DeMar DeRozan is eerily similar to Rip Hamilton on the Detroit Pistons championship team... like twins.
AGE: DeMar - 24, Rip - 25
HEIGHT: DeMar - 6'7, Rip - 6'6
SALARY: DeMar - 9.5M (16.2% of 58M Cap), Rip - 6.5M (15.1% of 43M Cap)
All stats will be per 36 where applicable. DeMar played 36.7mpg compared to Rip's 35.5 so that's why. Also, if anyone cares, the Pistons and Raptors both played at the 24th fastest pace in these respective seasons (although overall league pace was lower back in 03-04).
POINTS: DeMar - 17.7ppg, Rip - 17.9ppg
REBOUNDS: DeMar - 3.8rpg, Rip - 3.6rpg
ASSISTS: DeMar - 2.4apg, Rip - 4.0apg (Largely a result of being on the best team in the league)
TURNOVERS: DeMar - 1.8topg, Rip - 2.7topg
AST/TO RATIO: DeMar - 1.33, Rip - 1.48
STEALS: DeMar - 0.9spg, Rip - 1.3spg
BLOCKS: DeMar - 0.3bpg, Rip - 0.2bpg
FGM/FGA: DeMar - 6.5/14.7 (44.5%), Rip - 6.9/15.1 (45.5%)
FTM/FTA: DeMar - 4.2/5.1 (83.1%), Rip - 3.9/4.4 (86.8%)
3PM/3PA: DeMar - 0.4/1.5 (28.3%), Rip - 0.2/0.9 (26.5%)
PER - DeMar - 14.9, Rip - 16.8 (Difference in assists on Rip's part helps him here)
TS% - DeMar - 52.3%, Rip - 52.2%
eFG% - DeMar - 45.9%, Rip - 46.2%
It's also interesting to look at their shooting splits (check Basketball Reference)
Rip took 794 shots from mid range (51% of his total shot attempts) and converted 40.6% of them.
DeRozan took 679 shots from mid range (55% of his total shot attempts) and converted 40.6% of them.
The fact is these two guys at those stages of their careers were very similar players. Rip was actually less efficient earlier on in his career when he was with some awful-to-mediocre Washington teams (TS%s of 48.2, 50.8 and 51.1%). He's also getting a bit of a boost in this comparison by playing on the best team in the league, compared to DeMar playing on one of the worst.
Also the season I was looking at for Rip here was his 5th season in the league compared to DeMar's 4th. At that point, as I showed earlier in the stats, he was still a bad three point shooter (18 made on 68 attempts for 26.5%). People will try and argue this by pointing to two earlier seasons in his career where he shot 36.4 and 38.1% from three, but these were also on small sample sizes (28 and 16 makes respectively). I think the fact that he shot 27.4% on 146 attempts in his 2nd season, and 26.9% on 119 attempts in his 4th are better indicators of how good he was at shooting from distance (he also shot 29% from 3 through his first 5 seasons).
Despite this, he was able to shoot 37.5% from three through his last 8 seasons in the league, including a year where he shot 45.8% on 120 attempts. So I'm really not sure why DeMar wouldn't be able to improve his 3-ball as well.
AGE: DeMar - 24, Rip - 25
HEIGHT: DeMar - 6'7, Rip - 6'6
SALARY: DeMar - 9.5M (16.2% of 58M Cap), Rip - 6.5M (15.1% of 43M Cap)
All stats will be per 36 where applicable. DeMar played 36.7mpg compared to Rip's 35.5 so that's why. Also, if anyone cares, the Pistons and Raptors both played at the 24th fastest pace in these respective seasons (although overall league pace was lower back in 03-04).
POINTS: DeMar - 17.7ppg, Rip - 17.9ppg
REBOUNDS: DeMar - 3.8rpg, Rip - 3.6rpg
ASSISTS: DeMar - 2.4apg, Rip - 4.0apg (Largely a result of being on the best team in the league)
TURNOVERS: DeMar - 1.8topg, Rip - 2.7topg
AST/TO RATIO: DeMar - 1.33, Rip - 1.48
STEALS: DeMar - 0.9spg, Rip - 1.3spg
BLOCKS: DeMar - 0.3bpg, Rip - 0.2bpg
FGM/FGA: DeMar - 6.5/14.7 (44.5%), Rip - 6.9/15.1 (45.5%)
FTM/FTA: DeMar - 4.2/5.1 (83.1%), Rip - 3.9/4.4 (86.8%)
3PM/3PA: DeMar - 0.4/1.5 (28.3%), Rip - 0.2/0.9 (26.5%)
PER - DeMar - 14.9, Rip - 16.8 (Difference in assists on Rip's part helps him here)
TS% - DeMar - 52.3%, Rip - 52.2%
eFG% - DeMar - 45.9%, Rip - 46.2%
It's also interesting to look at their shooting splits (check Basketball Reference)
Rip took 794 shots from mid range (51% of his total shot attempts) and converted 40.6% of them.
DeRozan took 679 shots from mid range (55% of his total shot attempts) and converted 40.6% of them.
The fact is these two guys at those stages of their careers were very similar players. Rip was actually less efficient earlier on in his career when he was with some awful-to-mediocre Washington teams (TS%s of 48.2, 50.8 and 51.1%). He's also getting a bit of a boost in this comparison by playing on the best team in the league, compared to DeMar playing on one of the worst.
Also the season I was looking at for Rip here was his 5th season in the league compared to DeMar's 4th. At that point, as I showed earlier in the stats, he was still a bad three point shooter (18 made on 68 attempts for 26.5%). People will try and argue this by pointing to two earlier seasons in his career where he shot 36.4 and 38.1% from three, but these were also on small sample sizes (28 and 16 makes respectively). I think the fact that he shot 27.4% on 146 attempts in his 2nd season, and 26.9% on 119 attempts in his 4th are better indicators of how good he was at shooting from distance (he also shot 29% from 3 through his first 5 seasons).
Despite this, he was able to shoot 37.5% from three through his last 8 seasons in the league, including a year where he shot 45.8% on 120 attempts. So I'm really not sure why DeMar wouldn't be able to improve his 3-ball as well.
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