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Piston of the Week: Andre Drummond

By Brady Fredricksen

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Piston of the Week (4/7/2013 – 4/13/2013): Andre Drummond

15.6 points, 10 rebounds, one steal and 3.7 offensive rebounds per game, while shooting 69 percent from the field.

It’s Andre Drummond’s world and we’re just living in it.

Too far? Ok, so the kid is still only 19 and still has a ton he can improve on after the Pistons’ season wraps up on Wednesday, but for now, isn’t it nice to finally take the Ferrari out of the garage and flaunt around town in it?

This is 110 percent the Pistons’ equivalent of being the guys in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off who cruised around Chicago in Cameron’s Dad’s Ferrari. 

Drummond’s emergence as a starter may have taken a full season, but finally having him securely inserted into the lineup is as big of a building block as you can find in a lost season.

We basically know what he can do now, though. He’s going to dunk (everything) and he’s going to rebound the heck out of the ball. Sure, his one-on-one defense leaves much to be desired, but at 19, he’s also one of the league’s top young help-side defenders when it comes to blocking shots.

If Larry Sanders wasn’t also in the Central, Drummond probably would be the best.

Even the free throws — he was 1-for-12 at the line last week — have kind of, sort of improved. He went 9-for-17 from the stripe against Cleveland, and he ended up stymieing Byron Scott’s plan of using the Hack-a-Dre to get Cleveland a win.

Really, who’s to say that Drummond can’t average his rookie year per-36 numbers (14 points, 13.6 rebounds, 2.8 blocks and 1.6 steals) next year?

That’s something we’ll have to wait and see, but within that waiting, who does Drummond need next year? Obviously there are a number of free agents who would help him, but let’s keep it in the draft. Who in this draft fits and benefits Drummond the most considering the Pistons’ summer situation?

Trey Burke, Marcus Smart? A young big man will always benefit from a point guard who can deliver an entry pass and make an open jumper.

Otto Porter, Ben McLemore? Wing players who know how to create some offense of their own, along with making open jumpers created off of double teams in the post, aren’t a bad thing.

Nerlens Noel, Anthony Bennett? Drummond’s already got a pretty good front-court mate in Greg Monroe, but when has too many athletic bigs who can shoot (Bennett) or block shots (Noel) been a bad thing?

We won’t know which of these guys, if any, end up panning out as NBA players, let alone being a Pistons draft pick for awhile, but in the meantime, they’ve got Drummond — so that’s a pretty good start.

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