Rashad McCants went on Gilbert Arenas's podcast and said some things. Those things were captured on camera and then released to the world, for better or worse. One topic the two former players touched upon was DeMar DeRozan moving to the Sacramento Kings, which is a major offeseason domino. Or perhaps not a big deal at all if you listen to McCants's take that DeRozan isn't a scorer.
Rashad McCants doesn't consider DeMar DeRozan a 'scorer' and doesn't think he's the type of player who can go get you a bucket
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) July 12, 2024
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"He can score," McCants said. "He can score. You can go get buckets in a variety of manners."
He encountered some understandable pushback from Arenas, who called up some stats on his phone and read them dutifully. DeRozan has averaged 27.9, 24.5 and 24.0 points per contest in each of the three past seasons. He has shot no lower than 48.4 percent on two-point tries in the last eight seasons and in five of his last six seasons he's finished over 50.0 percent. But McCants couldn't be stopped.
"Richard Hamilton wasn't a great scorer, he was a great shooter. He's a great mid-range shooter. He ain't no go get me a bucket."
McCants again conceded that DeRozan could score even though he's not a scorer, which sounds like a lyric from a Killer song. And further bogs this argument down in semantics.
Arenas has been doing this for a while now and it's become pretty standard for his show to create these controversial clips. Yet this is on an entirely different level, which is where someone needs to go to have Arenas serve as the voice of reason.
DeRozan was 17th in the NBA in scoring average last season and did while hitting less than a three-pointer per game (0.9). One could suggest he was one of the more prolific, efficient crunchtime players in the league. It's reasonable to categorize him as someone who can create their own shot and score a tough basket in the final minutes. To compare him to Rip Hamilton, who needed to run through screens and couldn't shoot anywhere near as good as DeRozan is wild.
But then again, the clicks.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Just Because Someone Scores a Lot of Points Doesn't Mean They Are a Scorer.
