NEW YORK — The Philadelphia 76ers made a big deadline deal on Feb. 10 to acquire future Hall of Famer James Harden from the Brooklyn Nets. In exchange for Harden, the Sixers sent Ben Simmons, Seth Curry and Andre Drummond along with draft picks.
While Simmons was obviously not playing for the Sixers due to his ongoing saga, Philadelphia received strong play from Curry and Drummond. Specifically, Drummond filled an important role for the Sixers, backing up Joel Embiid.
Drummond thrived in his role in Philadelphia playing for a close friend, coach Doc Rivers. Even though Drummond is with the Nets now, Rivers keeps in touch with him.
“I actually talk to Drum,” Rivers said on Sunday. “We’ve talked almost two or three times after games. We text back and forth. Drummond and I, if you don’t know, we’ve had a relationship since he was in high school. He was a roommate of a kid that I adopted in military school, so I’ve known him and his mom literally for that long.”
Drummond is averaging 11.2 points and 11 rebounds in five games for the Nets, all starts, and he is playing well for his new team. He did, however, have a wild pass that went out of bounds in a game for Brooklyn, and Rivers let him know about it.
“My comments may seem sarcastic, but he made a behind-the-back left-handed pass the other night that went out of bounds and I just text him like ‘what the (expletive)?’ and he texts back ‘I had to try it.’” Rivers laughed. “He’s playing well, man, and I’m happy for him. The last couple years, he struggled, he came to us and I thought we really got his motor going again and now you’re watching him, he’s still doing it. I’m really happy for him. I don’t want him to play too well, at least against us, but I’m really happy for him.”
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook
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