Andre Drummond Is Making the Minimum Look Like a Steal

The preseason finale on Thursday night was supposed to be about the starters finally playing real minutes together. Then Andre Drummond came off the bench and put up 14 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists in 15 minutes on 6 of 7 shooting, and the backup center became the story of the night.

Zoom out and the whole preseason reads the same way. Drummond finished it with 26 rebounds and 9 assists in about 59 total minutes. That works out to roughly 16 rebounds and 5 assists per 36 minutes, off the bench, from a guy the Knicks signed for almost nothing. The passing is the part that changes the offense. Mike Brown talked in camp about running the second unit through Drummond at the elbow, and it is already showing up. Last season the offense stalled when Brunson sat. This preseason the bench produced, and a lot of it started with the ball in Drummond's hands up top.

The scoring is not even what Brown keeps talking about. After the Minnesota game, Brown raved about Drummond's communication on defense, called it "unbelievable" and "off the charts," and pointed out that the big is the quarterback of the defense because he sees everything in front of him. That matters for a second unit that needs an organizer behind it.

People talk about Drummond like he is washed. The resume says otherwise. Four rebounding titles. Two All-Star selections. An All-NBA team. More than 11,500 career rebounds, top 30 in league history, and just under 4,000 offensive rebounds, top 10 ever. And last season in Philadelphia he added something nobody saw coming. Drummond made 18 three-pointers in his first 13 seasons combined. Then he made 32 last season at 35.6 percent, including a dagger late in the play-in win over Orlando. He told James Edwards III of The Athletic he has been a "master at what I do." Hard to argue with the tape right now.

None of this is a knock on Mitch the player. When he was on the floor he changed games, and nobody here forgets the title run. But the availability was always the tax. In his last four seasons in New York he played 167 of a possible 328 games. And the free throws never came around. He is a career 50.8 percent shooter from the line and shot 40.8 percent last season. Drummond is nobody's idea of a free throw shooter either, and he hit 63.1 percent of his last season. Boston knows the Mitch problem better than anyone. Joe Mazzulla used to foul him on purpose, and when the Celtics signed him, Joe Mazzulla joked, "I'm upset we're not gonna be able to foul him anymore." Even Mitch seems at peace with how it played out. He gave Drummond his approval this month and said the Knicks are getting toughness and rebounding.

Now put the two contracts next to each other. Mitchell Robinson left for Boston on a three-year, $47.4 million deal, about $15.8 million a year, to back up Neemias Queta. The Knicks signed Drummond to a one-year minimum deal, first reported Shams Charania at $3.9 million, and because of how the minimum exception works he only counts $2.45 million against the cap. In the second apron era, that difference is not a footnote. It is the whole ballgame. The Knicks are at this very moment trying to find the room to keep both James Wiseman and Bruce Brown, and the math is that tight because every dollar on this roster is accounted for. Paying Mitch would have blown the structure up.

Now the honest part. It is preseason. Four games, short minutes, and plenty of it against backups. Drummond is 33, and there will be nights this winter when he looks it. Nobody should crown a minimum signing in October. But through four games, the bet the front office made is sitting right there in the numbers. They let Mitch walk, replaced him for a $2.45 million cap hit, and the backup center spot has been one of the best things about this team all preseason. We will see if it holds up when it counts. Banner night is Tuesday, and that is when it starts for real.