Cavs: Good, bad from interview with Andre Drummond

The bad from this interview, from a Cavs fan’s perspective

Moving on to the bad/concerning parts of this interview, to me, it’s mostly how Drummond seems to be looking to expand his game coming into this next season.

Now, given it’s been an extended offseason period, and with how there seems to be a great possibility that it’s going to be a contract year for him, assuming he does at some point opt in, I can understand that. Although in this interview, he didn’t say anything definitively, but I’d still expect Drummond to eventually pick up his player option for next season, with how it’s been reportedly highly likely he will.

Circling back, it seems as if Drummond is trying to become more in the realm of a spacing big that is looking to be in the mold of a key big playmaker, which, while he’s shown glimpses of playmaking potential with Detroit, he’s consistently been a high turnover player. And his capabilities in that realm are not close to that of Kevin Love or Larry Nance Jr., for instance, which is concerning.

But Drummond looking to expand his game out to space the floor, too, is a stretch as well. Albeit he did have a career-best 17.7 points per game in 2019-20, to go with leading the league in rebounding with 15.2 per game, and he had 1.9 steals and 1.6 blocks per contest.

But again, Drummond, who shot 57.5 percent from the foul line last season, and is not a realistic shooting threat, really, away from the paint, working on triples/expanding his game away from a low-post/roller/screener for the Cavs isn’t great.

This next quote about him being in the top echelon of bigs, per Fedor, when asked about the big position, wasn’t outstanding to read about.

"“I’m sure you’ve heard the chatter, right? The value of the big man has dropped significantly. How, if at all, does that play into your future contract decision?” “For me, I’ve heard that for so long throughout my career. I’ve still found a way to stay relevant and stay on top. In terms of the big man position dying, I don’t think that’s a real thing. I think it’s more just, you know, people not knowing basketball or paying attention to what is going on. The big man is coming back. You look at the perennial bigs, we’ve got (Nikola) Jokic, Joel Embiid, myself, (Kristaps) Porzingis, (Jusuf) Nurkic, go down the list of bigs that are playing really, really well or holding their own at the position. The do-a-little-of-everything style is the new evolution of the big man on the court.”"

I get where Drummond is coming from here, and bigs still do matter in impacting games, to an extent. I’m not going to just dismiss them, and they can things easier for guards/wings throughout contests.

Is Dre really putting himself in the same mold of players like Nikola Jokic, Kristaps Porzingis and Joel Embiid, though? I’m sorry, but eight years into his career, it’s really, really, really difficult to foresee him ever becoming close to as impactful of a big as they are.

I know the dude’s a fine player on the interior, but he thinks he’s in that realm of a player and can be a “do-a-little-of-everything” big? Come on, man.

The Cavs have to be heated just reading that. I don’t want Drummond shooting triples and trying to playmake a bunch in games, assuming he’s back, at least for a good chunk of next season.

Moreover, these two quotes from Drummond to Fedor about his next step/changes to his game, don’t excite me.

"“What are those changes?” “You just have to see, man. I’m not one of the guys that boasts and brags about my game. I just let it speak for itself. It’s pretty much the same thing I’ve been doing lately — ball handling, shooting the 3 and being more consistent with that, finishing around the rim, being able to make the right plays, being able to pass the ball when I get cut off or double-teamed, pass it to the corner or the wing, working on my IQ, keeping my head up when I dribble and all the other essential things that need to be done as a big man now to stay on the court.” “Were those changes prompted by the Cavs or did you decide that on your own?” “No, I mean I’m at a point in my career where I’m able to understand my own game. Dribbling the ball and shooting, but still maintaining what I’m getting paid to do, which is rebounding, defending and blocking shots.”"

Again, I get Drummond’s thought process here, but it’s eight years in. And while he’s made strides as a free throw shooter, and I’m not discounting those, in recent seasons, his best season from the charity stripe, even, is a 60.5 percent hit rate.

On shots 10-16 feet out in his career thus far, on a volume of only 3.7 percent, for context, he’s had a hit rate of 27.9 percent. The touch simply hasn’t been there, and if we’re talking three-point looks? There’s been little-to-nothing of a sample size, but the hit rate is 14.6 percent.

Maybe Drummond does eventually hit the occasional spot-ups down the road to some regularity? Maybe? But that’s very, very hard for me to believe that’ll be the case next season/with the Cavs, to a decent chunk of the year at least.

And Drummond can get his own off-the-bounce a bit when he can play bully ball against less physical bigs. I’d rather him not get too carried away, though, and force that too much.

Alright, so that was a lot to unpack there. Albeit this interview had a bunch to it, given the Drummond/potential trade talk, more so for down the road it seems.

There were some positives, but also some concerning quotes to me as a Cavs fan. It cleared the air to some degree, though.