DeMar DeRozan is having a career year on the DEFENSIVE end

[Mirrornick]

The first RPM stats came out for 2018-2019 season.

http://www.espn.com/nba/statistics/rpm/_/position/2

Last season DeRozan finished with a DRPM of -1.76
This year is his best so far at +0.05 . It's a pretty good improvement for sure.

I never liked these advanced stats as they don't really show DD's true value and what he does best for a team. But nonetheless this is the best year for DeRozan defensively, even the eye test confirms it.

Take these advanced stats with a grain of salt. The analytics nerds are more than welcome to dig further if they'd like.

Btw, not sure how JJ redick is ahead on the ORPM stat over guys like DeRozan, Jimmy butler,Mccolum, Klay Thompson, Booker, Gary Harris,Josh Richardson,Bradley Beal, Lou Williams, Wes Matthews.

JJ Redick is a good shooter, but come on, he's not more valuable than those guys mentioned.

[R. DeMurre]

Also putting up career highs for rebounds and assists per game.

[Mirrornick]

Also putting up career highs for rebounds and assists per game.

Yes there is no doubt DeRozan has been better than ever on the offensive side. His biggest critic was always defense. That's partially why I looked into some of the advanced stats and they suggest that he made improvements on that end. Fantastical

[Mirrornick]

This is the first time that I see DeRozan defending the opposing all star players. LeBron, Harden, Klay , Durant , Butler etc

As a raptor, he would never ever draw that assignment.

[Mirrornick]

DeMar's is having one of his worst seasons shooting the three unfortunately, I don't know exactly why. I mean he did make significant improvements last season. He made 89 threes last year with 287 attempts. That was his best season shooting the 3 ball. His previous career high in a season for 3pts made was 47 in 2015-2016.

He certainly regressed this season. Perhaps he is not putting enough emphasis on the 3pt shot but instead he's focusing on playing up to his strength.

[timvp]

The first RPM stats came out for 2018-2019 season.

http://www.espn.com/nba/statistics/rpm/_/position/2

Last season DeRozan finished with a DRPM of -1.76
This year is his best so far at +0.05 . It's a pretty good improvement for sure.

That's an even bigger improvement than it appears at first glance. RPM uses data from previous seasons and it's designed to be skeptical of short-term improvements. You have to remember that RPM isn't meant to judge how well a player has been in the current season, it's meant to predict how good he'll be going forward. For DeRozan's DRPM to improve from bad to neutral, his DRPM for this season alone has to be really good.


Btw, not sure how JJ redick is ahead on the ORPM stat over guys like DeRozan, Jimmy butler,Mccolum, Klay Thompson, Booker, Gary Harris,Josh Richardson,Bradley Beal, Lou Williams, Wes Matthews.

JJ Redick is a good shooter, but come on, he's not more valuable than those guys mentioned.

I'm surprised Redick isn't even higher. RPM is built upon plus/minus numbers and Redick spent most of the season behind the worst starter in the league in Fultz. The 76ers got a whole lot better whenever Redick entered the game.

[JeffDuncan]

DeMar's is having one of his worst seasons shooting the three ...

Belinelli, Forbes and Mills aren't giving him a chance, the way they're all chucking.

Edit - about defense, has DDR ever been seriously coached for it, the way the Spurs do? It's clear he's a capable athlete, no problem at all there.

[timvp]

I'd been wondering how RPM would judge Nephew this year, particularly his defense. Turns out his DRPM puts him right around league average, which is what I suspected. Nephew doesn't really try too hard on D anymore -- most of his effort is spent on the offensive end. (Although, yeah, Nephew not trying on D is still worlds better than anyone on the Spurs, tbh.) Shall be interesting to see if he's ever able to get to the point where he's an offensive beast and a DPOY-level defender at the same time or if that's just physically impossible.

[Mirrornick]

Belinelli, Forbes and Mills aren't giving him a chance, the way they're all chucking.

