Whenever a suggestion to play Derozan at the SF position gets brought up, the number one reason people point to as to why it should not happen is the belief that Derozan is somehow too small to guard SF's. I've heard it many times on this forum that "Derozan needs to bulk up before he can play the 3".
So I wanted to do a little comparison between DD's physical attributes and some of the other SF's in the league that are known for their defense:
Derozan: 6'7 216lbs
Andre Iguodala: 6'6 207 lbs (known as one of the best defenders in the league at his position)
Luol Deng: 6'9 220 lbs (known as a great defender)
Landry Fields (not one of the best known, but often mentioned as a better choice than demar): 6'7 215 lbs
As we can see from here, Derozan's size is more than adequate enough to defend most SF's. Sure their are going to be some SF's that will be tougher to guard (lebron, paul pierce) but those guys are tough match ups for anyone in the league.
Even a guy like Sefolosha who is known as one of the best wing defenders in the league, a guy who guarded lebron james in the NBA finals is 6'7 215lbs slightly smaller than Demar is.
So I think it is time for us to dispel these notions that Demar cannot play the 3 because of his size, it is simply not true, he can play that position he is at the very least the average size to play it, and at best he is more athletically gifted than most SF's.
Now learning how to play defense is another thing. I am not saying that he is a good defender, simply that size is not an issue for him defending SF. For those that say that he would be even more of a liability guarding the 3 as opposed to the 2, I believe that the SG position is probably one of the toughest positions to guard (after the PG).
In fact seeing as how his long range shooting is well below NBA SG's, but he does have a strong mid range jumper, it might make more sense to park a 3pt shooting threat at the SG (fields) and have Demar play the 3 so he can use his mid range jumper and slash to the hoop.
What do you guys think?
So I wanted to do a little comparison between DD's physical attributes and some of the other SF's in the league that are known for their defense:
Derozan: 6'7 216lbs
Andre Iguodala: 6'6 207 lbs (known as one of the best defenders in the league at his position)
Luol Deng: 6'9 220 lbs (known as a great defender)
Landry Fields (not one of the best known, but often mentioned as a better choice than demar): 6'7 215 lbs
As we can see from here, Derozan's size is more than adequate enough to defend most SF's. Sure their are going to be some SF's that will be tougher to guard (lebron, paul pierce) but those guys are tough match ups for anyone in the league.
Even a guy like Sefolosha who is known as one of the best wing defenders in the league, a guy who guarded lebron james in the NBA finals is 6'7 215lbs slightly smaller than Demar is.
So I think it is time for us to dispel these notions that Demar cannot play the 3 because of his size, it is simply not true, he can play that position he is at the very least the average size to play it, and at best he is more athletically gifted than most SF's.
Now learning how to play defense is another thing. I am not saying that he is a good defender, simply that size is not an issue for him defending SF. For those that say that he would be even more of a liability guarding the 3 as opposed to the 2, I believe that the SG position is probably one of the toughest positions to guard (after the PG).
In fact seeing as how his long range shooting is well below NBA SG's, but he does have a strong mid range jumper, it might make more sense to park a 3pt shooting threat at the SG (fields) and have Demar play the 3 so he can use his mid range jumper and slash to the hoop.
What do you guys think?
Comment