The way I see Drummond and the Pistons, is similar to when we had Cousins, other than the fact they have happened upon a play off appearance. They are a team built around their center much like we were. Now we decided to trade Cousins because we arguably didn't believe we could win with him, otherwise we would have kept Cousins and continued to build around him. I see Detroit having a similar attitude towards Drummond because if they are "happy" to trade him, then that suggests they don't think they can win with Drummond as their main piece and consequently they want to make moves to change up their roster in order to have a better chance of winning. As good as both of these players are, I don't view them in the same tier as someone like Harden or Westbrook, they are players that have carried their teams to the play offs - take them out of the Rockets and Thunder and those teams don't make the play offs, with them they are not only play off contenders but outside title contenders. So as far as I'm concerned I don't see adding Drummond as being a worthwhile thing to do because he's not the missing piece for a play off run or to take this team to title contention. If Cousins couldn't get us there as the clearly superior player, Drummond certainly can't.
The other thing to consider here is that we already have two young centers on our roster. Here are their per 36 minutes stat lines compared to Drummond's:
- Pappa: 8.7 (TRB) / 1.7 (BLK) / 12.6 (PTS)
- WCS: 8.6 (TRB) / 1.1 (BLK) / 15.5 (PTS)
- Drummond: 16.7 (TRB) / 1.3 (BLK) / 16.5 (PTS)
Now I was going to leave the names off and let people guess, but the rebound stat probably gives away which one Andre Drummond is. However, the block and points per game are not too dissimilar between the three players. I think it is also worth noting that Drummond is a key piece in Detroit whereas Willie and Pappa have been stuck in the rotation in nominal roles until after the Cousins trade took place, after which their roles on the team increased, but even Pappa's role was fairly limited. So the way I see it, and maybe I'm wrong, but other than his rebounding ability I don't necessarily view Drummond as a major upgrade over our two young centers. I honestly believe that Willie and Pappa can increase those rebounding stats if they are given a greater role next season. The other thing to consider is that Skal has the following per 36 minute stat line:
- Skal: 9.5 (TRB) / 0.8 (BLK) / 17.0 (PTS)
That stat line suggests to me that in Skal and Willie, or Skal and Pappa, we will have a duo that is capable of grabbing rebounds on the offensive and defensive end of the court. I would rather keep our young talent and draft picks. In fact, I would rather see us draft Zach Collins or a big at #10 than trade for Drummond because I honestly don't see Drummond as a main piece on a team. HOn a bad team he can be a go to guy like Vucevic is with the Magic, but on a good team he is simply a third or fourth option. So I hope we don't do a trade for Drummond because he's not needed.