DeMar DeRozan isn’t a good defender, but has been incredible over the last two seasons.

DeMar DeRozan isn’t a good defender. Hell, he’s not even an average defender. Ready for the shocker? He’s also not a good three-point shooter. Even with these limitations, DeRozan has been incredible over the last two seasons.

Year GP MPG FG% 3PM 3P% 2P% FTM FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TPG PPG 2017-18 80 33.9 0.456 1.1 31.2% 49.3% 5.8 82.5% 3.9 5.2 1.1 0.3 2.2 23 2016-17 74 35.4 0.467 0.4 26.6% 48.4% 7.4 84.2% 5.2 3.9 1.1 0.2 2.4 27.3

If I told a player was a four-time all-star with two All-NBA selections (2nd & 3rd teams) what is the first thing you would think? Hey, this player must be pretty good or this player is clearly flawed?

Skills

Most people probably think DeRozan’s best skill is his mid-range shot. This is probably why he is such a polarizing player. Is a long two an inefficient shot? In a vacuum yes. For example, shooting 45% from that shot would give you 0.9 points per possession. Do you know what else gives you 0.9 points per possession? How about shooting 30% from three. Now, this season DeMar shot 42.5% from that mid-range and 31% from 3. So based on the math you would probably think he’d be better off attempting a three, but here’s where it gets interesting. DeRozan is extremely good at drawing fouls inside the arc. So, if he draws a foul on a missed two his points per possession go up to 1.65 points per possession. How about on a made two? If we are talking about an “and one” situation DeRozan delivers a whopping 2.825 points per possession. When was the last time you saw DeMar DeRozan getting fouled attempting a three?

Playmaking

The Raptors were notoriously known for being one of the worst passing teams in the league over the last two years. This year they make a deliberate decision to move the ball more to diversify the offense. DeRozan played a big part in this by cutting down on isolations and actively looking to get his teammates involved.

Best Moment in the Season

DeMar DeRozan certainly had his moments last year, but nothing compared to January 1st this year against the Bucks. The second team All-NBA star dropped a career-high 52 points. Included in those points was free throw perfection where DeRozan went 13 of 13 from the line. DeRozan was also super impressive from three where he shot 5 of 9. In a night where DeMar did so much scoring you’d think he wouldn’t have many assists, right? Well, you’d be wrong because this four-time all-star had eight assists in this game as well. DeRozan who isn’t exactly known for his defense also had a block and a steal in this game. The five rebounds might not be super impressive, but it still was above his season average of 3.9RPG. This was the game that vaulted DeMar DeRozan into the MVP race. He isn’t James Harden or Anthony Davis, but at his best, he starts breathing the same air as those elite superstars.

Value

DeMar DeRozan is a tricky player to put a value on. In terms of production, you could say he’s on par with Kyrie Irving. Kyrie is a much better three-point shooter than DeMar. Both produce similar points, assists, and rebounds per game. Kyrie shoots better from the free throw line, but doesn’t get there as much as DeRozan does. On the defensive end, both tend to be negatives. So, we are clearly looking at two offensive players. Kyrie might shoot better, but he does it from the point guard position which is arguably the deepest position in basketball. DeMar typically plays shooting guard which is one of the more shallow positions in the league. There’s probably 12-15 good point guards in the league every year now whereas there are fewer than 10 good shooting guards. So, based on positional scarcity you could say DeRozan closes the gap on Irving.

Comparison

It’s really hard to compare DeMar DeRozan to any past or present NBA player. Some people think he’s on the level with Kobe Bryant and others think he’s an overpaid Lou Williams. In my opinion, both comparisons are wildly inaccurate. Kobe played in a time prior to spacing and shooting inflation. He also was a much better defender than DeMar. Lou Williams has been able to put up numbers for brief stretches, but never seems to maintain good shooting. Some individuals wanted to make a case for a Lou all-star selection this year. Prior to the all-star breaking where he was shooting 38% from three so there was definitely some appeal, but post all-star his shooting took a bit of a tumble only hitting 29% of his threes. Furthermore, Lou Williams is a career 25% three-point shooter in the playoffs. Hey, but doesn’t DeRozan also not translate his game to the playoffs? Last year DeRozan was good in the playoffs aside from two games. This year DeRozan was fantastic in the Wizards series where he put up 26.6PPG and shot 38.5% from three. He didn’t produce against the Cavs, but the majority of the team didn’t. If I had to pick one player to compare DeMar DeRozan to it would be Brandon Roy in his prime. Roy’s career was cut short because of injuries, but he was sensational at his peak with the ball in his hands. DeRozan isn’t the three-point shooter Roy was, but he’s more athletic.

