Give the big man some free time and the opportunity to express his under-the-radar sense of humor, and Andre Drummond is capable of something special.
That was on full display last week, as Drummond drew a lot of his attention to his Twitter account, simply by changing his profile pic.
Out was the old, and in came the new – a doctored picture of teammate Alex Caruso wearing a wave cap with a cigarette in his mouth and another tucked behind the ear.
“I found it, and Alex is my guy, he’s my boy,’’ Drummond said proudly with a big smile on his face. “I have a lot of years with Alex, so as soon as I saw the picture I was like, ‘You know what? It’s time to refresh my page.’ Why not stir up a little trouble and throw my guy on there? And it’s a cool picture, man. It’s a statement picture. It’s like [Caruso’s saying], ‘I mean business.’ ‘’
And while Drummond expected to hear about the picture from Caruso and his teammates, he wasn’t expecting all the attention it’s received in his mentions. Because it’s been many.
“A lot of love from it,’’ Drummond said. “Alex has re-tweeted it, the internet went a little crazy over it. It was just so random, and I think a lot of people were like, ‘What exactly is the message behind this?’ That seems to be the question I’ve gotten the most.
“Honestly, there’s no message. It’s just a cool picture of Alex. I decided to be a troll.’’
So a troll when he’s moonlighting, and a rebounding machine in his day job? Pretty versatile. But if it was up to Drummond, business would be picking up a bit more in that day job.
Playing on six different teams since 2020, Drummond wasn’t about to become a disruptive force off the court with the Bulls.
That’s why he remained cautious when talking about his inconsistent playing time the last month.
The backup center was averaging 16.8 minutes per game in October, saw that drop to 14.3 per game in November, and was at 11.7 in December.
Bulls coach Billy Donovan was asked about the ever-changing rotations he’s been experimenting with throughout most of the season, and has been very consistent in admitting that he’s been searching for groupings that work well together.
The result of that has been inconsistent playing time for Drummond, as well as Derrick Jones Jr., Coby White and Javonte Green – when healthy. It’s also been match-up based, with Donovan going small at times and leaving Drummond in a limited role.
“I think for me my job is to keep staying a professional all the time,’’ Drummond said. “Whenever the number is called, be ready. I think I’ve done that. I’m not taking any of this personal. I knew coming here that it was a different coaching staff, a different style of play, so the way [Donovan] thinks, I just have to adjust to it. I can always give my input and what I feel about the game. I’ve been around a long time and he knows that. He uses me when he can, and when I get the opportunity just do what I can.’’
The good news for Drummond? The Bulls went 5-5 so far in December, and in the five wins he’s received 15 minutes or more in three of them. He doesn’t believe that’s coincidence.
“It’s not even about biting my tongue,’’ Drummond said. “It’s about remembering I can control what I can control. I can’t put myself in the game or do anything about it, so my job remains being the best teammate possible.’’
He’s arguably done that with the Caruso profile picture alone.
