DeMar DeRozan recently moved to Sacramento after spending three years with the Chicago Bulls. He is expected to be the replacement for Harrison Barnes. While it’s still too early to adjudge the success of this move, former Sacramento King Rashad McCants took some shots at DeRozan during a recent episode of the Gil’s Arena podcast. The 39-year-old declared that despite all his accolades, the six-time All-Star cannot be referred to as a scorer.
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After being asked to explain the real meaning of his statement, McCants unpacked his remark, pointing out the difference between DeRozan and a regular scorer.
McCants started by saying that he doesn’t mean that the newly recruited Kings star can’t score, it’s just that he cannot be counted among the actual scorers in the league. The former Sacramento guard said, “He [DeRozan] can score. He’s not a scorer. You can go get buckets in a variety of manners.”
This is a surprising assessment of D-Roz because the common belief among NBA fans is that DeRozan is one of the best scorers in the league.
McCants then went on to explain his stance with an example. He used Richard Hamilton for reference to differentiate between a great shooter and a great scorer. He said, “Richard Hamilton wasn’t a scorer, he was a great shooter. He was a great mid-range shooter, there ain’t no ‘Go get me a bucket.’ Nah, DeMar ain’t going to get me a bucket, definitely not. But he can score.”
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
(🎥 @GilsArenaShow ) pic.twitter.com/O1UCKcl3y1
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) July 12, 2024
Questioning DeRozan’s scoring prowess doesn’t make sense when we consider how consistently he has performed throughout his career. According to StatMuse, D-Roz’s average points per game in a season hasn’t dropped below 20 since 2013. Last year, he averaged 24 points per game while shooting 48% from the field.
While the 34-year-old has never been an elite scorer, he can certainly get a bucket when his team requires him to. DeRozan finished second only to Stephen Curry in last season’s clutch player of the year voting. Therefore, McCants’ argument that he can’t get a bucket on demand surprised the entire Gil’s Arena crew and many NBA fans as well.
De’Aaron Fox trashed Gilbert Arenas for his rant on DeMar DeRozan
It seems like the Gil’s Arena panel as a unit isn’t fond of D-Roz and his choices. Recently, Gilbert Arenas went off on the 34-year-old after he signed with the Sacramento Kings.
Arenas said, “F**k the Kings, man… I need to call DeMar man. Don’t you like big cities, bro? You keep going to these weak a*s cities man. San Antonio man! Chicago cold. He is going down to Hicksville…they rank No.1 in being ugly over there.”
When this outrageous comment made its way to De’Aaron Fox’s timeline, the Kings star called out Arenas for his remark. He posted on X, “Chicago is the 3rd most populated city in the country and San Antonio is top 10 btw.”
Many believe that Arenas was frustrated by this move to Sacramento as he wanted D-Roz to join the Lakers. Whatever the case might be, these are two big controversial takes coming from Gil’s Arena with D-Roz at the center.
