Draft Countdown: DeMar DeRozan

[TiKusDom]

Derozan stinks. He can hit the midrange J and score in transition, not much else.

His handles are a HUGE problem. You can't be a star without handles and the number of players who have come into the league as bad in that area as Derozan and molded them into elite level, is very very low. Secondly, for the hype about his explosive athleticism, his first step is not that good. Harden and Henderson's are actually quite a bit better. Having an explosive first step is at least half the benefit of having great athleticism, so yeah, Derozan is not the perfect specimen he's listed as. Combine those two things with his god-awful passing and bball IQ on both ends, and the superstar potential people are salivating over is just not here. He might become Igoudala without the defense and passing if he's lucky. Most likely he's somewhere between Moon and Outlaw

Demar is the tease of this draft, with teams being egotistical in their drafting and scouting ability and convincing themselves they can pull a Pierce/Dirk/Amare/etc. and get at the 9th or 10th pick in a horrible draft, even when it's just not there in the players. Brandon Jennings is MUCH more of a high upside/potential star pick than Derozan. Heck I'd probably put Jrue Holliday higher than him in terms of potential

DeRozan stinks? Not as much as the suckbag you have for an avatar. DeRozan's in his freshman year alone is outperforming Henderson. Henderson couldnt make half the impact in his first 2 years in college that DeRozans is doing in his freshman season. Even as a junior Henderson has barely equals DeRozan's floor impact as a freshman. How you figure Jennings has higher potential when everyone has said Jenning has extemely questionable IQ and poor decision making skills and plays out of control quite often the worst qualities in a Pg. How does DeRozan have low bball IQ when hes been getting better every week of college basketball ? God awful IQ? Dont exaggerate so much, at least he isn't a choking junior who fell apart in the NCAA tournament shooting 1/14 in his final game at Duke. Hes got 3 inches on Henderson . Henderson's handle might be a little better but that's because hes a 3rd year college player , but yet even though with 2 more years of college hes barely made himself any better than a freshman DD in terms of floor impact. Get real .

[Dr Positivity]

His handles are a HUGE problem. You can't be a star without handles and the number of players who have come into the league as bad in that area as Derozan and molded them into elite level, is very very low. Secondly, for the hype about his explosive athleticism, his first step is not that good. Harden and Henderson's are actually quite a bit better. Having an explosive first step is at least half the benefit of having great athleticism, so yeah, Derozan is not the perfect specimen he's listed as. Combine those two things with his god-awful passing and bball IQ on both ends, and the superstar potential people are salivating over is just not here. He might become Igoudala without the defense and passing if he's lucky. Most likely he's somewhere between Moon and Outlaw.

True, his ball handling skills is pretty horrible, although I doubt he would have to play SG for us since he looks to be a better fit at SF and he won’t need to worry carrying the ball up the court most times. Personally, I believe DeRozan can or will become a stud, but the hype around him is too high on this board in which once he does have a horrible rookie season, people will start bad mouthing him, so I would set my standards a bit lower guys. Ball handling is something that he can work on so I wouldn’t worry a lot about that considering he’s still fairly young moreover he still has plenty of time to become a star…

Also, Danny Granger’s main weakness when he first arrived to the league was his ball handling skills yet he can still become a star. Here's what DraftExpress had to say back in 2005... What DX had to say about Granger is almost identical to DeRozan...

BTW, huge fan of Holiday... Love his b-ball IQ along with his defensive mindset...

Most of Granger's weaknesses stem from the fact that he was played in the post for most of his collegiate career. His main one is his ball-handling, which will need serious work for him to become a shot-creating threat in the NBA. His left hand is particularly weak, as most everything of what he does off the dribble tends to be with his right. This hurts his slashing ability, as his first step isn't lightning quick as it is.

