Remember those salad days of last summer for UConn basketball? The engraving on the National Championship trophy was still fresh. Calhoun-Bot 3000’s circuit-breaker was getting its offseason jolt. And super stud frosh big man Andre Drummond was giving Husky fans reason to think back-to-back.
Fast forward to today. Connecticut is facing a lost season on NCAA probation. UConn is coming off a losing season (8-10) in the Big East and hoping for a reason to jump off the sinking conference’s ship. And Drummond is widely regarded as the biggest potential bust in the NBA Draft.
It’s always entertaining to revel in Hasheem Thabeet 2.0. The hit list is so long and all-ecompassing you can almost hear the footsteps of NBA GMs running in the opposite direction. So here’s some fantastic reasons college hoops experts are leery on Drummond.
Jeff Eisenberg, Yahoo! Sports college hoops roundtable
- He has the unpolished offensive repertoire and suspect motor of Kwame Brown.
- Hailed as the recruit who could make UConn a contender for back-to-back championships, Drummond instead struggled to make a consistent impact during his lone erratic season with the Huskies.
- He lacks a back-to-the-basket game.
- He disappears for stretches of the game.
- He doesn’t work hard enough to consistently get good position against players he should dominate physically.
- He’s light years away from developing into a scoring threat.
- To me, he’s a few years away from becoming DeAndre Jordan – and that’s not what I’d want from a top-five pick.
Mark Huguenin, Yahoo! Sports
- Nothing I saw from him in his one season at UConn leads me to believe he can be anything but a guy at the end of an NBA bench.
- His offense is not near NBA-ready.
- I’m not sure he’ll work hard enough to change that.
- I’d bet 15 or so guys taken after him in the first round will have far more productive NBA careers.
Doug Gottlieb, ESPN
- Drummond does not have any one thing that he actually does well on a basketball floor.
- He is not a great rebounder.
- His shot-blocking is erratic.
- His timing is not natural.
- While the athleticism is obvious, it hasn’t yet translated into his having an elite skill on the floor.
A Kwame Brown comparison! AD’s critics all bring the caveat. Based on potential alone, he could be a dominant big man, but… So at least Drummond’s got that going for him.
Posted: D.A.
