Philadelphia 76ers: Give Andre Drummond the start vs. Detroit

Well, after four Philadelphia 76ers games worth of speculation, the cat is officially out of the bag: Joel Embiid’s knee is not 100 percent.

I know, I know, deja vu all over again, am I right? After watching Embiid suffer through a torn meniscus during the team’s playoff run, the idea of an unfortunate sequel to that brutal escapade feels like a cruel joke by the basketball gods.

After all, what is being a Philadelphia sports fan but suffering?

Now personally, I commend Embiid for fighting it out after bumping knees with Jonas Valančiūnas in New Orleans, I really do. Being down Ben Simmons already shrinks the team’s margin for victory significantly- even if he doesn’t help with their closing issues – and having Embiid on the court unquestionably makes the team better, but if he can’t play near 100 percent, that “unquestionable fact” becomes more and more up for debate.

But what are the Philadelphia 76ers to do? They need to ride Joel Embiid harder than last year without Ben Simmons to remain competitive, but can’t do so at the expense of a knee that could take a turn for the worse from over-use.

Well, starting Andre Drummond vs. Detroit would certainly be a good place to start.

The Philadelphia 76ers need to run through Andre Drummond in Detroit.

Once upon a time, Andre Drummond looked like the Detroit Pistons’ franchise player.

He was drafted by the team ninth overall in the 2012 NBA Draft, signed a five-year, $127 million max contract extension with the team in 2016 and ultimately earned two All-Star appearances, four rebound titles, and a spot on the All-NBA team in 2016.

And in 2020, the Pistons awarded Drummond’s efforts by trading him to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Brandon Knight, John Henson, and a 2023 second-round draft pick.

Now granted, the Pistons did try to build a winner around Drummond. They traded/extended Reggie Jackson, hired former Coach of the Year Dwane Casey, and even traded Tobias Harris, Boban Marjanović, Avery Bradley, and picks to Doc Rivers and the Los Angeles Clippers for Blake Griffin.

It just never worked.

Over Drummond’s tenure in Detroit, the Pistons made the playoffs twice, once in 2016 and again in 2019, and were bounced in the first round on both occasions. Even with Drummond averaging 14.4 points and 13.7 rebounds a night over his almost eight season tenure with the Pistons, the team ultimately accepted that his throwback style just wasn’t conducive to winning in the modern “space and pace” era, and thus, he was shipped away to the post-LeBron Cavs.

Fast forward one buyout and a weird run with the Los Angeles Lakers, and I would imagine Andre Drummond is fairly fired up to return to Detroit on the reigning Eastern Conference Champions.

With Joel Embiid on the mend and the team’s next game not until Saturday, the Philadelphia 76ers have little reason to not start Drummond in the paint in his “homecoming game” at the Wells Fargo Center, with BBall Paul Reed and Charles Bassey earning reserve action.

While that trio lacks the marquee pop of having 2021’s runner up to the MVP bumping elbows in the paint, the trio presents a varied enough set of skills to remain competitive against a Pistons frontcourt anchored by 2020 first-round pick Isaiah Stewart and journeyman big Kelly Olynyk.

Really, outside of the dynamic forward tandem of ex-Sixer Jerami Grant and ex-Villanova Wildcat Saddiq Bey, the Pistons aren’t a team with a lot of top-end talent, as evidenced by their 0-3 record.

If there was ever a game to sit Joel Embiid, this seems like the one.

Even if Joel Embiid would like to start every game for the Philadelphia 76ers over the 2021-22 NBA season, that just isn’t realistic, especially if his knee is already bugging him. To optimize the team’s win-loss record, they need to find ways to keep the Big Fella on the court when they need him most, and give him a break when the opponent maybe isn’t playoff bound. Considering Andre Drummond’s assured grudge against the team that paid him big and then threw him away, I couldn’t think of a better game to give “The Process” his first rest day of the season than this.