Photo taken by Keith Allison

Future with The Team

DeMar DeRozan is under contract with the Raptors for two more seasons and has a player option for a third year. There are rumors the Raptors explored trading DeRozan last summer prior to re-signing Kyle Lowry. Masai Ujiri will likely be gauging the market value on him again, but there’s a difference between that and actively shopping a player. For example, when Kyrie Irving told the Cavs he wanted out last summer they shopped him and took what they thought the best deal available was. In those situations, teams often sell short because they are determined to get a deal done. We don’t know what Masai’s intentions with the roster are this summer, but based on his track record we know he is patient and is unlikely to make a panic trade. If Masai and the Raptors are able to get at least 75 cents on the dollar for DeRozan I wouldn’t be surprised if he was traded. However, anything less just seems like bad asset management. Furthermore, DeMar DeRozan has been loyal to the Toronto Raptors which you cannot ignore, but at the same time it is hard to quantify that value.

Season Grade

On a scale of water to flavored water, I’d rank DeMar DeRozan’s season a Perrier. He was very good and even elite at times which made him arguably the best player on the Raptors this season. In terms of school grades maybe a teacher would give him an A based on the regular season.

Playoff Poison

DeMar DeRozan was really bad against the Cavs in game three. The Raptors rolled out a new starting lineup and Fred VanVleet got the start over Serge Ibaka. If you remember the start of this game the Raptors weren’t moving the ball and thus couldn’t get points on the board. It was clear this group wasn’t used to incorporating Fred. However, this is still no excuse for DeMar not producing. DeMar also really wasn’t doing much in game four of this series prior to getting ejected. It’s harder to put game four on DeRozan simply because it had looked like the team had thrown in the towel especially after Bebe’s two minutes where the Raptors were a stunning -10.

It feels like DeRozan puts a lot of energy into the regular season and doesn’t have as much left by the time the playoffs roll around. He looked tired towards the end of the regular season, but had just enough left in the tank for the Wizards. Facing a LeBron James team is a different animal. The Raptors have been great in the regular season the last five years, but they have been far from that in the playoffs. Instead of being great in the regular season, can the Raptors settle for good? This season Kyle Lowry was playing roughly five fewer minutes per game during the regular season. Guess what? He was healthy in the playoffs and played great. If a reduced workload during the regular season worked for Lowry maybe it can work for DeRozan as well.

You Gotta Like Him for Him

In this modern era of basketball wings that shoot threes and defend are glorified. People want DeRozan to be Klay Thompson. Depending on how you rank the Warriors players Klay is either the 3rd or 4th best player on that team. So even if DeRozan was Klay Thompson it kind of feels like the Raptors would still have no shot at a title. So, it’s hard to conclude DeRozan is what is holding the Raptors back.

“But the Raptors have gotten swept by the Cavs in back-to-back years.”

This is true, but do you know what else is true? The Raptors haven’t played defense against the Cavs. When you are letting average to below average role players kill you, you probably deserve to lose.

“But isn’t DeRozan responsible for that lack of defense.”

When the Raptors have had success it wasn’t because DeRozan was suddenly playing defense. So yeah you can blame DeRozan for not playing defense, but you can also blame the coach that was playing DeRozan with other players that don’t play defense either. Now maybe the roster wasn’t as versatile as many thought heading into the playoffs, but the idea of playing DeMar DeRozan together with one of them (CJ Miles) switching onto Kevin Love makes zero sense.

Is DeMar DeRozan the superstar that will ever deliver the Toronto Raptors a title? It’s extremely unlikely, but he has been the franchise player for the best five year run in the history of the Raptors organization.