Should we be building around Andrea..or DeRozan??
The theory holds that if/when Chris Bosh leaves the Raptors, Andrea Bargnani will step up and assume the #1 role. The problem is Andrea isn’t ready for a #1 role yet where his already poor FG% will only get worse, as will his turnovers. Andrea is a competent #2 and if he can improve his shot selection could be ready for a #1 role down the road, if and only if he can also develop the mentality a #1 needs night in and night out to shoulder the load and help carry his team to victory; something that is not assured.
Andrea Bargnani is not a bust, and still has alot of room to grow, it has just become painfully obvious that besides having the ability to score in the NBA, does not have the mental makeup to become a #1 option at the current time, and many may doubt if he wiill ever develop it.
DeMar DeRozan is an exceptional talent whose draft stock was hurt by David Stern’s decision to stop high school players from entering the draft. DeMar DeRozan, Jrue Holiday and Brandon Jennings all would have likely been top 5 picks in the old format. DeRozan was compared to Kobe. when Chad Ford first started putting up his big board last year and that has to open some eyes.
I have always been a strong proponent of the fact that if we gave DeMar the LeBron or Durant treatment and immediately gutted our team to build around him that he would have immediately become a 20 ppg scorer. This former McDonalds All-American is a better prospect than Bargnani ever was or is and he should be treated as such.
DeMar DeRozan averaged a whopping 29.2 points, 7.9 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 3 steals a game in his senior season in high school, and this is following up seasons where he averaged 22.3 points as a junior, 22.6 points as a sophomore and 26.1 points as a freshman.
With that said Bryan Colangelo is not likely to admit his mistake and we are likely to have to endure Andrea as #1 until DeMar forces his way into that role. There is also a chance that a Bosh, Turkoglu or Calderon trade nets us a #1 option, but of the rumours that are out there no deals are imminent. As I have previously stated Bosh joining Miami may land us Michael Beasley who is a player who can step up and be a #1 option.
If none of these trades nets us a #1 option, than it is DeMar, and not Andrea who we should be building around. With that said DeMar is capable of playing both the 2 and the 3, so we should still be focused on drafting the best player available in the upcoming draft.
See DeMar’s draft profile here
See Andrea’s draft profile here
Raju Byfield is a Senior Sports Writer for Raptors Digest.
Raju Byfield also writes for Win My Fantasy League as a Senior Sports Writer/Fantasy Sports Analyst.
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Good read. I think making Bargnani the #1 option would really be that bad anyways if Derozan was to become #1a. Right now Derozan doesn’t have the ball handling and IQ to handle a double team either. I am a firm believer that Derozan will be a star in this league and he can still get there playing with Bargnani.
I think there is a little misconception that because you are the #1 option means that the team is built around you. There is no reason why BC can’t build a winning team that benefits both Derozan and Bargnani play. A lot of moves to improve the teams defence will translate to less defensive liability on them both and give them more opportunities on offence.
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Raju aka RaptorCity Reply:
June 12th, 2010 at 1:14 pm
Hey Jason,
I enjoyed your comments and agree with your thoughts.
I just doubt Bargnani has the mental make-up to be #1 option and carry his team to night in and night out to 50+ wins. Bosh certainly didn’t, and Bargnani is even softer than Bosh.
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wouldn’t*
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Define softer Raju…
Bargnani can maintain Dwight Howard better than Bosh…
You mean people who can’t rebound is soft?
He has better range in offense than Bosh…I really want to see Bargnani vs Bosh…lol
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Raju aka RaptorCity Reply:
June 12th, 2010 at 8:06 pm
Hey Andrew,
When I say soft I mean mental make-up, Bosh is soft i.e. not hard, same with Bargs, Bosh seems to be a lost cause but Bargnani may have it in him, he just needs someone like J.O to bring it out of him. j. O was the perfect teahcer for Andrea, especially when they were working out in Vegas together
And yes, any 7’0 center who cant rebound is soft
Andrew, I agree Bargs vs Bosh will open Bosh’s eyes. Bosh was a 24-11 guy because Bargnani couldn’t rebound and because he was our number one option. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Andrea score 23 a game if given the shots each night.
