He may still be shooting way below the league average, but Detroit Pistons center Andre Drummond is averaging a career-best percentage this season with his free-throws. From 35.5 percent last campaign, the 23-year-old Connecticut product has improved by converting at 44.7 percent this year from the charity stripe.
Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy recently expressed his thoughts on the higher success rate his All-Star center is seeing and his belief that Drummond needs more credit.
“I think the thing that people aren’t giving him enough credit for is he’s made significant improvement from last year. The guy’s up 10 percent. That’s a huge improvement.
“It’s not nowhere near where you want it. You certainly don’t want it below 50, but I think … expecting him to go from 35 last year to 60 right away is probably an unrealistic expectation.”
News surfaced recently that underhand free-throw expert and NBA legend Rick Barry actually offered to help Drummond switch to the “granny style.” Drummond was apparently not receptive to it and did not want to change his form.
Van Gundy admitted that the team has exhausted all possible ways to help the 6-foot-11 big man improve, including virtual reality, but will stick to the way he wants and will not force him to try something he's not willing to do.
The percentage may still be low, but it can still be considered a huge success for the coaching staff as Drummond has showed great development from the line. All the hard work they have been putting in during practices is starting to pay off.
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