USC Basketball: Trojan-Turned-NBA All-Star Explains His Unique Offense
Six-time Chicago Bulls All-Star small forward DeMar DeRozan is aware that today's NBA is averse to midrange scoring, which moneyball-oriented front office analysts feel is inefficient.
DeRozan was named to the Pac-10 All-Freshman Team in 2009 during his lone season with your USC Trojans. A note on the former Pac-10, currently the Pac-12: it's set to be the Pac-9 or worse in the 2024-25 when USC, UCLA and Colorado depart.
DeRozan has been making the podcast rounds this summer. Following a lengthy conversation with Los Angeles Clippers All-Star forward Paul George on his Playoff P pod, the three-time All-NBA Team selection chatted with former 2016 league champ Iman Shumpert on the backup guard's Iman Amongst Men show.
DeRozan likes being one of the few remaining masters of the midrange in the modern game.
“The threes, that’s cool. I’m not, I’m not never against that or anything,” DeRozan said. “But sometimes it’s a complete game that you could have too, playing basketball. And I think so much of that gets lost by so many threes being shot.”
The 33-year-old Compton native has only ever shot near a league-average conversion rate once, during his first season with the Bulls in 2021-22, when he made 35.2% of his 1.9 triple attempts a night.
He remained a highly efficient scorer even in his 14th pro season, averaging 24.5 points on .504/.324/.872 shooting splits, 5.1 assists, 4.6 rebounds, 1.1 steals and 0.5 blocks per bout in 74 regular season games.
