The Chicago Bulls and San Antonio Spurs have not even faced each other during Summer League in Las Vegas.
And yet, Bulls center Andre Drummond found himself getting dragged into the discourse over Spurs rookie and No. 1 overall pick of the 2023 NBA draft, Victor Wembayama, the 7-foot-4 phenom some have called the most-hyped prospect ever.
Others simply consider him overhyped.
“Yes, Victor Wembanyama had a much better game today,” wrote Jay King of The Athletic on July 9. “He still missed five free throws in a game his team lost by, you guessed it, five points. He’s been advertised as the best prospect of a generation but all I see is malnourished Andre Drummond.”
Wembanyama’s pro debut was rough by his own admission, with the 19-year-old saying, “I didn’t really know what I was doing” after going 2-for-13 with nine points.
He did snag eight rebounds and five blocks. But, to King and Wembayama’s point, the bar has been set much higher than looking for silver linings, and the Frenchman would provide just that in his second outing.
27 PTS | 12 REB | 3 BLK
Wemby x #PhantomCam
In a fitting fashion that showcased his diverse skill set, Wembanyama sunk a three for his final basket of the night.
He was 9-for-14 from the floor and 2-for-4 from beyond the arc.
But, alas, he did miss those five free throws, going 7-for-12 at the charity stripe. Perhaps even more to the issue, while he did have 10 points on 4-for-5 shooting overall and 2-for-3 from deep, he did not shoot a single free throw in the fourth quarter.
Summer league can be a time for second-year players to look like they are the best players on the floor while youngsters can flash more than they sustain any level of production, and neither scenario has much bearing on how they will be as pros. Prospects are operating in roles that most of them won’t occupy once the regular season begins.
Still, while comparing Wembanyama to the Bulls’ backup pivot was meant to be a slight to the youngster, it really sells both players short.
Andre Drummond Survived a Changing NBA
Drummond, 29, averaged 6.0 points and 6.6 rebounds this past season, both of which were career-low marks. He averaged fewer than 13 minutes per game, also a career-worst benchmark for the former two-time All-Star.
But Drummond would be the first to say that he is, not only still a starting-caliber center in an NBA that has mostly passed players with his skill set by, but that he is also one of the best ever.
“I am the best ever,” Drummond told former NFL wide receiver Brandon Marshall on the ‘Paper Route’ podcast in June. “I’ve done my homework, I’ve done my work, I’ve done everything statistically. And I think statistically, if you look at it, I think percentage-wise I am No. 1 historically. So there’s that.”
Drummond has led the NBA in rebounding four times in his career: first in 2015-16 and then for three consecutive seasons from 2017-18 through 2019-20.
He indeed sits atop the rebounding percentage leaderboard, per Basketball-Reference.
Don’t forget about Dre @AndreDrummond
Drummond does not space the floor despite flashes to the contrary, taking just 14 of his 117 career three-pointers over the last three seasons, and is more of a big-bodied presence than a rim protector defensively. But his value is clear whenever he’s on the floor, provided he is surrounded by the proper talent on both ends of the floor.
Drummond picked up the option on the second year of his two-year, $6.6 million contract despite some late speculation that he could change his mind and bolt for the Dallas Mavericks in free agency.
Perhaps the Bulls – who ranked 22nd in total rebounding and 30th in second-chance points this past season – and, namely, head coach Billy Donovan would be wise to get Drummond on the floor more next season. Although, that is tougher to do with a starting center in Nikola Vucevic who misses so little time.
Billy Donovan Is Bulls’ ‘Problem’
The fact of the matter is, it is up to Donovan to maximize the roster that he is given, and there is some strong pushback against that being the case.
“They’ve avoided that hard look in the mirror and still act as if there isn’t a singular existing problem,” wrote Scoop Jackson for the Chicago Sun-Times on July 9. “The Bulls have a Billy Donovan problem. Full stop. But it won’t stop.”
Donovan was handed a multi-year extension before the season.
He has a 117-119 record as the Bulls’ head coach but is 86-78 over the last two seasons as the organization has tried to be competitive. By running largely the same roster back for the third season in a row, the front office headed by executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas, is seemingly putting the onus on Donovan to figure it out.
Karnisovas also received an extension amid uncertainty about the direction of the franchise. He too must be in the crosshairs then since he hired Donovan and built the roster.
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Bulls’ Former All-Star Catches Stray in Criticism of Victor Wembanyama