Andre Drummond will earn almost $3.3 million next season, his fourth, which is not insubstantial.
It’s just going to look like chump change compared to what he’ll earn in 2016-17.
The almost-22-year-old is eligible to sign an extension with the Detroit Pistons. If he doesn’t ink one, he’ll become a restricted free agent next summer. Whenever he signs his next contract doesn’t matter, though. Maybe the Pistons get this out of the way now, before the 2015-16 season. Or perhaps they wait until next summer, electing to play the cap-hold game as they chase free agents.
Either way, Drummond, barring injury, will at some point be the proud owner of a super-max deal.
Yeah, the salary cap is about to explode, and that matters. But it also doesn’t. Drummond is a max-level player for other reasons, something Zach Lowe expanded upon for Grantland:
Scene from Stan Van Gundy’s office, sometime in early October …
Van Gundy: “Hey, guys. We adore Andre. He’s our guy. But we’d love to keep a bit more cap room, so it would help us if Andre would take …
Jeff Schwartz (Drummond’s agent): “Wait, wait. The team’s owner already publicly called Andre a ‘maximum player.’ We really going to do this?”
SVG: “Crap. I was hoping nobody saw that.”
Van Gundy knows that free agents aren’t dying to come to Detroit, so he has prioritized taking care of the good players already there. Detroit could tack on an extra fifth season to Drummond’s extension by naming him its one-time-only “designated player,” a move that requires Detroit to offer the full max.
A dearth of free-agent appeal certainly increases Drummond’s value to the Pistons. Beyond even that, though, his numbers still warrant max consideration.
He needs to polish his post game, learn how to pass in general and make smarter decisions when protecting the rim, but Drummond is nevertheless a statistical superhero—the type of big man who, assuming growth, you can build around, even at a time when teams aren’t building around bigs.
Riffing on this led me to try a little Twitter experiment.
Ahem:
5 #NBA players have averaged >20PTS, 15REB and 3BLK per 100 poss. through their first 3 years (min. 6,000 minutes). Name as many as you can.
— Dan Favale (@danfavale) August 5, 2015
This is relevant because of some of the answers that were given. Most of them were wrong, but all the responses highlighted players with serious talent.
Ahem, again:
@danfavale hakeem, shaq, kareem, wilt, i can't think of another one..
— @NYKTalk (@NYKTalk) August 5, 2015
@danfavale Shaq, Anthony Davis, Hakeem, Wilt and Kareem?
— Alec Nathan (@AlecBNathan) August 5, 2015
@danfavale W.Chamberlain
— Monsieur NON (@Sir_Nope) August 5, 2015
@danfavale i really can't think of any other. maybe walt bellamy? bill walton?
— @NYKTalk (@NYKTalk) August 5, 2015
@danfavale Yao?
— Monsieur NON (@Sir_Nope) August 5, 2015
@danfavale Ewing?
— Monsieur NON (@Sir_Nope) August 5, 2015
@danfavale Anyone say The Admiral or Timmy D?
— Dave Leonardis (@FrontPageDave) August 5, 2015
@danfavale oscar, duncan?
— Contrarian (@girishram11) August 5, 2015
@danfavale @SixthManJared Brook Lopez? Dwight Howard?
— Garrett Beecher (@SixthManGarrett) August 5, 2015
By session’s end four of the correct names were guessed: Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Shaquille O’Neal and Hakeem Olajuwon.
The fifth member of this list?
Drummond.
So let’s go back to the bargaining table, shall we?
SVG: So, Andre, how about a discounted extension?
*AD slides piece of paper across table*
SVG: So that’s a firm no? pic.twitter.com/FbSi5ZCxMv
— Dan Favale (@danfavale) August 6, 2015
Drummond admittedly played fewer minutes than any of his four comrades, but he also averaged more rebounds per 100 possessions than any of them, per Basketball-Reference. Merely joining four legends is impressive enough anyway.
It doesn’t mean that he shares their trajectory. Each of them was more polished than him offensively. But the numbers speak for themselves, and the uber-athletic Drummond, while likely not a future Hall of Famer, will be the proud owner of a max deal to start the 2016-17 season.
