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New Chicago Bulls center Andre Drummond caused quite the stir with his recent comments. A two-time All-Star and four-time rebounding champ, Drummond claimed he will go down as the best on the boards when it is all said and done in his career.
He left open the possibility that he could already be considered the greatest, or at least has an argument.
This came amid a message that also signaled Drummond has a lot left in the tank.
But one former Bulls player (and multiple-time champion) has caught wind of Drummond’s claims which led to a bit of a history lesson and possible reality check for the Bulls’ new reserve pivot.
The King Has Spoken
Bulls commentator and three-time champion from the dynasty era Stacey King is a vocal supporter of the team he once played for and now covers. But even he was unable to go along with Drummond’s claims.
King used his “Gimme the Hotsauce” podcast to politely inform Drummond that, while he is an accomplished rebounder, he still has quite a ways to go to claim that mantle.
The former Bulls big man went on to explain that Wilt Chamberlain drew praise from Bill Russell as being the best ever. Co-host Mark Schanowski pointed out that both players averaged over 20 rebounds per year.
King came back with Chamberlain’s ability to change his game beyond rebounding.
“This is a guy when they said, ‘Well, you score too much.’ So he says, ‘You know what, okay. Good. I’m going to lead the league in assists. And he led – as a 7-footer – led the league in assists. And then they said he couldn’t score anymore. And then he went back and led the league in scoring.”
That shows how dominant Chamberlain was, sure. But King went back to Schanowski’s point of Chamberlain also averaging over 20 boards a game for his 14-year career.
A Bulls Killer
King and Schanowski did not stop at naming Chamberlain and Russell. He also named Wes Unseld and King’s former Bulls teammate, Dennis Rodman as those probably higher on the list than Drummond.
But they also had some praise for the 29-year-old big man who began his career with the division-rival Detroit Pistons
“I love the confidence. If you come down here and give me 14, 15 rebounds for the Bulls, and for the Bulls what you did against the Bulls, then we’re in good shape. Because he was a Bulls killer when it came to offensive rebounds…Great offensive rebounder.”
Drummond is 18-17 against the Bulls in his career.
He has averaged 12.8 points and 13.3 rebounds in that span. Nearly 4.5 of those were on the offensive glass which would have been good for second in the NBA last season.
The 10-year veteran averaged 3.9 in a starting role for the Nets in the second half of last season which would have tied him for fourth. Now, he will try to be the complement to starter Nikola Vucevic that Bulls general manager Marc Eversley spoke of on draft night, albeit in an unconventional sense.
Drummond’s Impact on Bulls
The 6-foot-10, 279-pound Drummond ranked in the 37th percentile for post defense among bigs, per Basketball Index. That is the exact same as Vucevic. However, while he’s not exactly a shot blocker (1.5 blocks per game in his career), he did rank in the 68th percentile in rim protection.
Vuevic ranked just outside of the 42nd percentile so Eversley’s assertion did come to fruition in finding a complement for their two-time All-Star.
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Drummond is a two-time All-Star and even made an All-NBA team in 2016.
He is not going to be asked to do nearly as much for the Bulls as he was for the Nets last season. And, though his status as the G.O.A.T rebounder may be up for debate, his ability to positively impact the Bulls should not be.
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