The Playbook: Stan Van Gundy unleashes a monster in Andre Drummond
Andre Drummond is putting up video game numbers with the Detroit Pistons.
Drummond is averaging 18.8 points and 19.3 rebounds per game. No player has reached those heights since Wilt Chamberlain in 1968-69, and, at the age of 22, he is only scratching the surface of his potential.
Andre the Giant's ascension has fueled the Pistons' resurgence. Detroit is tied for fourth in the East with a record of 5-3 (it took them 24 games to reach five wins last year), and it's largely thanks to Drummond.
He has the team's second-best net rating, and the Pistons are playing like a top-10 offense and a top-five defense with him on the court.
The prodigious talent was always there with Drummond, but he lacked the proper guidance until Stan Van Gundy came along.
Van Gundy is one of the league's brightest and most outspoken head coaches, but his best attribute has always been his ability to construct teams around a dominant center. He had Shaquille O'Neal in Miami, and Dwight Howard in Orlando.
Now he's building another behemoth in Drummond.
Except, Drummond wasn't always a clear-cut Hall of Famer like Shaq or Howard. Eight teams passed on him in the 2012 NBA Draft, and he carried all kinds of red flags. He couldn't shoot, his conditioning was iffy, and scouting reports questioned his commitment.
To his credit, Drummond quickly dispelled those worries, averaging a double-double in his sophomore year.
The Pistons, however, never won despite his individual success. The paint was always crowded with he and Greg Monroe sharing the floor, and, despite a handful of highlight-reel blocks, Drummond wasn't a good defender.
Van Gundy has changed that in his 19 months with the team. Using his executive powers, the coach cleared the paint and surrounded Drummond with shooters, and with his coaching acumen, he has turned him into the best center in the East.
The proof is in the bottom line: The Pistons are 32-30 since Van Gundy waived Josh Smith last December. Keep in mind that they haven't finished over .500 since the 2007-08 season.
Meanwhile, Drummond boasts averages of 15.1 points, 14.6 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks during that stretch.
Two things have helped Drummond improve on offense.
First, the team finally found a competent floor general in Reggie Jackson, who has been a monster since joining the Pistons. Jackson is averaging 21.9 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 5.3 assists this season - good for a PER of 20.9. He's an innovative attacker off pick-and-rolls, and he's equally adept at hitting the roll man as he is finishing at the hoop using his 7-foot wingspan.
Second, he has more room to operate. He looked awkward sharing the paint with Monroe last season, so Van Gundy replaced Monroe with shooters in Marcus Morris and Ersan Ilyasova. Now the paint belongs to Drummond, and only Drummond.
It starts with the pick-and-roll. By playing with four shooters, teams are faced with the challenge of leaving shooters open, or risking an easy lob for Drummond. On the play below, the Hawks try to contain Jackson on the perimeter, but Drummond rolls unimpeded to the hoop.
The same effect applies when Drummond is in the post. He's improved tremendously on his patented baby hook, and the lane is usually open for him to get off a clean look.
And of course, if the Pistons miss, Drummond is usually around to clean up. He's averaging 9.2 offensive rebounds per 48 minutes, which would rank him 21st among teams - not players - in offensive rebounds per game. Not coincidentally, the Pistons also rank second in second-chance points.
The bigger change for Drummond is on the defensive end. He's transformed into a defensive anchor, and the Pistons have jumped from 21st to ninth in defensive rating this season.
The defensive improvement, however, doesn't reflect any schematic changes. They're playing the same way, only with a better set of perimeter defenders, and that's allowed Drummond to focus on what he does best: rebound and block shots.
He's playing with more energy, and he's collecting an unthinkable 37.3 percent of his team's misses - a mark matched only by Dennis Rodman over the past 60 years.
The Pistons are also applying more pressure on the wing, which is giving Drummond more time to sit back and snuff out chances.
"I think he's been tremendous," Van Gundy said of Drummond's defense last Saturday. "Much, much better, much more active, using his quickness."
The end result is this: Stan Van Gundy has built another behemoth in Drummond, and his first All-Star selection and playoff berth are soon to follow.