DeMar has changed his shot diet to help this offense succeed, and that deserves some attention.
The night of November 28th, the Chicago Bulls had just finished taking one of the season’s worst losses to the Boston Celtics 124-97 and fell to 5-14. That loss was the straw that broke the camel’s back for most of the fanbase, and the calls for trades began; specifically for the big three of Zach Lavine, DeMar DeRozan, and Nikola Vucevic.
Before the season, Billy Donovan talked about wanting to be a better offensive rebounding team and also wanting to change their shot profile to fit the modern NBA game. Well, the season didn’t start sufficiently. The first month of the season was brutal. The Bulls were 18th in the NBA on three-point attempts with 33 per game and only made 34.9%. They also grabbed 10.7 offensive rebounds ranking 16th in the NBA. Last, but certainly not least the Bulls were 28th in the NBA in points scored in the early stretch, scoring only 106.2.
Since that loss to the Boston Celtics in November, the Bulls have won eight of 11 games and are scoring an average of 117.9 points per game. That’s an 11.7-point increase during this stretch. This team is shooting a blistering 40.7% from beyond the arc and that’s on a continued improved 3PAr(three-point attempt rate) from last season. Their offense is rebounding the ball at a high rate, capturing 13 per game, which is good enough for second in the NBA. They are fifth in total rebounds. Likewise, the defense has still been a big part of this team too as 17% of their points have come from scoring off turnovers. That’s good enough for fourth in the league during this stretch.
The young guys in Coby White, Patrick Williams, and Ayo Dosunmu have played genuinely well too in this stretch with a combined +28.2 on the court. A Lot of this run has a TON to do with how much that group is growing and giving Bulls fans hope for the future. Let’s not forget about Nikola Vucevic and how the Bulls are using him as more of a hub since the Zach Lavine foot injury. In that time Nikola Vucevic ranks second in the league in front-court touches with 56.2 per game right behind.. yes, you might have guessed it.. Nikola Jokic. Vucevic has done a remarkable job connecting both sides of the floor while also helping to connect and layer actions.
But there is one player that I truly believe deserves some flowers for how this ball club has turned around its play as of late and that is none other than DeMar DeRozan.
Let’s talk about who folks in the league call Debo…
The Shooting DeMar
Before the season began there wasn’t a reason to believe that DeMar would be open to changing his shot diet, even a little bit. He’s alluded to feeling he didn’t need to change because of his success scoring the ball without having to shoot the three. Well, according to Cleaning the Glass, 13% of his shots come from three. That’s the highest since his fifth year in the league with the Toronto Raptors. He’s shot a total of 73 threes on the season and sitting at 36%. The intent on shooting them hasn’t wavered since the injury to Zach Lavine. He’s continued launching those threes when he has the opportunity. Diving deeper into those number, he’s shot 65 catch-and-shoot three-pointers and connected on 40% while shooting 38%. 42 of those shots have been contested.
Rock Steady
DeMar has been nothing short of exceptional when you talk about his performance as a primary ballhandler for this team. He has the lowest turnover percentage of his career 6.6%. When you lose Zach Lavine there’s more usage that needs to be taken up and what stands out to me is that DeMar is allowing for the young guys and Nikola Vucevic to make plays as well. When he has the ball he’s not going straight into isolation mode, which is the least he’s done since becoming a Chicago Bull. He’s currently attacking in isolation 13% of the time. The savvy vet is adapting to the new style of play of his team. The table below really matches the eye test when you tune in to games. He’s doing less isolation ball and playing more within the flow of the offense.
During this Bulls run what stands out is DeMar’s ability to consistently make the right passing read. In these 11 games, DeMar has bumped up his assist total from 4.2 to 6.7. Primary ballhandlers don’t have to be Luka Doncic with his eye manipulation and ability to whip passes all over the floor. But in my opinion, you have to be consistent in your reads no matter how you get it done. So in DeMar’s case, he wins with his ability to use frame to leverage driving angles. Additionally, his handle is tight enough to get to the spots where he wants on the floor.
The clip below shows the Chicago Bulls running a double drag to get Damian Lillard switched on to DeMar. The Bucks were switching everything during that overtime so the Bulls knew that this would happen. The beauty in this is what DeMar does to open up a passing window to Patrick Williams for the finish. He uses his size to get close enough to the paint that Brook Lopez felt he needed to come help and once again DeMar makes the right read to drop it off to Patrick Williams.
This next clip is a great example of what I try to teach my players and that’s attacking gaps. DeMar once again is reading the floor and sees Dennis Smith Jr. sliding over to the nail to help on the potential pocket pass to Andre Drummond, DeMar sees it and skips it over to Jevon Carter. Jevon then receives a screen from Drummond and Royce O’Neal slides over hard to help from the nail and forces Jevon to kick it to a spaced DeMar. This is where I’ve loved what DeMar has done this season and that is play off-the-catch. He attacks the gap so fast and gets into the paint that it forces Day’ron Sharpe to have to show and DeMar throws a feathery lob pass to Drummond for the finish.
| DeMar DeRozan Playtypes | PNR | Spot up | Isolation |
| 2021-22 | 41.5% | 12.8% | 16.2% |
| 2022-23 | 41% | 14.7% | 16.4% |
| 2023-24 | 32.4% | 20.4% | 13.5% |
DeMar the Event Creator
DeMar has never really been thought of as a positive defender. I would say that he has been damn good this year when you talk about off-ball defense. He still has his warts when guarding the ball, but he’s been locked in when positioned as the low man in pick-and-roll coverage. DeMar is currently ranked second on the team in stocks(steals and blocks) with 53. He’s got the highest block percentage of his 14-year career. When tasked to be off the ball you would like to see players anticipate passes, understand what actions are about to be run from film, or just flat-out understand what a team is trying to do to you.
When it comes to talking about the defensive side in basketball it’s very hard to base your analysis of it just off of numbers. Defensively you have to watch the film and get an idea of what the particular team is asking of the player and to see how the player is processing the floor on that end. So with that let us talk about a few clips.
In this clip, the Dallas Mavericks are having Luka Doncic come off an empty side pick-and-roll. Grant Williams is emptying to the opposite side trying to bring DeMar away from the basket. Little do they know that DeMar processed the floor and saw that he was headed to the three side and understands that Zach in this particular play can take two and it allows him to sit on the Dereck Lively roll to the rim. DeMar’s timing was everything in this play he ended up getting the steal, which led to a fastbreak bucket.
How about seeing DeMar blow up a pick-and-roll? He saw Taurean Prince come off the screen shot the gap and stole the ball right out of Prince’s hands.
DeMar DeRozan is playing some great basketball on both sides of the floor right now. He’s adapted to the ways this team needs to play on both ends a bit to allow for more growth and opportunity. Yes, I understand some of the fanbase would like to get him traded to get more value for him. Other sides of the fanbase want him gone because they feel as though he may be taking touches away from Patrick Williams and other young guys, but from watching these last 11 games we’ve seen him and the young group co-exist. There is another faction of the fanbase that I would include myself in that would be fine either way, but my eyes tell me that he’s helping this team’s future thrive and improve.
When it’s all said and done Bulls fans around the world will have to give DeMar DeRozan his flowers.
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