3 ways reported trade acquisition of Andre Drummond helps Cavs

#3: Drummond’s presence inside helps Cleveland’s perimeter shooters

Drummond is again, quite a presence on the interior, and that includes him having a much better low post game than was previously the case, as Fox Sports Ohio/Cavs play-by-play announcer and Cavs legend, Austin Carr, has often alluded to in the team’s matchups this season.

Drummond has put up 17.8 points per game this season, which is currently on track to be a career-high for the two-time All-Star, according to Basketball Reference, and the 26-year-old has much more touch on hooks and push shots than he had a few years ago.

The key here to me, though, is that Drummond’s presence on the interior, even with him historically being a poor foul shooter (albeit he’s improved there some), is that he should open up more room for Cleveland’s perimeter shooters such as Osman, Sexton, Garland, Porter and Kevin Love.

Drummond’s presence inside was a key reason why the Pistons were fourth in the NBA in three-point shooting percentage at a 37.1 hit rate going into the deadline, per NBA.com.

I’d expect opponents to double down and/or at least come to stunt more with Drummond in there as a legitimate low-post threat, and though Drummond does have 3.6 turnovers per game, as opposed to 2.8 assists, he did not have a big man shooter the likes of Love much. Blake Griffin got much better in that area, but he’s reportedly likely to miss the rest of this season due to knee surgery, and Griffin is definitely not the floor spacer Love is.

Now pieces such as Reggie Jackson, Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, Langston Galloway and Luke Kennard (who is currently sidelined) provided good spacing for Drummond, but the inside-out big man duo of Drummond and Love could be very difficult to defend now.

Love, who is at least at this point going to stick with the Cavs through the rest of this season now, may feasibly still be moved after the year by the Cavs, given he reportedly preferred to be traded leading into the deadline, per Cleveland.com’s Fedor, but who knows?

Maybe the Love-Drummond duo kills it with K-Love hitting 38.2 percent of his three-point field goals to this point this season, and perhaps Drummond opts into his option this summer in a weak free agent class, and Cleveland keeps seeing how things go from there with the Cavs/Thompson seemingly doing a sign-and-trade this summer, which Fear The Sword’s Justin Rowan suggested?

Anyhow, this was a good deal by Altman and the front office considering the lack of risk/lack of key pieces at all given up, which was not what I would’ve anticipated in a potential Cavs deal for Drummond.

I’d still think the Cavaliers will get a high pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, where they’ll almost certainly still have a first-round selection (which must be in the top 10), with the team currently at 13-39, and perhaps if Cleveland does trade Love or Drummond opts out and does not come back, the Cavaliers can still target a player high in draft.

Dayton’s Obi Toppin and USC’s Onyeka Okongwu come to mind, or James Wiseman, who reportedly withdrew from Memphis but is preparing for the draft, as our own Corey Casey hit on.

Again, though, this was nice work for Koby, and maybe the Cavs will be more competitive on the defensive interior the rest of the year. Hopefully no further issues arise with Thompson, though.