Detroit Pistons big man Andre Drummond was benched for the finishing stretch of the team's 117-110 overtime loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, a development that has generated much discussion with the Feb. 6 trade deadline approaching. Drummond is one of the high-profile targets teams are eyeing this time of year, and the Pistons are looking to move him as they attempt to rebuild their roster in the wake of Blake Griffin's latest knee surgery.
However, Pistons head coach Dwane Casey noted the benching had nothing to do with a potential trade.
Pistons rookie Sekou Doumbouya tied a career high with 16 points while making his seventh consecutive start, and Christian Wood held Jahlil Okafor to six points after Drummond was torched for 19 in the first half. These were the players Casey chose to rely on because of their “hustle, hard play, attention to detail in the second half.”
Casey thought the youngsters earned the chance to win the game:
“That group earned the right to finish the game,” said Casey on Monday after the loss, according to Ansar Khan of MLive. “I thought they played with the right purpose, the right sense of urgency defensively. We came from 16 down, didn’t turn the ball over.
“Our young guys, Christian, Sekou, with Derrick, really competed their behind off. That’s what we take away from that, the positive. The negatives, again, the way we started. We let Okafor have a career night and he dominated us in the first half.”
Drummond has had a puzzling string of games since the start of the new year — first putting up back-to-back 20-20 games against the Cleveland Cavaliers and then shelling out back-to-back stinkers of nine points and four rebounds against the Bulls and an 11-point, 10-rebound effort against the Pelicans.
The 6-foot-11 Pistons center has seen his playing time dwindle in the last two games as trade talks heat up around this time of the year, yet he's not helping his trade value much with a few of these lackluster performances and his latest benching.
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