Might it be too on-the-nose to say Andre Drummond is the rebound from Mitchell Robinson?
Replacing the once-longest-tenured member of the New York Knicks will be a tall order, and it's clear there's a talent gap between the two—their respective paydays heading into this season being one indicator of that—but Drummond got off to a great start in his debut, garnering chants from the Garden faithful right off the bat in the first quarter.
You have to give it to Drummond, too, because even though he may never fill Robinson's shoes, his first impression was electric. In his first 11 minutes, Drummond had a double-double and finished the night with 12 points in 24 minutes. He also had 14 rebounds, four assists, a steal, and two blocks.
The issue with Drummond is that he probably overextended himself and looked gassed as the game wore on. That showed up in his inability to complete a dunk any time he tried to drive to the basket in the latter minutes of his night. It was four missed dunks in total on the night.
This is where an adjustment could do New York and Drummond a lot of good.
Less may be more for Knicks with Andre Drummond
If there was ever a time to find out that the veteran center can't be relied upon with too heavy a workload, Game 1 against the Sixers was a good place to figure that out.
Of course, it wasn't totally on Brown, and more due to the fact that Karl-Anthony Towns found himself in foul trouble early, but his 24 minutes on the floor was up from his season average last year, when he averaged 19.5 minutes.
A majority of those minutes came in the first half. He played 17 of those 24 in the first and second quarters, and his minutes after the half were graceless by comparison. He had two fouls and made only one shot. The explosiveness wasn't there.
Even Coach Brown admitted that it was probably too much of a workload for Drummond, whether it was his fault he had to play those minutes or not.
"He looked like he ran out of a little bit of gas," Brown said after the game. "I gotta keep getting to know him to see where the minutes may lie for him."
If there's one thing the Knicks can do to avoid overusing Drummond again, it's use 25-year-old third-string center James Wiseman a little more, especially in emergencies when KAT is in foul trouble.
His main purpose on the roster should be to conserve KAT and Drummond's legs, and since Drummond has already logged more minutes than the Knicks are comfortable giving him, the Celtics could be a good lane for him to officially kick off his New York tenure.
If the Knicks commit to that strategy of trusting Wiseman for a few needed minutes, they only benefit. Towns can head to the bench when he needs to, rather than playing himself into exhaustion. Drummond can focus on being his most impactful self for spurts, or saving what he has in the tank at 33 years old for one meaningful stretch every single game.
And Wiseman gets the early seasoning he could use to hopefully become an even bigger factor over the campaign. New York won't tap into the upside the former No. 2 overall pick has by making him a DNP. Plus, he could use some reps to get his NBA legs again after suiting up in just five contests combined over the last two seasons.
Finding out Drummond is best used sporadically isn't a bad thing for the Knicks. Gathering more data assists the defending champs with their cause, and this change should pay off if they embrace it.
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