Boston Celtics: An Andre Drummond trade is not the answer

Cleveland Cavaliers’ big man Andre Drummond has come up as a name in Boston Celtics trade rumors, and he will sit out the remainder of his games until he’s moved. Drummond has been linked to Boston for multiple years now, yet the actual upside of acquiring the former All-Star isn’t worth it.

The appeal of the former Piston is simple: he’s one of the best rebounders the NBA has ever seen and can be a presence down low that the Boston Celtics haven’t had for a while.

Standing at 6’10” 279 pounds, the Cs rebounding worries of years past would be answered with this type of trade.

So far this year, he’s averaging 17.5 points, 13.5 rebounds, and 2.6 assists in 28.9 minutes per game. Four of those rebounds are offensive, sitting at the top of the league in that category. However, he has struggled immensely on offense this season, shooting a horrific 47.4% from the field. Plenty of these attempts are his own putbacks, but he has become much more aggressive in creating his own shot in the past few years of his career, mostly hurting his team in the process.

An Andre Drummond trade doesn’t fix the Boston Celtics’ problems

His inefficiency in the 2020-21 NBA season places him in the 12th percentile for bigs in points per 100 shot attempts. Along with this, he sits in the 26th percentile in turnovers, turning the ball over 16.2% of the time. This is a product of him feeling the need to improve his isolation skills on middling teams, when in reality that’s not his game. If he sits under the basket and finishes everything around the rim, he can be a productive player on a playoff team.

The drops in his numbers across the board are extremely concerning, however, as he’s shooting only 52% at the rim this season, a similar number to current Boston center Tristan Thompson. For comparison, Kristaps Porzingis, Rudy Gobert, and even Jeff Green all shoot above 70% around the rim.

In reality, a potential Drummond-to-Boston trade would add another Thompson-esque player in the center rotation. The key difference between the two players is that Andre is more comfortable with a massive amount of offensive control, supporting a 30.1% usage rate this year. TT on the other hand, only has a usage rate of 13.9%, acting more as a role player and finisher around the rim.

On defense, Thompson moves his feet better on the perimeter than the slow-footed Drummond, as he is able to work effectively in a switching defense. That’s one of the main aspects that made Tristan so important on his championship team in Cleveland.

That is something that Andre cannot replicate.

The Celtics would be limited to drop coverage in the pick-and-roll in this scenario, making it easy for opponents to take advantage with open shots from beyond the arc.

If somehow the Boston Celtics were to add Drummond to the squad, he would have to learn to not take touches away from Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum…something he hasn’t had to do anytime in his career. He’ll no longer be the guy on the team, and he might not even be the third option.

In terms of logistics and salary cap rules, it’s extremely unlikely for this sort of move to occur. With the UConn product’s salary sitting at $28.7 million for this year, the Boston Celtics’ massive traded-player exception will fall just short of covering it ($28.5 million). Therefore, GM Danny Ainge would either have to conduct a deal centered around Marcus Smart and the aforementioned Thompson or completely bail on Kemba Walker as he’s starting to find his form.

This type of move seems like just a rumor more than anything, as there are other teams around the league that have a more pressing need for a big man in their respective playoff pushes (looking at you, Toronto).

For Cleveland, it makes sense to deal the big man when you can get any sort of value for him, being that his contract expires after this season. With their young core not competing for the playoffs in the foreseeable future, it serves them no use to keep him around for the end of the year.

In reality, Drummond to Boston wouldn’t be that much of an upgrade in and of itself, and he would only take touches away from the Celtics young core that needs to continue to develop as a unit.

Expect the 27-year-old to get traded in the next month, but he won’t be wearing Celtics green anytime soon.