Andre Drummond’s NBA Africa Game 2017 Recap

Detroit Pistons center Andre Drummond joined Team World at the 2017 NBA Africa Game. Let’s look at his first NBA competition since he called himself out.

In the press leading up to the 2017 NBA Africa Game, Detroit Pistons center Andre Drummond spoke up about his play last season. He called out his own play, saying that this season he needed to be much better.

And this game was the first opportunity for Drummond to show it.

The two teams participating in this event were Team World, led by co-captains Dirk Nowitzki and Kemba Walker, and Team Africa, led by Luol Deng and Thabo Sefolosha. This was the second iteration, with the first taking place in 2015. Team World arguably had more talent, and ended up winning this matchup 108-97. Still, both teams were filled with NBA talent, so it should give a good evaluation of where Drummond is right now.

First things first. Drummond’s first basket was a three pointer. It reminded me that this was just an exhibition game, but he still sank it. He then decided to heat check himself, taking three more throughout the game, but missing them all. For the Pistons sake, I hope he got all the long range shooting out of his system, as I don’t think many would be happy with him attempting, and failing, at being splash brother-esque.

As for Drummond’s actual top trait, rebounding, he did well. He didn’t have to fight for them as he would in an NBA game, but he still managed to pull down 13.

Offensively, after the three point barrage, Drummond played decently, ending with 14 points. His post maneuvers didn’t seem to be as fluid as I would have liked, but it was basically a scrimmage. And his free throws were exactly how you’d expect. He did seem to be running the floor a lot more than last season which led to one of the main highlights of the game.

That running of the floor might have been the best thing I could have seen from Drummond in this game. Too many times last season Drummond would be slow to get back. He would constantly put his head down in discouragement and sulk back on defense. Nothing made me more mad than seeing him giving up on a play. But late in this game, he turned the ball over, only to quickly hustle back on defense.

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Mistakes are going to happen, but that hustle after to make up for one is going to be key. Stan Van Gundy has a knack for throwing guys into his doghouse, and Drummond seemed to be close to it. But keeping that motor running at full speed throughout the game should do nothing but good for the Pistons this year.