Here, we’ll touch on two bold predictions for Andre Drummond, assuming he’s back with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2020-21.
I’m still not certain if Andre Drummond can be a long term fit with the Cleveland Cavaliers. After being moved at the trade deadline to Cleveland by the Detroit Pistons, Drummond only played eight games with the Cavs this past season.
Drummond took his lumps early on, but seemed to get more comfortable with the Wine and Gold on the floor alongside pieces such as Kevin Love and Collin Sexton.
In his eight games active with Cleveland, of which he missed some time due to a left calf strain, Drummond proved to be a solid interior presence on both ends, at least to a large degree.
Drummond is still not an ideal 5 in today’s league to have, necessarily, though, because he is a non-shooter outside the paint, let alone three-point shooter. Even with that being the case, he still is a productive player on the interior, and has improved leaps and bounds in terms of his low-post scoring touch/footwork in recent years.
He had 17.5 points per outing in that brief eight-game span with Cleveland, and ended up having a career-high in scoring last season, most of which was with Detroit, as he had 17.7 points per game.
It was unfortunate that he didn’t get more burn with the Cavs given the novel coronavirus-induced hiatus, though, and Cleveland’s 2019-20 is over with them at 19-46 not set to be participants in the league’s season resumption in Orlando at Disney World reportedly beginning on July 31 for the NBA’s top 22 teams.
Granted, it seems that Drummond will be back with Cleveland in 2020-21, as he is reportedly likely to pick up his $28.8 million player option for next season. That is seemingly a near-certainty.
So under that assumption, what might be two bold predictions for Drummond next season for the Cleveland Cavaliers, then?
The first bold prediction I have for Drummond for next season with the Cavs, assuming he’s back, has to do with the best part of his game. That’s in relation to rebounding.
Bold prediction #1 for Drummond for the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2020-21: He averages 15.0 rebounds per game and leads the NBA in rebounding
The first bold prediction I have for next season for Drummond for Cleveland, assuming he’s back, would be averaging 15.0 rebounds per game, and in turn, leading the NBA in rebounding.
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The latter part of this bold prediction, winning the NBA rebounding title, wouldn’t be a shocker, necessarily, for Drummond, whose career-best was 16.0 boards per game.
Going into the hiatus, Drummond had led the NBA in rebounding with 15.2 boards per game, which would qualify for him winning his fourth NBA rebounding title in his eight-year career.
Now, in terms of just with the Cavs, Drummond did only average 11.1 boards per game, but Drummond was banged up a bit, and it was eight games and he was getting more in-tune with other players later into his stint.
I can’t say I read much into that, and saying Drummond will average 15.0 rebounds per game is not completely profound.
However, with the presence of Kevin Love, a really good defensive rebounder, and Larry Nance Jr., it would still be I believe. Considering that, I personally would think there’s a good possibility Drummond’s rebounding numbers would be a bit less, and be about 13.5.
Now, Drummond’s rebounding average with the Cavaliers was less, but he played only 28.1 minutes per game in that stretch, and with this bold prediction, it’d be likely that Drummond would be playing closer to 33.8 minutes per outing.
That was the minutes-share he was playing with Detroit in 2019-20, so that factors into this bold prediction/him then leading the league in rebounding once again next season.
To me, though, I think there is a good possibility Drummond doesn’t play nearly that much with Cleveland, even with the expiring Tristan Thompson potentially not being back.
I could end up being wrong on that, though, and Drummond could be and even on the floor with Love a bunch, gobbling up boards at a league-best rate, based on his track record. We’ll see, assuming Dre is back.
Bold prediction #2 for Drummond for the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2020-21: He averages 2.1 steals per game
The second bold prediction I have for Drummond for the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2020-21 would be him averaging 2.1 steals per game.
Now, with Detroit last season, Drummond averaged 2.0 steals per outing, and going into the hiatus, Drummond was second in total steals in the league, per Basketball Reference.
Clearly, Drummond, especially for a center, does a terrific job at getting his hands in passing lanes and has great rotating instincts. That could help out Collin Sexton, Darius Garland, Kevin Porter Jr. and others next season, and maybe beyond, coupled with Drummond being a legitimate rim protecting presence.
This suggested 2.1 steals per game seems a bit rich, though, and that’s why a key goal I have from Drummond for next season, or at least part of that goal, is him averaging 1.5 steals in 2020-21.
Again it was only eight games so Drummond could be more in-tune and play off others better/be more active in terms of takeaways next season, but on the Cavs, he averaged 1.5 steals per outing.
Next year, Collin Sexton and Nance, along with Porter, will be getting their hands on steals a fair amount, and in terms of the team sense, Cleveland also is going to be playing its share of young pieces again next season, so there will be missed rotations/mix-ups.
Additionally, while Drummond is a good interior defender that is really active on the interior, he is not a player that’s able to switch out in pick-and-roll often.
That could play into him getting a bit less burn and frankly, that along with him not being a floor spacer could eventually lead to Cleveland looking to trade him by the 2021 deadline, if he picks up his player option.
Either way, though, this second bold prediction could play out, but it seems particularly lofty. Albeit, maybe Dre can do it and he establishes himself on both ends as being a key piece for the long term on the Cavs.