Jere Quinn could sense it last weekend, when the St. Thomas More School head coach went to Yale as two of his grandsons participated in Andre Drummond’s basketball camp. Drummond, his former player and a 14-year NBA veteran who joined the Knicks earlier this month as their backup center, always tends to be a positive person, Quinn said, but he seemed “totally excited” at the chance awaiting him next season. Drummond’s family members attending shared that feeling, too, Quinn said.
His one-year, $3.9 million deal with the Knicks to replace Mitchell Robinson doubles as a bit of a homecoming, with the Mount Vernon native — who moved to Middletown, Conn. when he was 7 years old — getting a chance to carve out a role for the defending champions. He’ll play just hours away from St. Thomas More, hours away from where he spent his lone collegiate season for Jim Calhoun’s UConn program and a short trip away from the Westchester County city where he spent the earliest years of his life. Drummond, 32, will get a chance to add to his legacy as someone who Quinn described as “possibly the best rebounder in the world,” too, by serving as a veteran presence on the bench and possibly the lone newcomer to the Knicks’ rotation.
“The game can do so many things for you,” the 84-year-old Calhoun, the longtime Huskies coach who retired from the program in 2012, told The Post, “but the one thing it didn’t do with him: it never spoiled him. And I think he becomes a great addition to the Knicks, who don’t need any disruption.
“They got it going, and obviously, they have a great leader and the coaching has obviously been very good. He’s a nice piece basketball-wise. He’s also a really nice piece teammate-wise, which doesn’t disrupt your team.”
