CAMDEN, NJ — The Philadelphia 76ers had a busy offseason as president of basketball operations Daryl Morey took benefit of the cap house he had. Whereas the headliner is clearly Paul George, the Sixers have additionally added some key gamers like Andre Drummond, for instance.
The Sixers wanted a backup heart. Backup 5 has been a place of want since Joel Embiid made his debut in the course of the 2016-17 season and Morey and coach Nick Nurse knew it wanted to be fastened. Drummond was in Philadelphia in the course of the 2021-22 season earlier than being despatched to the Brooklyn Nets as a part of the James Harden commerce and is now again with the Sixers in the course of the free company interval.
Drummond averaged 9.0 factors and 12.4 rebounds in the course of the preseason schedule whereas additionally hitting a couple of triples and he caught Nurse’s eye.
“Pay attention, Drum is taking part in very well,” Nurse mentioned at follow Monday. “He is in actually good condition. He is consuming the glass as finest he can at a really excessive stage. He is taking part in very well. I am not too involved concerning the experiences if he simply needs to seize 15 to twenty rebounds right here and there., I feel every thing can be high-quality. We’ll take this from him.
Drummond has an innate skill to rebound the basketball at such a excessive stage. If he is on the market, then there’s an excellent probability he’ll take over the board irrespective of who’s combating towards him. That’s what Tyrese Maxey realized from the two-time All-Star courting again to his earlier stint in Philadelphia.
“It goes again to my second yr within the league,” Maxey recalled. “I simply keep in mind there have been instances when an enormous man wasn’t taking part in and I used to be beginning at level guard, and Andre Drummond was like, ‘Hey, hear, you are going to have 30 tonight and we will do it .” I’ll arrange screens for you each time. In the event that they go down, you exit and shoot them, get previous them and shoot a layup. -dip it in.'”
Now that Maxey himself has taken massive steps ahead, Drummond understands he can do much more for Philadelphia. The UConn veteran massive is aware of he can roll, catch a lob, run completely different schemes with it, and each can simply develop.
“He was like, ‘Man, you are able to do so many alternative issues now off ball screens. And I will open you up, so simply discover a shot for your self, discover a shot on your teammates or for (me) with the lob. And we’ll go from there,” Maxey added. “He is been nice. He is been nice and we recognize him.”
The Sixers open the season Wednesday towards the Milwaukee Bucks and can rely on Drummond to play an enormous position within the contest.
This text was initially revealed on Sixers Wire: Sixers acknowledge Andre Drummond for his work in preseason and follow
