There’s a lot of speculation about Andre Drummond‘s future in Cleveland, but Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff told Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com that the team is “planning for the future with him.” Drummond is expected to pick up his $28.7MM option for next season, which may cause the Cavs to look at trade possibilities before he becomes an unrestricted free agent next summer.
Bickerstaff and Drummond didn’t get much time to know each other before the league went on hiatus. Bickerstaff moved into the head coaching role in mid-February and led the team to a 5-6 record in 11 games. Drummond was acquired from the Pistons at the trade deadline and appeared in just eight games before the shutdown. Bickerstaff emphasized that he hasn’t talked directly to Drummond about his plans, but he is preparing to have the center on the roster when training camp begins.
“I have not asked him, ‘Hey man, are you opting in or opting out?’ But the conversations we’ve had have been positive,” Bickerstaff said. “Indirectly those conversations have been about the future, what next year is going to look like, how he wants to be part of the team and how we can use him effectively and all those things. He’s going to make his choice known whenever he’s going to make his choice known. I know he’s made public comments. We’ve had no conversations about him not being here and we’ve been planning for the future with him.
Bickerstaff touched on numerous topics with Fedor, including:
Preparing for the start of next season:
- “The plan is kind of up in the air, but when you think of our guys we want them living with a baseline, whether it’s conditioning, skill workout, playing 5-on-5. We need a date so that we know when we are going to ramp up, but we also can’t get so far in a hole that we can’t get there safely because we don’t want injuries and those types of things to happen. For us, the most important thing is continuing to build that chemistry and the conversations we have and the moments we have, that’s just as important for us, if not more, than a rep on the court. We want to build a group of guys who are willing to sacrifice for one another, who care enough about each other that they can put personal things to the side in order to build what’s best for the team.”
The restrictions placed on the eight teams that didn’t play in Orlando:
- “We would love to just play 1-on-1 sometimes with our guys. We would love to have Larry Nance Jr. guard Darius Garland or have Collin Sexton guard Kevin Love. We would love to be able to do those things. But we can’t because of safety. And we understand 100 percent. But we would still love to be able to do these things and we think that helps in development. How can Collin and Kevin develop a relationship or chemistry in the pick and roll if they aren’t allowed to be on the same court as one another?”
The difficulty of preparing for the draft without in-person workouts:
- “Let’s say a guy plays in a smaller conference and he’s 6-7 but he looks 6-11, how big is he? How thick is he? How fast does he move? When you’re watching him and he’s working with whoever, can he listen? Whatever the drill that is being explained to him, can he pick that up? Those are all things you can’t necessarily see on tape. You don’t know what coaches are running and you don’t know what defensive schemes are being run or how they’re teaching it. So, to not be able to see that in person has been a disadvantage with all this going on, but hopefully with the league’s rules changing we are going to be able to see more of them if they allow us.”
The quality of this year’s draft:
- “I think we are going to get a good player. I think there are a lot of guys with talent, with a great foundation, and then it’s a matter of what we do with them, right? Our player development group is second to none. We have guys that can make players of all sizes, skill sets, positions, better. That’s what you are dealt. Then, what do you make of that situation? You can easily say, ‘Oh it’s a weak draft so we expect these guys to fail.’ That’s the wrong approach. There are guys with talent, there are guys who have a high baseline and now it’s our job to make them better. That’s the approach that we are taking.”
Makes no difference, Drummond is overpaid for what he does.
He isn’t… at all!
Yes, he is. No wonder the Cavs are planning to have Drummond, because there’s no way in the world he would opt out of that contract.
He is never going to see a contract even approaching his current one.
Looking forward to seeing if this Cavs team can improve this season.
Is this one of the deepest draft in the nba history?
RJ Hampton
Projected 5th pick last year
Projected 25th this year
Knicks view Cole Anthony as a franchise player, plan to pick him at 27th.
Weak big man draft?
Are Wiseman and Okongwu the top 2 defenders for the past 5 nba drafts?
Hampton isn’t 20 spots lower this year because there are 20 extra better players in this year’s draft, it’s because his play was not as good as expected (when playing this year in Australia).
It happens regularly – prime example – Joakim Noah would’ve been number 1 pick in the ’06 draft but then went number 9 the next year because he didn’t play as well in college the next year
“Is this one of the deepest draft in the nba history?”
No.
Sometimes I wonder if you are inhaling aerosols.
Bad thing is, from this point on, the drafts aren’t getting any better. Sure, Bates is a player, but he won’t be a franchise-changer, either.
LeBron and other good (hell, decent) vets will be able to play forever because the young guys coming in aren’t any good.
Drummond is good at what he does, grab boards. This is useful to a team who has a team of chuckers. If the Cavs keep their current crew, he might end up breaking rebounding records simply because of opportunities.
That doesn’t mean they are building the team around him, it just means they have a use for his talents, and have decided to build a team around volume shooters. Not a terrible strategy in the East, but probably not going to improve them enough to pay him the kind of money he is getting now.
Watch him be an assist guy. The job is open, he could use that on his resumae, and he’s supposed to be a good passer but got repurposed when Griffin arrived.
But at least stevep4 isn’t blaming him for his salary even though this was already established when hecwas traded for.