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Danny-Granger-86

True, but reading over the rest of Granger's profile, he had a lot on Derozan. High bball IQ, 3 point range, ability to put the ball on the floor and create his own shot, and post scoring, passing, and defense, which admittedly haven't translated as well in his NBA role yet. This quote shows he was quite a different prosepct type than Derozan:

Weaknesses
Unlike other wings in this draft, Granger doesn't have a crazy amount of star potential. His ceiling isn't of an allstar, but his worst case (or his floor) is better than most of the other guys competing with him like Joey Graham, Antoine Wright, and Vlad Veremeenko. Its fairly clear what Granger will give you, and that's everything you want out of your super solid role-player. He appeared to lack a killer instinct at times this year, preferring to be a role player and not taking games over when his team needed him to step up and take the team on his back. He's unselfish to a fault at times, but I'm not sure how much of a weakness this is. He's not the most intense player in this draft, but there is no doubt that he works very hard.

Looks like Granger was another one of those "Well, he's athletic, smart, and good at everything on both sides of the floor... but his ceiling isn't very high. Why go for a low risk low reward guy? [...] Oh crap, we messed that one up didn't we." picks

[Undefeated]

True, but reading over the rest of Granger's profile, he had a lot on Derozan. High bball IQ, 3 point range, ability to put the ball on the floor and create his own shot, and post scoring, passing, and defense, which admittedly haven't translated as well in his NBA role yet. This quote shows he was quite a different prosepct type than Derozan

Well thing is, Granger and DeRozan both have similar flaws entering the league seeing as they both weren’t dominant ball handlers, lack of dribbling left and has the athleticism, however, doesn’t have that fine of a first step. Those things can be easily thought where talent just comes to the player. No doubt Granger was the better player in college, but that comes with three more years of experience compare to DeRozan. Ideally, DeRozan would benefit with an extra year at USC...

As for the Granger doesn’t have crazy amount of star potential, I assume he came out of high school with a so-so career where as DeRozan on the other hand was highly touted as the top prospect out of high school along with the media hype basically calling him as the “next great thing” and the media most of the time aren’t wrong…

[TheDunc]

I dont understand you guys. I think im being realistic when im expecting a solid role player at 9th in a weak draft. But you guys are claiming derozan can be a star. So why in the world would he picked after a guy like jordan hill,thabeet? oh please.If teams start passing up on him till the point he falls to 9th then their could be a reason for it. People think he has more chance of being a bust then a star.

[TiKusDom]

I dont understand you guys. I think im being realistic when im expecting a solid role player at 9th in a weak draft. But you guys are claiming derozan can be a star. So why in the world would he picked after a guy like jordan hill,thabeet? oh please.If teams start passing up on him till the point he falls to 9th then their could be a reason for it. People think he has more chance of being a bust then a star.

Maybe youre the one missing out while the rest of the media , scouts, NBA GMs and people who actually know what they are talking about all have him ranked ahead of Henderson, every mock draft, even in a GM survey Henderson wasnt even ranked a top 10 selection. You are not a good evaluator of talent, Henderson will never be more than an average role player. Every GM and scout know this, and every GM and scout know DeRozan can become a star and his ceiling is far higher.

[Gruel]

Somebody said it a couple pages - this is like the '00 draft. We'll just have to pick out the Mike Millers and Jamal Crawfords instead of the Marcus Fizers or DerMarr Johnsons.

[TheDunc]

I dont understand you guys. I think im being realistic when im expecting a solid role player at 9th in a weak draft. But you guys are claiming derozan can be a star. So why in the world would he picked after a guy like jordan hill,thabeet? oh please.If teams start passing up on him till the point he falls to 9th then their could be a reason for it. People think he has more chance of being a bust then a star.

Maybe youre the one missing out while the rest of the media , scouts, NBA GMs and people who actually know what they are talking about all have him ranked ahead of Henderson, every mock draft, even in a GM survey Henderson wasnt even ranked a top 10 selection. You are not a good evaluator of talent, Henderson will never be more than an average role player. Every GM and scout know this, and every GM and scout know DeRozan can become a star and his ceiling is far higher.

