Andre Drummond Shrugs Off Big Performance in Sixers Preseason Debut

After losing Dwight Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers in free agency this offseason, the Sixers went on the hunt for their next primary backup to the All-Star starter, Joel Embiid. After free agency opened up, the 76ers landed on Andre Drummond.

The former 9th overall pick has quite the history in the NBA. Being in the league since 2012, Drummond has led the NBA in rebounds in four seasons and cracked the All-Star game twice. While he's no longer viewed as a starter in this league, Drummond is looking to change that narrative -- and he got off to a stellar start on Monday.

With Embiid resting for the night, the Sixers inserted Andre Drummond into the starting lineup in the preseason opener against the Toronto Raptors. The 28-year-old center clocked in for nearly 25 minutes and had himself a vintage performance.

Draining six of his nine shots from the field and hitting on seven of his eight free-throw attempts, Drummond led the Sixers in scoring with 19 total points. In addition to his scoring, he collected 14 rebounds, securing the double-double while also blocking four shots on defense.

To say that Drummond was the shining star for the Sixers on Monday is an understatement. Regardless of how he looked on a personal level, though, the veteran big man wasn't collecting any moral victories. As the Sixers fell way short in their first preseason game, Drummond didn't feel a need to celebrate his own wins.

"My performance? We lost," Drummond said following the game. "I'm here for one reason and one reason only, and that's to help this team in any capacity. Just to play hard on both ends of the court, give it all I have, and to play till exhaustion."

Some might say that since it's a preseason game, it doesn't really matter what the final results are. While that's technically true, it hasn't changed Drummond's thoughts on the way the game went on Monday night.

"Obviously, we didn't get the win," he continued. "We wanna win every game despite it being an exhibition game. We want to establish our identity right here and right now. So, we got some work to do. Me individually, I played the best that I could. I had fun while I was out there. I played like myself, and I enjoyed playing."

Outside of Drummond's monster performance, the Sixers couldn't overcome the Raptors. Being down by as much as 30 at one point, the Sixers never really felt in control against the Raptors. By the time the exhibition match wrapped up, the 76ers fell short, losing 123-107, advancing to 0-1 in the preseason.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.