Philadelphia 76ers: Andre Drummond shined in his surprise start

To paraphrase Dante Hicks from the Roger Ebert-approved 1990s indie feature Clerks, “I wasn’t even supposed to start today.”

After watching Joel Embiid score 19 points in 29 minutes for the Philadelphia 76ers in their revenge beatdown of the Atlanta Hawks, the Big Fella earned his first game off of the 2021-22 NBA season as his team took on the Portland Trail Blazers at “The Center.”

Now granted, had Embiid and company known that Tobias Harris would go into Healthy and Safety Protocols mere minutes before tipoff, maybe the team would have kicked that scheduled rest back a game or two. The Sixers do play the hapless Detroit Pistons again on Thursday, and after watching their earlier showdown end in an incredibly lopsided fashion, one would surmise that a similar outcome could occur sans Embiid at center.

And yet, it ultimately didn’t matter, as Embiid’s replacement, Andre Drummond, played a key role in beating down Dame and the full-strength Portland Trail Blazers while chants of “We want Lillard” could be heard across the Walt Whitman Bridge.

Andre Drummond is such a fun Philadelphia 76ers player to watch.

Andre Drummond’s first five games with the Philadelphia 76ers were understatedly good.

Granted, he didn’t score double-digit points in any of those contents, a feat he accomplished on 34 occasions in 2020-21, but Drummond had two games with at least 10 rebounds and largely supplemented his offensive game with some flashy passes and a block per game.

If Drummond could just continue on with that level of production, putting up 5.2 pounds and nine rebounds in 15.8 minutes of action, he’d be a clear upgrade over Dwight Howard. But if Drummond can turn in games like he did versus the Portland Trail Blazers in place of Embiid, the Sixers might not have to chalk up every game without “The Process” as a guaranteed loss.

Logging a season-high 34 minutes of action, Drummond put up 14 points, 15 rebounds, seven assists, and five steals, a state line that hasn’t been logged by a Sixers since the “Round Mound of Rebound” himself, Charles Barkley, was eating McDonald’s burgers on exercise bikes in a red, white, and blue uniform.

Sidebar: Have you ever heard the story about Barkley playing a game drunk after almost being traded the day before? How about how he tried to bulk up to avoid being drafted by the Sixers? Check them out here and here.

Drummond attacked the paint at both ends of the court, rebounding at one end and dunking on the other, and even turned in his best Nikola Jokic impression a day removed from Halloween.

Would I want Drummond to be my starting center for a full 82 game season? No, probably not, but if he can turn in a few more contests like that over the rest of the 2021-22 NBA season, I would assume some team would swoop in and offer him a contract worth much more than $2.4 million a year.

When Joel Embiid is your starting center, you need to have a solid backup plan for the dozen or so games he will miss each season. While he undoubtedly shines seemingly every time he touches Under Armours to court, Embiid only plays 30.5 minutes of action a night and thus leaves plenty of room for backups to take the court and prove their worth. Thus far, Andre Drummond looks like the best backup center Embiid has had at any point in his NBA career since maybe Nerlens Noel as a rookie, and with dozens of games left to play, he’ll have plenty of chances to shine on his counterpart’s day off, assuming, of course no one sticks gum in the Wells Fargo Centers’ locks.