Detroit Pistons: Andre Drummond Needs To Stop Fouling
By Adam McGee
With only three wins from their opening 10 games, the Detroit Pistons start to the season has been very far from ideal. Any optimism from before the season started that Stan Van Gundy could somehow turn this team into a surprise package that could make a run at the playoffs has long gone. Now, what they could do with most of all is some help from Andre Drummond.
Drummond may be young, but the expectation is on him to be the team’s star player, and at the moment, he’s looking like anything but that. After ranking second in the league in field goal percentage last season, the 21-year-old is only shooting at a rate of 41.4 percent in the opening 10 games this year. Drummond’s points are down too, but there is a bigger problem still.
From what he’s shown so far this season, the former UConn Husky simply cannot stop fouling. Drummond has already fouled out on two occasions this season, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg really. There have been four other games where Drummond has picked up five fouls and has had to sit on the bench for considerable periods of time, and there can be little doubt about the impact that has on Detroit.
In games where Drummond has picked up five or more fouls, the Pistons have a record of 1-5, while in the four games they’ve been able to play to conclusion with him on the floor through the majority of clutch time, Detroit is 2-2. So at the moment it seems like a pretty simple equation: if Andre Drummond stops fouling as much, the Pistons will win more games.
It’s not even as if all of Drummond’s fouls have come from contests at the rim, or in attempts not to allow layups. Instead there’s been a lot of reach-in fouls, with his hands by his side. Repetitive fouling in that manner is little more than lazy and undisciplined, but it’s important that we try to remember that Drummond is young.
Perhaps it’s due to the fact that he has played with such maturity and ease during his first two seasons, but at times the expectations on Drummond are unquestionably high. Sure, he’s the Pistons’ franchise center and will likely be so for years to come, but that’s a role he’ll have to grow into, and at the moment it’s clear that he’s still trying to grow into his game.
Speaking to The Detroit News, a little over a week ago, Pistons coach Van Gundy himself admitted that his own expectations are high for Drummond, and hinted at the need for himself to be a little more forgiving.
"“I’m not very good at patience. I know patience is a virtue, but it isn’t one of mine. My expectations are high and will remain very high. If you’re getting aggressive fouls, you’ll live with them. The ticky-tack fouls, he has to get rid of.Right now, he’s half-a-step slow on a lot of plays and that’s simply a learning curve. It’s gonna take some time, more than I’d like. Especially for Andre — a 21 year-old big guy, to expect we’re not gonna have mistakes defensively, is unrealistic … but I just want to see more urgency.”"
Van Gundy is right that it’s a process that’s going to take time, but I’d argue that as much as Van Gundy wants urgency, intelligence is what Drummond really needs to work on. Drummond has a high basketball IQ, but he needs to learn not to get caught up in the frantic nature of games, and to think before he commits a foul.
If he could achieve that, the difference in Detroit’s play could be monumental.