3 ways reported trade acquisition of Andre Drummond helps Cavs

The Cleveland Cavaliers reportedly traded John Henson, Brandon Knight and a future second-round pick to the Detroit Pistons in exchange for Andre Drummond. Here’s a few ways Drummond helps the Cavs.

The Cleveland Cavaliers it seemed were headed for a pretty darn underwhelming NBA trade deadline.

There was a bunch of rumors swirling involving where expiring big man Tristan Thompson would ultimately end up, and it was reported by Yahoo! Sports’ Chris Haynes close to Thursday’s 3 p.m. deadline that the Houston Rockets, who were a logical trade suitor for TT, were no longer in that running, and Haynes also noted had he not get traded by Cleveland, Thompson would not be bought out.

Granted, the deadline has passed, and Thompson was not moved, and given that Thompson’s camp wanted him to be moved by the deadline, according to a report earlier this week from The Athletic‘s Joe Vardon (subscription required), I’m still very uncertain how things might play out from a team dynamic sense with Thompson still here.

That being said, it seems as though Thompson, who is represented by Rich Paul’s Klutch Sports Group, is working to be bought out now, according to NBA reporter Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson, who noted that the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat are among those with interest.

https://twitter.com/ScoopB/status/1225510508578693123

Now, The Athletic‘s David Aldridge reported that Thompson will play for the Cavs the rest of 2019-20 and then hit free agency this summer, though.

Okay, so anyway, the reason we’re hitting on Thompson here is that the Cleveland Cavaliers reportedly traded John Henson and Brandon Knight to the Detroit Pistons, per The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor, who are both on expiring contracts, along with a future second-round pick, in exchange for Detroit’s Andre Drummond, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Wojnarowski also reported that the second-rounder is the lesser of the two between the Golden State Warriors and Cavs in 2023, and Woj then reported that Detroit waived guard Tim Frazier in seemingly a corresponding move.

O’Connor also hit on how Detroit didn’t want to have a chance that Drummond would opt into his $28.7 million player option for 2020-21 and the Cavs can wait-and-see about the fit, if you will.

This is a steal for Cavs general manager Koby Altman and the front office, and was seemingly a gift by the Pistons.

To me, though, at least at this point, I would be very hesitant in terms of the Cavaliers signing Drummond to a big free agent deal if Drummond opts out of his player option, and for reference, ESPN’s Bobby Marks said that if Drummond opts in, or he signs a contract right around $30 million per year, I’d assume for five years, given Cleveland would have his Bird rights, the Cavs will be “right at the cap.”

Nonetheless, though I didn’t want the Cavs to pursue a trade for Drummond previously, that was factoring in that Detroit would feasibly be looking for a return of Thompson and Sexton, and perhaps two future second-rounders. This deal was a heck of a job by Altman and company.

This by Altman is a smart move, and for reference, the deal was made official by the league late Thursday, per Altman, and as shown by a Cavaliers team press release.

Okay, so I’ll get into a few ways Drummond can help the Cavaliers.

#1: Drummond provides rim protection/more activity in passing lanes

Everybody and their brother knows that the Cleveland Cavaliers have not had legitimate rim protection for a few years now.

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The Cavs again are currently last in the league in blocks per game, per NBA.com, at least before Drummond’s trade acquisition, but Drummond clearly helps that considerably.

According to Basketball Reference, Drummond is sixth in the league in total blocks, and his 6-foot-10, 279-pound frame does good work in terms of altering many others throughout games.

For a Cavs squad that gives up so much opposing penetration, leading to way too many easy looks, having Drummond in there to help out Cleveland’s young backcourt of Collin Sexton and Darius Garland, along with Kevin Love, should be a big help near the basket.

Hopefully, by the end of the season, the Cavaliers are not still conceding the most paint points per game in the league with the impact Drummond can provide near the restricted area and/or with his length affecting entry passes to cutters as well. After all, the former Piston is fourth in the NBA this season in deflections per game, according to NBA.com’s player tracking data.

Though I will always be a big fan of the way Thompson competed so hard for the Cavs on the defensive end and of course on the glass, and I believe switches out in pick-and-rolls defensively against ball-handlers better than Drummond, Drummond is a much bigger body near the basket/paint for good stretches that the Cavaliers have desperately needed to help out their young pieces, also factoring in Cedi Osman and Kevin Porter Jr.

I would imagine head coach John Beilein and associate head coach J.B. Bickerstaff will be big fans of that, and Drummond’s presence both in terms of shot altering and in the passing lanes should give Cavs such as Sexton, Garland and Osman more transition opportunities. Of course, we still do not know if TT is, in fact, going to be with the Cavs or not the rest of the season as seemingly a rotational 5 playing alongside Larry Nance Jr., which he is now.

If that’s the case, and Thompson is still engaged, that could be a rock solid big-to-big bench combo, too, but again, I’m really far from certain if Thompson, after the Drummond acquisition, will really be bought-in for that sort of role in Cleveland.

Alright so on to the second way this Drummond addition helps Cleveland.

#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.

#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.