Cavs: How Andre Drummond’s skill set impacts Kevin Love

While many thought the Cleveland Cavaliers would be sellers at the NBA trade deadline, they surprised everyone when they reportedly acquired two-time All-Star Andre Drummond, who should pair really well with Kevin Love in the starting frontcourt.

This Cleveland Cavaliers‘ trade deadline acquisition of Andre Drummond in a deal with the Detroit Pistons, in exchange for John Henson, Brandon Knight and a future second-round pick, of which you can view the full reported details here, was the only move Cleveland made on Thursday. Cleveland held onto expiring big man Tristan Thompson, despite reports the Cavaliers were trying hard to move him.

A buyout is not in Thompson’s future, according to NBA reporter Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson, and TT will surely be losing his starting spot to Drummond as a result of Drummond’s acquisition.

Moreover, in today’s game, it is all about floor spacing and shooting, and Drummond and Thompson are two players who do most of their scoring in or around the paint, and with Love’s shooting ability, him and Drummond make for an excellent pairing in the frontcourt. Drummond can now match up with the opposing team’s best big man, and have a better chance at slowing them down.

Love has never been known for his strong defense down low, so getting Drummond now will allow Love to have a matchup that could be better suited for him.

Drummond’s presence will also help Love on the offensive side of the ball. Kevin does excellent work on the block and in the paint, and with Drummond able to catch lobs and crash the offensive glass, teams will pay the price if they double team Love down low.

Love, like Drummond, is a terrific rebounder, as Love’s 12th in the NBA at 9.8 rebounds per game, as indicated by NBA.com, but with Thompson out as of late due to reported right quad soreness, Love had been the only starter who could consistently crash the glass. But with Drummond, who is averaging 15.8 boards per game and is currently on track to lead the league in rebounding for the third year in a row (per NBA.com), now down low for Cleveland, Love will no longer have to battle three and four players for a rebound.

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With two prolific rebounders now manning the middle, this should sure up Cleveland’s lack of preventing offensive rebounds in crucial spots.

In their previous two losses to the New York Knicks and Oklahoma City Thunder, the Cavaliers had a chance to win the game late but were done in by giving up offensive rebounds. With Drummond now drawing attention once a shot goes up, Love may get more rebounds, which could lead to more long outlet passes to pieces such as Collin Sexton and Cedi Osman, and easy baskets.

Drummond is also a very willing and able passer down low. This season he is averaging 2.8 assists per game, and two seasons ago, he averaged a career-best 3.0 assists per game, as noted by Basketball Reference.

Granted, Drummond has averaged also a career-high with 3.6 turnovers per outing this year, but a big man shooter of Love’s caliber, meshed with Love’s mid-post scoring, should make things easy for Drummond, who has shown much improved passing vision.

How this will affect Love is that if Drummond were to draw multiple defenders in the paint, he could kick the ball out to Love, who is excellent at getting open beyond the arc. So far this season, Love is connecting on 38.2 percent of his shots from beyond the arc.

Overall, it is very rare for a team in Cleveland’s position to have a paint presence of Drummond and Love. They seemingly will complement each other nicely as Love’s game is not confined to the paint and can give Drummond room to operate down low.

While the Cavaliers are all but headed again for a top-five pick again this season later on in the 2020 NBA Draft, there is no denying the impact Drummond could have on this team should he be here beyond next season. For reference, according to Sports Illustrated‘s Sam Amico, it’s likely that Drummond will opt into his 28.8 million player option for 2020-21.

ESPN’s Bobby Marks also recently said that if Drummond opts into that player option or opts out, and agrees to sign a new contract with Cleveland at about the $29-30 million per year range, the Cavs project to be “right at the cap.”

Anyhow, acquiring someone with Drummond’s talent could be just enough to convince Love to want to remain in Cleveland; according to Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor, Love preferred to be traded leading into the deadline.

That was before Drummond’s arrival in Cleveland, though, and the two share the same agent in Jeff Schwartz of Excel Sports Management, so you’d think Love might want to keep playing with Drummond following the season with the two having a connection already it seems off the floor.

Anyway, with Love and Drummond as well as Darius Garland, Sexton and Kevin Porter Jr., that is quite the core to build a team around. While the Cleveland Cavaliers still have their work cut out for them, the future of this team certainly looks more positive and optimistic than it did just two days ago.