Andre Drummond was once regarded as one of the NBA’s best young centers. As he’s gotten older and the game has changed, so has the perception of the player.
One unnamed NBA scout provided a rather blunt assessment of Drummond’s appeal in today’s NBA: it’s just too limited, and it matters in how Cleveland views him.
“It makes sense why Drummond is trying to add so much to his game given the current state of the NBA,” the scout said, via Evan Dammarell of Forbes. “But, he’s also trying to do it eight years in. The league has him figured out and it feels like it’s a case of too little, too late.”
Drummond is an elite rebounder and a capable enough scorer. The problem is that’s where his top-tier skill set ends. That’s in a league that is increasingly asking its centers to create, facilitate, and defend outside the paint. That’s not where Drummond is comfortable. It’s part of the reason that he and the Cavaliers are having difficulty agreeing on a contract extension.
Drummond is still only 27, and his 8-game sample size with the Cavaliers isn’t much. For the full 2019-20 season, he averaged 17.7 points and 15.2 rebounds per game, which count as typical numbers for him. The problem is he’s not much of a threat outside of that. That’s why there’s been talk of him expanding his game, but he has little to show for it for now.
