Pistons determined to bring Andre Drummond along at his own pace

While pretty much anyone with the Detroit Pistons will surely admit that center Andre Drummond is part of the future, the team is determined to bring him along at his own pace, as Keith Langlois of NBA.com writes. The rookie has impressed at times early in his brief career, but Pistons coach Lawrence Frank says that patience will be important:

We're just not going to throw him to the wolves. This is going to be a process and it has nothing to do with the fact that we don't think it can work. But there's a buildup to this, because one of the things you'd hate to do is throw it all out there and then have to go all the way back.

Drummond had the first big game of his career on Friday against the Oklahoma City Thunder, scoring 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting in addition to grabbing eight rebounds in just 20 minutes. That game highlighted why so many people in the game are excited about the 7-footer.

And while the UConn product hasn't been nearly as impressive in every game, Frank says that, "Not every game is going to be a masterpiece for him - and it's shouldn't be. He's 19."

For a 19-year-old, Drummond is already showing the skills to be an effective big man at the sport's highest level of competition. While he's averaging just 16 minutes per game at this point, he's been pretty efficient, averaging 6.9 points per game on 72 percent shooting, 5.0 rebounds per game and 1.0 blocks per game.