Andre Drummond played like someone who was watching their dream come to life in the New York Knicks' regular-season opener against the Sixers (at least in the first half). Unlike most of his teammates, though, his night didn't start with championship rings and a banner going up in the rafters. He stayed in the locker room.
As Jared Schwartz of the New York Post tweeted, Drummond didn't want to be part of something that he didn't earn.
"I feel like I gotta earn it. I don’t want to experience something that I wasn’t there for."
Drummond is the only newcomer in the Knicks' rotation, replacing Mitchell Robinson, and he's assimilated well. It helps that he's from New York and later moved to Connecticut, so he's not afraid to work hard to get where he wants to be. He doesn't shy away from it.
No one should've criticized Drummond for watching the banner night festivities from the court and supporting his teammates. Still, his decision to be in the locker room because he didn't think he deserved to be out there says a lot about his mindset, which aligns perfectly with New York.
Andre Drummond is in a unique situation with the Knicks
After Karl-Anthony Towns got into early foul trouble (sound familiar?), Drummond stepped up. He played nearly 18 minutes in the first half, more than any other Knicks player, and had 10 points, 12 rebounds, three assists, one steal, and two blocks at the half. At times, he genuinely looked like New York's best player on the floor, and with all due respect, that wasn't ideal.
But for Drummond, it proved that he's not all talk. We heard throughout the summer how much it meant to him to play for the Knicks, his favorite team growing up, and that after he signed his one-year deal, he asked Mike Brown what the head coach wanted the center to work on over the offseason. The answer was conditioning, and he got a taste of why on Tuesday.
Drummond had a very promising official Knicks debut. For a backup center, he played like he was on a mission on night one to help New York go back-to-back, so that he could experience everything that comes with bringing another championship to a city that means so much to him.
None of this means Drummond was a perfect signing or that he has no limitations, especially compared to Robinson, an elite interior defender, but for his first official action, the 33-year-old did just fine. He looked like he had some extra pep in his step, and that probably had something to do with the two words across his chest.
Drummond was out there trying to earn it; he's going to give New York everything he has.
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