What is the overall opinion on DeRozan?

where to begin….

lets start with usage courtesy of mr hollinger from espn. Usage percentage is an estimate of the percentage of team plays used by a player while he was on the floor.

Bargnani’s is 25.4% (actually second on our team behind Barbosa), Derozan is third at 21.5%. The raptors avg 92.8 possessions per game which means Bargnani gets 23.5 possessions of use and DD gets 20 possessions. Only 3.5 possession difference. Yet Bargnani’s per (The player efficiency rating (PER) is a rating of a player’s per-minute productivity.) is twice as high!! Bargnani 22 vs DD 11.6. If there usage is so similar why the difference in production? OOO Derozan is stuck at the end of the shot clock right?

Derozan takes 17% of his shots with 21+ seconds on the clock, Bargnani takes 17% as well. HOWEVER, Bargnani is making over 50% of these shots with 60% assisted on. While Derozan is making 23% of these shots with 70% assisted on. If both players are taking the same percentage at the end of the clock why is there such a discrepancy?

If Bargnani is settling so much for jump shots why are over 50% of his points in the paint or at the free throw line?

Bargnani pump fakes, gets bad defenders off their feet. why? because he shoots so often, when he goes around the defender, he stops at the top of the key and shoots. That’s not points in the paint. The slams he does get, is from blown pick and roll coverages. You don’t see him overpower anyone in the post, he never cleans up on the offensive boards like Amir does aka Dwight Howard. The few times he is aggresive, he makes up his mind and goes, there’s no feel to it, that’s why he’s good for a couple offensive fouls a game, and a few blocking fouls called his way for free throws

So points in the paint only count if they are overpowering dunks? He’s good for a couple of offensive fouls a game? He only averages 1.6 per game. Last I saw the number he had through 7 games was 3. In fact he’s great at avoiding the charge for a 7 footer. Which is why in fact he rarely gets called for charges. I’d love for you to back track and find me all his charges this year . It should be easy cause according to you there is 20 (a couple a game). He avgs 8ppg in the paint, 5 from the ft line and 3 from 3 point line accounting for 16 of his 23 ppg. Where are all these pull up jumpers? Whats wrong with a good jump shooter anyways, especially when he gets his shot blocked less than 2% of the time and makes 50%, while still attacking the defence and getting to the free throw line. He obviously can’t be settling too much if he is 9th in the NBA for free throws made. He has made more free throws than Amare, Aldridge, Gasol, Blake Griffin and Dwight Howard!!!!! Explain how he is settling when he has made more free throws than all of those players?

Your original argument about Derozan was his assist defiency and i was tooting about his post game confidence and ability to read defenses. I asked you to pay attention to defenses, they double team Derozan, and even more in the fourth quarters. But we disagree here, you say he’s not being double teamed, its just help defense. The rare times they call an ISO for him, he’s getting good shots off the rare times they don’t double him. Also he sees the zone defense forming and goes right at them. Stats never support effort and intangibles, one of which is guards like Demar and JJ who look like there away from their man, but they’re helping out Andrea all the time and get sucked in. As for assists First play vs Sacremento, i see Derozan attract a double, kicks out to Andrea who misses an open 3. Your stats don’t cover those.

Congrats, he got him a 3. NBA players shoot an avg of 40% from there if they are good, not everyone is suppose to go in. It still doesn’t explain why if he is so good his turnovers are up. To quote the greatest pg, Magic, “There’s a difference between making a pass to somebody and creating a shot for a guy.” All he does is make the simple pass, he doesn’t create a shot with some spectacular passing ability, players who avg 7 assists (which you suggested) create shots for their teammates. Derozan doesn’t create a shot he makes a pass. I also don’t understand why he would go at the zone? Wouldn’t the smart play to be to find the open man, instead of forcing a drive.

No one else can drive and dish to him when he spots up as a shooter, the few times Jose finds him they haven’t fell, but keep shooting they will.

Think about that, you are saying its ok for him to miss Jose’s passes but then criticize Bargnani for missing ? That is actually a perfect example of a bias opinion or hypocracy. Either missing shots is part of basketball and shouldn’t be counted against people (like Bargnani) or Derozan needs to man up and hit a shot.

Derozan turnovers are low considering the doubles he attracts. Shooters missing WIDE open shots after Derozan finds them is huge contributor to his low assist total, also the lack of ISO’s they call for him. When you drive to the net and four sets of hands hack at you, no call and the ball goes out of bounds, they count that as a turnover.

Really we are back to whining and blaming the refs for foul calls? There are fouls every play from both teams, offensively and defensively. Suck it up, if you don’t like contact go play tennis or hit the weight room.

A player is hot when his team is winning from his direct offensive play over a period of time, longer than a handful of games.

This is just such a bias definition to try and win a point, its childish. I mean back in 2004-05 Kobe avg 28ppg was second in the NBA in scoring, but the Lakers were awful and finishing 34-48 and missed the playoffs. So Kobe wasn’t hot? One player being hot has nothing to do with his teams record, what if his team is awful for him to be efficient is even harder because teams can focus in on them. Look at Pau his ppg haven’t changed since coming to LA but his fg% has. To be efficient and produce at a high level on weak teams is very tough because defenses can focus on you.

Cousins stripped him twice in a minute last night and he went 1 for 10 in the first half he played.

I enjoy perspective, Bargnani had 8 points in the first half….that’s Derozan’s avg for the last 5 games (actually he’s 8.8). Think about that, you are criticizing a half by Bargnani, thats 5 games or half the season for Derozan. This is the guy you want to run our offence through? When he already gets similar usage to Andrea but putting up half the value.

What you have basically written is that Demar Derozan is not responsible for his turnovers because the refs don’t call fouls, its ok for him to miss shots but his teammates costs him assists, and we need to run more isolations for him even when he makes poor decisions when passing, as seen by his CAREER negative assist to turnover ratio. At what point is he accountable for his own poor play and not the refs or his teammates.

Liking a player has nothing to do with being realistic about their play. Can Derozan be an elite wing, possibly if he puts in the work but he isn’t plain and simple. He isn’t even a top 2 option on a weak team and not only do the numbers back it up but his play does. When Derozan is on the floor the team is a negative -0.9. Not only do the numbers tell his story but his game does. All you’ve done is created excuses for him but the fact is his play doesn’t lie and so far he has been inconsistent and poor.