Andre Drummond to Lakers fan on Instagram: “Tell y’all coach to play me more and I could [dominate]”

Andre Drummond
Andre Drummond calling out Frank Vogel on social media should be a good enough reason not to look his way in free agency. Credit: Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images

Well, if you were wondering whether Andre Drummond would return to the Lakers in a small role, you may have just received your answer through his Instagram comments.

Drummond received quite a large portion of the blame for the Lakers bowing out of the first round of the NBA playoffs as his fit on the roster never seemed to quite come together. Those criticisms were often harsh and sometimes fair, but always divisive about what the talented but limited center could potentially provide if he is brought back on a new contract this summer.

That might be a moot conversation at this point. Responding to a fan in his Instagram comments who asked why he couldn’t “dominate” the paint like the starting centers of the two NBA Finalists, Drummond replied “tell y’all coach [Frank Vogel] to play me more and I could.”
Drummond kept tweeting through it after the comment was shared throughout social media:

Now before we get into what Drummond actually said and the problem there, I think it’s pretty fair to also call out entitled fans that effectively have a direct line to athletes and use it to be disrespectful or harmful. Criticizing athletes is fine if course but doing it within the scope of their social media notifications has never quite sat right with me. And this season, Lakers fans in particular seemed to have that sort of attitude towards numerous players on the team as a result of the tough season.

Now, having moved past that: how ridiculous can Drummond get here? Look, was Drummond as bad as a lot of people said? No. In fact, the numbers suggest that the Lakers starting lineup with him largely outplayed the Suns when they were on the floor.

But Drummond also was not good enough to be making these sort of “demands” from the coach. His defense was not good enough, he did not produce enough offensively, his fit into the team clogged the lane for LeBron James and Anthony Davis. There are plenty of basketball reasons for why Drummond did not get as many minutes as he evidently believes he deserved.

So Drummond, who was already reportedly promised a starting role before he signed with the Lakers despite having not played NBA basketball in months, doesn’t really have a leg to stand on. Drummond averaged 21 minutes per game in the five playoff games he appeared in before being benched in game six; how many minutes did he need to dominate? 25? 30 like Brook Lopez?

The Lakers could have made excuses for Drummond’s play and for his fit. They can’t do that for calling out their championship winning coach. This entire Drummond experience has been a valuable lesson in the importance of how players mesh in their roles (would JaVale McGee or Dwight Howard make a fuss about their minutes?). But now it’s time to move on and allow Drummond to find a team willing to find out if he can “dominate” with a few more minutes of game time.

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