The Sixers have added their first new free agent in veteran center Andre Drummond. Can he replace Dwight Howard for the team next season?
Former Lakers center Andre Drummond has agreed to a one-year minimum contract with the Philadelphia 76ers after bouncing around from the Pistons to the Cavaliers and, most recently, the Los Angeles Lakers, where he averaged 11.9 points and 10.2 rebounds per game.
In Drummond, the Sixers get a rebound devouring big man who was an all-star as recently as 2016 and now comes in as a solid role player who has started 594 total games since being drafted 9th overall in 2012.
Drummond has had his fair share of criticism the past few years, falling out of favor in Detroit as they tried to become younger, then once again falling out of favor in Cleveland after being traded for basically nothing. He then signed with the Los Angeles Lakers and provided starting center minutes for them throughout the regular season. In the playoffs, Drummond was limited but not ineffective as he shot nearly 60% from the field. He averaged 9 points and 11 rebounds in that time.
The Sixers signed the two-time all-star in an attempt to find someone to play the backup center minutes behind MVP finalist Joel Embiid. Drummond should bring some help in the Embiidless minutes as well, somewhere the Sixers have notoriously struggled since Nerlens Noel was traded to the Dallas Mavericks.
Drummond is often criticized for getting empty-calorie rebounds and blocks, sacrificing team success for personal counting stats. Embiid himself has criticized Andre Drummond at times, but that seems to have changed as Drummond has fallen from being the centerpiece in Detroit to a player on his fourth team in as many years while Embiid has blossomed for the Sixers, only getting better every year.
Hopefully, “Kareem Abdul Drummond” can turn this disrespect into a high work ethic and a desire to prove himself. No matter the amount of trash talk that Drummond and Embiid had, they’re both teammates now and hopefully will push each other to have a positive season that ends in a championship parade in the streets of Philadelphia.
