I love the kid's potential, and he's got Dwight / Bynum qualities in him somewhere. I also remember reading that he's mostly got his head on straight and is willing to work, similar qualities we heard about Kyrie and Tristan, both of which proved completely true.
His raw offense is a little nerve wracking, but as far as being NBA ready, his defense seems off the charts as well as his offensive rebounding and that will help him make an immediate impact while he learns to improve offensively. A Drummond / Thompson front court could potentially be one of the best in the NBA defensively. Like, 2008 Celtics good eventually.
Also, I saw this on Draft Express which gave me a lot of hope:
One part of his game which may have more potential than we've seen thus far is as a pick and roll finisher. The pick and roll is not a major part of UConn's offense, and when their guards do run it, they rarely do so looking to pass. With the superior spacing NBA guards enjoy due to the deeper 3-point line, this is a much bigger part of most teams' offense, and Drummond seemingly possesses ideal tools to benefit from that.
Wonder if we have a point guard on this team who runs a pretty good pick n roll?
Just watching what Kyrie did with that turd Hollins makes me thing Kyrie could average 10 assists a game off lobs to Drummond :chuckles:
Problem is, so much of this is potential and not actual proven production yet, so it'd be really risky. If we go for him, I'd hope it would involve something more like keeping our current highest lotto pick, and then moving maybe the Lakers & Hornets pick, plus a player or two like Andy, to get him. He'd make me nervous as our only lotto pick.