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Andre Drummond has been a revelation. Not only is he playing like someone who should have been the second pick in the draft (instead of the ninth), but he has executives and coaches thinking he can be the best player from this class. Yes, better than No. 1 pick and national collegiate player of the year Anthony Davis.
But as amazing as Drummond has been, and as bright as the future looks in Detroit, there is still a huge learning curve for him to undergo if he is going to be an All-Star-level performer, which is absolutely in his wheelhouse. (That's what an 18-point, 18-rebound game as a 19-year-old will do for your projected future.)
Being as young as he is gives both the Pistons and him time to develop his game the right way. But if they want to get back into playoff contention sooner, Detroit will need him to improve faster and to higher heights than most.
So how can Detroit do that with Drummond? Here's a four-step manual:
1. Improve conditioning and strength
The conditioning aspect of the game is typically as much a mental hurdle as it is a physical one. Being able to run, spring, push, pull, jump and shoot for three quarters of the game and still have the energy to produce late in games certainly takes a finely conditioned athlete. In time, Drummond can get to that level. But he must be able to think for that amount of time, too. And that is more often the problem with young players, and possibly a reason why he averaged only 22.2 minutes in January.
Bobby Knight once said concentration was the single most important thing for a basketball player. For Drummond to be able to handle 100 to 180 more minutes per month, he'll first need to prepare himself for that task. So incorporating better eating habits and off-day workouts will be in order. Concentration is impossible for tired athletes. Once he is in fine shape, he'll be better able to handle the increased mental workload, which also will improve with experience.
Increased strength is a necessity as well, as the more punishment he can dish out, the more energy he'll save; it takes less energy to dish out than to receive. I'd be wary of adding weight and instead focus on increased lean muscle mass. Think Tim Duncan andDwight Howard -- lean and strong rather than big and bulky.
2. Value position on the floor
Earlier in their careers, LeBron James and Kevin Durant felt as though they could score wherever they first caught a pass. While they were right at times, they didn't score so efficiently when they started their offense far from the basket.
It's a lesson most players have to learn, including Drummond, if he ever wants to be a scorer. He loves to fly to the rim on offensive putbacks and lobs in transition, or catch a sweet dime from a teammate driving and dropping. But he typically doesn't even try to catch passes in the paint when he's being defended -- he either chooses to just walk away from the paint or allows himself to be shoved out.
As James and Durant learned, every step closer to the rim that they catch the ball increases their chances of getting to the rim, drawing a foul or both. When Drummond begins to punish guys inside, sealing them on his butt or pinning them to one side of his hips or the other, all while he's in the paint, his scoring numbers will soar. The prime real estate on a basketball court is the land directly under and around the rim.
3. Have a post plan
Duncan attacks the middle repeatedly from the low post -- I once heard that he went middle on his post moves 175 consecutive times. Whether that's accurate, the point remains: Attacking middle is the best move for a posting player. By going middle first, the post player has passing options anywhere on the floor rather than only to the corner if he turns baseline first. It also means he has a counter to the baseline, where there is rarely help waiting, as opposed to countering middle into the teeth of the defense. Duncan knows this, puts it into his scoring plan and then executes it.
Asking Drummond to finish shots at a high rate when he's being defended well is not fair at this point in his career, but asking him to understand the best way to attack a defender is. His plan can change from game to game and possession to possession, but it should include things such as: attack middle, use quick attacks, show shot fakes, take sharp angles, build one counter, then add a second.
Once Drummond creates his plan of attack from the post, he will give himself a better foundation to read and react to the defense, and even the ability to dictate his offense, which is the key to any great post scorer. As he adds moves to his arsenal he can edit his plan, but it should begin with being simple yet powerful. Being indecisive or making a baseline move initially are recipes for turnovers and missed shots. Because of that, Drummond does not hunt post position as he could.
4. Play with balance
Picture this: A center grabbing the ball inside off of a rebound or a pass, shot-faking violently while staying in the exact same spot, then exploding straight up and dunking the ball powerfully straight down. It's something we've seen Shaquille O'Neal and Howard do countless times.
The reason that image is ingrained in our minds is that most big men don't make that play enough. Many bigs just twist while off-balance to get a shot off quickly or quick-jump back up as opposed to gathering and powerfully going up.
But Drummond is a physical force. If he were to hold the ball tightly, use his body and arms to shield it from prying hands, then lift off the way a rocket takes off from a launching pad, he'd be mostly untouchable as he dunked or finished over the rim. He'd probably earn more free throws as well.
Drummond makes less than 45 percent of his shots close to the rim, a number certain to rise when he starts his shot with a better foundation -- legs spread, knees bent, ball protected. It's one reason why I like shot fakes for players inside -- it slows them down and helps them gather before they make their move.
In time, Drummond should have improved strength and power to play with more balance even on quick action plays. He will be even more dangerous if he adds a violent fake because the defender will be hyper-aware of Drummond's ability to finish that first move.
Outlook
With his enormous upside, Drummond has drawn comparisons to Howard, who has dominated thanks to the same formula that made O'Neal into a legend: (1) incredible agility with a huge body; (2) great power and balance inside; and (3) the disposition to dominate the paint.
Drummond has the first box checked off. And he has shown flashes of the other two. Still, hundreds of talented men have shown glimpses and now reside on benches in the NBA or on rosters in Europe. Drummond is no longer seen as a risk of a prospect, but he needs to make progress in those latter two areas to be the best player he can be. Following the four-step plan above will help him reach stardom sooner rather than later.
