Skip to main content
Larry Brown Sports Tagline. Brown Bag it, Baby.
#pounditFriday, March 29, 2024

Stan Van Gundy wants Andre Drummond to emulate DeAndre Jordan

Detroit Pistons center Andre Drummond has been something of an enigma for coach Stan Van Gundy, with the talented center taking a step back in 2016-17.

Now, Van Gundy is giving him a name to model his game after — Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan.

“The step, to me, for Andre is to do a little bit of what DeAndre Jordan does and dominate the game at the defensive end of the floor. Become that All-Defense type of guy,” Van Gundy said, via Keith Langlois of the team’s official website. “Because he’s already a historically great rebounder and to add to that becoming a great defender and build his game from there and everything to be built around the basket – his pick and rolls, going to the rim, running the floor, all of that.”

Van Gundy appeared to think Drummond tried to diversify his game a bit too much, and that he should spend his time focusing on making himself elite in the areas where he’s already very good.

“That’s going to be a big part of it with him this year,” Van Gundy said. “To really get him to focus on the things that he does at not even a high level – at an elite level, and doing those well. So many times guys think the way to becoming great is to be able to do more and more things. In a lot of cases, it’s more doing the things that you already do at a higher level.”

Drummond has all the skills to be an elite rebounder, a quality shot-blocker, and a dangerous inside scorer, but in a season where he was supposed to take a big step forward, the Pistons reportedly gauged his trade value. Jordan is probably a very good comparison, and Drummond has shown he can do much of what the Clippers center does, perhaps with even a bit more scoring punch.

.

Subscribe and Listen to the Podcast!

Sports News Minute Podcast
comments powered by Disqus