The whole idea behind DD's recent 3pt struggle is not that he's not capable or that he's not shooting enough. It's a systemic issue. Even go back last season, Derozan was never a good pull up 3pt shooter. He shot something around 38-40% from the corner three. Why was he not hesitant to shoot? because he took those shots wide open because he played next to a point guard and system that gave him those wide open 3s from the corner.

This year it's noticeable that he is not getting wide open looks from the 3 as much as he had last season. There are definitely scenarios when DeRozan feeds the ball to LMA in the low post, only for LMA to swing it back to DD for a wide open 3, but he ends up clanking it.

my guess is that DD is sticking to his strengths which is slashing, mid range, free throws and passing.

[Mirrornick]

That's an even bigger improvement than it appears at first glance. RPM uses data from previous seasons and it's designed to be skeptical of short-term improvements. You have to remember that RPM isn't meant to judge how well a player has been in the current season, it's meant to predict how good he'll be going forward. For DeRozan's DRPM to improve from bad to neutral, his DRPM for this season alone has to be really good.



I'm surprised Redick isn't even higher. RPM is built upon plus/minus numbers and Redick spent most of the season behind the worst starter in the league in Fultz. The 76ers got a whole lot better whenever Redick entered the game.
Thanks for the input.

[Mirrornick]

I'd been wondering how RPM would judge Nephew this year, particularly his defense. Turns out his DRPM puts him right around league average, which is what I suspected. Nephew doesn't really try too hard on D anymore -- most of his effort is spent on the offensive end. (Although, yeah, Nephew not trying on D is still worlds better than anyone on the Spurs, tbh.) Shall be interesting to see if he's ever able to get to the point where he's an offensive beast and a DPOY-level defender at the same time or if that's just physically impossible.

He's still at 80%, that is what the raptors organization are saying. I think he'll eventually regain form.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

I'd been wondering how RPM would judge Nephew this year, particularly his defense. Turns out his DRPM puts him right around league average, which is what I suspected. Nephew doesn't really try too hard on D anymore -- most of his effort is spent on the offensive end. (Although, yeah, Nephew not trying on D is still worlds better than anyone on the Spurs, tbh.) Shall be interesting to see if he's ever able to get to the point where he's an offensive beast and a DPOY-level defender at the same time or if that's just physically impossible.

Interesting. I'd say nephew is the Raptors 3rd or 4th best defender on many nights. That team has a lot of talent.

I'm pleased with everything DeRozan has done. If we had a little more talent backing him up the Spurs would be pretty good. He has to feel like he's on an island most nights, especially when LMA is off like he's been lately. You know it's bad when Gasol being out and Gay being banged up creates significant holes in our lineup.

[Chinook]

Spurs are getting killed in RPM so far, especially offensively. Gay and Gasol actually have very good defensive seasons going, but their O is garbage, according to the stat. Just feels like complete bullshit right now. Aldridge is a bottom-50 player so far. I mean, he's been inconsistent, but still. Also has Beli as a pretty decent negative despite him having been a positive player in on/offs over the past couple of years. I just don't know. Maybe the numbers will look much better with more data, but I can't take anything serious from them right now.

[SAGirl]

I'd been wondering how RPM would judge Nephew this year, particularly his defense. Turns out his DRPM puts him right around league average, which is what I suspected. Nephew doesn't really try too hard on D anymore -- most of his effort is spent on the offensive end. (Although, yeah, Nephew not trying on D is still worlds better than anyone on the Spurs, tbh.) Shall be interesting to see if he's ever able to get to the point where he's an offensive beast and a DPOY-level defender at the same time or if that's just physically impossible.
Marc Gasol says hi. Yea I am surprised too, but he's shooting very very well this season and he's capable of DPY play when he has a good team and he cares. Turns out if you can shoot the ball very well and pass skillfully, you can also exert effort on defense after all.

