I thought the Rockets were high on him too, just didn't have the pieces to trade up. Drummond looks like a beast, but I wonder who's going to have a better career: him or Capela.
Drummond has zero post moves so he's anything but a traditional big man. Also I dont' like or trust his personality and motor and attitude so I am not holding my breath on him keeping this up. We will see. I have to watch more of the Pistons to see if he actually improved much his defence. The perimeter defence has improved tho. (thanx to KCP and having finally a real pf and not a c playing pf).
are you kidding me? Post moves and post game and defensive awareness for a center is extremely hard to teach. Esp for someone like Drummond who lacks any high bball iq and natural instict. And shooting FT may also be impossible to improve a lot. A little yes.
I'll agree to some extent about the defensive awareness, although a good coach and study habits can help there. However, free throws can be fixed. Two examples: Karl Malone and Blake Griffin. Malone went from 48.1% at the line his rookie season to consistently averaging >70% from the line. Griffin regressed into a 52% free throw shooter, but has shot >70% for the past 2 seasons, and is currently shooting 78%.
Blake also gives off the impression he'll do anything to get better at bball. I don't get that from Drummond. averaging 19-19 is still awesome though lol
The Warriors just won the Finals with Andrew Bogut clanking 35% from the free throw line. Remember Ben Wallace? Drummond doesnt need to be THE guy to power the offense in postseason. He just needs to get them there, and the team have options on roster to make adjustments
Just gonna step all over this thread with my muddy Hassan Whiteside feet Tonight's numbers -20 points (8/12 FG) -11 rebounds -6 blocks I don't think Drummond has posted a double double this season with more than 5 blocks added in the mix. Booyah! (Kidding, It's great to see Drummond, Whiteside and now Okafor and Towns in the league showing centers can still have a major impact).
From memory, weren't Morey & Co trying to trade up with the intention of getting Drummond? He was the target, right? Not that it didn't work out, considering we drafted Lamb which led to Harden etc...
We were trying to move up to 5 or 6 to take Drummond, I believe. As I understand it, Morey wasn't willing to give up the two first rounders and Lowry to do so. As good as Drummond is now, it was the correct move in hindsight.
Are you kidding me? Get.real.man. First of all, neither Bogut nor Big Ben was the focal point roller/finisher of the team's pick-and-roll offense. Both men were/are essentially reduced to garbage man rebounder status in their team's offense. They both take/took up residence deep along the baseline weakside of the action. Just basically staying out of the way. Secondly, The Warriors BENCHED Bogut. They were down 1-2 with Bogut in the lineup against a depleted Cavs team essentially missing their second and third best players. And the Warriors benched their starting center. Thirdly, The Pistons won a championship in 2004. That's 11 years ago. There is no way they could do what they were doing then today. The league has changed. Intentionally fouling and putting guys on the line was not the fashion trend that it is today. If Big Ben were playing in the playoffs/Finals today, he'd be benched. Because the opponent would send him to the FT line and let him clank along at 35% for 50 possessions if they had to in order to win the game. Ben used to have to go to the bench in 2004. He'd have to go sit for 3-5 times longer in today's NBA. And remember, neither of these guys is the pick-and-roll roller for their respective teams. Drummond is. They can't post Drummond up because he sucks at it. They have to run him in the pick-and-roll OR turn him into a garbage putback man on offense. Because he has absolutely zero offensive skills other than jumping and dunking the basketball. And the problem Drummond has that makes him stand out as fools gold is that he is nowhere the defender that either Bogut or Big Ben are/were. And he'll never be the defenders they are. Drummond doesn't process fast enough. He's got the exact same issue Terrence has, except in a 7-foot frame instead of a 6-9 frame. He just can't process fast enough defensively to ever be very effective on the defensive end. He'll constantly get in foul trouble in the playoffs because the best coaches in the association know what I'm saying is true and they'll run their offense right at him to get him in foul trouble. He'll constantly underperform and disappoint because he's missing free throws and on the bench with foul trouble in the playoffs. Mark my words. You'll see in the coming seasons. If SVG had any guts at all, he'd trade Drummond right now to Boston or whoever would take him for multiple first round picks, then go after Noah (or possibly Whiteside if the price is right) in free agency next summer.
Jay, the Rockets did not win a championship last year. They didn't even make it to the Finals, Jay. So, don't use the Rockets team as an example. I said, You cannot win a championship with your premier roller/finisher in your pick-and-roll spread offense shooting 40% from the FT line. In case you forgot, Dwight was reduced to a half-court player against the Warriors. All he could do was defend. And the only way we were even competitive for any given time was when we defended and got some sort of man advantage in the break. Once we set up the play and Dwight came trotting over half-court down into the offense, we were screwed. And as far as Drummond "owning" the paint....he doesn't. He may own the boards....but that's not "owning" the defensive paint. The ONLY way for Drummond to be an effective plus player with his obvious offensive limitations and deficiencies is for him to be a defensive stuffer. But he's not. Drummond is NOWHERE CLOSE to being as good as Dwight or, say, DeAndre defensively. He's just not a good defender. He gets in foul trouble when the offense goes directly at him and forces him to make defensive decisions. Fools gold.
People are quick to forget .. 3 time DPOY , Led a magic to team to the finals at 23 years old, arguably best big that can play both sides of the ball in the decade , best rebounder of the last decade ..
Is it just me, or are we beginning to look at Capela with thick homer glasses? I am ecstatic with Capela's production this year. With Drummond though, we have been throwing around the idea of building a team around him, averaging 19-19 right now. Capela has solid measurements for a center, but guys like Drummond and Whiteside are physical specimens that just don't come around that often. Even if Capela develops a jumper like Ibaka, that won't make him a guy that will draw a double team. Am I wrong?
I don't know if Drummond can keep this up. I don't know if he can ever shoot free throws. I don't know if his play will translate to playoff success. But right now, his numbers are mind boggling.
Drummond is a man playing with boys. I like the Pistons <iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ILmGDfXr3pk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Don't forget, Morey was pulling all the stops to try and get Drummond on draft night but couldn't get a deal done. All this proves is that Morey knows how to evaluate players and recognizes talent when he sees it. He also proclaimed Cousins as the best player in his draft class. The only "miss" that I have noticed from Morey was when he said Rubio was the best PG in the class, not Curry.
