Andre Drummond is pretty sweet. How did we get him again?

 

I was reading an article about young NBA players getting ready to exit their initial rookie deals, and the name Thomas Robinson came up. So did Austin Rivers. That got me thinking, the 2012 NBA draft REALLY worked out well for the Pistons. Let's take a look.

Going into the draft, it was generally accepted that Detroit needed an athletic big who could protect the rim. The Pistons were picking 9th, right in their usual range. In 2010 the got Greg Monroe with the 7th overall pick, in 2011 they picked Brandon Knight with the 8th pick, then in 2013 they drafted Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 8th, and this summer they landed in the 9th spot again, costing Detroit the pick. Anthony Davis was the presumptive #1 in this draft, and the player who ticked off everything on the Pistons' wishlist. He blocked a crazy amount of shots, had a decent offensive game, and led Kentucky to an NCAA Championship. Detroit failed to win the lottery, so he was out.

General concensus was that the Pistons were either taking John Henson, a poor man's Anthony Davis with less upside, or Meyers Leonard, an athletic 7-footer who was more offense and less defense. We already had a less athletic, more skilled version of Leonard in Greg Monroe, so I was busy talking myself into John Henson when word broke that the Pistons might end up with Andre Drummond. Drummond had been projected to go as high as #2 overall, but questions about his motor and under-performing expectations in his freshman season led to a drop in his draft stock. Still, a number of dominoes would have to fall for him to still be available for the Pistons at 9th. Here's how it happened:

1. New Orleans takes Anthony Davis. No shocker there. Davis had a pretty good rookie season (out-shone by the revelation of Damian Lilliard, who we'll get to in a moment) and followed that up with a stellar sophomore season. Then this summer he was one of the USA's best players in the FIBA World Cup of Basketball. I'd say he's working out.
2. Charlotte takes Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. This was domino #1. Kansas PF Thomas Robinson was projected to go 2nd by a lot of people. The Bobcats needed a big, but they also needed a wing player. They decided to draft Scottie Pippen without a jump shot. This hasn't improved, as MKG is an absolute offensive disaster when he strays further than 3 ft away from the hoop.
3. Washington takes Bradley Beal. The Wizards had acquired Nene in a trade with Denver the previous season and paired him with Emeka Okafor, who they had picked up in a trade 8 days before the draft. They weren't looking to add another big. Beal was a good prospect, and followed an injury-riddled rookie season with a solid 2nd year.
4. Cleveland takes Dion Waiters. This was the first "reach". Cleveland had needs at the wing spot as well as at center, and Waiters was merely an average-shooting shooting guard. Harrison Barnes was on the board, who I liked, as were Thomas Robinson and of course Drummond. Waiters has turned from an average shooting college player to an average shooting pro. He hasn't lit it up like you might hope a #4 overall pick would, but he's been ok. He's kind of been a pain in the ass though.
5. Sacramento takes Thomas Robinson. The word was if Robinson was gone, Sacramento was taking Drummond. Charlotte and Cleveland both passed on Robinson for wing players, so the door was open for Sacramento. Robinson is really the first "bust" in this draft, getting traded twice and averaging less than 5 ppg and less than 5 rpg over his first 2 seasons.
6. Portland takes Damian Lillard. A risky pick at the time, but one with a high upside. Lillard had absolutely lit it up his senior year at Weber State and was considered the top PG in the draft. On the other hand, there were concerns about his level of competition and that he might be more of a combo guard. The verdict? Portland got a steal. Lillard won the ROY, and then re-upped by improving in his 2nd year and did pretty well in the playoffs.
7. Golden State takes Harrison Barnes. Barnes was the guy I wanted if Drummond wasn't available. A brand new SF wasn't high on Joe D's wish list because hey, we still got Tayshaun. I was of a different opinion. Barnes was one of these guys who was supposed to be a stud, only it never happened. He was a good college player, but never the great player he was supposed to be. That's kind of been the case in the NBA as well. He plays good defense, but his offense is kind of... meh.
8. Toronto takes Terrence Ross. They had taken centers Ed Davis and Jonas Valanciunas in successive drafts, so the Raptors definitely weren't going big here. Still, Terrence Ross was a BIG reach. Ross was another average-shooting shooting guard, and his collegiate level of competition was much lower than Waiters'. He's turned into a 3-pt gunner, averaging 10 ppg by mainly spotting up in the corner.
9. Detroit takes Andre Drummond.
   This was as excited as I've been about a Piston draft pick since... ok, it's been a while. Very few times have I felt like Dumars made the right pick. Tayshaun, Monroe, and Drummond. The kid's rookie season was extremely frustrating, because coach Lawrence Frank insisted on starting Jason Maxiell over Drummond for most of the season, and he limited Drummond's minutes to less than 20 per game during the first half of the season. He led a suprisingly strong Pistons' bench unit during his rookie year and finished strong, looking good for year 2. Drummond delivered. He averaged a 13 & 13 with some blocks & steals, and in April unleashed this:
   That's right, a 26 & 26 game he dropped on Chicago paired with 3 steals, a 23 & 18 game on Brooklyn, a 22 & 13 game on OKC, a 19 & 20 game on Boston and a 19 & 17 game on Atlanta. That is a crazy stretch of basketball. If the Pistons had been at all relevant at the time, this would have gotten more ink.
   
   Notable Duds: Thomas Robinson, obviously, as already explained. The guy taken with the pick after Drummond was Austin Rivers, who had maybe the worst rookie season in history. The strangest case, however, was Houston's #16 pick Royce White. Due to some anxiety/OCD issues, White had some weird contract stipulations and never played his rookie year. He got traded, then released. The next year he logged a TOTAL of 9 minutes over 3 games with Sacramento, generating zero significant stats and then was released again.

Out of the 2012 draft, Davis, Drummond and Lillard all seemed posed to become super stars. Beal and Waiters might make it as lesser stars as well, and there have been a couple others from that draft that look like players (Terrence Jones, Jared Sullinger, Mo Harkless, etc). This was a deep draft.

 

After whiffing with Brandon Knight the year before (when Kemba Walker, Kawhi Leonard, and the Manimal were all available), Austin Daye in 2009 (Ty Lawson), and virtually every other 1st rounder that came after Tayshaun Prince (going by Win Shares, only two 1st-rounders from the 2002 draft had better careers than Tay), getting Drummond was awesome. It was the perfect combination of being lucky, being right, and having a lot of other people be wrong. In a really deep draft, Detroit got the 2nd best player. The amazing thing is, as good as he's been, he's getting better.