Through two games this season, Detroit’s Andre Drummond is averaging 26.5 points per game on 66.7 percent shooting, plus pulling down 17.5 rebounds and blocking 2.5 shots a game. He’s been a beast.
Not so coincidentally, Andre Drummond has a player option he is widely expected to not pick up for next season, making him the biggest name free agent on the market next July.
Is having a “contract year” a real thing? Rod Beard of the Detroit News asked Drummond that and...
After his superb performance last night, I asked #Pistons Andre Drummond if #ContractYearDre was a thing.
— Rod Beard (@detnewsRodBeard) October 24, 2019
His response: You know it.
Well, this is going to be something.
Part of Drummond putting up huge numbers to start the season is Blake Griffin remains out for the Pistons due to hamstring and knee issues. There are more touches and opportunities.
However, contract years can be a thing. Talk to executives around the league and they say it’s not so much a player improves his overall level of play as much as he’s motivated not to take nights off. The low-end, bad games tend to fade away, improving overall numbers.
Will a contract year really help Drummond is another question entirely.
Drummond is looking for the max next summer, but the buzz around the league is teams are hesitant to pay that much for a traditional center, one who can’t space the floor on offense and can struggle when pulled out of the paint on defense. Drummond may well be the best player on the market in a down class next July, but in a league where the game is moving away from his style of play how much will another team pay Drummond?
Drummond’s biggest fan may be Pistons’ owner Tom Gores, and when an owner likes a player that player tends to get a player paid to stick around. However, the Pistons have a lot of questions to answer about how they want to build — or rebuild — their team and where Drummond fits into that mix.
