Former $94M NBA Vet Gets Honest About Bulls’ DeMar DeRozan

How many players should be ranked ahead of Chicago Bulls star DeMar DeRozan in the NBA? That answer is probably quite different than whether or not there is someone on every team better than he is and it’s the latter that brings up another interesting point.

“If you name a team pretty much besides the Spurs, the Magic, and the Rockets, there’s someone on that team that I would rank higher than DeMar DeRozan,” said former NBA forward Chandler Parsons during the November 29 episode of FanDuel’s ‘Run It Back’ podcast. “Listen, he’s one of the last guys to still have the mid-range scoring. He’s always been a bucket, he’s going to score points – guy’s averaging 26 points per game.”

Parson’s answer was in reference to DeRozan being a top-15 player in the NBA. His answer was “no chance”.

But it is his point about every other roster that is of the most interest.

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Who’s Better Than DeRozan?

DeRozan is 14th in the league in scoring for the 11th-placed Bulls and has had to do much of the heavy lifting early in the season with teammate Zach LaVine still working his way back into peak form following arthroscopic knee surgery over the summer.

The Bulls are also still without Lonzo Ball who has been out since mid-January with his troublesome knee that has had three separate procedures performed on it since 2017.

And yet, DeRozan has found his rhythm this season and is trucking along.

“I think he’s more in the 30-to-40 range,” Parsons said. “And that’s not even a knock on DeMar. I think the league is just so talented now and there’s a lot of guys that I would personally rank ahead of him. But yea, he’s a bucket.”

DeRozan’s reputation for getting to his spots on the floor precedes him. Even when opponents know what’s coming it can be close to impossible to stop the mid-range maven.

Especially late in the game; something the Utah Jazz found out first-hand.

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Downside of DeRozan

To Parson’s point, DeRozan’s plus-1.3 net rating ranks in the 56th percentile and is seventh on his own team, per Cleaning The Glass. Though, the latter is partly because the Bulls’ bench has been so strong to begin the campaign.

He’s not a strong defender and his style of play can sometimes be to the detriment of ball movement.

Head coach Billy Donovan has tried to address it by tweaking the Bulls’ scheme.

Donovan notes how it makes the Bulls easier to defend which was on full display as they were dispatched from last season’s playoffs in five mostly non-competitive games against the Milwaukee Bucks.

This is also why we have seen many analysts enter the season so low on the Bulls who boasted their continuity all offseason and DeRozan get mentioned in trade rumors.

The Bulls are far from that but Parsons’ point should not ring hollow despite the messenger.

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Two Ships Passing

DeRozan signing with the Bulls was voted the “worst move of the offseason” in an ESPN poll ahead of last year’s breakout season for the 33-year-old. He thoroughly proved those doubts incorrect and even made his three-year, $81 million contract seem like a bargain which hasn’t changed with his play this season.

Parsons’ story is a bit of the opposite. He landed the big contract – a four-year, $94 million pact with the Memphis Grizzlies. But injuries limited him to just 95 games in three seasons before the Grizzled traded him to the Atlanta Hawks in 2020; a stint that lasted just five games.

The then-31-year-old Parsons was in a serious car accident that ultimately led to his retirement.

A talented player whose career took an unfortunate turn, Parsons earned roughly $127 million in nine seasons.

DeRozan has been a workhorse and even finished second on the team last season with 74 starts. How he holds up this year remains to be seen but his usage rate is down compared to last season and could go lower depending on how quickly the typically-explosive LaVine can get back into top form.

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