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.
Last week, Drummond drew a lot of attention to his Twitter account simply by changing his profile pic.
Out went 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 is saying], ‘I mean business.’ ’’
Drummond expected to hear about the picture from Caruso and his teammates, but he wasn’t expecting all the attention it has received in his mentions.
“A lot of love from it,’’ Drummond said. “Alex has retweeted 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 he’s 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.
After playing on six teams since 2020, Drummond wasn’t about to become a disruptive force off the court with the Bulls.
That’s why he was cautious when discussing his inconsistent playing time the last month.
The backup center was averaging 16.8 minutes in October, saw that drop to 14.3 in November and is at 11.7 in December.
When Bulls coach Billy Donovan is asked about the ever-changing rotations he has been experimenting with throughout the season, he admits that he’s searching for groupings that work well together.
The result has been inconsistent playing time for Drummond, Derrick Jones Jr., Coby White and Javonte Green. Donovan’s moves can also be matchup-based, so when he goes small at times, Drummond’s role is limited.
“My job is to remain 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 personally. 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, I just do what I can.’’
The Bulls are 5-5 in December, and he played 15 minutes or more in three of the five victories. He doesn’t think that’s a 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 arguably has done that with the Caruso profile picture alone.
