What is ceiling for Detroit Pistons’ Andre Drummond?

The Detroit Pistons have been waiting for Drummond to grow into the star they thought him capable of being. In year six, it appears Drummond has turned a corner, improving on weaknesses that many thought he’d never be able to. Now that Drummond has proven capable of repairing areas of his game, what can we expect his ceiling to be.

The Detroit Pistons had a big problem on its hands. Its best player, Andre Drummond couldn’t hit free throws with any sort of consistency.

This lead to teams intentionally fouling Drummond, which put the Pistons in a severe deficit during critical junctions of the game. Therefore, the Pistons could not play its best player in the most important moments.

Moreover, Drummond didn’t play with much consistency in terms of effort and energy. Pair that with the psychological toll of being incapable of making free throws and it appeared that Drummond may never reach his immense potential that his physical gifts projected.

Then, the craziest thing happened.

Drummond spent all offseason working on his free throws, which has culminated in an improvement of 23.2%  from the free throw line to date (61.8% from 38.6%).

He’s gone from being the league’s worst free throw shooter to a very capable one, which has restricted all but one team (Boston Celtics) from intentionally fouling him. The team who did intentionally foul him only elected to do so once.

Then, there’s Drummond’s energy level and effort which have also seen dramatic improvements thanks to both an offseason surgery which repaired a deviated septum, and improved confidence in his game.

Drummond has arguably improved his two biggest flaws and I’d argue that these improvements have been dramatic.

So, with Drummond proving capable of improving his weaknesses, what exactly is his ceiling moving forward?

My take?

I don’t think we will ever see Drummond with Kyrie Irvining’s handles or Steph Curry’s shot. However, he’s proven to be an above average ball handler for a big man, and he’s proven capable of making drastic improvements.

Would it shock me if the next addition to his game was a 10 to 15 ft jump shot? Not at all. Depending on how long he plays, it wouldn’t shock me to see him develop a turnaround post game or a three-point shot even–I’m dead serious.

Now I  don’t expect all of these improvements to happen by next season, but by year eight or nine? Why not?

If Drummond can become a passable free throw shooter than I don’t see why he can’t be passable in any other area of the game at some point in time.

Next: 3 Most Effective Detroit Pistons Playtypes

Your turn.