Do you re-sign Andre Drummond? How much?

[Derek]

I didn't see any bitching and moping. I did see five assists, though.

When you touch the ball enough to have 21 FGA 14 FTA and 4 TO, I would hope you would manage to get 5 assists just by accident

 

[Blazie]

I didn't watch the game, but from reading the game thread I thought maybe it was Darko down there...

Look, Drummond has his flaws, but he plays good defense, is a terrific rebounder, and is quicker than you'd expect for a man of his size. He's not exactly the Mountain, but a guy like that who still can get great position against lesser centers and passes pretty well from those spaces is someone you want to give a few dollars to.

Unfortunately, in order to keep him engaged, he's gonna have to get a few more touches than you'd like. Also, there was obviously a concerted effort to force him the ball last night, and I don't expect that'll be the case most nights.

Love OTOH is grossly overpaid and looks very slow right now. Maybe it's the injury, though, idk.

 

[buzzdog]

FWIW I absolutely LOVE the fact that we now have legit defenders of the paint in Drummond and McGee. It has completely transformed us into a solid defensive team and getting blocks and stops on defense opens up the running game for our athletic guards and wings. I just love to watch that style of basketball, which is something this team has lacked for a very long time.

Yes, on the offensive end both Andre and Javale can be really painful to watch at times. This is something I hope Bickerstaff and the rest of the coaches can influence. Both guys are veterans and they both seem amenable to the whole ball movement offense, but Andre especially has the tendency to become a black hole when he gets it in the paint. The team needs to get into the habit of having guys in position for it to be kicked out then re-post and have the ball come back into the paint. Drummond dribbling the air out of the ball while the double team comes and knocks out the ball is something that needs to be squashed somehow. Hopefully he can see the game tape and listen to reason.

 

[cavsfever]

I don't know what people are talking about with being so critical of Drummond. At least from the part of last night's game I saw (4th quarter and two overtimes), there is no way we win without him. He had a great defensive night (three blocks and four steals and he totally bent their offense out of shape), and he was critical to our halfcourt offense down the stretch, when our three point shooters were covered we just dumped inside to him and he hit his foul shots. If Garland had passed to him on the last possession instead of trying to force a shot himself we might have won in regulation. Looking at the box score he must have missed a lot of bunny shots through the game but that doesn't erase what he did do well.

I get that Drummond is kind of annoying to watch because given his size and physical skills he looks like he should be a lot better than he is. It's annoying to watch him just be good when he should be a dominant star. But he was good last night.

 

[cavsfever]

FWIW I absolutely LOVE the fact that we now have legit defenders of the paint in Drummond and McGee. It has completely transformed us into a solid defensive team and getting blocks and stops on defense opens up the running game for our athletic guards and wings. I just love to watch that style of basketball, which is something this team has lacked for a very long time.

Yes, on the offensive end both Andre and Javale can be really painful to watch at times. This is something I hope Bickerstaff and the rest of the coaches can influence. Both guys are veterans and they both seem amenable to the whole ball movement offense, but Andre especially has the tendency to become a black hole when he gets it in the paint. The team needs to get into the habit of having guys in position for it to be kicked out then re-post and have the ball come back into the paint. Drummond dribbling the air out of the ball while the double team comes and knocks out the ball is something that needs to be squashed somehow. Hopefully he can see the game tape and listen to reason.

Great post. Re our defense, this team looks SO MUCH BETTER defensively with a big paint defender in there, especially a flexible defender like Drummond who can also do stuff on the perimeter if needed. It immediately means our young perimeter defenders have room to make mistakes and not be perfect, which given their skill level is pretty crucial.

On offense, even if Drummond let himself get sealed off from the basket too much he still didn't have a terrible offensive game -- 23 points on 21 shots. The fact that they were forced to foul him late was very important. There is obviously a lot of room for improvement on that end and given that he is in his 9th year in the league you do have to wonder if that improvement will ever come. He may be better as an opportunistic scorer with 10-15 FGA per game, getting it only when he is in advantageous position close to the basket, rather than trying to force it in terms of having him as a featured scorer with 15-20 FGA per game. Rather than giving it to him to create shots inside, have him move more without the ball and train our young guards to be better at passing to him.

 

[JJ_PR]

Drummond was getting clobbered in most of his drives to the rim & I didn't see a single call in his favor. That was a terribly reffed game. He would've had 40 if he got those calls.

 

[CleveRocks]

I didn't watch the game, but from reading the game thread I thought maybe it was Darko down there...

