One of the most tantalizing possibilities from signing Andre Drummond as the Lakers’ starting center is the possibility he might enable Anthony Davis to completely avoid playing the five for the rest of the season and playoffs.
We already know Davis prefers to play the four and the Lakers want to accommodate him to limit the physicality and banging of having him play the five, especially considering his longtime history of being injury prone. Last year, AD played more than 25% of his minutes at center in the regular season and more than 60% during the playoffs. This year that percentage has plummeted to less than 10% of his minutes during this regular season.
So it’s not a stretch to assume one of the Lakers’ motivations last offseason was to replace JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard with centers who could play more minutes to reduce the time Anthony Davis would play at center. While Gasol and Harrell were able to play enough minutes to allow Davis to stay at power forward, they were unable to provide the rim protection that had been an integral component of last year’s regular season defense.
Fortunately, the Lakers were able to sign Andre Drummond from the buyout market, giving them a proven 27-year old center who averaged 17.5 points, 13.5 boards, 2.6 assists, 1.6 steals, and 1.2 blocks in 28.9 minutes per game. The Lakers hope they struck gold with Drummond and found not only a shot blocker to solve their rim protection woes but also a mobile and nimble big who could stay on the floor when they turn up the defensive pressure.
Drummond being able to successfully function in the aggressive trapping, doubling, and rotating team defense the Lakers unleashed in last year’s playoffs to win the championship is not as crazy and farfetched as it seems. Andre has incredibly quick feet and hands for a 6′ 10,” 280 lbs player and leads all centers with 1.6 steals to go along with his 1.2 blocks per game. And that was while not focusing on defense while playing on losing teams.
Motivated and committed to playing elite level defense, Andre Drummond potentially has the physical talents to not only be the Lakers’ starting center but also to play the five in what used to be their ‘small ball’ closing defense. The possibility Andre could learn to play the five so Anthony could play the four when the Lakers deploy their lethal switching and rotating defense is intoxicating and could be the key to the team repeating as champions.
Replacing Markieff Morris with Andre Drummond could make the Lakers ‘Death Lineup’ defense even more lethal. A front court with three long bigs like James, Davis, and Drummond could be intimidating and dominating. Their length alone could put a virtual lid on the basket and narrow the passing lanes from freeways to sidewalks while their mobility and quickness could suffocate opposing teams with a trio of pterodactyls chasing the ball.
Andre Drummond playing full-time at the five and allowing Anthony Davis to play most of the game at the four opens up important minutes at the five for forgotten man Montrezl Harrell, who now becomes the backup center. Harrell getting 20 minutes per game off the bench to do his thing is one of the big advantages of Drummond saving Davis from playing the five. It could even free minutes for Gasol to play the five against certain matchups.
While the Lakers won’t be able to re-sign him, Drummond could provide a template for the Lakers to follow this summer and trade for a modern center like Myles Turner so Anthony Davis could avoid playing the five.
I’m stoked to see Dre play tomorrow night. The Lakers are going to need him to score as well as defend if they’re going to beat the Bucks so the version we see of him will be DD 1.0.
Once AD returns, we’ll hopefully see Dre switch his focus more to defense and let AD be the first option on offense. That version will be DD 2.0.
The version I’m excited to see is DD 3.0, when Dre totally focuses on being the rim protector we need inside and being the nimble, mobile big with quick hands and feet that can play in our Death Lineup defense and allow AD to stay at his preferred power forward position. That’s the version that can take the Lakers championship defense to an entirely new level of excellence.
Of course, all this depends on Dre being willing to focus on defense for the team rather then offense for his next contract. I do think, however, that making that sacrifice and showing the best possible version of himself as an All-Pro center is going to pay off more than a bunch of hollow stats on a team that lost.
Exciting game coming up for the Lakers. Dre saying all the right things. Now he gets a chance to back up his words. Go, Lakers!
Feels to me like the games w/o AD and James are going to be tune up games for Dre. When they both get back his role will change drastically. Right now he’s a top option and you can imagine the team looking to make him comfy by force-feeding him. So these games are the outlier and not very reflective of how the team will function going forward.
When Davis and James come back Dre will drop to the 3rd or even 4th option in the starting five. That’s a mighty big adjustment for a guy who is used to be one of the top players on a team. It’s going to be interesting to see how he fares in the first high pressure situation. I am fairly certain that this is going to be the best, most-talented team Dre has ever played for.
Some guys shine even brighter under the bright lights and some wilt. I think one of the biggest reasons we’re not waiving Gasol is insurance. Gasol has been on teams that have gone all the way. Dre and Harrell haven’t gone that far, yet. Going to be an interesting end to the season.
Yeah, we’re definitely going to see different versions of AD2. We’re going to need him to score until AD returns. Then he’ll have to learn how to play with Anthony. Finally, once Bron returns, he’l have to learn how to fit with two superstars. Big challenges for Dre and the coaching staff. How well they do could determine if the Lakers can repeat. As for Marc, I think he’s going to be a break glass option. If all goes as expected, he’ll get a lot of DNP CD.
Excellent write up Tom. I’m excited to see Drum tonight also. One thing you mentioned that Lakers fan might be surprised to see is his quick hands. He’s good at suprising guards by poking the ball away in P/R plays on the perimeter. He’s also decent at putting the ball on the deck and attacking from the midpost. Unfortunately he’s not as adept at finishing once he gets to the rim as one would expect. Straight post up are not his strength either. But we will get a lot of easy baskets on putbacks…which is something we haven’t seen much of this year. Color me excited.
Thanks, Lee. For those who don’t know, LRob lives in the Detroit area so has a lot experience watching Dre play for the Pistons. I’ve been reading a lot of analysts’ comments and watching a lot of film and what jumps out at me is a lot of skills that are Drummond’s strengths are great matchups for what the Lakers need and a lot of his weaknesses are in areas the Lakers don’t need from him That tells me if he focuses on doing what Frank and the coaching staff want from him once LeBron and AD are back, he could be a great fit and really help the Lakers.
For example, he’s a terrific rebounder at both ends. Lakers right now are 17th with 9.6 offensive rebounds, 6th with 35.6 defensive rebounds, and 9th with 45.2 total rebounds. Losing AD didn’t really change our rebounding numbers but since we lost LeBron, we’ve fallen to 27th with 7.4 offensive boards, 10th with 35.4 defensive boards, and 20th with 42.8 total boards. Let’s see how Dre affects those numbers tonight.
We rank 14th with 7.5 steals per game and 4th with 5.6 blocks per game for the season. Last 5 games w/o LBJ, we’ve jumped to 3rd with 9.6 steals but dropped to 30th with just 2.8 blocks per game Again, let’s see what Dre can do to help those numbers.
Finally, I want to see how he plays when trap, hedge, double, and rotate on defense or switch. That’s where I’m hoping his quick feet and hands can give some promise of how he’ll fit defensively with LeBron and AD. Going to be exciting. Love to see him have a double 20 game like you predicted. Be great to see you tonight if you can stay up.
You’re welcome LT. Yep I have split Piston season tickets for the last 3 seasons pre-pandemic so I saw Drummond a lot in person. It’ll be interesting to see what can of damage he can do on offense when he’s not the focal of defenses…and on defense when he’s playing with teammates committed to D in a strong system.