Former Pistons Star Puts on a Familiar Elite Performance

Former Detroit Pistons star Andre Drummonds still has it on the glass.

Not that there was much doubt about Drummond’s rebounding ability at this point in his career, but an elite performance in the category on Wednesday night showed that the veteran center still holds a ton of value at the position well beyond his years as a Pistons All-Star.

When the Pistons paid a visit to Drummond’s Chicago Bulls on Tuesday night, the veteran center came off the bench for 28 minutes. During that time, he made 64 percent of his field goals, leading Chicago’s bench in scoring with 20 points. Drummond made it a double-double as he collected 11 rebounds in the Bulls’ loss to the Pistons.

Looking at a back-to-back set, the Bulls then hosted the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday. Drummond collected his tenth start of the season and had a 36-minute shift ahead of him.

The former Detroit star took advantage of every minute. Offensively, he found success on eight of his 12 shots from the field, scoring 17 points.

On the glass, Drummond dominated by coming down with 26 rebounds. The performance marked the ninth time he produced at least 25 rebounds in a single game. Six of those performances happened when he was donning a Pistons uniform.

Back in 2012, Drummond was the ninth overall pick for the Pistons out of UConn. He spent eight years with the franchise, proving to be one of the NBA’s elite rebounders.

In a starting position with the Pistons, Drummond managed to lead the league in rebounds per game throughout four seasons, including his final run in 2019-2020, before he was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers midway through the year.

While Drummond hasn’t reached All-Star status since his 2018 run with the Pistons, he continues to remain productive at age 30 in a reduced role on the Bulls. With the big man set to become a free agent after two seasons in Chicago, Drummond could be one of the league’s hottest names in the center category on the open market.

In 59 games, Drummond averaged 17 minutes on the floor. During that time, he’s been able to produce nine points per game while grabbing nine rebounds per outing.