Farewell, Dre

Despite our ups and downs, you will be missed in Detroit.

Dear Andre Drummond,

I guess I just wanted to say ... thank you. Some fans will never admit it, but I am sad to see you leave.

The Detroit Pistons traded you for some packaging peanuts to the Cleveland Cavaliers, where your next chapter in the Midwest begins for the next 3 months, maybe longer. Cleveland may not sound like the ideal destination, but Cleveland and a $28.8 million option sure does.

The long-term team outlook and business rationale said this swap was the right thing to do. But something about your departure is still deeply unsettling.

For seven seasons and change, you were Pistons basketball, the lone constant. As a devoted fan who couldn't develop cogent and mature thoughts until I was 14, you were all I truly knew about DEE-TROIT BASKETBALL (we choose to forget the Billups-Iverson trade).

When I think of the pinnacle of Detroit sports, I think of you next to Matthew Stafford and Miguel Cabrera. Losing one of those cornerstones is depressing. Losing it in the name of cap relief hurts a little bit more.

There is usually a section in farewells dedicated to the lasting memories that the player brought. Not that you were forgettable, but we all know the Pistons didn't have much success in your time here. I could thank you for two playoff appearances — both first-round sweeps at the hands of the Bucks and your new home, Cleveland — though that may be, no, certainly is, disingenuous.

I want to thank you for being a rebounding machine. You are already amongst the league's greats, with potential to be the greatest board-snatcher ever. A 14-point, 14-rebound career average is absurd. Detractors often say the stats were "empty", but I never really bought that. If clockwork double-doubles are empty, then I don't ever want to be full. You represented the city as a two-time All-Star. I relished every 20-20 game and your on-court theatrics after an and-one, even if that usually preceded a bricked free throw.

It wasn't all pretty. Fans and critics alike knocked your effort at times and, truthfully, I have too. Sometimes it seemed like you never hunted the perfect shot, or never flashed your footwork to bypass a big man in the paint. There have been moments where you have felt compelled to shoot threes that weren't anywhere close to going in. The aspirations were appreciated, but devoid of sensibility. In retrospect, I wouldn't go all-out either if I was a part of a fledgling franchise, especially for as long as you were.

I want to thank you for being in Detroit for more than 7 years. It's a city and team that doesn't attract big-name talent on the free agent market, but you stayed for more than anyone imagined and gave back to the community.

Beyond just staying in Detroit, thank you for doing so despite mismanagement and the absence of a supporting cast. We support Blake Griffin, Reggie Jackson, and your other former teammates, but you never got to meet your pick-and-roll potential as a Piston with an elite passing point guard.

Between how the team fared with you, and how you performed individually at times, I would often describe my feeling about you as love-hate. The dumbest thing about fandom is that it inspires any hate at all. It's never real.

You were a beast in Detroit, and you will continue to be a beast in Cleveland.

Thank you, Dre.