Detroit Pistons: Andre Drummond’s Next Step

By Adam McGee | Sep 17, 2014

Dec 21, 2013; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; Detroit Pistons center Andre Drummond (0) and Houston Rockets power forward Dwight Howard (12) collide during the first quarter at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports /

Despite not playing a major part in Team USA’s victorious World Cup campaign, Andre Drummond remains the Detroit Pistons’ great hope for the future. In his first two seasons in the NBA, Drummond has displayed the type of talent that has led to many earmarking him as the cornerstone of the franchise for Detroit.

With a franchise center tag on his head, Drummond has received some flattering comparisons, but do they really mean anything?

More from Detroit Pistons

The value and merit of such comparisons is up for debate, but one thing is for sure, there’s one specific comparison that isn’t going to leave Drummond alone any time soon. It may only still be the early days of his career, but the former Connecticut Husky’s numbers have an eerie similarity to those of eight-time All-Star

Dwight Howard

.

Both Drummond and Howard excel in close quarters to the basket. The pair display a willingness to crash the boards hard for rebounds, while simultaneously corralling those rebounds with relative ease. Neither player can step away from the hoop either though, and whether it’s from the free throw line, or off a jumper, the result for both players is likely to be a clanging rim.

Comparing Drummond and Howard’s first two years in the NBA offers up an interesting picture (via Basketball-Reference).

Per 36 minutes, both players scored in the region of 14.5 points in their first two seasons. Yet with that minutes adjustment in place, Drummond actually performs slightly better than Howard in a number of other categories, such as rebounds (+2.5), blocks (+0.5) and field goal percentage (+.092).

So, in many ways Drummond is actually tracking slightly ahead of Howard, yet now is a good time to point out that Howard took significant steps forward in his third and fourth seasons. A big part of that was Howard increasing his scoring output, and becoming an even more dominant rebounder, but they may not even have been the biggest factors in the Atlanta native’s rise in status at that time.

Already a capable scoring center, Howard added another facet to his game by developing into a truly dominant defensive presence. In fact, Howard’s transformation into a top class two-way big man was completed in 2009, when he picked up the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year award for the first of three successive seasons.

Why should this be relevant to Drummond though? Well, for one thing, the coach that guided Howard to those heights is now standing in the 21-year-old’s corner.

Stan Van Gundy’s love for defense, and dominant centers capable of anchoring the play on both ends of the floor turned Dwight Howard into “Superman,” and in the process built a genuine title contender of the Orlando Magic. Although they never got their title, and their relationship ended in acrimony, coaching Drummond and the Pistons could offer Van Gundy another chance at honing a talented young center’s skills to build a team around.

For his first two seasons, Drummond has posted a defensive rating identical to Howard’s at the same stage in his career, and is even outperforming him in terms of blocks. So, that should mean Drummond will have no problems kicking on from here, right? Well, it’s not quite as simple as that.

To become an elite defender like Howard, Drummond will have to add a lot of intangibles to his game. The league’s best defenders don’t necessarily always block the most shots, as in many cases, they have better positioning to disrupt the play from the onset. In other words, Drummond’s priorities should be his intelligence, his awareness and his reading of the game.

Great defenders are constantly active, but don’t necessarily look rushed or flustered, because they’re always a couple of steps ahead. It’s not all about shot-blocking, but instead how their position influences the shooters decisions. It’s about how they can read rotations and switch to their opponent at the perfect moment. In essence, it’s all about understanding.

Andre Drummond has plenty of areas to improve on, but some of them will look after themselves. Drummond’s strength and length will continue to help him grab rebounds. His acceptance of his shooting limitations will also help to ensure Drummond’s shooting percentages and scoring production continue to rise.

Yet, if Andre Drummond really wants to take the next step, he needs to work on getting smarter. There’s no doubt that Stan Van Gundy will drill that into him, and if it hits home, there’s every chance that Drummond can become one of the best defenders in the NBA.

Either way, the Dwight Howard comparisons are going to keep coming for a while, and the longer that remains the case, the better Andre Drummond will continue to get.

Home/Detroit Pistons