Detroit Pistons’ Andre Drummond will be a three-point asset in 2019-20
By Riley Nisbet
1) Brook Lopez as a Beacon
At the demands of a changing league, Brook Lopez is the most recent NBA big man to make the switch from traditional-center to stretch-five, and, at 31-years-old, he is a good model for where the 26-year-old Drummond can be in a few years.
The change in Lopez’s game was prominent last year as he helped lead the Milwaukee Bucks to first place in the Eastern Conference and an Eastern Conference Finals appearance. However, it was a slow climb to his being taken seriously as a three-point threat.
Over the course his first eight seasons (bear in mind, Drummond is entering his eighth season this year), Lopez attempted an astonishingly low 31 attempts (3.9 per year). Of those 31 attempts, Lopez connected on three, all coming within his seventh and eighth years.
Like Drummond last year, Lopez tested the three-point waters in the season prior to seeing success from behind the arc. In his 2015-16 season, Lopez went 2-of-14 from deep, which measures at 14 percent (one notch better than Drummond’s 13 percent last year).
That following season Lopez’s numbers took off. He upped his season three-point attempts to 387, making 134 of them (a 35 percent shooting rate). In his 10th year, Lopez maintained his 35 percent 3-point shooting, albeit on slightly fewer attempts (112 makes on 325 attempts).
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This last year, in what is perhaps his career year to date, Lopez became known around the league as a considerable three-point threat. He only increased his shooting percentage by two to 36.5 percent. However, Lopez increased his attempts over the course of the season to 512. On 187 makes, this meant Lopez contributed 225 more points off of 3-pointers than he did the year before, and 159 more points off three’s than in 2016-17, his previous season-high in makes.
Using Lopez’s career trajectory, a player a few years ahead of Drummond, as a model, there is still time for Drummond to develop himself into a reliable three-point shooter. If he follows up his season of testing the three-point shot in the way Lopez did, Drummond will be an asset from deep next year.