Gonzaga’s Drew Timme and his post moves are eerily reminiscent of Duke legend Christian Laettner.
Having watched just about every game of Gonzaga’s impressive run during the 2020-21 season something about them struck me as hauntingly familiar.
Gonzaga’s sophomore center Drew Timme is a throwback to basketball of yesteryear with his trademark mustache and white sweat band across his head. Timme wouldn’t look out of place as a member of Carver High in the TV show The White Shadow which aired from 1978 to 81.
Aside from his throwback look, something else about Timme seemed familiar that I couldn’t quite put my finger on until I watched him back down a defender this week and then spin and duck under the defender and finish with a lovely finger roll lay in.
All of a sudden it hit me where I’d seen that exact move from a player I’d watched closely back in the late 1980’s and early 90’s; it was Christian Laettner.
The post moves, the swagger and unflappable confidence by Timme are an exact replica of the former Duke Blue Devils superstar Laettner.
Laettner led to Duke to back to back national championships in 1991 and 92 as well as being named an All-American in both of those seasons. Laettner is 6-foot-11 and weighed 235 pounds and averaged 16.6 points per game along with 7.8 rebounds over his four year career at Duke. He shot a career 57.4 percent from the field along with 48.5 percent from three-point range.
Timme stands 6-foot-10 and weighs 235 pounds and is averaging 13 points per game along with 5.9 rebounds during his first two seasons for Gonzaga (18.8 PPG this year).
Timme plays with a similar arrogance as Laettner which is evident by his signature move after every big play where he wipes his mustache with both of his index fingers and then raises them to the sky.
The major difference between Timme and Laettner is that Timme almost certainly won’t stick around at Gonzaga to play all four years like Laettner did which allowed him an opportunity to develop into a superstar at the college level and create a legacy that has him included in the conversation as the greatest NCAA player of all-time.
Timme tested the NBA draft waters at the end of last season and with his performance this year he is expected to be selected in the 2021 NBA draft if he declares.
Everything old is new again and we’re seeing that play out in front of us with the emergence of Timme for Gonzaga during the 2020-21 season.
Somebody once said to never trust a man who doesn’t have a mustache.
Gonzaga head coach Mark Few certainly has trust in his big man Timme who has been the insurance policy for the Zags in every game when the rest of the team is struggling because it almost seems like Timme never does.
Memo to Gonzaga’s opponents in the NCAA tournament, make sure to double-team Timme if the Zags are trailing by one point with 2.1 seconds left in overtime.
