For the Pistons, moving on from Andre Drummond was a must
Last week’s NBA trade deadline came and went with mostly underwhelming deals. They were all pieces to help to fill in small holes in teams contending for a championship. And then there was the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavs are in last place in the Eastern Conference, yet they traded for Andre Drummond from the Detroit Pistons. Drummond can opt-out of his contract at the end of the season. So why in the world would the Cavaliers trade for Drummond? Could it be because they’re hoping to sell them on their “culture” and hope he opts into his contract? Possibly.
There seems to be some huge debate on Twitter and Instagram that the Pistons got “fleeced” in this deal. They got a 2nd round draft pick and the expiring contracts of Brandon Knight and John Henson. That was seemingly the best a team was willing to give for a player like Drummond.
For the Pistons, it was an obvious move to trade Drummond. People hear Andre Drummond’s name and think it means that he’s a game-changer because of numbers they see from time to time. Andre puts up a lot of inflated numbers. A lot of his 20–20 games seem impressive when posted in a tweet or stat line, but he very rarely put up an effort. Most Pistons fans have seen that from Andre year after year, always hoping he’d put in that effort to take his game to the next level. He chose when he wanted to be great. When he decided to give it his all, he was really something. When he didn’t, he just slowed the game down for the rest of the team.
Even Pistons legend Chauncey Billups called out Andre’s effort in round 1 of the NBA Playoffs last year while Chauncey was doing commentary for the game. He called Andre’s play “lazy.” The Pistons went on to get swept by the Milwaukee Bucks during those playoffs.
Detroit decided that they were going to rebuild (somewhat hesitantly), and their future wouldn’t be with Andre Drummond. They risked either losing Drummond for nothing if he opted out of his deal, or they risked having to pay him if he opted into his contract. Which would be nearly $29 million.
Andre’s response to being traded below seemed to be a bit immature, something executives across the league have probably noticed on his Twitter over the years, thus making his value lower.
Drummond had to have known it was possible. Trade rumors were circulating almost the entire season. Why did he feel suddenly blindsided when his name was on the trading block for months now? It’s possible Drummond was upset if he found out via Twitter rather than from the owner or front office. Unfortunately, that seems to happen in sports a lot nowadays.
In the ’90s, Andre Drummond would’ve been one of the best players in the league. The NBA was built for guys like him and Shaquille O’Neal. They would just stand under the basket and dominate. Nowadays, the future of the center position is with guys like Joel Embiid and Karl-Anthony Towns. Guys who can space the floor out and shoot the occasional three. Andre Drummond cannot do those things and always struggled defending guys like that due to their vastly different styles of play.
Andre is still young; he’ll be 27 in August. There is still time for him to develop aspects of his game. The problem will be if he wants to give it all every night. Many believed that Blake Griffin would’ve been a good influence on him because Blake put it all on the line every night, but it never ended up changing Andre’s mentality. Perhaps getting traded and having a new environment will bring about that change for Drummond.
It will be interesting to see if Drummond does opt-out of his contract at the end of the season and if he does, what kind of money he will get.
The Pistons move on with a pretty awful team with Blake Griffin being out indefinitely. The only good news is that they will more than likely have a lottery pick in this year’s draft. Next year, if Blake Griffin and Derrick Rose both play well, maybe they can be moved for first-round picks and it can speed up the process of rebuilding quicker. Either that or Blake can be a mentor to the next generation of players.
Fans are growing impatient to have winning basketball in Detroit again. The Pistons haven’t won a playoff game since the 2007–2008 team when they still had Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, and Rasheed Wallace.
Some fans might not like it because Andre Drummond was one of the few draft picks that panned out, but it’s best for all parties in the end. Drummond can spew about “loyalty” on his Twitter account all he wants, but at the end of the day, it’s a business. And what’s good for business is winning, and Andre wasn’t doing that in Detroit.