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“Bosh was a 24-11 guy because Bargnani couldn’t rebound and because he was our number one option. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Andrea score 23 a game if given the shots each night.”
Bosh scored 24 a night on some of the best percentages in the NBA. Only Lebron and Durant had better offensive seasons than Bosh in terms of volume and efficiency.
All evidence shows that Bargnani has played WORSE when Bosh was out of the lineup. His already mediocre percentages have dropped and he has been unable to create his own shot effectively without a Bosh drawing the double team. The fact is, there is NO reason to think Bargnani is ready to produce like a number one option, when he could barely produce as a number 2.
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Raju aka RaptorCity Reply:
June 13th, 2010 at 12:29 pm
Hey Jim,
I agree, but if he is force-fed the minutes and shots he can get the points per game.
His percentages will suffer greatly as you mentioned.
This is why I wrote article, because we should be building around DeMar and NOT Andrea
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I don’t think either player has shown enough of a reason to build around. I think DeRozan certainly has the potential to be a better player than Bargnani, because he doesn’t have the fatal weaknesses Bargnani does, but I’m certainly not comfortable enough to design the team around him, just yet. I think that if Bosh leaves, there should simply not be a number one option on the Raptors next season. Forcing a player who is not ready or who is not capable to be a number one option can hurt the development of that player.
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Raju aka RaptorCity Reply:
June 13th, 2010 at 8:34 pm
Hey Tim,
I agree with your sentiments, DeRozan may not be ready, but is definitely more suited for the role than Bargnani.
However, which players have been hurt by being forced to be a number one option?
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A guy like Kevin Martin is a good example. In his first couple of seasons, he had such promise on the defensive end (I remember him giving Kobe fits in one game), but when all the good players left, he was suddenly thrust into the role of leading scorer, and stopped focusing on other aspects of his game. Monta Ellis is another guy who was given too many shots too early. Same with Iguodala, to a degree. All three of those players were also given very large contracts because of their inflated stats and now are considered overpaid.
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Raju aka RaptorCity Reply:
June 15th, 2010 at 2:27 am
Hey Tim,
As far as I can remember Kevin Martin has always been an elite SG, I am a big Kevin Martin fan too, I had him on my basketball keeper league team so I followed him closely. He was never anything more than an average defender at best, though he did have his moments. K-Mart scored 20 ppg, 23 ppg and 24 points a game as the #1 option over three seasons for the Kings and if DeRozan can do that I would be delighted.
Iggy can play D but should have never been thrust into a #1 role because he never, ever, projected as one besides in the eyes of those who were ready to move on from A.I….
Monta is another player who I agree may suffer on the defensive end but I think that is because he guarding shooting guards when he is sized like a point guard. He usually has a strength and height disadvantage as well.
Not sure why you chose these three as examples they are all excellent scorers and if DeMar could be as good as any of them I would be happy
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They are all excellent scorers, but all could have been much better all around players than they are right now. Martin is basically a scorer and that’s it. His first two seasons in Sacramento, he wasn’t asked to score, and focused on other things. His third season, he jumped from 10 ppg to 20 ppg and everything other than scoring went out the window.
Iguodala probably should never have become a number one option, I agree, but he’s got the tools to be an All-Star and All NBA defender, but because he’s asked to carry such a heavy scoring burden, his game has suffered.
Ellis is another guy who really does little else than score. And he takes a LOT of shots to get his points. I don’t think he’d be able to adjust his game if he played with better players and wasn’t asked to score his much because there’s little else he does. He’s got the height of a PG, but none of the game.
On the other end of the spectrum, you’ve got a guy like Kobe Bryant, who was brought along gradually, and wasn’t asked to score at first. Obviously he’s got more talent than the others, but when you’re getting players out of high school or after one year of college, like DeRozan, they simply don’t have the fundamentals that guys did 15-20 years ago. They need more time to develop, and thrusting them into a scoring role to earlier hurst other parts of their game.
DeRozan’s got the tools to be a great defender, and I’d like to see him focus more on that before he starts taking 15-20 shots a game. I’d also like to see him learn to play more within an offense before he tries to take it over.
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