Andre Drummond is back and he’ll yet again fill a massive void for the Sixers’ bench.
Ask most Sixer fans who the best backup big in the Joel Embiid era is and almost every answer will be Andre Drummond. Drummond’s tenure with the Sixers was brief, roughly half a season, but his impact was substantial. Fast forward several seasons, and he’s back in Philadelphia on a brand new $10 million, two-year deal.
The Sixers clearly value what Drummond brings, as reflected by a hefty payday. His value will shine brightest when Embiid sits, as he’s a double-double machine when given extended playing time. He’s an ‘inning-eater’ if you will, capable of soaking up minutes and producing.
Coming into this season, Drummond is the clear cut backup center behind Joel Embiid. In his last stint (with a different, not-to-be named coach), he averaged 18.4 minutes per game. It’s likely Drummond’s playing time and role will be very similar to what we saw in the 2021-22 season: stabilize the defense while Embiid rests, produce when called upon, and limit offensive rebounds.
Speaking of rebounds, Drummond is a historically good rebounder — which is a department the Sixers struggled mightily in during their postseason series against the New York Knicks. Drummond alone won’t solve all issues here, but he should be a drastic upgrade over Paul Reed.
There’s only two real areas of concern with Drummond: his postseason playability and the fact that he can’t actually play alongside Embiid. In a perfect world, you’d have a backup five that could play with and without Embiid. That isn’t an option with Drummond. Outside of that is just exactly how playable Drummond is in the postseason. While this is a valid concern, realistically Drummond just needs to stay afloat for 10-15 minutes tops. Should be doable, right?
Without getting too far ahead of myself, bringing back Andre Drummond is one of the bigger underlying storylines of the offseason. It will pay dividends when/if Joel Embiid sits, and allow him to hopefully be as healthy as possible for when playoff basketball comes around. They haven’t had this luxury since Drummond was here, and have missed it since he left. He undoubtedly raises their regular season floor, which in theory should improve their postseason odds.