BOSTON -- When Dwane Casey was in Seattle, he remembers hearing rumors about Gary Payton being on the trade block.
Assistant coaching stints in Dallas and Minnesota included rumors about Dirk Nowitzki and Kevin Garnett being on the move as well.
So as the trade rumor mill continues to churn out speculation about Detroit’s Andre Drummond being on the trade block - and Boston being viewed as a possible destination - Casey tries to keep it all in perspective.
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“If you’re doing anything in this league your name is going to be out there,” Casey, the Pistons' head coach, said prior to Detroit’s 116-103 upset of the Celtics on Wednesday night. “At the end of the day on the 1st and the 15th, you’re getting paid by the team you’re with. So, you have to do your job each and every day. There’s no reason to be upset with anybody. It’s a business; we understand that. We’re all professionals. We have a job to do.”
And on Wednesday, Drummond indeed did his job in helping the Pistons (15-27) come away with a surprisingly lopsided victory.
He would finish with 13 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists while also racking up a trio of steals, too.
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The final stats for Drummond are good, but his overall play wasn’t nearly as dominant as the final numbers might suggest.
He also turned the ball over five times - more than any other player on the floor - in addition to missing four of his five free-throw attempts.
That said, the Pistons were still an impressive plus-26 when he was on the floor.
No one questions whether he has the talent to help a team be successful.
But the issue with him, as with most players widely considered on the trading block, is the cost involved in acquiring them.
While the Celtics respect what Drummond can do on the floor, there are no signs as of now that they are giving serious thought to putting together a trade package that would put him in a Celtics jersey.
That’s because most of the assets that the Celtics would have to include in a deal for Drummond they are not willing to part with at this point.
And then there’s the fact that most of the teams that Drummond has played for in the past in Detroit struggled to win, with this season being no exception.
The Celtics' Kemba Walker arrived with a similar track record based on his play in Charlotte the previous eight seasons.
But here’s the difference - the Celtics acquired Walker via a sign-and-trade for Terry Rozier.
In other words, they acquired an asset (Walker) while giving up one (Rozier) that they weren’t planning to keep around.
But in trading for Drummond, the Celtics would have to include a player or players that they believe will aid them in their quest to make a deep playoff run more than the addition of Drummond.
You also have to take into account that one of the reasons Boston would do the deal would be to have someone to compete with Philly center Joel Embiid.
But 6-foot-10 Drummond has historically not been at his best when facing the 7-foot Embiid in the past and Embiid has consistently played at an uber-All-Star level when facing Drummond.
In fact, Embiid has averaged 27.7 points per game in his career against Detroit. That is Embiid’s highest scoring average against any team he has faced at least seven times in his career, with most of those games pitting him against Drummond.
Still, all that is a moot point right now.
Drummond plays for the Pistons, a team that’s clearly in rebuilding mode.
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Is Drummond part of that process?
He is … for now.
And the way Casey sees it, that’s the only thing Drummond, or any other Pistons whose names have been talked about as potentially being on the move, should concern themselves with.
“For me, I hope everybody gets rewarded,” Casey said. “You know in this league to get rewarded, you win. You’re rewarded when you win more than anything else.”
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