Allen Robinson Just Stuffed Shams And Woj Into A Locker
When this time of year rolls around it's no surprise that everyone and their mother will throw out a "sources" tweet in regards to an NBA trade/signing. Mostly I live by the rule where unless Woj/Shams/Haynes/etc tweets it then you can mostly ignore it. Some of you may still be waiting for James Harden to be a Sixer. The source game is cut throat and why I have no interest in ever breaking news. Mostly because I have less than zero sources because I'm a nobody, but I never really saw the appeal. Even if you somehow get one right…so what? What's the end game there?
Which brings me to this tweet from Allen Robinson that has NBA Twitter a bit confused this morning. Of all the things to tweet, he's dropping Andre Drummond news? Very confusing. Mostly because there are a few issues with his tweet based on what we know. For starters, Drummond has not been bought out yet by the Cavs. That's a bit of an issue with Drummond joining the Nets. If he's not bought out, there really isn't any "signing" with the Nets. They have to find a way to absorb his $28M salary which isn't exactly easy given their current cap sheet.
That alone might force you to call bullshit on Robinson's tweet. Here's the thing though. He's from Detroit. Is it possible that he and Drummond formed a friendship while he was on the Pistons and he has some inside info? Like Drummond knows he's about to be bought out and he let that nugget out in a conversation with Robinson? That's certainly plausible. Mostly because who the hell is going to pony up and trade for Drummond considering he's an expiring contract. If the Cavs do move him, it's most likely coming via buyout I would think. He's not in their future. That gets a little tricky when you start to talk about Drummond's next deal and his Bird Rights and all that shit but I won't bore you with the details.
For the sake of the blog let's assume this happens. People will be so mad online complaining about how the Nets are building a super team. LeBron fans will cry about how Durant needs to form a super team just to beat him. That's another thing that has confused me on Twitter these last few days after the Blake news. Like LeBron didn't do this exact same shit? Welcome to the NBA. In terms of fit I guess he would be an upgrade over DeAndre Jordan in certain areas. Both are a bit of a disaster defensively in space, especially guarding the P&R but I can understand why the Nets would be interested.
What I find interesting is these reports that the Lakers are also in on Drummond if he were to be bought out, so if Blake and then Drummond decide to go to BKN instead, that tells us a lot about who players think are actually the title favorites. The Nets already had all the pressure in the world of making/winning the Finals even before the Harden trade, but now I think we can all agree that anything other than a title would be a massive underachievement. That might be true even without Drummond in the mix, but if you are adding him for basically nothing, then there's really no excuse.