Free Agency 2020: Should Andre Drummond be on Chicago Bulls radar?

The question once again remains for the Chicago Bulls, where do they go from here after the All-Star Break. Could an Andre Drummond signing help anything?

At this point of the regular season, the Chicago Bulls are really scrambling to find answers for problems that aren’t going to solve themselves this year. The Bulls hold a record of 19-36 entering the final stretch run of the regular season. And head coach Jim Boylen likely doesn’t have any answers for this Bulls team to find more direction heading into the offseason.

Free agency 2020 doesn’t look to yield much of any assistance either. Most of the more fruitful free agency targets are set for the 2021 offseason.

But could the Bulls start to build up their roster starting this summer and try to win over some of the bigger names, like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kawhi Leonard, in the 2021 free agency cycle? That is certainly a possibility, especially if the ownership is finally ready to make some overhauls in the front office.

If the Bulls retain John Paxson as the vice president of basketball operations and/or Gar Forman as the general manager moving forward, then the Bulls are going to be a less attractive landing spot for top free agents this summer and next. But the Bulls look to possibly be in the early stages of finally making some changes in their management and on their coaching staff.

Bringing aboard a new general manager could mean more sweeping changes to the coaching staff, rest of the front office that reports to them, and/or the roster itself. But that’s looking pretty far ahead of where the Bulls are now.

Who could the Bulls be scouting out in the 2020 free agent cycle that would be worth signing if the time is right?

A big name getting tossed around for this coming cycle of free agency is the former Detroit Pistons standout center and three-time rebounding champ Andre Drummond. At the 2020 trade deadline, the Pistons shipped Drummond to the Cleveland Cavaliers for a return of little to nothing.

And the Cavaliers frontcourt is too crowded and expensive right now for them to likely keep it all together past this season. Drummond is probably going to hit free agency this summer no matter what.

According to a report from Shams Charania of The Athletic on Feb. 19, Drummond is not happy with his situation in Cleveland even after getting traded from Detroit. Apparently the situation in Cleveland is worse than what he found himself in with the Pistons this season.

These early signs could be pointing to him opting out of his contract and becoming an unrestricted free agent this summer.

So far this season, Drummond is averaging 17.7 points per game, an insane 15.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.7 blocks while shooting 52.8 percent from the field and 53 percent from the charity stripe. The problem for Drummond’s production this season is his lack of distributing ability, floor spacing/free-throw shooting (as always), and turnovers (averaging 4.5 turnovers per game since he landed with the Cavaliers).

The Bulls might be able to get Drummond at a very low price this summer since his stock was dropping since the beginning of the 2019-20 regular season. He could help develop and mentor younger Bulls bigs like power forward Lauri Markkanen, center Wendell Carter Jr., and rookie Daniel Gafford.

Get Drummond at a price tag around $10-13 million, and he could be worth the risk for the Bulls. If his market is very dry, then the Bulls might be able to get him for less than $10-11 million per year, and it would be a great value signing to add frontcourt depth over the short run.