Andre Drummond wants to do more.
As the backup center for the Chicago Bulls, he knows his contributions will be restricted by coming off the bench. But as he averages 13.1 minutes per game, Drummond is trying not to grow frustrated with his limited playing time.
Drummond won’t offer outright criticism. When asked if he has requested more minutes from Donovan, Drummond said he would “prefer not to answer.” But he was open about the fact he feels he could be doing more to help the Bulls.
“I’m doing what I can with the minutes I get,” Drummond said. “I’m just making the best of it. For me it’s never easy. But at the end of the day, I’ve got to look at the bigger picture. Coach sees something that he believes will work for the team to help us win. I’m all for it. My job is to be as supportive as possible for those guys who are in the game.”
In a game such as Thursday’s overtime win against the Milwaukee Bucks, it’s clear the value Drummond can bring off the bench. He logged 10 points and 14 rebounds in 13 minutes, 29 seconds. More importantly, he delivered well-timed screens that sprang guards to create a more free-flowing offense — something the Bulls have been chasing all season.
But when the full roster is available, Drummond often makes do with much less. When the Bulls went down by 18 in the second half of last week’s loss to the Toronto Raptors, Donovan pulled Drummond aside to explain that he needed to give his already-limited bench minutes to the younger players.
“It’s not anything you didn’t do,” Donovan told Drummond, explaining that he needed to use the loss to run out players such as rookie Julian Phillips. But it was still frustrating.
Donovan understands why Drummond wants to play more. And he’s open to retooling the rotation, a flexibility that has been clear as he continues to change lineups and playing groups. But for Donovan, finding the best version of the Bulls often means playing Drummond for 14 minutes or less.
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“For a guy like Andre, there’s a lot to swallow there,” Donovan said.
Even on that short rotation, Drummond is clearly integral to the Bulls in certain areas.
He’s the best big man in the league at stealing the ball, registering a 3.7% steal rate, according to Cleaning the Glass. And Drummond remains an undeniably elite rebounder, ranking second in offensive rebounding percentage among other bigs while averaging 17.6 rebounds per 100 minutes — the most on the Bulls.
But Drummond’s weak points also hamper his ability to break out of his role. Opponents shoot 85.7% over him at the rim, the second-lowest defensive efficiency rate in the league.
Most detrimentally, Drummond can’t consistently contribute to the Bulls scoring because of his finishing. He’s in the bottom 20 of all bigs in the NBA at rim finishing, making only 62% of his shots. This is a widespread issue for the Bulls — starting center Nikola Vučević makes only 61% of his shots at the rim, the 10th worst in the league.
And Drummond’s free-throw shooting is so inconsistent that the Boston Celtics resorted to purposefully fouling him Tuesday to help boost their point differential for the In-Season Tournament.
Donovan emphasized finishing as a key for Drummond in the offseason, but it’s an area of his game that continues to be unreliable.
“The biggest thing for him is just the consistency,” Donovan said. “When he’s consistently doing those things on a regular basis for us, it really impacts our team.”
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This isn’t the season Drummond was expecting when he signed a two-year, $6.6 million deal this summer.
Drummond feels he still can be a starter in the NBA, but he knew that re-signing with the Bulls would mean accepting a role off the bench. And last season, that role was rarely predictable — Drummond would log 18 minutes in per game, then watch from the sideline as a healthy scratch a week later.
Despite the inconsistency, Drummond returned for a simple reason: He felt he had unfinished business in Chicago.
“Last year I felt like I didn’t really get a good chance to fit in with the guys and the system,” Drummond said. “I just wanted to take a chance on really seeing what I could do to help this team win.”
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Fitting Drummond inalways was going to require balance — after all, he’s a diametrically different style of center than Vučević, which means the Bulls have to play a different style when he’s on the court.
Donovan recognizes that Drummond’s version of a big man is becoming less popular in the league. But even as he keeps the center on a shorter rotation, Donovan feels he can continue to find better ways to utilize Vučević this season.
“I do really believe there’s a place in the NBA, even for us, for Andre with what he does,” Donovan said. “A lot times you look at (Nikola) Jokić, you look at Vooch, you look at (Joel) Embiid, you see these guys jacking up 3s. But … you still need to play pick-and-roll, you still need to rebound, you still need to rim protect the basket, you still need a rolling presence. And he can do all those things at an elite level.”