Charlotte Hornets: Should Charlotte roll the dice on these free agents?

Andre Drummond

Andre Drummond has a player option with Cleveland that he already signaled he intends to take during an exclusive interview on Jon “Stugotz” Weiner’s podcast Stupodity. And why wouldn’t he with $28.7 million sitting on the table?

But let’s imagine somehow Cleveland pulls a fast one, as Danny Ainge did with Al Horford, and convinces Drummond to test the market. He would almost single-handedly solve the Hornets’ problems on the boards.

Charlotte ranked near the bottom of the league on the glass last season with only 42.8 total rebounds per game. Only four teams were worse and none of them sniffed the playoffs.

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Drummond is a double-double machine and averages 13.8 RPG for his career. He’s even capable of a 20-20 game here and there. Most importantly is the second chance opportunities he can create for a team that needs all the possessions it can get.

So how would Drummond fit? Well, he doesn’t need the offense to run through him in any sense. He feeds off the dirty work. He also greatly improves Charlotte’s interior defense. As Matthew Hallett of HoopsHabit notes, Drummond allows 100 points per 100 possessions which is third among active players.

Of course, there’s always a trade-off. The league has largely left players of Drummond’s archetype in the past for a reason. As a physically big, teams are going to send him to the line rather than let him drop bunnies all day. In 2018-19, Drummond was seventh in free throw attempts among centers.

The problem is he is dreadful at the line. The second-chance points he gives you — well he gives some of those back. You can picture him being the highest-paid frontcourt player on this team AND watching Cody Zeller and P.J. Washington finish games.

But hey, you’ll feel good about the first three quarters!

It’s more likely Drummond falls under Mitch Kupchak’s criteria of taking a bad contract for future cap relief and picks, as Rick Bonnell reports, rather than an outright free-agent pickup.