A Trait That Has Gone Underappreciated for a Two-Time All-Star Center
When it comes to positions, you can expect certain things. You can expect a point guard to be the primary playmaker or a center to block shots. When I say expect certain things, I mean when you hear that position. If you were to hear the word shooting guard, you’re going to automatically think of them being the primary scorer. Which isn’t necessarily true because everybody has a role to play. For big men, it is expected that they guard the paint, score in the paint, block shots, and secure boards. That’s what’s expected of them, but that is not what they can just do.
The big men can be playmakers, shot-makers, and even thieves for a quick turnover. In fact, there’s a list that needs to be brought up. Two-time all-star Andre Drummond is in the top 10 all-time steals list for bigs. If you were to sort out all of the centers in NBA history and stack them up based on career steals, Drummond is in the top 10. With a total of 1,133 steals in Drummond’s career, that places him at number eight. Right behind six Hall of Famers, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, David Robinson, and Hakeem Olajuwon. In fact, Olajuwon leads the list with 2,162 steals in his career. That’s 774 more steals than the Admiral, who’s ranked second in this list with 1,388 steals. Aside from that, Olajuwon is also ranked 10th in all-time steals for every position. Against all guards and forwards who are more likely to steal the ball, Olajuwon takes the cake.
Now, back to Drummond, his ability to steal the ball is underappreciated. In his career, he has had six seasons of tallying over 100 steals. The Big Penguin was ranked fifth, during the 2018-19 season, in total steals with 136. That season was when Sixers teammate Paul George won the steals title with 170 steals. To take a step further, Drummond has 46 games throughout his career in which he tallied at least four steals in a game. That’s more than impressive for a big man to do in the league. Maybe we can start calling Drummond the greatest thief, for a center, in the 21st century.