[SAGirl]

Spurs are getting killed in RPM so far, especially offensively. Gay and Gasol actually have very good defensive seasons going, but their O is garbage, according to the stat. Just feels like complete bullshit right now. Aldridge is a bottom-50 player so far. I mean, he's been inconsistent, but still. Also has Beli as a pretty decent negative despite him having been a positive player in on/offs over the past couple of years. I just don't know. Maybe the numbers will look much better with more data, but I can't take anything serious from them right now.
Aldridge has been shooting the ball horrendously bad, except for a couple of games that stand out and some average ones.

It's a small sample and certainly there are big variations with guys in and out of lineups due to experiments or injuries. It doesn't surprise me LMA has been that bad. It surprises me about GAy but his sample sizes are even smaller and then I remember that game he had like 8 TO or something and I think that skews him negatively.

We shall see where it goes. Bertans is looking impressive and we all know he has stats are not really significant bc he plays about half his minutes in garbage time in losses and keeps chucking. He's making shots to his credit but there is a reason those buckets aren't that meaningful.

[TD 21]

Spurs are getting killed in RPM so far, especially offensively. Gay and Gasol actually have very good defensive seasons going, but their O is garbage, according to the stat. Just feels like complete bullshit right now. Aldridge is a bottom-50 player so far. I mean, he's been inconsistent, but still. Also has Beli as a pretty decent negative despite him having been a positive player in on/offs over the past couple of years. I just don't know. Maybe the numbers will look much better with more data, but I can't take anything serious from them right now.

They're 11th in offensive efficiency, but that belies their (still) offensive ineptitude, as they're 26th in TS%.

That's what happens when your two highest usage players subsist on a steady diet of the most inefficient shot in the game, while eschewing one of the most efficient.

Agree on Gay. The metrics usually jive with my eye test, but not this time. Most of the catch all types somehow rate him as a net negative.

[Spurtacular]

Aren't Spurs last in defense or something? DD was a nothing defender before he got here. Just cos Pop got him to do something isn't cause to be excited at this point.

[RC_Drunkford]

DeRozan needs to fight harder through screens to stay in front of his man. All you need is to set a good screen and Spurs have to switch which results into missmatches all over the place

[Mirrornick]

DeRozan needs to fight harder through screens to stay in front of his man. All you need is to set a good screen and Spurs have to switch which results into missmatches all over the place

The best defense is when the big man can rotate and defend the guard on switches. We obviously don't have that luxury.

[HarlemHeat37]

Small sample size, virtually meaningless..

[RC_Drunkford]

The best defense is when the big man can rotate and defend the guard on switches. We obviously don't have that luxury.

the best defense is when you're guards can stay in front of their man

[Mirrornick]

the best defense is when you're guards can stay in front of their man
that's not how pick and rolls work. In today's game you can't even touch the offensive player, thus making it more difficult to fight through screens. Also noticed that a lot of the times big man get away with moving screens. I guess the refs let them get away with it or else the game would be unbearable to watch.

[RC_Drunkford]

that's not how pick and rolls work. In today's game you can't even touch the offensive player, thus making it more difficult to fight through screens. Also noticed that a lot of the times big man get away with moving screens. I guess the refs let them get away with it or else the game would be unbearable to watch.

Bruh DeRozan is terrible if you put him in pick & rolls, stop trying to defend him. You're in love with DeRozan just like this other crybaby faggot is with Kawhi. DeRozan is a great player, but he's lost on pick & roll D

[dbestpro]

DDR has the entire team on his shoulders. It's time for other players to step up and carry their weight.

[Mirrornick]

Bruh DeRozan is terrible if you put him in pick & rolls, stop trying to defend him. You're in love with DeRozan just like this other crybaby faggot is with Kawhi. DeRozan is a great player, but he's lost on pick & roll D

no point of debating with you as all you can say is " DeRozan is terrible ". I never said he's a good defender. He's improved over the last few years and that's that.

[RC_Drunkford]

no point of debating with you as all you can say is " DeRozan is terrible ". I never said he's a good defender. He's improved over the last few years and that's that.

I just said DeRozan is a great player :lmao

You should read before you answer

[Mirrornick]

I just said DeRozan is a great player :lmao

You should read before you answer

You said he's terrible, which is what I quoted. Read again I guess