Your not a good talent evaluator either. Nobody here really is. I like how you completly changed what i said. I said if derozan is as good as you guys think we can get him at 9th in a weak draft? Im going for henderson because i think hes attainable and hes a good player.Your so ignorant and one sided and have not admitted once that he can be a good player in the league. Derozan= most overhyped player ive ever seen. He has no handles,iq,shot,defence yet people think hes a star because hes young and athletic. Gimme Jr Smith over Derozan any day of the week. At least smith can contribute on offense with his perimeter game not like 16% from college 3 derozan

[TiKusDom]

Your not a good talent evaluator either. Nobody here really is. I like how you completly changed what i said. I said if derozan is as good as you guys think we can get him at 9th in a weak draft? Im going for henderson because i think hes attainable and hes a good player.Your so ignorant and one sided and have not admitted once that he can be a good player in the league. Derozan= most overhyped player ive ever seen. He has no handles,iq,shot,defence yet people think hes a star because hes young and athletic. Gimme Jr Smith over Derozan any day of the week. At least smith can contribute on offense with his perimeter game not like 16% from college 3 derozan

I suggest you go read what I wrote on the 103 draft page , your player analysis is weak and lacking. We would be very lucky if we got him at # 9 . Henderson will be nothing more than a role player at best. Only a dumb GM picks for needs with a lottery pick. No shot? LOL go read the nbadraft scouting report on him, your are extremely ignorant of what he can do . Your analysis is extremely weak and lacking any substance. Your talent evaluation sucks, while most mocks, scouts and GMs agree with me and rank DeRozan far higher than Henderson. Sorry bro you dont know squat compared to them.

[A_wildstabatanything]

LOL @ the Henderson fanboys.

I think I have a pretty good track record for picking wings out of the draft:


2005: Danny Granger
2006: Brandon Roy
2007: Thaddeus Young
2008: Mayo, E.Gordon, Randolph

These were the key players I wanted to take with our pick or trade for.

In this draft Henderson doesn't even register. I would take Harden, Evans, Derozan, Clark, and Holiday over him before even debating between GH and TWill.

Selecting Gerald at #9 would be an unforgivable mistake.

[TheDunc]

Your not a good talent evaluator either. Nobody here really is. I like how you completly changed what i said. I said if derozan is as good as you guys think we can get him at 9th in a weak draft? Im going for henderson because i think hes attainable and hes a good player.Your so ignorant and one sided and have not admitted once that he can be a good player in the league. Derozan= most overhyped player ive ever seen. He has no handles,iq,shot,defence yet people think hes a star because hes young and athletic. Gimme Jr Smith over Derozan any day of the week. At least smith can contribute on offense with his perimeter game not like 16% from college 3 derozan

I suggest you go read what I wrote on the 103 draft page , your player analysis is weak and lacking. We would be very lucky if we got him at # 9 . Henderson will be nothing more than a role player at best. Only a dumb GM picks for needs with a lottery pick. No shot? LOL go read the nbadraft scouting report on him, your are extremely ignorant of what he can do . Your analysis is extremely weak and lacking any substance. Your talent evaluation sucks, while most mocks, scouts and GMs agree with me and rank DeRozan far higher than Henderson. Sorry bro you dont know squat compared to them.

16% from 3 rofl....stop using that stupid mock draft debate....we are still in the first half of may. Teams havent even worked derozan out yet and thats where his weaknesses will show up contrary to Henderson who will get alot of praise during workouts. Since when is 2-3 spots =far higher in a weak draft?

[TheDunc]

LOL @ the Henderson fanboys.

I think I have a pretty good track record for picking wings out of the draft:


2005: Danny Granger
2006: Brandon Roy
2007: Thaddeus Young
2008: Mayo, E.Gordon, Randolph

These were the key players I wanted to take with our pick or trade for.

