3 Players that could make Chicago Bulls contenders next season
3. Andre Drummond
Andre Drummond has had a rollercoaster of an NBA career. The big man became a household name with the Detroit Pistons, where he spent 7.5 seasons with the team and garnered two all-star appearances and one all-NBA selection. After that, his career got murky. The Bulls are his 5th team in three seasons, and he has seen his minutes go down each year since he left Detroit.
Despite all of this, there is one thing he could do without a doubt: rebound. Drummond led the league in rebounds four times in his career, including three straight years from 2018-2020. Since then, he has continued his dominance on the glass, averaging 16, 17, and 18.8 rebounds per 36 minutes over the last three seasons.
These are unbelievable numbers that continue to stay at the top of the league. This season, Drummond ranked first in total rebounds, first in defensive rebounds, and second in offensive rebounds per 36 minutes among qualified players.
Andre Drummond’s rebounding presence is too strong to be ignored, especially considering the Bulls’ struggles on the glass.
The fact that this kind of player was on the court for just 12.7 minutes per game this season is absurd, especially considering the fact that the Bulls struggled so much with rebounding this season. They were 22nd in the league in total rebounds per game, and 28th in offensive boards. This led to fewer opportunities to put points on the board, as the Bulls were dead last in the league in second chance points. This was definitely the biggest driver of the team’s mediocre offense, which was 24th in offensive rating but 4th in field goal percentage.
It is clear that the Bulls have a solution to this problem wasting away on the bench. Chicago desperately needs rebounding, and they have the NBA’s best active rebounder (12.69 career rebounds per game). It seems like a no-brainer that they start to integrate him more into the rotation, as he can give more opportunities for the team’s scorers and contribute to some winning basketball. With Drummond, the Bulls can develop their players more on the offensive end, including this next player.