Demar: "I hate taking wide open shots"

[Matty]

There you have it folks, the most efficient shot in the game is the uncontested one and he doesn't want to take them

[hyper316]

it's not about him liking/not liking to take open shot, your team worked hard to get an open look with ball movement, you shoot the ball because the team demands you to take it, dont care if you like it or not.

this kind of mentality/behaviour would be sure not tolerated in the spurs.

[bballsparkin]

I haven't read the whole thread but I laughed pretty hard at the quote.

[MVP-]

I prefer semi contested looks as oppose to open looks any day. Shot is more in rhythm, as you get to step into it.

Ballers will understand.

Sent from my XT1034 using RealGM Forums mobile app

It's the truth. It's not like he said I'm better at shooting contested shots, he just finds it more comfortable. And I'm willing to bet that those "open shots" he shoots a better percentage on are coming off of that pin down screen play they run for him.

Was it stupid for him to say it out loud? Obviously. But as a shooter myself, I know for a fact that when I can feel the defender closing in on me or I know he will contest, I concentrate infinitely harder.

[steamed hams]

DeKobe learning from the best:

[Crane08]

Remember that play in Dallas game where JJ was on a fastbreak. DeCrap was running along with him going to the left corner baseline. JJ elected to pass it to him and as soon as DeCrap caught the ball; he shot the ball like he's Kyle Korver or something lmaoo and not only that two guys in blue shirts were contesting his shot!! I'm truly impress with his I.Q. I'm becoming a fan

[dsquared]

I thought ultimately the best thing an offense can do is try to get an open shot on every possession. To me what Derozan is saying pretty much goes against the fundamentals of basketball. I'd love to see what a coach like Pop would have to say about Derozan's comments.

I get that there's a mental aspect to being wide open but that's why you have practice and shoot-around, to work on different scenarios like being wide-open, high pressure, short clock situations etc. A guy saying he doesn't like wide open shots seems like he just gave up on the most efficient shot in basketball, that's something that should be a staple of your game.

Derozan is shooting 34% from mid-range this year to make things worse, so he probably shouldn't say stupid things like he did in this interview and just keep it to the generic sports talk if he knew what was good for him and his image.

[Egg Nog]

So who is more at fault here? DeMar or Dwayne Casey?

[B_BallReasons]

Never been a fan of Derozan. If he was a decent shooter like Ray Allen, or Rip Hamilton then I would be fine with him taking a lot of jumpers. But he is not. He's probably one of the worst shooters I have ever seen. Plus he can't even hit threes. His role should be like Corey Maggettes in that he needs to drive to the hoop and gets his points in the paint or at the free throw line. But even Corey Maggette could hit a f'n long range jumper. I can't trust Derozan will make the correct play in an iso. I don't get why he gets so much freedom on offense. But then again the Raps don't have much more at the position. I would seriously look into moving him this offseason for something better like Draymond Green, Monroe, or someone that can play the 2-3 positions. Anything for Derozan will be an upgrade.

[teamLeiweke]

Big deal guys.

Settle down.

The hate for Demar is strong right now.

Can't wait when everyone is on his nuts in the post season. He is coming off an injury and then a long all star break into a difficult road trip against good teams. I'm not worried. He will peak at the right time.

How quickly you guys forget how bad we were without him.

Ps our Defense is 4th in the league again since he has returned. It was 20th or something without him. Just a few games ago we went 7-2 against good opponents.

Raptors played 4 road games in 5 nights and are having a difficult stretch and the haters come out strong. Wow.

[RealRapsFan]

Also, a wide open shot is NOT harder than a contested shot and I'd bet my life right now that almost every stat backs that up. The only difference between contested/uncontested shots is that there's an expectation for you to make the open one, but that doesn't magically make it harder, it's still a practice shot essentially.

A wide open shot should technically not be harder than a contested one, but some players need that dribble in order to build that rhythm to step into their shot so it makes sense why some players might struggle with catch-and-shoot jumpers. Then there's the mechanical aspect as well because a player that is used to shooting off the dribble is always measuring/adjusting his release and the footwork is different.

Steve Nash said the same thing when he was reduced to a spot-up shooter when he was playing with Dwight and Kobe:

You took a lot more spot-up jumpers last season. Are those easy for you? Do you look at that almost as a way to prolong your career?

I embrace it, and I tried this year to get better at it. Like you said, in Phoenix, I almost never got a catch-and-shoot chance. I actually felt really uncomfortable last summer trying to learn to catch-and-shoot.

Really? Wow. The assumption is they are easier shots, for everyone.

Right? But after years and years of creating off the dribble, I felt almost funny and off-balance when I was catching-and-shooting, which is obviously when you should have your best balance. But I really worked at it, and I embraced it. I ended up shooting really well, by league standards.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/qa-steve-nash-on-trying-out-for-inter-milan-the-dwight-howard-pitch-meeting-and-his-favorite-tv-dramas/

The question becomes then, why does he (think he) need(s) that dribble or to create that rhythm in said situation? Why does he (think he) find(s) more difficult situations tougher than easier situations?

Derozan isn't a PG like Steve Nash, he isn't even a "off point" (or point forward) style wing. Where one is likely to start plays, or is expected to create plays etc. He's been a 'scoring wing', yet one traditional and simple method of scoring he finds (more) difficult? Why is that? Because he's never really done it? He simply doesn't have an affinity for it? He used to scoring in other methods instead?

