3 ways reported trade acquisition of Andre Drummond helps Cavs

#2: Drummond is an elite lob threat/roller and rebounder

Again, I’ll preface this by saying that Thompson is one of the game’s best screeners, and that’s helped Garland, Sexton, Osman, and others, such as Matthew Dellavedova to some degree, get separation in pick-and-roll scenarios.

However, Thompson at 6-foot-9, 254 pounds again does not nearly have the frame Drummond does, and Drummond should be able to carve out so much space for Cleveland’s young guards in Sexton and Garland, along with Porter, and though TT had good timing with it, Drummond’s power should give Garland a monstrous lob threat to toss it up to often.

Garland’s timing with that with both TT and Nance has been impressive already, but with Drummond in there, it should enable Garland to have those even more.

Along with that, just like Thompson, Drummond is a good handoff man, and Andre is a much-improved passer to hit cutters, too, which should bode well in Beilein’s offense, which benefits big men who can be functional secondary playmakers, as is the case with Nance.

Okay so on to Drummond’s rebounding.

I’m again, not certain at this point if TT is going to be around much longer, or if he eventually does get bought out. Thompson is undoubtedly one of the game’s best offensive rebounders, but Drummond, overall, is the game’s best rebounder; that’s currently the case, as he leads the Association with 15.8 boards per contest.

Factoring in the last three seasons including this current one, Drummond has the league in rebounding, and that’s been the case in terms of offensive rebounding as well. Drummond’s presence inside on both ends of the glass, and on the offensive end in particular, whether Thompson is still in the rotation the rest of the season or not, should make the Cavs’ offensive rebounding efforts even better.

The Cavaliers are second in offensive rebounding rate at this point, per NBA.com, and with Drummond drawing probably even more bodies to box out inside from opponents as Thompson does, Cleveland should be arguably more dangerous in terms of relocation after offensive rebounds as cutters/shooters.

So on to the third way Drummond’s reported trade addition helps, at least at first glance.