Look, Drummond has his flaws, but he plays good defense, is a terrific rebounder, and is quicker than you'd expect for a man of his size. He's not exactly the Mountain, but a guy like that who still can get great position against lesser centers and passes pretty well from those spaces is someone you want to give a few dollars to.

Unfortunately, in order to keep him engaged, he's gonna have to get a few more touches than you'd like. Also, there was obviously a concerted effort to force him the ball last night, and I don't expect that'll be the case most nights.

Love OTOH is grossly overpaid and looks very slow right now. Maybe it's the injury, though, idk.

I do expect them to continue to force feed Andre..

I think the logic is: He thinks he can be a dominant player in the league, and he is not so much wrong, as perhaps having underestimated the work required to get there.. We think he has the physical skillset to be dominant in the paint, but has never realized his potential (He is good but not great). So we feed him, and coach him on what works and what doesn't. He is motivated because otherwise he is irrelevant to todays NBA, and we are motivated because he is a unicorn that would be hard to find or attract to cleveland otherwise. Meanwhile our young guys get better.

If he gets better or anywhere near what he should be, we either keep him if that is working OR we trade him for good assets. If he does not that resets his own sense of valuation and we offer him a realistic contract AND we get a higher draft pick. If we don't feed him, he just blames it on opportunity, and nothing changes.

Its a low risk, high reward strategy.

 

[Muffinalt]

Its tough. He honestly played great defense. He forced his offense and was just chucking bricks in order to draw fouls. If he was aiming on those shots, we are in trouble.

If he hadn't taken any shots in the first half, the Cavs would have crushed them in regulation.

He also got the team to overtime with foul shots on post ups. Yikes. That is bad offense. I think I prefer any shot in Sexton's arsenal over relying on Drummond post up shots/foul shots.

He controlled the boards for sure, and Blake basically didn't attempt a shot inside all night, he wanted no part of it.

He'll have better games than this, I do think he was amped up. He also has no idea what his limitations as an offensive player are

Yeah conflicted is what I feel too. I hate how he forces his stupid shots, is lazy doing the small things, bitches about everything, and acts so entitled... But you can't ignore his ridiculous size man. He fouls guys out, he's a legit alternative to our quicky small guards and barely any teams can cover for both styles.

He played great defense at the end, legit win the game type impact. But it was also his stupidity that cost us the regulation dub clearly.

What's the opportunity cost with him? Are his strengths enough to outweigh the weaknesses? Are we better off with McGee in most spots? I'm not sure and Detroit didn't think he contributes to wins eventually. If he can just play like in OT and not run his selfish Andre show he could be a good fit.

Based on his last few years and especially now with us, I don't think he has it in him to not act like a giant primadonna though.

 

[Alec]

Drummond selfishly gives up multiple possessions a game with his ridiculous shot choices.

 

[Derek]

Drummond selfishly gives up multiple possessions a game with his ridiculous shot choices.

Used up about 32 possessions just to score 23 points.

It’s amazing we won with such a putrid offensive performance from a guy that we continue to allow to be high usage.

Not only should Drummond not be high usage, he should be our lowest usage starter.

 

[cabs]

Loved his defense, hate his offense. Set a screen and be a rebound bitch ya big dummy

 

[Ohioplayer00]

21 shots?

No.

Put that on the guards! If you give it to the big man inside the key area that’s his area where he is supposed to look to score! The guards were force feeding him in the middle all game!

 

[cabs]

Put that on the guards! If you give it to the big man inside the key area that’s his area where he is supposed to look to score! The guards were force feeding him in the middle all game!

Think Love was passing to him more than the guards

 

[Ohioplayer00]

Think Love was passing to him more than the guards

I saw both Garland and Sexton forcing the ball into him all night! They would FT line extended, stop and then lob it into him. Love passed it into him because he played on the perimeter most of night because Drummond was down low!

 

[D10S]

I do expect them to continue to force feed Andre..

I think the logic is: He thinks he can be a dominant player in the league, and he is not so much wrong, as perhaps having underestimated the work required to get there.. We think he has the physical skillset to be dominant in the paint, but has never realized his potential (He is good but not great). So we feed him, and coach him on what works and what doesn't. He is motivated because otherwise he is irrelevant to todays NBA, and we are motivated because he is a unicorn that would be hard to find or attract to cleveland otherwise. Meanwhile our young guys get better.

If he gets better or anywhere near what he should be, we either keep him if that is working OR we trade him for good assets. If he does not that resets his own sense of valuation and we offer him a realistic contract AND we get a higher draft pick. If we don't feed him, he just blames it on opportunity, and nothing changes.

Its a low risk, high reward strategy.

This is a good take IMO. I hadn't thought about it in this way.