Andre Drummond was hailed as the final piece needed for the Los Angeles Lakers to defend their NBA championship when he arrived at the end of March. Yet, somehow, he has not contributed to them winning. Detroit Pistons fans know the feeling.
One of the top trending topics on Twitter on Sunday afternoon was ‘Get Drummond Out’. Apparently, Los Angeles Lakers fans were not thrilled with the play of center Andre Drummond in Game 4 against the Phoenix Suns.
He seemed to clog the middle, stifle the other players on offense and was not contributing to the team winning.
Hmmm, Detroit Pistons fans have no idea what the Lakers are talking about. (Sarcasm).
Here are a few choice tweets on the subject:
Andre Drummond: F
— Laker Tweets (@sportsincNYC) May 30, 2021
He was terrible right from the tip today. Jogging up and down the court, missing rotations. Got abused by CP3 in the halfcourt. He’s a complete zero out there without AD next to him, and he should be benched as long as AD can’t play.
Andre Drummond getting washed out here. smh
— Branden Snyder (@bsneezy313) May 30, 2021
Somehow, Lakers fans are not thrilled to have a two-time NBA all-star and four-time rebounding champ like Andre Drummond on the team.
Andre Drummond with the Los Angeles Lakers is just like the Detroit Pistons version
When Drummond was bought out by the Cleveland Cavaliers and signed with the Lakers on March 28, he seemed to shore up a weak point for Los Angeles as old-timer Marc Gasol had been at center.
Drummond has put up good stats since coming to Southern California, 11.9 points and 10.2 rebounds in just 24 minutes a game.
But he does not seem to help them actually win.
We are not going to delve into the current problem the Lakers have with Drummond, go to Lake Show Life for that. We are just pointing out the same thing occurring there, and in Drummond’s previous stop in Cleveland, are no different than when Drummond started out in Detroit.
Drummond was the ninth pick in the 2012 draft by the Pistons and by his second year became their star center.
The 6-foot-10, 279-pound product out of Connecticut could score inside, rebound and block shots. On July, 2016, Drummond signed a max contract worth $127 million over five years, Pistons management was thrilled to lock up their star for the future.
But, after a few years, Pistons fans first, and then management, realized that Drummond was doing nothing to help the team in the standings. They made the playoffs twice while he was there (2016, 2019) and got swept both times.
And his contract was like an anchor, stopping Detroit from doing any major dealing in free agency and the trade market (acquiring Blake Griffin in 2018, also on a max deal did not help the situation either).
With the team, once again, going nowhere, the Pistons dumped Drummond on Cleveland on February 6, 2020 for a bag of basketballs.
The Cavaliers were excited to have Drummond. They figured with him at center, and guards Darius Garland and Collin Sexton, they could compete for a playoff spot this season.
But, while Drummond put up really good numbers (17.5 points, 12.9 rebounds), the Cavaliers were not winning many games. After a good start, they were not winning much at all, and Drummond was not stopping the slide.
Rinse, repeat.
Cleveland finally waived him on March 26 and he signed with the Lakers two days later.
Now, it was Lakers fans turn to get excited about getting Drummond and how much he will improve the team.
For Detroit Piston fans, been there, done that. But we are enjoying the show in Lakerland.