The Chicago Bulls are likely hoping for a vintage version of Andre Drummond during the upcoming season as their biggest addition of the summer. While we’re unlikely to see the same Drummond who was named to an All-NBA team and multiple All-Star games, he’ll still fill a valuable role on this team as Chicago’s most reliable rebounder.
The Bulls are unlikely to forget what Drummond is capable of, as the two have had a tense rivalry for years. In fact, Drummond has won more than half of his games against the Bulls, going 18-17 in his career against them.
The Chicago Bulls and Andre Drummond have a lot of memories to look back on before they reunite in 2022-23.
Despite averaging 12.8 points and 13.3 rebounds in those 35 games against Chicago, there have been several standout performances. Let’s go back in time to five occasions when Drummond took over and dominated the Bulls on his own.
In a game against the Chicago Bulls on April 11, 2014, Drummond put an exclamation point on his breakout sophomore season. Although the Detroit Pistons were out of playoff contention, Drummond brought a 48-34 Bulls team led by Jimmy Butler and Joakim Noah to the brink of elimination.
Chicago won a hard-fought 106-98 victory, but Drummond, 20, made them work for it by posting 26 points, 26 rebounds, and 3 steals while proving he will be a force in the league for years to come.
Drummond accomplished something only five other players in the last 30 years by putting up 33 points, 21 rebounds, three steals, and two blocks in a four-overtime game against the Bulls. It may have taken him 54 minutes to achieve that 30/20/3/2 stat line, but he’d make up for it by repeating it against the Jazz in 2018 and again against the Pacers in 2019. Other than Drummond, no player has had that stat line since Dwight Howard in 2012, and Drummond has done it three times.
Despite his statistical dominance, Drummond would not go home empty-handed this time. On the night of December 18, 2015, he led the exhausted Pistons to a big win and demoralised every Bulls fan who stayed up late to see it through.
Drummond would once again strike fear into the hearts of Bulls fans in early March of 2019 by claiming two wins against the recently promoted Jim Boylen-led Chicago roster. Drummond had 36 points and 39 rebounds in these two games, which were crucial wins that propelled the Pistons to their second playoff appearance in the last 13 years.
These victories were sparked by a late fourth-quarter rally in the first game, as the Bulls were without Jimmy Butler and looked hapless in his absence. Drummond nearly had a double-double with 8 points and 9 rebounds in the fourth quarter alone, setting up teammate Blake Griffin to close things out with 16 points of his own.
