Andre Drummond thought he was being pranked when he heard about the trade to the Cavaliers, but now he’s excited for the opportunity, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Drummond went through his first practice with the team yesterday and is expected to make his debut tonight.
“I was truly excited to be somewhere I’m wanted, really happy to start a new chapter here,” he said. “I’m just looking forward to being with the guys. I’m just looking forward to playing in a Cleveland Cavalier jersey. Everything happens for a reason. I look at it as a bright note for me, for my family to start somewhere new and be with a great group of guys.”
Drummond quickly acclimated himself to his new surroundings, Fedor states. His new teammates were welcoming, including Tristan Thompson, who will move to the bench as Drummond becomes the starting center.
“I’m not taking anybody’s job, I’m just here to play,” Drummond said. “I didn’t come here expecting anything. I’m just here to do my job, whatever they need me to do, I’ll get it done.”
There’s more from Cleveland:
- The chance to add Drummond didn’t arise until Wednesday night, Fedor relays in a separate story. Cavs general manager Koby Altman told his staff to think about it overnight, and the consensus was that the price — the expiring contracts of John Henson and Brandon Knight plus a future second-round pick — was too good to refuse. “I’m sure Detroit has a plan in place in terms of what they want to do either with their cap space or with their future trajectory as a franchise, but our job is to make sure we’re exploring every opportunity out there and making sure we’re doing what’s best for our franchise,” Altman said. “Adding a talent of this magnitude is something that we couldn’t pass up and he also fits our timeline in terms of his age — he’s 26 years old — so he fits with some of our younger guys.”
- As Clippers assistant Tyronn Lue prepares to return to Cleveland tonight, he tells Joe Vardon of The Athletic that he wishes he could still be coaching the Cavaliers. “What I tried to build there, I think the culture I tried to set … I thought we could do it together,” Lue said. “Koby being a young GM, me being a young coach, having young players. I won a championship there, so you have a chance and an opportunity to do something different, and you should have that leeway to be able to go through a couple challenging years. To win a championship and go to the (NBA) Finals should buy you a little time, you would think.”
- Jason Lloyd of The Athletic examines why the Cavs have struggled so much after losing LeBron James for a second time, when they were believed to be in a better position than in 2010.
As a pistons fan I already think we won the trade just in the fact that he isn’t going to opt in for 28.3 million on our cap next season. Hope cavs fans enjoy him
Really?
Yup because now Pistons can make a big offer to VanVleet who is a far better player and worth the money we would have had to give Drummond.
All that does is force Toronto to match your offer at worst.
Fvv not going to Detroit
Who else are you going to get? No good free agents are going to come to Detroit.
Detroit will sign Fred Vanvleet as a restricted free agent. Toronto won’t match any high offer on him and now without Drummond Detroit can make a significant offer and Fred wants to reunite with dwane Casey who was the first coach to believe in him after he went undrafted and helped develope him into the player he is now. And Detroit will resign Christian wood at center for 8-10 mil a year and he will average 16 and 10 instead of Drummonds 18 and 16. So Detroit gets Vanvleet and Wood for the same price(Or lees) then Drummond and way way more production
Maybe if Detroit maxes him out. Even then, don’t see how that fits their plan to develop young talent.
They’re better off using cap space to collect bad contracts in exchange for draft picks, and or to facilitate trades.
Vanvleet is unrestricted he can go where he wants. Furthermore he played undrr Casey first 2 seasons. VanVleet is exactly the kind of player detroit needs. 26 in Prime. Worthmax contract. Wont have to move far. I think it is very likely theylad him fora max deal.
Vanvleet is a Raptor for life. He’ll retire here and pass Lowry in all time stats in about 4 or 5 years
Man Detroit is a mess! Glad I’m not a pistons fan.
Not a mess at all. New front office trying to get rid of all stan Van Gundy era players.
Exactly! SVG ruined this team. I like Drummond, but he needed to be traded. The contract is crippling (as is Griffins).
Quite an an interview with Ty Lue. He was fired to quickly after Lebron left with Altman getting the blame here.