Bulls: Andre Drummond’s 3-point shooting is historically unprecedented

Although several players enjoyed standout performances in the Chicago Bulls’ second-half comeback victory over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday, nobody made quite as big of an impression as Andre Drummond. While he submitted a typically dominant performance on the boards — reeling in 9 rebounds in just 15 minutes — Drummond’s greatest achievement of the night was that he was willing to space the floor and looked every bit of a dynamic floor-spacer as he completed all three of his long-range attempts.

This came as a shock to fans who have watched Drummond over the course of his career. A career 13.2% shooter from deep, there’s a good reason why he’s only ever taken one 3-point shot for every six games played. Historically speaking, a possession ending with a 3-point shot from Drummond has been a recipe for disaster.

That wasn’t the case in Toronto, however, as Andre finally seems to be adding a second dimension to pair with his already elite rebounding ability. With a decade of experience already under his belt, it’s difficult to not be in awe of these recent developments this late in his career.

To put things in perspective, Drummond had never made more than two 3-point shots in a game before Sunday. In that game alone, he completed more 3-pointers than he did in 7 entire seasons of his 10-year career. Given his career averages, the odds suggest that Drummond should have only had a 0.23% chance of converting those three consecutive 3-point shots.

Whether or not you find these numbers statistically impressive or nothing more than a suggestion that he’ll soon regress to the mean, the important takeaway here is that Drummond didn’t shy away from rolling the dice in the first place. As we’ve seen with sharpshooting veterans such as Brook Lopez, Kevin Love, Al Horford, and Bobby Portis, the precedent has already been set that the traditional big man is dying out in today’s NBA. An ability to stretch the floor is more vital than ever, even for a player who thrives in the paint like Drummond.

Andre Drummond could revitalize his career if he proves that he can space the floor for the Chicago Bulls with his 3-point shooting.

Let’s put aside the rational and logical assumption that this was just a fluke performance, and it’s hard to deny that adding a genuine 3-point shot — no matter how minimal or sparsely used — to Drummond’s game would vastly improve his value on the court. If he can knock down the occasional open shot with the space his teammates create, he’d once again become a starting caliber talent at the center position.

For a player on an extremely team-friendly minimum contract, this is a dream scenario for the Chicago Bulls. Brought aboard for the sole purpose of shoring up the team’s rebounding woes, I highly doubt the front office ever expected Drummond to continue adding to his game. It’s all too easy to forget that Drummond is still only 29 years old, and is clearly cognizant of the fact he can continue playing at a high level in the league for another half decade at least if he doesn’t become complacent with his current skillset.

This has to be a driving force behind Drummond’s motivation this season, who knows all he ever needed was a platform perfectly built to help prop up the skills he’s always had.

“There are videos that are out of me shooting them. I would never take them in a game. But it’s more so just working in the dark when nobody’s watching and being able to be prepared for those moments when it does come,” Drummond told NBC Sports Chicago. “I want to be able to stay on the floor, and I want to be able to add different facets to my game to be able to help this team win…  If I’m able to make that corner 3 when I’m wide open, it adds another element to our team.”

I don’t expect Drummond raining threes to become a regularity moving forward. It would be nice if it did, of course, but it’s too much to expect such a radical improvement from a player whose career-best free throw splits are a miserable 60.5%. Still, if Andre Drummond can force defenses to defend him on the perimeter by taking shots from deep and even converting a few every now and then, the Chicago Bulls will be all the more dangerous because of it.