Philadelphia 76ers fans quickly wrote off Andre Drummond after an underwhelming 2024-25 season in which he posted a career-low points per game. But, his recent play has given the fandom reason to reconsider.
Drummond posted 12 points on 5-6 shooting from the field and 11 rebounds in the 76ers’ 114-105 loss to the Detroit Pistons on Friday night. This marks the third consecutive game where he notched a double-double. Drummond continues to offer solid offensive production amidst Joel Embiid’s absence and Adem Bona’s struggles.
Bouncing back
Philadelphia went through the full Drummond experience tonight, but the positives outweighed the negatives.
He collected rebounds on both ends of the court as four of his nine rebounds came from the offensive glass – resulting in two putback layups. Drummond honed in on his interior touch this year, shooting 65.4% from the field in his last three games. He had many flaws last season, but his inefficiency at the rim was perhaps the most frustrating. Drummond converted just 58.2% of his shots from within three feet of the basket in 2024-25.
His drop coverage enticed the Pistons to exploit him in pick-and-rolls, which is an issue that has plagued him throughout his 14-year career. Drummond also posted three turnovers to just two assists. He’s been a quality innings-eater nevertheless between his rebounding and improved inside scoring, which is something that couldn’t be said in the previous campaign.
Drummond for three?
What’s most intriguing is Drummond’s newfound three-point shooting – finishing the game 2-2 from beyond the arc. Both of those triples came from the corner where the veteran spotted up with confidence. Drummond is averaging 1.2 perimeter attempts per game this season, which is a career-high.
What seemingly started out as a bit is slowly evolving from an unfavorable shot to something that Nick Nurse can live with make or miss. It remains to be seen whether Drummond can maintain his range at 32 years old. If he can be at least a neutral shooter, it would improve Philadelphia’s spacing – giving Tyrese Maxey and others more room to operate in the paint.
Moving forward
Drummond’s recent stretch is reminiscent of his 49-game 76ers tenure in the 2021-22 season. Before Philadelphia traded him to the Brooklyn Nets on February 10th, 2022, he was their best reserve center of the Embiid era. Now competing with Bona for minutes, Drummond may not reach those heights.
But, he’s already on pace to produce more than last season. Drummond averaged 7.3 points per game on 53.5% true-shooting and 7.8 rebounds in 40 games in 2024-25. While his points and rebounds have only increased by 0.3 and 0.8 respectively, he’s impacting the game at a higher level in terms of activity and movement offensively.
He must remain consistent as Philadelphia aims to remain competitive with Embiid – who is day-to-day – missing its last two games because of right knee soreness.