In this draft Henderson doesn't even register. I would take Harden, Evans, Derozan, Clark, and Holiday over him.

Selecting Gerald at #9 would be an unforgivable mistake.

Its funny that the players like granger,roy and young were completly undervalued and nobody thought they could be a star because they were good at everything but not great at anything. Exactly what henderson is. Good at everything but not great at everything other then defense

[sh00n]

Its funny that the players like granger,roy and young were completly undervalued and nobody thought they could be a star because they were good at everything but not great at anything. Exactly what henderson is. Good at everything but not great at everything other then defense

Wrong. Roy and Granger were passed on because of knee injury scares. Young was passed on because of his performance in college.

What's going to be Gerald Henderson's excuse? He's not good at everything. Hell, he's barely above average at anything.

[TiKusDom]

Your not a good talent evaluator either. Nobody here really is. I like how you completly changed what i said. I said if derozan is as good as you guys think we can get him at 9th in a weak draft? Im going for henderson because i think hes attainable and hes a good player.Your so ignorant and one sided and have not admitted once that he can be a good player in the league. Derozan= most overhyped player ive ever seen. He has no handles,iq,shot,defence yet people think hes a star because hes young and athletic. Gimme Jr Smith over Derozan any day of the week. At least smith can contribute on offense with his perimeter game not like 16% from college 3 derozan

I suggest you go read what I wrote on the 103 draft page , your player analysis is weak and lacking. We would be very lucky if we got him at # 9 . Henderson will be nothing more than a role player at best. Only a dumb GM picks for needs with a lottery pick. No shot? LOL go read the nbadraft scouting report on him, your are extremely ignorant of what he can do . Your analysis is extremely weak and lacking any substance. Your talent evaluation sucks, while most mocks, scouts and GMs agree with me and rank DeRozan far higher than Henderson. Sorry bro you dont know squat compared to them.

16% from 3 rofl....stop using that stupid mock draft debate....we are still in the first half of may. Teams havent even worked derozan out yet and thats where his weaknesses will show up contrary to Henderson who will get alot of praise during workouts. Since when is 2-3 spots =far higher in a weak draft?

ROFl at Henderson's 6.8 points and 2 rebounds as a freshman while shooting 42 % compared to DeRozans 52% FG ,14 ppg 5.7 rebounds, Pac-10 tournament mvp, I can go on and on. Henderson sucks and will be a role player at best. Keep taking those crazy pills.

[TheDunc]

Its funny that the players like granger,roy and young were completly undervalued and nobody thought they could be a star because they were good at everything but not great at anything. Exactly what henderson is. Good at everything but not great at everything other then defense

Wrong. Roy and Granger were passed on because of knee injury scares. Young was passed on because of his performance in college.

What's going to be Gerald Henderson's excuse? He's not good at everything. Hell, he's barely above average at anything.

Is derozan average at anything? And brandon roy wasnt passed on because of his knees. I think its safe to say that nobody was taking him top 3 or not and thats not because of his knees

[TiKusDom]

Its funny that the players like granger,roy and young were completly undervalued and nobody thought they could be a star because they were good at everything but not great at anything. Exactly what henderson is. Good at everything but not great at everything other then defense

Wrong. Roy and Granger were passed on because of knee injury scares. Young was passed on because of his performance in college.

What's going to be Gerald Henderson's excuse? He's not good at everything. Hell, he's barely above average at anything.

Is derozan average at anything? And brandon roy wasnt passed on because of his knees. I think its safe to say that nobody was taking him top 3 or not and thats not because of his knees

Actually yes he was , before and during workouts there were injury concerns regarding Roy's knee . WOW you didnt even know that?

[sh00n]

And brandon roy wasnt passed on because of his knees. I think its safe to say that nobody was taking him top 3 or not and thats not because of his knees

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Brandon-Roy-343/

The biggest issue for Roy has to do with his bad knee, which has bothered him for quite some time now. It really hampered him early last season, and a couple of surgeries may have robbed him of a bit of explosiveness. While Roy probably isn’t in the same category of a Kennedy Winston, you can bet that his knee will get lots of attention from NBA teams.

