Andre Drummond: Comparing His Pro Scouting Report to His Collegiate Outlook

Andre Drummond is one of those prospects that comes around once ever three or four years that captivates everyone who has an opinion on the man. He's either a bust or an all-star according to anyone who has a thought on the man, and there's never any in-between.

He's one of those players that you don't really want your favorite team to draft, but makes you want to watch every game possible with NBA League Pass so you can see what he does every night.

Basically, he is what Bismack Biyombo was last year, multiplied by 100.

So, in order to get a real look at what improvement Drummond has made and what he still needs to work on, we've gone over the outlook on Drummond coming out of high school (and even a little before then) and compared it to his write-up for this year's draft.

Junior Year Outlook

Jonathan Givony, who has basically become the go-to guy for write-ups on high school and college prospects, took a look at Andre Drummond all the way back in 2009 when the big man was just a junior in high school.

As a junior he measured in at 6'11" with an estimated 7'5" wingspan, had all the athleticism that a man his size could possibly have and ran the court as smoothly as a guy six inches shorter.

At that point he was as raw as he is now, but as a 16-year-old with a half a foot on the next tallest guy on the floor, he was obviously dominating opponents.

Givony lamented Drummond's inability to work well in the post with his poor footwork, but complimented his soft hands and decent jump hook, along with a mid-range game that looked promising.

The biggest knock on the big kid was that he had no fundamentals. He wasn't sure what to do without the ball, roaming around and fouling other players easily with little hope of stepping up and defending players on the wing.

Although he was as raw as you can get at that point, all his issues seemed to be correctable.

Senior Year Reassessment

Givony went to reassess the kid as a graduating senior a little over a year later to get a look at the improvement he had exhibited.

The biggest improvement that Drummond made from 16 to 17-going-on-18 was his passing ability. He became more of a distributor from the post and all other areas, using his size to find the best passing lanes and looking for other players' shots first.

While this was a major improvement, it seemed to be a knock on his inability or unwillingness to assert himself even with the size he possessed. He opted more for finesse moves over just overpowering men who gave up a great amount of size to him.

His passing ability improved, but when he showed off his strength in the post combined with his athleticism there was no way for any high-schooler to stop him.

On the other side of the ball, he became much more aware from one year to the next, and while he had the tools and ability to be an elite-level defender, the biggest problem was when he got complacent and lazy on defense, opting not to roll out and help a shooter or jogging to switch on the pick-and-roll.

The biggest problem that persisted was his out-of-control nature on defense, which led to silly fouls.

The most ridiculous flaw in his game was his inability to assert himself when chasing down rebounds, as smaller, less athletic guys were able to out-hustle him or box him out for the boards.

Improvement was evident in his senior year, but there were plenty of new problems that emerged as guys started to poke deeper.

Pro Scouting Report

Givony's final assessment on Drummond was his most critical, as it should have been with him entering the draft and looking to play basketball on the top level in the world.

UConn, on paper, should have fared much better that year with Drummond and lottery-prospect Jeremy Lamb both NBA-level talents on a team full of talented young players.

But the Huskies were eliminated in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Drummond's production on the court lived up to nobody's expectations, averaging just 10 points and just under eight rebounds per game while shooting 53 percent. It's impossible, however, to look at his size and strength and not see a guy who could excel at the NBA level.

The knocks on the big man are the same as they were in high school; he doesn't assert himself, he seems to lack confidence, there are few post moves in his game and he's reckless on defense, leading way to too many fouls.

His assertiveness, however, did seem to increase a bit as he averaged 3.4 offensive rebounds a game this season, good enough for a top-10 slot, but his rebounding on the other end was pedestrian at best.

It seems he needs work with an NBA coach or an old big man to really improve his game, as there hasn't been much instruction to get him from high school to college.

Footwork, Instincts, Agressiveness

There once was a man who had the same level of size and speed that Drummond has now who tends to take an interest in coaching big men as they come of age.

Hakeem Olajuwon was never as big a question as Drummond has been, but he certainly had similar physical characteristics that Drummond has.

Freakishly long arms paired with a body that is seven feet tall on a bad day and the ability to run the floor like a guard were what stood out when Olajuwon was warming up, but when he played the game he had skill that no other big man in the game had.

The physical tools are all you ever see when Drummond plays. There are few oohs and ahhs at what he can do with the basketball—mostly disappointing noises.

Whichever team lands Drummond needs to do itself a favor, give Hakeem a call and do its best to get The Dream to work with the kid over the summer—he needs some real instruction.

Confidence

If there is one measure of confidence that we can look at to see when a player is down on himself on the floor, it's free-throw shooting. Andre Drummond shot 29.5 percent from the charity stripe this year at UConn. What does that say about his confidence?

Even Shaq shot nearly 60 percent in his three years at LSU, and a guy like Drummond who was developing a solid jumper in high school turned in a number south of 30 percent from the line? How is that possible?

He needs something—a shrink, a sports psychiatrist, something to get his mind off what he does wrong and focus on the good in his game.

Give him a little confidence and this dude can be a great player, as he should start using his body more and making more buckets.

Assertiveness, Competitive Drive

The biggest train wreck possible for Andre Drummond would be if the Charlotte Bobcats drafted him and Michael Jordan took a hands-on approach to his development.

The last time Michael Jordan decided that a big man with lots of work to do was a good idea for his team, he drafted Kwame Brown, the epitome of an unsure, unassertive big man who needed motivation instead of being broken down and built up again.

Drummond needs a coach and a management who will constantly challenge him, not constantly yell at him, otherwise he could take the Kwame Brown road.

The Good

There's plenty of negative to look at with Drummond, and without harping on that too much you're not really getting the full scope of who he is, but it's not like he doesn't know how to play basketball at this point.

The NBA is going to be a tough transition for a guy like Drummond who is still working on his game, but it's not like he's going to come in and be completely useless.

His soft hands in the post allow him to catch nearly every pass that comes his way, and while he doesn't make every shot he takes, he gets his own rebound quite often, so he will get it in eventually.

Aside from that, you've got a big man who has a bit of a passing gene in him, which will allow him to get everyone else involved if he can't play well himself in any given game.

Then you've got the potential with no ceiling. He's a guy who could be a top center in the league if everything goes right—there are just a bunch of things that need to go right.

If you are one of those twitterers, you can follow me @JDorsey33.