The Whiteboard: The San Antonio Spurs aren’t great, but DeMar DeRozan is
By Ti Windisch
His San Antonio Spurs aren’t near the top of the Western Conference, but DeMar DeRozan is still putting together a dazzling season in his new home.
DeMar DeRozan had a rough summer. He saw his Toronto Raptors lose yet again to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the postseason, followed by Toronto dealing DeRozan to the San Antonio Spurs as part of the Raptors’ huge retooling. There’s a lot of focus on how Kawhi Leonard and the Raptors are doing, which is fair, but let’s not lose sight of how well DeRozan is acclimating to his new team too.
DeRozan is averaging 24.7 points, 6.0 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 1.0 steals per game, and he’s played in all 20 of the Spurs’ match-ups thus far. Although his 3-point shooting has become a non-factor again, DeRozan is hitting 48.6 percent of his field goals and having his most efficient season by points per shot attempt, according to Cleaning the Glass.
The number that really pops off the stat sheet for DeRozan this year is his assist totals. After never breaking 4 assists per game DeRozan averaged 5.2 last season with Toronto before tacking another whole assist and then some on. According to Cleaning the Glass, no wings are dishing more of their teammates’ assists than DeRozan is this season.
SUBSCRIBE. Get The Whiteboard delivered daily to your email inbox. light
A lot of that is due to necessity. Going from sharing a backcourt with Kyle Lowry to starting alongside Bryn Forbes means DeRozan can act more as a lead ball-handler, and he’s doing well with the responsibility in San Antonio.
The Spurs are still a few pieces away from being really good, but if they find a way to add some help quickly they could end up posing a real threat with DeMar DeRozan. Based on who DeRozan seems to be, there’s no doubt he’ll keep on working to make his new team as good as possible.
#Content you can’t miss
New relationships are tricky; Jared Dubin breaks down how Jimmy Butler and the 76ers are getting used to each other
Put some respect on all three of his names; Sam Guertler formally apologizes to Dorian Finney-Smith for doubting him
Catch up on Vice City; Nekias Duncan breaks down everything that’s happened in the last week of Miami Heat basketball
Ayton isn’t going long; Dan Volpone wonders why Deandre Ayton isn’t shooting 3-pointers like he did in the NCAA
Let the young guys run; Daniel Greenberg isn’t sure why Fred Hoiberg is playing Justin Holiday so many minutes