You were saying?

[TiKusDom]

And brandon roy wasnt passed on because of his knees. I think its safe to say that nobody was taking him top 3 or not and thats not because of his knees

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Brandon-Roy-343/

The biggest issue for Roy has to do with his bad knee, which has bothered him for quite some time now. It really hampered him early last season, and a couple of surgeries may have robbed him of a bit of explosiveness. While Roy probably isn’t in the same category of a Kennedy Winston, you can bet that his knee will get lots of attention from NBA teams.

You were saying?

+100000000000

owned

[TheDunc]

And brandon roy wasnt passed on because of his knees. I think its safe to say that nobody was taking him top 3 or not and thats not because of his knees

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Brandon-Roy-343/

The biggest issue for Roy has to do with his bad knee, which has bothered him for quite some time now. It really hampered him early last season, and a couple of surgeries may have robbed him of a bit of explosiveness. While Roy probably isn’t in the same category of a Kennedy Winston, you can bet that his knee will get lots of attention from NBA teams.

You were saying?

Nobody was taking him ahead of bargnani,aldridge,adam morrison....

[Anatomize]

I'm sorry, but a project pick is not going to do it for this team.

With him being 19 years old, the NBA will eat him alive at SF for his first few years (can you imagine having him guard LeBron, Butler, Jefferson, Salmons, Rashard, G Wallace, Granger, Tayshaun, W chandler, Vince, Pierce) in just his first year?

With all of us being as impatient as we already are, we want a guy who can contribute right away. Our system requires an SG who will be able to slash, create for others as well as himself, play defense, and shoot the treyzos (Harden is the first to best fit that need, and I would say Evans is second).

We need a ball handler who can alleviate pressure from Calderon, not a guy who will struggle with his handles, Travis Outlaw took a while to develop because of his inability to drive left, the difference is, Outlaw became adept at hitting a turnaround/mid range J, and hitting big 3's, he's also extremely clutch. With Delfino coming back (he's a pretty good ball handler if you ask me), I can see us chasing a solid backup PG for Calderon, who can also play SG (Colangelo mentioned on the FAN he's most interested in guys who can play both the PG/SG positions in this draft).

With instant contribution needed, I'm going with Harden/Evans/Jennings. I love Jennings' upside, creativity, and explosiveness, but I just don't think either Harden/Jennings will be available by the time our pick comes, which is why I see Evans as being the most realistic.

[DG88]

Isn't this thread suppose to be about discussing Demar as a prospect that we could draft. Anyways I watched DeRozan a couple time throughout the NCAA season and tournament and this is what I have to say about him at this stage. He is a great athlete with a nice slashing ability, he moves well without the ball, he rebounds well gets offensive rebounds well due to his athleticism, he runs the floor extremely well, and he has a nice mid range jumpshot. On the other hand his ball handling skills are poor, he isn't a great passer, his bb IQ is quite low, his three point shooting is atrocious for a wing player and is relatively a poor defender. The thing that everyone has been riding on is his potential, some of us saw it during the PAC-10 tournament and the NCAA tournament, were I think people have seen him grow into a better player. What some here do need to realize is that you have to look at the full body of work during the season and not just the tournament. Th e tournaments only really show to see if a player can bring it when his team needs him. Most of the skills Demar lacks he can develop in time, but are the Raptors and the fans want to wait and see if he pans out like with the Bargs situation.

Many here say that he'll be a star player if this was the case he'd be a lot higher than the 8th or 9th pick. In fact he'd be in the top five, it's because of his deficiencies that he's slated lower. For our sake it would be great if we could nab him at 9 and develop his skills over the off season enough for him to contribute. IMO he should have stayed another year in college to refine his skills, but he's doing this for family matters which is understandable.