2020-2021 ROSTER TALK: Archived

[mvossman]

so how is Derozan a stud at 21 ppg and he doesn't play defense but KP at 20 ppg who doesn't play defense sucks and is a complete albatross of a contract? 
It's the same caliber of player. Except Derozan can't shoot which creates all sorts of issues for you offensively. 

Derozan is mediocre and always has been. The stats back it up. We've had this argument over on the discord so I'm not going to start it up again lol. 

KP, THJ, and Luka is a 3 of very talented offensive players. Most of the time offense wasn't the problem. Defense got killed with those 3. Add in Derozan you got the same problems but you have less shooting. 

Going after DMR is just going after big names regardless of fit... Reminds me of the time when the Kings were like lets trade a couple of 1sts to clear cap space so we can sign Rondo to a big money deal lol.

There is a big difference between KP and THJ offense vs somebody who can create their own shot or shots for others (or both).  A team full of KPs and THJs will crater offensively because they generally need to be assisted.  In the playoffs you need to have more than one guy that can create for themselves and/or others.  

I agree that defense is our biggest issue and DeRozan does nothing to address that, but offensively our biggest issues were in crunch time when Luka gets doubled and anytime Luka is off the court.  Guys like KP and THJ need somebody to generate offense for them, and when Luka got doubled they struggled in 4 on 3 situations.  We need somebody that can generate offense when the defense is keying of Luka (or Luka is not on the court).  In addition, against playoff intensity defense, it is really helpful to have a second guy who can create his own shot.

Again, I am not a proponent of DeRozan due to the defensive limitations, and the lack of shooting is not ideal, but he would significantly help address those other two issues where guys like KP and THJ really can't.  If we have a shot at Conley, I would much prefer that option as he does not have the defense or shooting issues (but he is a year older with injury concerns).