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It didn’t take long for Chicago Bulls star DeMar DeRozan to put words into action.
In his end-of-season media availability, DeRozan acknowledged a need to shoot more threes both as he ages and to better adapt to the way the game is played today.
The Bulls have been out of action going on two months, and there is still a lot of offseason to go and decisions to be made. But DeRozan looks to already be working toward that much-needed shift in his game.
“I think, obviously, next year it’ll be more frequent threes for me without a doubt,” DeRozan said via the team’s YouTube channel on April 15. “Just because I always had this vision in my career as I got older: I wanted to be able just to continue to expand my game, and you know that’s a main priority and a point of focus for me to just to capitalize on as I get older.”
DeRozan attempted 1.9 threes per game this past season, identical to his attempts per game in 2021-22. But his 10.9% three-point attempt rate was his highest since his final season with the Toronto Raptors in 2017-18 and the third-highest rate of his career.
Yet the Bulls still ranked 30th in three-pointers taken and made as a team in 2022-23, which executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas wants to change.
“You got to break it down and look at it from that aspect as well just to understand what more I could do to help us team-wise and incorporate that,” DeRozan said. “I think I’ll be a fool not to even look at, consider that aspect of it. So just me being a student of the game and understanding that that’s going to be called on and called for us to be better I’m, all for it.”
DeRozan’s added emphasis on shooting the three also came on the second-highest true shooting percentage of his career at 59.2%.
Whether intentional or due to the leg injury he suffered in the second half of the season – is a needed development for the Bulls to be any better next season if they do indeed plan on running it back largely as is.
It will also take improvements from their younger players like Dalen Terry.
Dalen Terry ‘Angry’ About Not Playing
“I heard he’s headed for DeMar DeRozan’s summer boot camp later this month, and will play for the Bulls Summer League team in July,” wrote Sam Smith of Bulls.com about Terry in his mailbag from June 3. “He was angry about not playing…which could motivate him to really work at his weaknesses.”
As Smith notes, Terry showed a lot of the intangibles that drew the Bulls to him with the No. 18 overall selection in the 2023 NBA Draft like hustle and instincts.
But the lack of a consistent jump shot and the speed of the game ultimately limited him.
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DeRozan had Patrick Williams out to train with him last offseason in a “summer from hell” that included 5 a.m. wake-ups to Williams’ chagrin. Williams didn’t have the breakout everyone wanted.
He did, however, average a career-best 10.2 points and knock down 41.5% of his threes on 3.4 attempts, also a high mark for his young career.
Perhaps getting Terry in under DeRozan’s tutelage a year earlier in his process will help.
Ayo Dosunmu Shares Offseason Workout
DeRozan was not the only Bulls player to share a clip of himself working to improve a weaker aspect of his game. Third-year guard Ayo Dosunmu also shared one of himself working on shooting, particularly off the dribble, but also with some catch-and-shoot stuff on the move.
Summer drills are just a start to an offseason that will need to pay off for several players heading into what figures to be a make-or-break-year for this core.
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