This goes back to whats always been my largest issue with Derozan, his lack of diversity as a player. Not only to fit how teams traditionally play or their needs, but also within his role in and of itself. A large chunk of his 'style' is less efficient basketball (Iso's, pull ups, mid range shots) and it doesn't come with anything special in additional areas (ball handling, passing, 3pt shooting, defense, rebounding etc)

An 'average' NBA player takes approximately 20% more catch and shoots than pullups (at the team lvl its approx 25 catch and shoots vs 20 pull ups per game), and they shoot approx 10% better per shot (40 efg% vs 50 efg%)

Derozan, on the other hand, takes approx 250% more pull ups than catch and shoots (7.7 vs 3.1)..... yet still shoots those catch and shoots better (by approx 5% efg%)

Maybe Derozan is justified in thinking what he thinks because of his 'style' (he thinks he needs that dribble or to gather etc), but the reasons he thinks what he does shouldn't (doesn't need to) exist in the first place. Yet if he continues to the think he is better at contested shots than uncontested shots, or pull ups rather than catch and shoots etc etc. thats not productive (or less productive) in real time. Only in his head is it 'better'.

He's been a square peg shoved in a round hole, thats been wedged so deep for so long we (I mean that in general, not necessarily you and I) its just assumed it fits right or at the very least well enough we can or should "just work with it". But it simply doesn't need to be that way.

[Snooch]

Big deal guys.

Settle down.

The hate for Demar is strong right now.

Can't wait when everyone is on his nuts in the post season. He is coming off an injury and then a long all star break into a difficult road trip against good teams. I'm not worried. He will peak at the right time.

How quickly you guys forget how bad we were without him.

Ps our Defense is 4th in the league again since he has returned. It was 20th or something without him. Just a few games ago we went 7-2 against good opponents.

Raptors played 4 road games in 5 nights and are having a difficult stretch and the haters come out strong. Wow.

the defensive improvements are more a testament to the limiting of GV guarding out on the wing.

That value of that in and by itself is a HUGE improvement overall. Going from a terrible defender to a passable one is a great improvement. Has nothing to do with how good demar is and far more to do with how bad GV is.

we werent bad without him either, we were playing fine with the exception of bad defense, which is attributed to terrible defenders being on the court in the passable defender demars stead.

And what is peaking for Demar? shooting 40%?

[RealRapsFan]

Big deal guys.

Settle down.

The hate for Demar is strong right now.

Can't wait when everyone is on his nuts in the post season. He is coming off an injury and then a long all star break into a difficult road trip against good teams. I'm not worried. He will peak at the right time.

How quickly you guys forget how bad we were without him.

Ps our Defense is 4th in the league again since he has returned. It was 20th or something without him. Just a few games ago we went 7-2 against good opponents.

Raptors played 4 road games in 5 nights and are having a difficult stretch and the haters come out strong. Wow.

the defensive improvements are more a testament to the limiting of GV guarding out on the wing.

That value of that in and by itself is a HUGE improvement overall. Going from a terrible defender to a passable one is a great improvement. Has nothing to do with how good demar is and far more to do with how bad GV is.

we werent bad without him either, we were playing fine with the exception of bad defense, which is attributed to terrible defenders being on the court in the passable defender demars stead.

And what is peaking for Demar? shooting 40%?

Raptors have been 11th in the league since Demar's return (not 4th as stated by previous poster).

Within that stretch:

15th without James Johnson starting
1st with James Johnson starting

I still have no idea why people feel the need to correlate the Raptors defense with Demar, as if he's some sort of game (team) changing defender. Some dude posted some numbers with Demar and w/out that showed the team was better defensively with Demar than without, didn't consider strength of opposition or replacement player, and that narrative stuck.

Then again people thought Bargnani was an elite lvl 1 on 1 defender because they didn't understand how "Dwight Howard effect" metric worked either (he was literally so far away from his guy so often he didn't even count as defending!).... tell people what they want to hear, and they'll believe it. Plug ears, blinders on, head in sand... narrative set.

[LastNameEver]

Unless you are a generational talent like AI or Kobe, then this is the worst type of player

[Kevin Willis]

Meh... whatever.

Exactly. Not a big deal. They play the drive he has open shots, he will start hitting them again and you can all suck his chode.

I've refrained from posting in anything derozan related recently but it always perplexes me when people say things like "he'll start hitting them again" as if in the past he's been a very efficient shooter and is just having a freakishly bad season...

If DD starts going back to his career averages the team is strong enough for us to do well in the playoffs. He doesn't have to KK just hit them like he was last year.

[Snooch]

I still have no idea why people feel the need to correlate the Raptors defense with Demar, as if he's some sort of game (team) changing defender. Some dude posted some numbers with Demar and w/out that showed the team was better defensively with Demar than without, didn't consider strength of opposition or replacement player, and that narrative stuck.

cause there is very little else to hang onto.

he passes the ball someetimes! woohoo!
He shots an almost 39%...all while being defended woohoo!
He is better defensively than GV! woohoo!
he gets to the free throw line and that is invaluable, no team can possibly have any success without someone averaging the same number of trips to the line as demar! woohoo!

[wegetitin08]

Im going to go start a "who misses carter thread"

[blitz41]

Another big difference from last year was that he seemed a more willing passer, maybe theres some advanced stat i dont know about showing passes that dont end in assists, but going by assist numbers he seems to be keeping it more and passing less.

Also, and this is what really shocked me:
Bargs last year with Raps: .482 TS%, .436 2P%
Demar this year : .485 TS%, .412 2P%

I love the guy, i love his work ethic, heart, and loyalty to the raptors. But man if you are shooting it at 2012-2013 bargs levels...you need to change up your game plan a bit...

[jim rockford]

only semi-related to the topic but here goes:

anyone else noticed that when guys get the ball on the 3 point line then look around and realize "OMG, i'm wide open!!!!" their % make is terrible......... or is that because guys like ray allen, korver, curry just shoot? never hesitate? only mediocre shooters think about it?

[Wizdome]

Demar is one of those people you play online with on nba 2k that just keeps shooting because its fun to shoot and never passes.