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ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 2 21 f experienced, infrastructure in place around its center- piece. If that proves to be the case, the burden then is square- ly on Hammons to put it all together, something he has not yet done, however productive he has been. Understand this: Hammons has been very good for Purdue the past two seasons, by most objective measures aside from wins and losses, fair or not. He was named to the Big Ten's All-Freshman team in 2013 and its All-Defensive and honorable-mention All- Big Ten teams a year later, honors that might have been super-sized had his team won more games. Hammons was the Big Ten's second-leading rebound- er behind an NBA lottery pick, Noah Vonleh, last season, as well as the conference's leading shot-blocker by a mile. For his Purdue career, he's averaged double figures in scoring. Ask every big man in college basketball if they'd trade résumés with Hammons through Years 1 and 2 and all but the elite few would take him up on it. Hammons has been good. What he has not yet become is great. And that's the story with Hammons, sometimes to his chagrin: Not what he has been but what he hasn't; not what he is but what he can be. "People try to hold me to an expectation level of my po- tential, what I could be, and I think that kind of hurts me," Hammons said of perception. "I feel like I am (looked at) like, 'I have to be this,' and if I'm not, I'm falling short of something. I want to be the player I want to be or the player somebody needs me to be, but I'm not going to be what some other people might want me to be. I'm not going to be LeBron. I'm going to be A.J. "I'm not saying I can't be LeBron," Hammons said, laughing. "If I work hard enough, maybe, but I'm not go- ing to be doing those twist dunks and all. I'm going to do what I'm capable of, but hopefully to a higher degree." If the standard is high, Hammons has no one to blame but himself. Granted, he didn't choose to be 7-feet tall, with length, nimble feet, soft hands and better athleticism than most would expect from a player his size. But he has put those tools to use and shown glimpses of brilliance. Now, he's like everyone else: He wants more. "I think he's ready to put the team on his back," long- time teammate, whether it be AAU or at Purdue, Rapheal Davis said. "I've been playing with him since we were freshmen (in high school) and this is the best shape he's ever been in. I've never seen him run like this, I've never seen him play like this. I think he's starting to realize how good he can be." Purdue wants more from Hammons, too. Strike that: It needs more, badly. "More" can come in the form of production. "There's no reason he can't average 15 and 10 (re- bounds)," Painter said. "No reason. … He's as talented a player as I've seen around since Glenn Robinson." Brantley, the coach on Purdue's staff who works clos- est with Hammons on a day-to-day basis, takes it a step further. "Twenty and 10," Brantley said when asked what Ham- mons is capable of. "If you can get 20 and 10, man, that's special company, especially if you can do it in the Big Ten. I think he's more than capable of doing that." Purdue needs more. But "more" can also come in the form of stability. Hammons has long pointed to his goal for this season, aside from winning, to be consistent for more flashes and fewer swoons. Consistency is a daily thing, not just a game-night Tom Campbell Hammons changed his body in the offseason, getting into the best shape of his career.