On the surface, it seems like this one was a solid draft. I'd give them an A for not panicking, picking Drummond when he was there in lieu of taking the "safer" picks there at 9. I'm even more interested to see the kids play in summer league now.
Beautiful question, TaShawn. Game. Set. Match!! I was wondering the same thing. What the Hec Ramsey happened to all of those bloody " Pro Tankers" around here. They disappeared quicker than nemo does when his fantasy team is being blown out. So, come out of the cracks you are hiding in. What do YOU think? I grade the draft and "A". Yes, good fortune smiled upon the team. But they did the right thing and good things happened. Go Pistons!
Well.............Darth give the Pistons an "A" for their draft grade.......... That should be the final word. We can close this thread now.
I know I shouldn't bring it up but it is too bad the Pistons didn't slip down a bit more in the infamous 2004 draft.
I was/am part of the Pro-Tanking crowd. However, I wasn't looking for some half hearted Taynk, I wanted the Pistons to go big and shoot for the number 1 pick. I still think that Davis is going to be huge in the NBA... Drummond certainly has the potential, but so did Darko. We will have to wait and see if he turns into the next Dwight Howard or the next Nazr Muhommed.
I'm saddened by thought of our inability to develope true scoring monsters. We'll probably tell him to rebound and play defense [suck the BBall life out of him] so SuperCollider call throw it away.
I agree on Davis. But Linwood...imagine the NBA If ten crappy teams went for the number one pick following that very logic. What a joke it would become if 1/3 of the league won maybe a half dozen games. Talk about fixes! Yeah, we would all prefer Davis. Victory or death with Drummond but what a fantastic gamble. 9th is relatively high pick. But if you drafted much sooner you could not afford to do that.
I was more saying that we got lucky and it all worked out. Here are the DHO/ Drummond comparisons, which I just pulled up out of curiosity: Stat: DH/ AD Height w/o shoes: 6'9"/ 6'9.75" (Drummond is almost an inch taller than Howard? Did Howard grow after he was drafted?) Weight: 240/ 279 (That's a big difference) Wingspan: 7'4.5"/ 7'6.25" (Drummond gets him here too) Standing Reach: 9'3.5"/ 9'1.5" (Confusing... if Drummond is .75" taller and has almost an inch more per arm, you'd think his SR would be about 1.5" higher than Howard. Long neck alert????) No step vertical: 30.5"/ 31.5" (Here he gets a bit of it back on most rebound attempts) Max vertical: 35.5"/ 33.5" (I don't care so much about this for a near 7 footer. It's overkill at this point because most of the time they will be no step verting). Bench: 7 times/ 10 times Lane agility: 11.21 seconds/ 10.83 seconds!! 3/4 court sprint: 3.14 seconds/ 3.39 seconds Summary: Drummond is very similar in size to DHoward at a similar age. Howard is effectively taller due to his standing reach, but it is close enough to be considered a draw. Drum is a better no step jumper, but Howard is a better running jumper... again so close it doesn't matter. Drum is quicker side to side, but a little slower in a straight line. Maybe we should look at how Dwight was eased into the rotation: In his first season in the league (straight out of HS), DH started in 82 games and averaged 32.6 mpg vs his career average of 36.2. In his first game of his career, he played 38 minutes, had 12 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, and 4 blocked shots. So, no ease in period, they just threw him out there and he kicked butt. They didn't make the playoffs until his 3rd season on the team.
I think Drummond will do better if they let him learn from the bench. I wouldn't even start him in the Summer League.
This will be a big problem. This fellow will need a lot of room to grow. He will need some of the following to succeed: Straight out, no baby steps. This direction means he starts rather quickly in the rotation. It is imperative that some objective eyes see what needs are to be given priorities. Frank is a very good coach on all types of approaches. I hope he eases into some subtleties from what is learned from the above. He needs to become a master psychologist with this kid. Tay may help...difficult to determine; but then, that was suppose to be his big role. The organization needs to hire a big-man coach (Lanier,etc) to work on all the intangibles only a big understands. Set the minimum minutes that he will be exposed to in every game. He needs to develop a playing time base line and a corresponding analysis on his moves on what he did per match-ups. This means not only with his own team members, but more importantly, how he reacted against the opposition. This will be his Piston blue book and his constant secondary bible. Along with above baseline, he will need to develop within his first year and there after, typical patterns on basics he is missing. This means an extra 3-4 hours daily on repetitions. Arney will give him diet, sleep patterns, stretching exercises, etc. The big coach will develop those subtle nuance's which will require 1 muscle learning pattern per month. I am not impressed with how he can use his armpit to scrape the rim. From the coach, players, friends (quite a few new ones), and from the parents will come many directions. Gores needs to hire a full-time psychologist for the team. A lot of needs on needs. I will be kind or not kind to him...this depends on how Gores begin to communicate away from the circus and toward some areas that only Langlois understands.
I was watching his highlights and his workout videos. He just doesn't look that raw to me. He has decent form on his J's (and even free throws). Around the rim, he's comfortable with turnarounds and soft shots. There are several highlights of him leading the fast break and he looks like a SF. He'll be really impatient in the post and won't have the pump fakes or a solid repertoire, but I don't see why he can't be a pick n' roll threat and a garbage man right out of the gate.
I hope - somebody could post here "official draft grades" - I'm speakin of Chad Ford's insider info , of course.
DETROIT PISTONS | GRADE: A- Round 1:Andre Drummond (9) Round 2:Khris Middleton (39), Kim English (44) Analysis: I have no idea whether Andre Drummond is going to pan out or not. I'm not sure anyone does. He has all the physical tools to be a monster center in the NBA. He could be Dwight Howard-good. However, he is a major project and there are questions about whether he has the drive to become the player he could be someday. He's the second-youngest player in the draft and he can still be molded, so I can't fault the Pistons for taking him. He was a huge risk in the top five, but here the risk/reward factor favored Detroit -- especially because he is such a perfect fit on the front line next to Greg Monroe. Middleton was rated as a late first-rounder last year before injuries derailed his junior season. He's a smooth scorer with a great midrange game. English shot the lights out at Missouri this season and is seen as a cheap replacement for Ben Gordon. Overall, I thought the Pistons made the right calls at the right places in the draft.
