Michael Pina has a BA in English with a concentration in Journalism from the University of Delaware. He is currently living in his hometown of Boston.
If the NBA finals reinforced anything on its viewers, it’s that professional basketball is currently stuck in the anti-big man era. The days of the traditional back to the basket, low post, dominating presence are taking a break. Admittedly speaking, Andrew Bynum and Dwight Howard are so young they weren’t alive when Michael Jordan was drafted, but both players have shown some serious limitation to go along with a massive amount of national media attention and mammoth sized contracts. Howard offensively and Bynum trying to stay on the court.
With the 2009 season ending on, among other things, the failed performance of a first team all-NBA center, every franchise including the Magic will have an opportunity to make good in a slightly sub par draft pool. The plethora of point guards in the upcoming selection makes it deeper than a socially driven Bob Dylan album, but the one player who finds himself in between the frontcourt power houses like Griffin and Thabeet and the floor general Rubio, Jennings, Flynn types is DeMar DeRozan.
With athletic swingmen that can shoot becoming an increasingly important piece for any team that wants to compete, DeRozan finds himself as one of the most intriguing players in the draftee field.
Following O.J. Mayo’s footsteps at the supposed upstart University of Southern California program DeRozan didn’t necessarily disappoint, but given his mind blowing athletic ability, he certainly left basketball junkies crying for more. The 6’7”, 200 plus pound wingman has a prototypical shooting guard body and owns arguably the most explosive legs since Vince Carter.
He disappeared from a few games in his freshman year, but keep in mind he’s still a teenager. A teenager that has more to his game than the hop out your seat, tantalizing slams, DeRozan has something four-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant lacked as a 19 year old, a deadly mid-range game. He shot over 50 percent from the field and surprisingly enough, a good amount of them weren’t on the jaw-dropping dunks.
DeRozan is far from a perfect player however. His three-point shooting was abysmal, (granted he only shot one a game) standing at less than 20 percent and if he shot free throws like Dwight Howard it would be considered an improvement. The criticism is nitpicking on such a young player though; DeRozan should blossom into a legitimate all-star within five years and his jump shot could reach a Carmelo Anthony level of consistency, which would make him a scary offensive threat.
Defensively DeRozan’s relied mostly on athletic ability, which is OK for a player at his age and experience level, but once he applies himself to studying the defensive side of the sport, he should be one of the best two-way players in the league.
Another important quality that DeRozan was able to put on display in a relatively unnoticed freshman season was his ability to step up on the big stage. In games where the Trojans needed him to be an O.J. Mayo replacement, DeRozan took over offensively against some of the toughest competition college basketball has to offer.
With his team staring straight in the eye a disappointing NIT appearance, DeRozan played some of his best basketball in the PAC-10 Tournament. Facing a Ben Howland defense against the cross town rival Bruins, the Compton native scored 21 points and grabbed 13 rebounds (five offensive) in a two point victory. One day later in a head to head match up with fellow probable lottery pick James Harden and Arizona State, DeRozan took 16 shots which was his most of the season, made 10 of them, and finished with a college career high 25 points. The Trojans won another close contest by three points and squeaked into the NCAA Tournament.
Projected to go in the top 10, one of the NBA’s bottom feeders will pluck this relatively hidden gem and like a fine piece of art, this integral piece will surely appreciate in value as the years go by.
Similar to every one of his peers, time will tell how successful he is at the next level. One thing is for sure though; the only thing that can stop DeMar DeRozan can be found between his ears.
