02-17-2022, 02:47 PM
(02-17-2022, 12:09 PM)SleepingHero Wrote: The knock on DeRozan his entire career is that when his teams (and him) get matched up against good teams in the playoffs, he gets nullified. Teams dare him to shoot a 3 and pack the paint. There's a reason why TOR consistently got swept with him as the main guy. I was one of the few that wanted DeRozan too, but of course was wary how he'd affect spacing since JRich traumatized us all.
I will admit, the DeRozan we're seeing today is not the same DeRozan we've seen the last 10 years. He's added a whole new dimension to his game with his passing, and his scoring is reaching some crazy efficiency levels.
We'll see how Chicago fares against MIL, BKN, and MIA in the playoffs this year. I for one am excited for it.
That´s true. Play-off underachiever, but the discussion of always laying the blame on the star player is just stupid. Nurse is simply a much better overall coach than Casey and yes Kawhi is a better player than DeRozan. Well a healthy Kawhi is arguably the best player in the league. Even he was a lucky triple bounce away from losing in the 2nd (or 3rd?) round and the whole perception of DeRozan changes based on that.
It´s the same discussion people are just having about Gobert. Gobert is not the problem in Utah. Are you telling me the reason the Jazz can´t play the most dominant rim-protector in the game, cause Draymond and Ayton can stretch and force him off the floor. Well be my guest and have Draymond/Ayton shoot threes and mid-range all day. Also this myth that he´s an offensive liability. The guy averages 16 PPG. That´s nearly as much as our precious Unicorn. It´s not like he´s a complete non-factor, just because he doesn´t shoot threes.
Okay the Clippers had Marcus Morris at C to drag Gobert, but Morris ultimately shot 33% from three. I think the 48%+ that roleplayers like Kennard, Jackson, Mann and Batum shot were a much bigger factor and that´s not on Gobert.
....but I think Utha knows that, too. And as a small market team you don´t give away a top 25 player in the game.