I'm starting to wonder if Andre Drummond is becoming the most over-rated player ever.
Everyone talks about him with such reverence, and while he certainly is a great athlete with tons of (ugh!) upside still, I just have never really seen it from him.
To be honest, whenever I've seen him play he always looks really disinterested. I know he's still young, but that may not change.
He's kind of a slacker, in my opinion.
Big season for Drummond. Pretty disappointed with his limited progress to date. Looking more and more like a DeAndre Jordan level center than the next Dwight Howard.
Make or break year for Drummond. Needs to show real improvement. On both sides of the ball.
I think it's a bit of a stretch to say it's a make or break year for Drummond after comparing him to Jordan, given the improvement Jordan has shown the last season or so.
There is a big difference between DeAndre Jordan = borderline All-Star + Dwight Howard at his peak = MVP candidate.
If Drummond does indeed have that type of potential to become an MVP caliber center, it's time he starts making some major strides in that direction.
Got it. I think that expectations he would turn into Dwight Howard, who was a first overall pick that turned into an NBA superstar would always have been unfair to a player picked 9th overall. If he continues improving, as Jordan has done, he'll have lived up to reasonable expectations. A borderline All-Star defensive anchor center is a great player who would rightfully be a cornerstone piece for most any franchise, and absolutely more than expected value from the 9th pick. People focus too much on a player's imperfections without paying attention to all the important things he does really well. We have that same problem on this board with Marcus Smart, and have had it going back to pre-Big 3 Paul Pierce.
I agree with this, but Drummond in his 3rd year/age 21 season was virtually identical to Howard:
Drummond (Year 3): 13.8 ppg, 13.5 rpg, .7 APG, 1.9 BPG, .9 SPG, 1.5 TOV, 51.4% FG, 38.9% FT
Howard(Year 3): 17.6 ppg, 12.3 rpg, 1.9 APG, 1.9 BPG, .9 SPG, 3.9 TOV, 58.6% FG, 60.3% FT
Drummond (Year 3 per 36): 16.3 ppg, 15.9 rpg, .8 APG, 2.2 BPG, 1.1 SPG, 1.7 TOV, 51.4% FG, 38.9% FT
Howard(Year 3 per 36): 17.2 ppg, 12.0 rpg, 1.9 APG, 1.9 BPG, .8 SPG, 3.8 TOV, 58.6% FG, 60.3% FT
Basically, Drummond is a significantly better rebounder and a slightly better shot blocker. Howard is a much better post player (Drummond's FG% dipped because he got more post up looks this year; prior to that his FG% numbers were better than Howard's) and a less awful free throw shooter. But if you expect Drummond to be Dwight Howard I don't see how you can say he has disappointed so far. To be honest, I'd rather have Drummond at this point because posting up us now known to be an inefficient offensive strategy and I'd rather have the better rebounder/shotblocker and forgo postups than the better post up player (who still isn't great) and have to devote a large portion of my offense to inefficient plays.