Humbled former Pistons All-Star resurrected in most unlikely way

Six years ago, Andre Drummond was dumped by the Detroit Pistons, which was a humbling experience for a player who went from a $100 million deal to nearly out of the league. Drummond kept at it, and last night was the X-Factor in the play-in win that sent the 76ers to the playoffs. 

Drummond came up huge for Philly last night, as the 76ers were missing Joel Embiid (shocker), had to turn to Drummond for 31 minutes of action, and The Big Penguin delivered. 

Drummond racked up 14 points, 10 rebounds, two assists, three steals and three blocks. He was the swing factor in a game in which Philly was forced to start Adem Bona. 

Dre even put the exclamation point on the win with a late dagger 3-pointer, which has been the strangest part of his renaissance this season. 

Andre Drummond can shoot? 

Drummond went 2-of-3 from long range last night, which is not a sentence I ever wrote while he was playing with the Pistons. 

Drummond never averaged more than .5 attempts per game from long range for the Pistons, and most of those were last-second heaves from beyond half court. This season, Drummond averaged a respectable 35.6 percent from 3-point range on 1.4 attempts per game. Stretch Dre! Who saw that coming?

Drummond was known as a rebounding machine and good defender, but his offensive game is what eventually let him down, which is why he went from a max contract to a guy looking for a job practically overnight. 

He hit a low point and it looked as though he wasn’t long for the league, which would have been a shame, as he’s been one of the NBA’s nicest guys and a player who has nothing but complimentary things to say about Detroit, a place where he has often talked about wanting to return. 

Some idiotic Pistons fans still boo the guy, but Dre gave the Motor City his all and still has love for the team that drafted him. 

You don’t have to love Dre, but you can’t help but admire the way he keeps grinding and finding ways to make an impact in his 14th season in the league. He’s partially around because he’s a good teammate who doesn’t take anything off the table, but nights like last night remind fans that Drummond can still swing a game with effort and hustle. 

And apparently now 3-point shooting, which was an element to his game I wasn’t anticipating. 

If you want more reasons to cheer for Dre, he’ll now be taking on the hated Celtics, who aren’t deep at the center position. Who knows, Embiid may be back for some or all of that series, but if not, we may see more of these types of nights from Andre Drummond. 

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