Andre Drummond has played his final game as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers as the team is working to find a trade suitor for him. The team plans to involve Jarrett Allen as the team’s long-term center option, who they acquired in the four-team NBA blockbuster trade for James Harden.
According to Raptors beat writer Doug Smith, an NBA advanced scout told him some brutally honest feedback about Andre Drummond’s impact on the game of basketball.
“He can get you 30-20 and have no impact on the game”
There is legitimate basis for the criticism the NBA scout has for the contributions that Andre Drummond provides when he’s on the court.
Despite being an interior oriented big man, Andre Drummond is a genuinely inefficient scorer. His output of 0.844 points per possessions (PPP) ranks dead-last among the 31 players that have at least 500 scoring possessions far this season. Being near the bottom of such lists has become a habit of Drummond.
Much of Drummond’s lack of offensive impact has to do with the fact that he isn’t a reliable post-up threat but insists on getting the ball often for those sequences. He’s not even all that impactful when attempting putbacks and as a relief option cutter from the dunker’s spot.
On the defensive end, Drummond doesn’t do the little things to make a unit successful. He’s often too busy gunning for rebounds and steals as opposed to favoring proper positioning. While there’s no denying his rebounding impact, grabbing a ton of uncontested boards is an empty individual stat when you’re not protecting the rim, locking down in pick-and-roll situations, and getting the job handling switches.
The theory of Andre Drummond is far greater than the actuality of his impact. He has yet to embrace being a supercharged dirty work big man that thrives at finishing plays near the basket and works to make a major defensive impact.
Jarrett Allen does everything that was just described as Andre Drummond’s shortcomings, which is why the Cleveland Cavaliers are opting to build around him as their long-term answer at the center position.
