Raptors vs Lakers PRESEASON GAME 3 - 10pm EST

[white men can't jump]

Holy shit dude. How is he an above average passer!? Same way he's an above average 3 point shooter and defender?

Demar is elite at getting to the rim. He is an elite driver. He now has excellent handle. To compliment his elite level driving and getting to the hole he is a very good free throw shooter.

He is not a good shooter from 3. He is not a good ball distributor, he is not good defensively. Please live with these facts people. Anything else is totally fucking delusional.

I wouldn't say he has excellent handles. Excellent handles allow you to improvise, find alleys through defenders for higher % shots, and create better passing angles to get the ball teammates. DeMar has become a good enough dribbler, but he doesn't utilize it that effectively to make his job easier.

In fact, despite the noticeable improvement last year in him being able to keep his dribble alive and not lose the ball as easily, he often just ended up holding the ball even longer than he used to and using his dribble to drag out iso possessions resulting in bad decisions. We didn't see any real improvement in any areas that you'd expect to see with a better handle. His FG% went down, there were slight (basically insignificant) decreases to FTAs and assists, and his turnovers actually went slightly up (not hugely, but still).

[Machine]

I don't think anyone actually hates demar. We just love the raps. Demar is a great guy and a hard worker and all that. He just isn't the smartest basketball player is all and I would prefer to have a smarter player on the team in his place and wish him luck somewhere else. No hate here.

[big boi]

Amping up the hate is justified because he's a free agent?

How was anything I said hateful ?

[SkywalkerAC]

How was anything I said hateful ?

Sorry, I was generalizing your thought pattern to the prevailing movement of tagging DeMar as a max player and criticizing him as such, when he's actually still playing for 9.5.

[DanH]

Sorry, I was generalizing your thought pattern to the prevailing movement of tagging DeMar as a max player and criticizing him as such, when he's actually still playing for 9.5.

Ah, I see, so you disagree with the concept of planning for the future.

[SkywalkerAC]

Ah, I see, so you disagree with the concept of planning for the future.

No, and I see how his free agency status is a concern. I just think we can perhaps too easily forget the value he has yielded on this current contract. I think assuming the max is also a little pessimistic, while it is possible the market could be that overzealous.

A lot of people have already made up their minds because they see a large contract looming, whereas I'm more than ready to let Masai make that call.

[Superjudge]

I don't hate DD - I just judge players relative to their use and cost. DD has been used like a number one option, that use has a direct effect on the team, and he's mostly been terrible in that role. I've said again and again that if DD was in a sixth man role he would do well. A lot of 6th man players are very good, this is not meant to be an insult.

He's also going to cost 20%+ of the cap next season, and that's way too much to pay for a "good" player. Now, I disagree that he's a particularly good player, but even if he was a good player, those issues would remain problematic.

This I like.

[Superjudge]

He is a good player. No argument there. But he wants superstar money. Thus the critique

Again, Dan alluded to the same thing and I agree there. I love DD at 9.5 million..... not as much at 20.

[Miekenstien]

question

do you think that masais' talk about signing dd instantly if he could is a smoke screen? of course he is going to say that right? everyone needs to be focused for this year

[SkywalkerAC]

Again, Dan alluded to the same thing and I agree there. I love DD at 9.5 million..... not as much at 20.

So you love DeMar this season and last, and admit that freely and openly? You'd be one of the few.

[Miekenstien]

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/3978/demar-derozan

demar put up 20.1/3.5/4.6 last year. all above career averages, had a better than average per. i love him last year as well. on the topic of money, he isn't a max level guy.

on the main page we have the lowry breakdown where when lowry plays well the team does extremely well.
http://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2015/...yle-lowry-3-0/
i don't know if we can say the same for demar or if we can whether or not he has as many "good" games as lowry.

a max guy has to bring an extremely high chance of winning, in my opinion. a player like demar would probably have the same stats on a team like the clippers or a team like the 76ers. i think the clippers would still be the same team and so would the 76ers. but if lowry was there the clippers would still be the same team and the 76ers would be better, just by his presence. i am not saying that lowry is as good as paul.

[OldSkoolCool]

So why should we pay for a non factor player?

[Miekenstien]

So why should we pay for a non factor player?

exactly.

[DanH]

question

do you think that masais' talk about signing dd instantly if he could is a smoke screen? of course he is going to say that right? everyone needs to be focused for this year

Masai said he would sign DD to an extension (which would be 11M per year for 3 years) if he could. I'd do that too. I mean, even if you despised his game you should do that because his league wide value is higher than that and you could trade him for a nice return.