Trading Andre Drummond is a bad idea for Detroit Pistons

Thanks to an injury riddled season, the Detroit Pistons are talking to teams in relation to an Andre Drummond trade. This is a mistake and here is why.

The Detroit Pistons are reportedly talking to teams in regards to a trade involving Andre Drummond. Per Adrian Wojrarowski of ESPN, the Pistons are engaged in talks with the Atlanta Hawks.

However, there is much more noise around the league than just the Hawks. Senior Yahoo writer Vincent Goodwill reports that the Boston Celtics, Dallas Mavericks and the Toronto Raptors all have interest in the best rebounding player of his generation.

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Unless the Pistons get an amount of picks and players similar to the haul the Oklahoma City Thunder got for Paul George, they should not consider it. Drummond is arguably the most valuable player on the roster.

Yes, he has holes in his game. His free throw shooting is not great, but he is improving on that. His career number is 45.8 percent compared to his 2019-20 season 61.4 percent. This means it is no longer possible to force him to sit at the end of games through fouling.

Drummond also does not have a great range on his shot. He is taking 57.9 percent of his shots from inside the restricted area feet, making 68.5 percent of these shots. He is taking 34.7 percent of his shots from three to 10 feet, making 38.8 percent of them. This is against the current trend of stretch 5s in the NBA but that is OK, if you have the right players around you.

What Drummond has is a set of quantifiable skills which can be built around. His scoring is consistent as he has averaged between 13.5 and 17.5 points per game since his rookie year. Drummond’s 2019-20 season average of 17.5 points per game is a career high. He has never shot under 51.4 percent for a season.

As mentioned earlier, Drummond is the best rebounding player of this current generation. He is a four-time rebounding champion and is leading the league again this year with 15.8 per game. His career average is 13.8 per game.

However, it his ability to collect offensive rebounds which separates Drummond from a lot of other centers. He is averaging 4.3 offensive rebounds per game. This means that he is creating between four and five extra attempts on the basket per game.

Add to this Drummond is averaging 2.7 assists per game and we see that he is a key offensive piece. This is his second-highest assists average of his career and well above his career average of 1.2 per game. This shows that he is still developing; in his eighth season.

Then we come to the defensive side of Drummond’s game He has a career defensive rating of 100 points allowed per 100 possessions. This is good for third among active players in the NBA. It is also good for 33rd all-time in the NBA.

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He is able to achieve such a good rating by averaging 1.4 steals and 1.6 blocks per game over his career. On top of that he is a good team defender. In the recently completed loss against the Los Angeles Lakers, he went up to block a shot as a help defender. The ball carrier passed around Drummond to his man for an easy deuce.

As he is taking the ball out to restart play, Drummond can be seen coaching the younger Sekou Doumbouya to come over to cover his man in the paint. This experience is invaluable.

However, why is make the least sense to trade Drummond, even after all the stats and talents that he brings to the team is that he wants to be in a Detroit Pistons uniform. Even through all the down times, Drummond is a Piston at heart.

At 26, Drummond is still learning his craft. Centers take a long time to learn and master their craft and Drummond has done so much in the league for the Pistons already. He is a piece who wants to be there, who the Pistons can build around.

By trading Drummond you are trading a hard-working, once-in-a-generation player who wants to be with the organization. The Detroit Pistons would be making a mistake if they trade Andre Drummond.