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.
