Drummonds vs Mutombo

[bajaden]

The thing that keeps me in the Drummond wagon is the examples of UConn big men that instead of having their games polished with a year in college, appears to lose a step after staying at UConn.

DMC was once a very good high school prospect but lost a few votes during the draft with his head case reputation that was aggravated at during his Kentucky days. DMC's issue was more of aggressive attitude, Drummond's case was the opposite. But IMO, things like these can be corrected if you surround the kid with a good system (i.e. bringing DMC's highschool coach to our bench). But talent and physical gifts of both bigs are only dozen in every decade.

The biggest difference between Cuz and Drummond, is no one questioned Cousins heart and desire. And thats what they question with Drummond. I'm not a mind reader, and I certainly don't want to brand a 19 year old kid for life, but desire and passion for the game can't be taught. You either have it or you don't. And I'm not saying he doesn't. Only Drummond knows.

 

[Glenn]

The biggest difference between Cuz and Drummond, is no one questioned Cousins heart and desire. And thats what they question with Drummond. I'm not a mind reader, and I certainly don't want to brand a 19 year old kid for life, but desire and passion for the game can't be taught. You either have it or you don't. And I'm not saying he doesn't. Only Drummond knows.

Well, now, you are almost saying it. I think it is such a shame that a guy like Drummond is so misguided. Where were the people around him? Compare him to Hawes. Hawes is a decent athlete but it seems obvious to me that Hawes worked his butt off almost out of the womb haveing an ex-NBA playing uncle to encourage him. If Drummond had this same type of family or friends around him OR COACH, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

The shame of it is that a guy who seems to have put in little structured work on his game will still be on one team or another to the point he ends up with close to $100 mil once he retires. All that with no particular effort on his part. Now I am not the most driven person in the world but I doubt if there is anyone who would say I didn't put out some effort. Not as much as many but I coasted on natural ability and understand the mind set. I totally agree that the desire to work hard is not something that can be taught. He will always come up waaaaaay short of his potential. Just the same, he will be able to play but more at the level of a 20th pick than a top 10 much less #1 which is where people thought he would go at the beginning of last year.

Passion for the game cannot be taught.

 

[bajaden]

Well, now, you are almost saying it. I think it is such a shame that a guy like Drummond is so misguided. Where were the people around him? Compare him to Hawes. Hawes is a decent athlete but it seems obvious to me that Hawes worked his butt off almost out of the womb haveing an ex-NBA playing uncle to encourage him. If Drummond had this same type of family or friends around him OR COACH, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

The shame of it is that a guy who seems to have put in little structured work on his game will still be on one team or another to the point he ends up with close to $100 mil once he retires. All that with no particular effort on his part. Now I am not the most driven person in the world but I doubt if there is anyone who would say I didn't put out some effort. Not as much as many but I coasted on natural ability and understand the mind set. I totally agree that the desire to work hard is not something that can be taught. He will always come up waaaaaay short of his potential. Just the same, he will be able to play but more at the level of a 20th pick than a top 10 much less #1 which is where people thought he would go at the beginning of last year.

Passion for the game cannot be taught.

A question I would like answered, and perhaps some of it will come out in team interviews, is how does Drummond see himself playing. Calapari once said that Cousins often invisioned himself as a PG, and asked if he could just play the point for a couple of minutes. Of course Calapari laughed at the suggestion, but said that if Cousins would come back for a second year, he'd promise to play him at point. So as I alluded to earlier, maybe Drummond see's himself playing away from the basket and facing up. If so, he may have felt like a fish out of water, and that affected his desire on the court. I honestly don't know, but a lot of players have transfered from one college to the next because they thought they were being misused.

Moultrie is an example of that. He was originally recruited by Michigan, and left after two years. There's no doubt he was a better player in the program at Miss St. Gordon left UCLA and fled to New Mexico, and had the same results. Going on that assumption with Drummond, sacramento might be the best place for him. He would be at PF and playing in a similar way as JT, but with better ability to be a weakside help defender. Similar to the role Ibaka plays. Although Ibaka does play center at times.

I would guess the worse situation for Drummond would be to be drafted by the Bobcats. They could use a starting center, and if drafted by them, thats where they would play him. Maybe, just maybe, it would be like asking a musclar 6'2" concert Pianist, to grab a hammer and be a carpenter. He just might not have a lot of passion for the job.

 

[Glenn]

A question I would like answered, and perhaps some of it will come out in team interviews, is how does Drummond see himself playing. Calapari once said that Cousins often invisioned himself as a PG, and asked if he could just play the point for a couple of minutes. Of course Calapari laughed at the suggestion, but said that if Cousins would come back for a second year, he'd promise to play him at point. So as I alluded to earlier, maybe Drummond see's himself playing away from the basket and facing up. If so, he may have felt like a fish out of water, and that affected his desire on the court. I honestly don't know, but a lot of players have transfered from one college to the next because they thought they were being misused.

Moultrie is an example of that. He was originally recruited by Michigan, and left after two years. There's no doubt he was a better player in the program at Miss St. Gordon left UCLA and fled to New Mexico, and had the same results. Going on that assumption with Drummond, sacramento might be the best place for him. He would be at PF and playing in a similar way as JT, but with better ability to be a weakside help defender. Similar to the role Ibaka plays. Although Ibaka does play center at times.

I would guess the worse situation for Drummond would be to be drafted by the Bobcats. They could use a starting center, and if drafted by them, thats where they would play him. Maybe, just maybe, it would be like asking a musclar 6'2" concert Pianist, to grab a hammer and be a carpenter. He just might not have a lot of passion for the job.

I have little doubt that Drummond sees himself facing the basket and that's fine. It worked in high school. But how will it work in the NBA? You have to be able to shoot to face up and put a little distance between you and the rim. Drummond can't shoot. If he faces up and gets the ball, his defender will back away and dare him to shoot. If he thinks defenders will come up nose to nose to him so he can put the ball on the floor like Cousins does, he's in for a rude awakening.

 

[Telemachus]

Well, now, you are almost saying it. I think it is such a shame that a guy like Drummond is so misguided. Where were the people around him? Compare him to Hawes. Hawes is a decent athlete but it seems obvious to me that Hawes worked his butt off almost out of the womb haveing an ex-NBA playing uncle to encourage him. If Drummond had this same type of family or friends around him OR COACH, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

While I agree that it helps to have good mentors around you, I don't know how much it helps a player's competitive spirit. In general, it seems to me that some people are just more competive than others (just want it more). I know that when I played sports (or any game) I hated losing with a passion and would do anything I could to win. I couldn't stand having players on my team who didn't feel the same way. I used to play wallyball (volley ball in a racketball court) every week with friends. And there were some of my friends that simply gave up when a game looked like it was lost instead of trying to come back and win. That is the mentality that I fear I see in Drummond. He didn't seem to play hard all the time which to me equates to his desire. And while some have pointed out that he seemed more aggressive in HS, he tended to disappear in his HS games as well. It just didn't matter as much.