beefymajesto wrote:Pickled Prunes wrote:Sure, but DeRozan has a better TS% than many former or potential All-Stars, including Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Maxey, Ja Morant, De'Aaron Fox, Brandon Ingram, Jaylen Brown, Bam Adebayo, Dejounte Murray and Zach LaVine. He's also less than 1% behind Trae Young, Jamal Murray, Deandre Ayton, Damian Lillard and Jalen Brunson. Only two players on that list are locked into a cheaper contract. Most of them are at or will soon be at the max.
And you break it down like he's out there chucking. DeMar was 72nd in the NBA in FGA's per minute. he just played a lot of minutes, leading the NBA in MPG and total minutes. No, you don't need to like his game... but he's doing fine.
Get em! I bet the 8 players alluded to that are beating Demar in 2pt fg % are all centers. He's a clutch scorer and when the games tight ill take two over none all day. He just gets smothered in the playoffs like many players but back in the raptors day every 3pt specialist we brought in could never hit an open 3 to open things up for him and take some of the attention.
Here are some numbers:
https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2024_per_game.htmlDeMar DeRozan is seventh in the NBA in 2-point field goal attempts per game. Of the players ahead of him who have a higher 2-point field goal percentage:
1.) One is a center who likely will win his third league MVP award (Nikola Jokic at .626).
2.) Two are power forwards who play exclusively in the post, essentially acting like centers on offense (Giannis Antetokounmpo at .645 and Zion Williamson at .574).
3.) One is a power forward who plays essentially the center spot on offense and defense for his team (Anthony Davis at .582).
4.) One guard whose game is not built on 3-point shooting, but on drives and mid-range shooting like DeRozan (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at .576).
5.) Another guard whose 2-point shooting field goal percentage is barely higher than DeRozan's (Jalen Brunson at .516).
Five of these players will be on an All-NBA team this season (Williamson is the only exception), and three of them (Jokic, SGA and Giannis) likely will finish in the top four in league MVP voting. As mentioned, DeRozan is not taking a large volume of shots and bad shot, especially given the number of minutes he played this season.