This summer, the New York Knicks lost big man Mitchell Robinson to the rival Boston Celtics in free agency.
In an effort to replace him, Leon Rose and company worked their magic and brought on a similarly talented pivot in veteran Andre Drummond via a one-year, $3.9 million deal, roughly $43 million less than what it would have cost to retain his predecessor's services.
Now, while the loss of Robinson was certainly painful, Drummond is someone who could easily soften the blow with his style of play.
In fact, should Bleacher Report's latest prediction become a reality, it may just lift every Knicks fan's fear of a potential serious drop-off from the backup center position during the club's upcoming title defense tour.
Andre Drummond predicted to post impressive per-36 stats for Knicks
Writer Zach Buckley recently made the rather bold prediction that Drummond will end his first go-around with the Knicks boasting an impressive per-36-minute stat line of 15 points and 15 rebounds.
To put into perspective just how solid this kind of production is, during Robinson's incredibly impactful final season in New York, where he finished eighth in the running for Sixth Man of the Year, he dropped per-36 averages of 10.4 points and 16.1 rebounds.
These numbers were, by far, the best of his career in this particular averages category.
Drummond recording such a line would certainly be impressive and a step up from Robinson's most productive campaigns, but it wouldn't be completely foreign. In fact, he's averaged such numbers three times throughout his career by way of standard per-game conversions.
Now, granted, this was during his early days in the association, but the fact still remains that if he can do it in under 34 minutes of action, why couldn't he boast such numbers per 36?
Even this past season, while serving as Joel Embiid's understudy with the Philadelphia 76ers, Drummond still proved to be highly impactful in his paint dweller role, averaging 11.8 points and 15.6 boards per 36 minutes and managed to pull down 3.2 offensive rebounds per game, just one shy of Robinson's league-best mark of 4.2.
Though his shot-swatting and overall defensive abilities fall short of matching those that Mitch provided the Knicks throughout his eight-year tenure, Drummond's other expertise, especially in the rebounding department, could very well prove to be enough to make New York almost forget about the offseason departure of their once beloved big.
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