F SI #ProveEm

[Chevy Chase]

It's all about defense. Demar has to start playing defense if he wants to be ranked higher.

Zero defence and inefficient offence will get you disrespected.

If he just played average defence, he'd be a MUCH more valuable player.

I'd go with the corollary. If he just improved the efficiency of his offence, he'd be a MUCH more valuable player.

[Kevin Willis]

Interesting that people here are arguing DD should be ranked higher due to perceived lesser players ranked ahead of him (like Middleton) but don't bother to mention possible players ranked behind DD that may arguably be better. For example, Isaiah Thomas had a higher scoring average than DD (important since scoring is about all DD does), AND Thomas also led his team to 1st in the East and ECF. DD isn't even the leader of his own team (Lowry is) that had a worse regular season and playoff record.

At the end of the day with all the pluses and minuses, and without the benefit of Raptors fanboy glasses, I think a ranking in the mid 30's is fair and reasonable for the player that DD is.

You make a good point, there are some players that are below DD that could be considered higher. IT though has less elite skills than DD. IT is below Wall, Irving and right in the mix with Lowry, Walker for best PG in the East. DD is the best with maybe Beal being close. Overall DD is below Thompson but who else for the league since Harden is now a PG? Maybe Hayward now. IT was Boston's offense so he had to put up those numbers. DD is a part of an offense with Lowry. DD is a better finisher. Mid-range games are close. He can post up his man. He gets to the line more. I don't think IT fans are mad that DD is higher than him in the ranking compared to Middleton and Crowder.

I will never understand the hate for one of the best Raptor players to play in the game and one of the top 5 SGs in the league. He carried this team for a stretch of games when Lowry was hurt or playing crappy with words like "unstoppable" being thrown around by coaches and commentators. And if anyone says Danny Green is better - GTFO. I know someone wants to say it.,.

[Pet Poeltl]

Their rankings go as follows: (Eastern Conference players in the top 40)

1- James
9- Giannis
13- Wall
16- Hayward
19- Lowry
21- Irving
26- Love
29- Walker
30- Horford
32- Beal
33- Porzingis
34- Whiteside
35- Middleton
36- DeRozan
37- Carmelo
40- Thomas

Demar is 14th best and Kyle is 5th. Do you agree or disagree with these rankings? What would your list be?

[TDotFlight99]

F SI

[Roco14]

Why do we give af about these stupid lists? We shouldn't even acknowledge them.. Don't give attention to ignorant people saying Middleton and Jae Crowder are more valuable players than Derozan

[Raps in 4]

It's all about defense. Demar has to start playing defense if he wants to be ranked higher.

Zero defence and inefficient offence will get you disrespected.

If he just played average defence, he'd be a MUCH more valuable player.

I'd go with the corollary. If he just improved the efficiency of his offence, he'd be a MUCH more valuable player.

Either improvement would make him a more valuable player. I mentioned defence because that's what the poster I quoted brought up. Defence is also a lot easier to improve since it's more effort than skill.

[Charlie Sollers]

Why do we give af about these stupid lists? We shouldn't even acknowledge them.. Don't give attention to ignorant people saying Middleton and Jae Crowder are more valuable players than Derozan

If they ranked Demar as a top 15 player this board would be going crazy

[souljah006]

I think Masai pays SI to do this...player motivation 101

[Saciid11]

It's all about defense. Demar has to start playing defense if he wants to be ranked higher.

That is BS ... Demar has way more impact on winning then most of those guys ranked ahead of him. Come on noway is LMA, Hayward, hortfort,Middleton, even Kyrie better then Demar.

[zFoxHoUnD-x]

Interesting that people here are arguing DD should be ranked higher due to perceived lesser players ranked ahead of him (like Middleton) but don't bother to mention possible players ranked behind DD that may arguably be better. For example, Isaiah Thomas had a higher scoring average than DD (important since scoring is about all DD does), AND Thomas also led his team to 1st in the East and ECF. DD isn't even the leader of his own team (Lowry is) that had a worse regular season and playoff record.

At the end of the day with all the pluses and minuses, and without the benefit of Raptors fanboy glasses, I think a ranking in the mid 30's is fair and reasonable for the player that DD is.

You make a good point, there are some players that are below DD that could be considered higher. IT though has less elite skills than DD. IT is below Wall, Irving and right in the mix with Lowry, Walker for best PG in the East. DD is the best with maybe Beal being close. Overall DD is below Thompson but who else for the league since Harden is now a PG? Maybe Hayward now. IT was Boston's offense so he had to put up those numbers. DD is a part of an offense with Lowry. DD is a better finisher. Mid-range games are close. He can post up his man. He gets to the line more. I don't think IT fans are mad that DD is higher than him in the ranking compared to Middleton and Crowder.

I will never understand the hate for one of the best Raptor players to play in the game and one of the top 5 SGs in the league. He carried this team for a stretch of games when Lowry was hurt or playing crappy with words like "unstoppable" being thrown around by coaches and commentators. And if anyone says Danny Green is better - GTFO. I know someone wants to say it.,.

It's not hate at all (from my perspective anyway), it's disappointment at his lack of effort on the defensive end.

The way he plays defense is that of someone who simply doesn't care. The impression his body language gives off is "hey, I carry a big load on offense so when my guy drives on me, I'll give an ole swipe to make it look like I tried."

Seriously, why did he suddenly play defense for a few possessions after PJ got on his case? Obviously he is capable of playing better defense by simply trying harder and making it a priority. The really disappointing thing is that he chooses not to.

Why? Is he too tired from offense? If so he needs to work on his conditioning. But personally, I belive he just doesn't care enough to play defense.

Hell, I'll even be happy with a Bartesque "I can't promise I'll try, but I'll try to try."

C'mon Demar, play some damn D!

Sent from my C6506 using RealGM mobile app

[Kabookalu]

Zero defence and inefficient offence will get you disrespected.

If he just played average defence, he'd be a MUCH more valuable player.

I'd go with the corollary. If he just improved the efficiency of his offence, he'd be a MUCH more valuable player.

Either improvement would make him a more valuable player. I mentioned defence because that's what the poster I quoted brought up. Defence is also a lot easier to improve since it's more effort than skill.

While true, I have my doubts of how much more DeMar can improve with more effort. At the combine his foot speed and lateral quickness results were amongst the slowest in his class comparable to power forwards. To be honest I don't think he's dogging it as much as people think he is on defense. Often times he is where he needs to be, just not as fast as he should be (and it can be argued that it's because of a lack of effort he's not there as fast as he should be, I really don't know, though with his physical limitations I wouldn't doubt it's because he can't either). Where I wished he showed a lot more effort is in not giving up on the play when he gets blown by on a closeout.

Even in this clip of his bad defense he shows sound positional defense, right before he gets blown by.

Watch on YouTube

Just to add a lot of people will see this as poor help defense since he should have been with his man to prevent a situation where he's closing out and getting blown by in the first place, but he's also covering for the corner man since Patterson's a bit late in recovering; if DeRozan committed to fully guarding his man it'd leave the baseline wide open. It's nothing to praise him about, just simple basketball 101 stuff, though I know people are going to watch this clip and scrutinize him for it.

Also I do wish he fought through screens better. Most of the time he just kind of dies on the screen and already has his mind made to switch.

[Potential]

DeMar will average 30/6/5 on 46/33/85