shooting = ORTG of 100 35% FT shooting = ORTG of 70 If Detroit was any good, hack-a-andre strategy would have already been in use often.
Pistons are an ok team, pretty good in the East, **** in the West, and yes Joe Dumars has to get Drummond a private tutor just for his free throws lol
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Andre Drummond finishes with 31 points, 19 boards and 6 steals. First player since Hakeem Olajuwon in 1990 to do so.</p>— NBA Legion (@MySportsLegion) <a href="https://twitter.com/MySportsLegion/statuses/407284084948606976">December 1, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
All these highlights and big stats are M-E-A-N-I-N-G-L-E-S-S if this kid doesn't learn to shoot free throws. You cannot, I repeat, cannot be more than a bit player in this league with a free throw shooting percentage in the 30's. It is simply a matter of time before teams simply foul Andre and put him on the line until they have to take him out of the game. Detroit is 7-10 on the season with their 7 wins coming against teams who are a combined 36-82. You simply can't win in this league with such a liability on the court. My prediction is if Andre continue to shoot 30% or below from the FT line that he will become a bit player in this league. I don't care how athletic he is. You can't win with a player shooting 30% from the FT line.
If Jordon was not a complete and total imbecile when it comes to evaluating college NBA potential he would have chosen Drummond in the draft. By next season Drummond will be a better NBA player than MKG can ever be.
A much to simplistic view of the NBA game. Coaches are rightfully reticent to employ a hack-a-anybody strategy because it quickly pushes the other team into the bonus. Certainly if Drummond does not improve his FT% there will be times in games where he just cannot be on the floor, but if he plays the first 6 minutes of each quarter he could still reach 18/10 a game. And put up a 23 PER.
It's the same thing as Bynum's 20 point games nowadays. Everybody knows he can't play in the wars, that he'll break down. Bynum is done while he is on the court still collecting checks. You simply can't win with him. Same thing with Andre. You can't win with him shooting 30% from the FT line. You can be simplistic and say he can play 32 minutes at the beginning of quarters and post up this crazy 23 PER. Big whoop. That's not winning time. Everybody knows it. In winning time he's on the pine.
Games are 48 minutes long. Every minute counts. Every point. Every rebound. Every block. If Drummond can put up 18/10/2 blocks in 24 minutes he would be a huge asset, even if he never sees the final 7 minutes of any game.
I dont think you get how awful drummond looked at UCONN.....him and shabazz napier made me want to cry as a fan watching so much boneheadedness yes i made up a word with that said 9th was a good pick for him then and everyone ahead of him including the "bad" picks were better at the time 1.Thomas Robinson was coming off a title game and big 12 POY season 2.Terence Ross was a head scratcher but I guess the raptors liked Amir Johnson and Bargnani for their frontcourt 3.Anthony Davis,Kidd-gilchrist,bradley beal,Damian Lillard,Harrison Barnes,Dion Waiters were all studs and had to be picked there
Actually I saw him play in person twice when he was in college. And my eyes were as big as saucers witnessing perhaps the finest athlete to come out of the NCAA in the last decade.
