Los Angeles Lakers Center: Andre Drummond
A potentially controversial decision amongst Lakers fans.
You look at Andre Drummond‘s stats over the years and think, this guy is putting up monstrous numbers, imagine what he could do on a contending team.
Well, Drummond got his chance. He is now a Los Angeles Laker.
People for years also said that Drummond’s stats were empty stats. That while he was an elite rebounder and shot-blocker he did nothing else and wasn’t a net positive on the court.
Well, they weren’t wrong.
While Montrezl Harrell offers more scoring and energy and Marc Gasol offers more floor spacing and been there done that experience, Drummond offers a trade-off that nobody on the Lakers roster can give Anthony Davis.
Drummond allows Anthony Davis to not have to work so hard on the boards or bang in the paint.
Andre Drummond will gladly box out and grab boards all the livelong day. He will gladly grab 20+ rebounds and allow for his teammates to break out and get a step on the opposition on the break.
This is music to Anthony Davis’ ears. The last thing Davis want’s to be doing while he is nursing some injuries is to bang down low with big centers who are looking to hurt and disrupt him every chance they can get. If Davis can have Drummond do his dirty work for him, it allows for Davis to focus on conserving his energy and locking down players, and scoring when he needs to.
Drummond will not be the finisher for the Lakers at the center spot and he might not even get the vast majority of the minutes at center for the Lakers during a playoff run but he will start games like JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard did for the purple and gold last season and he will rough up who he needs to rough up in the process.
If Drummond can do this and have Anthony Davis hitting top form when he needs to then it is the perfect situation for the Los Angeles Lakers when they need AD to step up and deliver for them.